Community+Building

Community Building Strategy V K-2 V 3-5 V 6-8 IV Idividual Development and Identity V Individuals, Groups, and Institutions X Civic Ideals and Practices Having a connection to others and being able to work cooperatively and productively are requirements for public democratic participation. A sense of community develops when students develop a commitment to one another and to common goals. In a healthy community, students and teachers respect each other, are able to work together, and are comfortable in disagreeing with one another. Community does not have to be geographically defined; its can be the classroom, school, local, or global community. In essence, communities are defined by the commitments of their members or citizens. Students learn better in a safe environment. A close classroom community assists that goal. By the time they enter school, very young students have already developed stereotypes that can be a barrier to developing positive relationships with others. While students are social beings, developing, nurturing, and maintaining a sense of community requires skills unfamiliar to some students. As the United States becomes more diverse, our schools reflect this diversity in multiple ways (language, ethnicity, and exceptionality.). It becomes even more important to create a classroom in which the individual and collective talents brought by students are recognized and appreciated. It should be noted that community building is somewhat cyclical. Students may move back and forth between community-building phases as they tackle different classroom experiences or as they build different, smaller communities (i.e., through cooperative group work). There are four main phases in community building: inclusion, influence, openness or trust, and community (Shaw, 1992). Add one more steps to initiate the community-building processintroduction. Shaw (1992) folds introductions into inclusion; it is preferable to separate it particularly for an explanation. Healthy communities rarely evolve through happenstance. Healthy classroom communities develop through the learning experiences and instructional strategies designed by the teacher. • :.:T It tions are an important first step and should be done early in the school year. Find . "eways to help students first learn and use each other's names and then learn something =;"';\- 5 hool (e.g., from elementary to middle school). It is also important when there are just a ~" new faces within a sea of familiar ones.
 * - one another. This becomes even more important when all students have moved to a
 * n fusion addresses that feeling many have when entering a class or a party. Will they like me?

--;\Illsomeone talk to me? Activities that nurture group spirit and help students better know - e lives and experiences of their classmates are appropriate in this phase. Knowing classmates' names is a part of this, but additional work is required to get to know individuals and make them feel "included." The term inclusion is typically associated with special education and refers to the practice of including children with special needs in the general classroom. As described in this strategy, the term inclusion refers to the broader perspective. In this strategy, inclusion refers to the perspective of involving each student, including those with special needs, in the life of the classroom. This entails social and academic conversations and decisions. • When students have influence, they believe that what they say is heard and respected by others. For example, when the class or a small group is making a.decision, students who contribute to the conversation should believe that their opinions are heard and valued. This does not mean that each student should believe he or she will get his or her way in every decision, but rather that each voice is respected, considered, and heard. Using the decisionmaking grid (see Strategy 32) is one way to help students learn both individually and in groups how to make thoughtful decisions. • The ph~se of openness/trust occurs almost simultaneously with influence. For a student to believehis or her opinion is valued, he or she must trust the group and feel comfortable in sharing expertise, opinions, and questions. This involves risk, particularly because of the emotional turmoil of early adolescence. Experiences in this phase include those that teach students concrete ways to acknowledge the contributions of others such as summarizing, eye contact, and other nonverbal reinforcement. • Community is achieved when a group of students knows one another, includes one another, and considers and acknowledges one another. In a middle school enrichment class on leadership, coauthor Kathryn Obenchain wanted her students to become acquainted. The students had come from different schools, and most had never met. One of the first activities Obenchain conducted was Leadership Bingo, a simple variation of the traditional bingo game in which students must approach one another and obtain signatures in order to cover all of the squares on the bingo sheet. Each person could sign another's bingo sheet only once. This was a small class, so only 9 squares were needed. A larger class might have 12 or 15 squares. On this bingo sheet, the squares included items or characteristics of democratic participation and leadership that the students would study over the next two weeks. Introducing these characteristics helped to begin academic conversations; it also got the students talking to one another by providing a topic for conversation. Figure 3.1 is a sample Leadership Bingo Sheet that students could use to obtain the signatures of other students who can fulfill the requirements of the different squares. A second example builds on introductions and promotes inclusion. Conducting school interviews, which is recommended at the beginning of a school year and particularly appropriate in a new school setting (e.g., as part of the transition to middle school), is one way to promote cooperation among students within the classroom as well as connections to the school community. Begin by taking a class inventory of particular talents that each student has, such as running audio or FIGU.RE 3.1 SAMPLE LEADERSHIP BINGO SHEET LEADERSHIP BINGO: LEADERS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Name a historicaL figure who Find someone who says Name a current pubLic figure who dispLayed courage. she/he is good Listener. is civiL to those who beLieve differentLy. Find someone who beLieves he Name a Leadership characteristic Find someone who can name a or she is a good compromiser. that the President of the United U.S. senator from his or her state. States dispLays. Give the state. Find someone who dispLays Find someone who dispLays Find someone who can name a Leadership in his or her schooL Leadership in his or her community person in his or her community and teLLsyou about it. and teLLsyou about it. who is a Leader and can describe how that person Leads. video equipment keyboarding, easily approaching people, writing well, and so on. This inventory may be used for a number of projects throughout the year, with students adding to their own talents or suggesting talents of others. Set the inventory aside, and hold a discussion about what students want to know about their school and the people who are there. This discussion will be different in every setting. What students want to know in a newly constructed school will be different from what new middle school students want to know. Once students have determined what they want to know, the class works to group the topics according to who in the school might know the answer. It is appropriate and advisable to approach more than one person for some topics. For example, if students want to know how to get involved in school clubs, they could approach different club sponsors as well as older students already in clubs. This phase serves the purpose of categorizing the topics while also determining whom the students wish to interview. The next phase requires the teacher to put heterogeneous interview teams together, using the talent inventory to build diverse, multi-talented teams. Each team (with five students maximum) is assigned one or two people to interview and cooperatively works to develop interview questions, decide on the interview format (audio, video, ete.), schedule and conduct the interviews, and synthesize the interview data. Each team then presents the results of its interview( s) to the entire class and/or other classrooms. Nicholas, S. N. (1997). Community building in the classroom: A process. Journal of Humanistic Counseling) Education &Development) 35(4), 198-298. Obenchain, K. M., and Abernathy, T. V. (2003).20 ways to ... build community and empower students. Intervention in School & Clinic) 39( 1), 55-60. Shaw, V. (1992). Community building in the classroom. San Juan Capistrano, CA: Kagan Cooperative Learning. This text more fully describes the phases or stages of community building. It also includes many instructional strategies to implement during each phase.