Implementing A Student Meeting To Build A Classroom Community

Community, what is community? How would you define it? Community can be defined as a geographic location in a way that a group of individuals live in the same area like a neighborhood, a city, a district, a town, or a country. In simplest terms, it is where you live. However, individuals can also feel a sense of community through the place where they grew up or where they often go and visit. It can also be a group of individuals who have certain characteristics in common such as religion, race or ethnicity, culture, beliefs, professional and economic ties, interests, and more. Individuals refer themselves to particular attributes or affinities (what individuals like to do). For example, individuals say I belong to an Asian community or I belong to an art community. As such, community bestows one a sense of identity (who people

I agree with the authors, “It is precisely through information of these kinds of social activities that we identify funds of knowledge that can be used in the classroom to help improve academic development” (Gonzalez, Moll & Amanti, 2005, Pg. 80). We start teaching at the beginning of the school year holding biases towards certain students. Sometimes we heard in the office or teacher lounge that student XYZ is a “nightmare”, we are scared of those students because we are afraid they will ruin our classroom environment. This was my mentality when I first stepped into a classroom as a tutor.

Much of the class seems to be primarily discussion-based, and the emphasis on talking with my fellow classmates about subjects such as racism, white privilege, sexism, homophobia, and other social issues helps create a very productive environment in which these topics can be discussed openly and with maturity and respect. The method of having students talk to other, individual classmates before the class as a whole reconvenes for discussion allows me to express and refine my thoughts about the readings, assignments and activities from class while also getting to know more about other students on a more personal level. I believe this has been invaluable in helping me learn because it establishes a sense of trust amongst students and creates a

Throughout my senior block experience, I have been in three different classrooms, with many different students. Each student possessed unique qualities that have taught me better communication skills and relationship building. Three specific students were John, Jacob, and Justin (for the confidentiality of the students, I have changed their names). These students’ different behaviors have caused an effect on either their learning or social interactions.

I will be approaching my principal to discuss incorporating a monthly full school meeting to our schedule. That is one small way we can begin to grow a larger sense of community amongst the student body. On a smaller scale, I teach sixth grade Social Studies, which offers the perfect environment in which to discuss morality. However, as discussed in Character Compass, sixth-graders are still in the concrete operational stage of development so the lessons will need to be kept on an understandable

Everyone plays a major role in this meeting and they can contribute valuable information for the betterment of the child. All information given will be listened to and reviewed, and put into place, if applicable. The main focus of the meeting is to help Dominick become successful in the classroom. As we discuss the actions of the video and those in their perspective roles, we can determine the following:

During the course of my field experience at Laster High School, I had the opportunity to discuss in great lengths about how to successfully collaborate with fellow teachers, respond to student issues, and gather data to effectively conduct assessment and teach within the classroom environment. At Laster High School, each teacher is given a planning and lunch period that allows them the opportunity to connect with others within their workspace and seek feedback over programs and requirements taking place in the school. In order to foster this collaborating environment that history department had one planning period as whole where they had the ability to meet and as a team discuses relevant issues and challenges they were facing throughout the

Working collaboratively also fosters a culture of community in the classroom” (Equity for English Language Learners). When teaching in an elementary school, like Glencairn, it is critical to understand that not everything you say will be understood and you have to be flexible with your lesson plans.

Interestingly, other studies support the perceived barrier of the lack of face-to-face interaction noted above in social theory of learning. Daniel, Schwier, and McCalla (2003), noted that the concept of community as a learning organism provides the framework for investigating learning concepts as it relates to individuals and groups and serves as the basis in analyzing and understanding learning as a social process (Masika, R. & Jones, J., 2015). Tinto (2003) goes on to support this by concluding that students learn better together and build support groups that go beyond the classroom when they

In terms of education, talk can be defined as everyday uses of spoken language and it refers to the act of both speaking and listening (Bearne, 1998). (Mercer, 1995)categorised talk in three ways; cumulative, disputational and exploratory. Cumulative talk is when pupils work together in pairs to gain a shared knowledge about a subject, disputational talk is mostly short controversial utterances in the form of a debate and exploratory helps people work together by using each other’s ideas critically. Mercer’s three categories of talk are examples of the types of talk that can be found in the classroom environment. This essay will consider will examine the importance of the talk in the classroom and the challenges of it, with specific reference to storytelling.

The development of the learning community serves a dual purpose to benefit both the student and the teacher. Establishing learning communities takes forethought and planning on the part of the teacher. Planning a community consists of knowing the learners, their strengths and deficiencies, and the strategies that will maximize the learning and growth potential of each. Teachers when planning must maintain the integrity of state and national standards to ensure the learning objectives have been clearly relayed to students; additionally it is their role to initially engage students so they become eager and active participants in the process. The “Web of Connections” learning activity relies heavily on student interaction and collaboration. Throughout each phase of the lesson students interact, share, and collaborate to build a composite of a food web while building relationships that sustain the class community. Moreover, the assignment provides leeway for

The definition of community when I google it, is “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.” I would describe community as a group of people who have common goals, thoughts, or interests.

Interactions between teachers and students in regards to teacher talk is one of the most important learning tools used in the classroom. Talk moves are tools for building an environment that serves a range of productive interactional, social and intellectual learning functions in the classroom (Edwards-Groves, 2014). They are enabled and constrained by the “sayings, doings and relatings present in classrooms” and prompt responses from students (Edwards-Groves, 2014, p1). Teacher talk is a large part of how students learn, through models such as ‘Initiate, Respond, Evaluate’ (IRE). The IRE model involved the teacher asking questions and giving appropriate feedback to the student’s response to help them understand the reasons behind their response. The Scaffolding Interaction Cycle (SIC) is another important tool, which involved teachers scaffolding a students’ response to engage higher learning functions. It is important to consider Bull and Anstey’s three-style model, consisting of pedagogy of school, pedagogy of literacy lessons and pedagogy of literacy learning (Anstey and Bull, 1996). Pedagogy of school involves the teacher and the student conversing in a Q&A like manner, or a ‘guess-what’s-in-my-head’ approach taken by the teacher. The pedagogy of literacy lessons involves the students carrying out the teacher’s instructions but not making the connection to what they are learning. There is a time where these styles may be useful, but

School should be a community that is warm, respectful, and open. Students spend approximately 30 hours a week in the classroom and it is imperative they are able to

Planning and conducting an effective meeting requires outstanding leadership skills that are learned over the years through experience and dedication. A successful leader should always be able to communicate the main objective clearly, consider who will be invited to the meeting, stick to their schedule, and follow up with the attendees (Forbes, 1014). Most people agree that more than half of the meetings are unproductive, making it more important for leaders to put the time and effort into developing a successful meeting.