5.1: Fostering a Sense of Community
As a teacher, fostering a sense of community goes beyond making connections with students. Teachers help students connect with one another and with other professionals both inside and outside the schoolhouse. We accomplish this in the classroom by maintaining respectful boundaries and modeling good citizenship. Just like a thriving community, large or small, the schoolhouse and classroom evolve from a variety of interdependent resources that should co-exist to serve the greater good.
Community members depend upon one another like friends and neighbors. We are comfortable in one another's home; we borrow tools; we allow our families to socialize; and we offer the same generosity and resources in return. We support one another in group and individual pursuits because those contributions filter into the community and may inspire others to conform or raise the bar. Communities and neighborhoods develop a “feel” because of the people who live and work there, and that one house on the block that is not maintained properly will begin to feel pressure from the others to perform better.
A thriving community also shares in the success and turmoil of its members. Teachers and students should develop the type of relationship that encourages sharing. For example, A Community of Teachers Seminar attempts to unite its members not only in individual seminar groups through sharing experiences, praising achievements and offering consolation and advice in times of crisis. The group's leadership attempts to offer community-wide events to all seminars, and within our seminar group, we designate weekly time (Crisis du Jour/Un Bon Mot) to share the things we often cannot with our colleagues, families or friends in a setting that embraces our day-to-day challenges. By design, the students within each seminar exchange empowering roles and the responsibility to lead, teach, interact, challenge, assist, model and learn from one another.
In our classrooms, it is important to congratulate good performance and identify individuals who may need assistance. Reaching out is a reciprocal act, so teachers model asking for help as well as offering. We not only recognize our consistent performers, but especially the ones making marked improvements and creative contributions. For example, I envision recognizing students who demonstrate vast improvement by placing an ad in the school paper from me, the department, the class, or the family, shouting it from the rooftop as I would for a friend or neighbor.
We also celebrate our non-academic achievements by taking time to remember and honor one another for milestones such as birthdays, driver’s licenses, extra curricular activities, community contributions, etc. We offer consolation in times of sorrow and assistance in times of sickness and need. We recognize that we are one body, so regardless of your spiritual beliefs the student body cares for one another. At PF Chang’s, the Wonton Scoop dedicated weekly space to recognize the individual achievements of our staff outside of work. So much of what we know of one another is work-related, yet that is so little of who we are. Birthday wishes, graduation gifts, family deaths, etc. are important means of supporting one another, especially if one of us is having a particularly bad day at work. Further, I always aggressively collected money for baby gifts, wedding gifts and going-away gifts as gestures from the entire staff. It is important to understand that students and teachers both exist outside the schoolhouse as well.
Under the edict of “ultimate respect,” we survived many disagreements in the formative years of our new chapter of Pi Kappa Phi. The disagreements brought us closer as a group and helped us to develop a strong and diverse membership. Disagreement is a natural by-product of community, and a non-destructive way for members to voice anger. The thriving community, however, recognizes when it is appropriate to put a disagreement aside.
I envision that my classroom will be governed by a Charter that replaces a traditional set of classroom rules with ones that are more effective. I hope to come to agreement with students about a comprehensive framework that defines how we interact and perform.
When students are exposed to a model of a thriving community, hopefully they can internalize some of the characteristics and begin to develop in a positive manner by learning about themselves. Students have opportunities to use their strengths to benefit a classmate, and hopefully develop the courage and character to identify strengths in others that will benefit them. When this alignment happens, then trust forms and community moves to the next level--fostering teamwork.
Mr. Baltz's
CLASSROOM COMMUNITY CHARTER
for students and teachers
I will...
uphold my role and responsibilities within the school,
treat people and property with ultimate respect,
promote democracy in the classroom,
contribute to a productive learning environment,
discover and exploit our strengths and weaknesses,
demonstrate knowledge individually and in groups,
think critically, and communicate in a variety of manners.
I will also confront any anxiety I have about math,
commit to understanding the "big ideas", and
realize the benefits of taking more math next year.
