Building Classroom Community

One of the first and most important steps in building an inclusive classroom is establishing a respectful and open classroom community. This doesn’t just occur at the beginning of the school year, but is a year-long process that teachers and students should constantly revisit and revise. Without further ado, here are my top seven ideas for building an inclusive and caring classroom community...because top tens have been done before.

#1: Build a classroom belief statement

Collaborate as a class to construct a class contract, belief statement or whatever you wish to call it, Students feel empowered when granted ownership over their learning environment and what it should look, feel and sound like.

#2: Classroom celebrations

This can be a celebration of a class or individual achievement. Give every student an opportunity to be the focus of attention, whether celebrating an accomplishment or a risk taken. This could take the form of a “star of the week”, student leader for the day or a simple positive comment about a strong effort observed.

#3: Classroom experts

Related to the idea of celebrating individual and group achievement, identifying and celebrating classroom experts is another great way to help connect students with each other.

Provide students with opportunities to showcase what they’re best at and highlight these talents so that learners help learners.

#4: Personal sharing

Sharing who you are, not as a teacher but as a person, can be a great way to foster a closer relationship with your students. Sharing personal stories, experiences and details about your own life, helps to build this relationship and demonstrates that this type of personal sharing (when done respectfully) is safe and is a normal part of life, especially for those students who may feel disconnected at school or at home.

#5: Brain breaks/ movement breaks

Get moving and get silly! Brain breaks are a great way to get refocused and re-energized at any time during the day. Often seeing someone else acting silly, singing and dancing, can help others feel more comfortable expressing their own selves. Especially when students see that even the teacher can act goofy too! Brain breaks are another great way to create a recurring and enjoyable shared experience for all students.

#6: Talk Moves

Instead of calling on one student for an answer or an explanation, ask other students if they can repeat or rephrase what the first student said. This way, students aren’t mentally checking out when it’s not their turn to share and are practicing learning from the perspectives of others. When every student feels that they can make contributions on their own or as part of the whole group without fear or anxiety, everyone can come together to support the learning of the group.

To see what this looks like in action, check here!

*Credit to Lynn Simpson, grade 5 teacher in Seattle, WA here.

Simpson, L. (2016). Improving participation with talk moves. Retrieved from: https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/student-participation-strategy#

#7: Student jobs

Even the seemingly most mundane tasks (passing out books, helping with supplies etc.) can have a great positive impact on social interactions. Students take the added responsibility seriously, as they try to help their fellow classmates get ready to learn. A student leader or helper is an excellent role for students to practice basic social skills and manners.

For even more ideas, check out Teaching Channel. Plenty of great videos and ideas for building a positive classroom culture and many other teaching ideas as well! Thanks for reading!