Creating classroom community: why and what?

If we teach today’s students the way we did yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.

John Dewey

Creating Community in the Classroom

MMSD Class: Winter 2013

Carla Hacker: chacker@madison.k12.wi.us

Kathy Hellenbrand:

khellenbrand@madison.k12.wi.us

Laurie Frank

Lsfrank@mac.com

Flow Foundations

Creating Conditions/Tools

Facilitator Knowledge

Application

Foundations Welcome/Introductions

Intentional Community Building Ground Rules/Protocols/Non-Negotiables Connections Norms – Best Workshop Ever! Create Base Teams

Why Create a Sense of Community? Container Concept

Foundations What is a Sense of Community?

Vision for our Students Working Definition

Creating a Sense of Community… Supports Learning Fosters a Safe Environment Is Experiential

Closing Reflection Next Class: Artifact & Question

Ground Rules/Protocols/Expectations/Goals

Non-Negotiables

External

Enforced

Safety

Respect

Protocols for CCC Assume good intentions Ouch/Oops

(Spinach in the teeth rule) Right to Pass Confidentiality

Norms/Contracts/Agreements

Internal – Agreed upon

Ownership – Important to those in the group

Rights

Responsibilities

The Best Workshop EverFacilitators

Active and engaging forms of presentation and multiple ways of accessing information

Be able to move around and do things

Leave early if it makes sense

More experiential and varied activities

Purposeful work outside of class

Help to coordinate food

Ideas and materials useful for the classroom/setting

The Best Workshop EverEveryone

Sharing the air

Put ups – encouragement, acknowledgement

Look for the good and positive

Keep it light

Bring food

Positive energy

Make your learning needs known

The Best Workshop EverEveryone

Watching our humor – especially sarcastic humor

You can only volunteer yourself

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

2nd Step Responsive Classroom TRIBES Above the Line Restorative Practices (e.g.

Peace Circles) Social Emotional Learning

(SEL) Professional Learning

Communities

Avid Advisory Freshman Academy Individual Learning

Plans (ILP) RTI (Response to

Intervention) Bullying prevention

programs (e.g. Olweus)

Disarming the Playground

Stress/Challenge

Why Create a Sense of Community in Schools?

The Container

Concept

The Container Concept

Not all Containers are Alike

We Have Choices…We have Influence…

What are the qualities of your container at school?

What is Community?

From Group to Community“In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy but by the time they reach community the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully.”

M. Scott Peck M.D.The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace

Thomas Sergiovanni states that “the need for community is universal. A sense of belonging, of continuity, of being connected to others and to ideas and values that make our lives meaningful and significant -- these needs are shared by all of us.”

Sergiovanni goes on to say:“… Communities are collections of individuals who are bonded together by natural will and who are together binded to a set of shared ideas and ideals. This bonding and binding is tight enough to transform them from a collection of “I’s” into a collective “we.” As a “we,” members are part of a tightly knit web of meaningful relationships. This “we” usually shares a common place and over time comes to share common sentiments and traditions that are sustaining. When describing community it is helpful to speak of community kinship, of mind, of place, and of memory.”

“The people in one’s life are like the pillars on one’s porch you see life through. And sometimes they hold you up. And sometimes they lean on you, and sometimes it’s just enough to know they’re standing by.”

Anonymous

Community is consciousness of connection, combining and comprising: Courtesy, communication, collaboration, cooperation, consideration, caring, compassion, curiosity, commonalities, common goals, confidence, creativity, courage, challenge, camaraderie, and conceivably chocolate.

CTC Group, 2004

VISION• AT PEACE• CARING• COMPASSIONATE• CONFIDENT • CONTRIBUTER• CREATIVE• CRITICAL THINKER• EMPATHETIC • EMPLOYED• FORGIVING • GET ALONG W/ OTHERS• GOOD COMMUNICATOR• GOOD PARENTS• GOOD SELF ESTEEM

• HAPPY • HEALTHY• HONEST • INDEPENDENT• INTEGRITY• LITERATE • LOYAL• MOTIVATED• PATIENT• PERSEVERENCE• POSITIVE ATTITUDE• PROBLEM SOLVERS• PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS• RELIABLE• RESILIENT

• RESOURCEFUL• RESPECT• RESPONSIBLE • SELF RESPECT • SELF SUFFICIENT• SENSE OF HUMOR• SUCCESSFUL • WELL-INFORMED

Creating a sense of community…

SUPPORTS LEARNING

Learning & emotions are intertwined

(see amygdala)

Fight, Flight, Freeze

inhibits learning

Fear, embarrassment,

frustration, boredom…

…can trigger fight, flight,

freeze

Supports Academic Learning

From: Zins, J.E., Weissberg, R.P., Wang, M.C., and Walberg, H.J, eds. (2004). Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning: What does the research say? New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Safe, caring, and orderly environments are conducive to learning.

Caring relations between teachers and students foster a desire to learn and a connection to school.

When students can self-manage their stress and motivations, and set goals and organize themselves, they do better.

CASEL Study*

* Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning

http://www.casel.org/downloads/metaanalysissum.pdf

… four-year study confirming that school-based social and emotional learning programs that help students build positive relationships, develop empathy, and resolve conflicts respect-fully and cooperatively also have a positive effect on academic performance.

(from article by International Institute for Restorative Practices: www.safersanerschools.org/library/caselstudy.html)

Supports Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

See www.CASEL.org

Teach SEL Competencies

• Self-awareness• Social awareness• Self-management• Relationship skills• Responsible decision making

GreaterAttachment, Engagement

& Commitmentto School

Less Risky Behavior, More

Assets, MorePositive

Development

Better Academic

Performanceand Success

in School and Life

Safe, Caring, Challenging,

Well-Managed ,

ParticipatoryLearning

Environments

How SEL Supports Good Outcomes for Young People

http://www.casel.org/downloads/Safe%20and%20Sound/2B_Performance.pdf

Creating a sense of community…

FOSTERS A SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Bullying – More than a label

“A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more students.”

~ Dan Olweus

Social-Ecological Framework

• Pain• Fear• Adult attitudes• School climate

Pre-Bullying

1. Behavior that, if escalated, could become bullying.

2. Norms that set the stage for bullying if the behavior becomes intentional, consistent, and abusive (e.g. sarcastic humor, put downs, unconscious use of derogatory terms – many times found in popular culture)

Maslow’s

Hierarchy

of Needs

Retrieved from: http://two.not2.org/psychosynthesis/articles/maslow.gif

Security

Esteem

Belonging

PREVENTION

INTERVENTION

INVENTION

PBIS Continuum and PII Approach*

* Positive Behavior

Interventions & Supports

and Prevention,

Intervention , Invention

INVITATIONAL EDUCATIONINTENTIONALLY UNINTENTIONALLY

INVITING INTENTIONALLY INVITING

UNINTENTIONALLY INVITING

DISINVITING INTENTIONALLY DISINVITING

UNINTENTIONALLY DISINVITING

Creating a sense of community…

IS EXPERIENTIAL

The importance of what [the teacher] does must consciously be defined. He [sic] must become passionately engaged in prompting younger people to take initiatives and to act mindfully.

If they are to become self-conscious and responsible, the teacher must continually think about what he is doing as he teaches them. And part of this thinking must have to do with what he takes “knowing” to mean and what he considers the significance of enabling other’s to know.

~ Maxine Greene

Experimented Explored Learned from someone else’s example Put yourself in the place of someone or something

(empathy) It was a process Safe place to take risks It was challenging or a “stretch” Reflected or thought about what you were learning Related to your life experiences and/or interests You were ready to learn it Knew it was Important to learn

• Happens all the time• Is a natural way to learn

• Experimentation• Exploration• Example• Empathy

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING…

Experiential learning and experiential education are buzzwords within many educational circles. These terms are often used interchangeably. There are numerous published definitions of experiential education (Joplin, 1981; Luckman, 1996; Itin, 1999). The Association for Experiential Education (2004) defines experiential education as both a philosophy and methodology in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection to increase knowledge, develop skills, and clarify values. Central to this definition is the distinction between experiential education as methodology and experiential education as philosophy. This distinction suggests that there is a difference between experiential learning and experiential education. 

Experiential Education

… both a philosophy and methodology in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection to increase knowledge, develop skills, and clarify values.

Association for Experiential Education (2004)www.aee.org

“…experiences may be so disconnected from one another that, while each is agreeable or even exciting in itself, they are not linked cumulatively to one another. Energy is then dissipated and a person becomes scatterbrained. Each experience may be lively, vivid, and "interesting," and yet their disconnectedness may artificially generate dispersive, disintegrated, centrifugal habits….”

~ John Dewey, Experience and Education (1938)

“It was so much fun! I got shot in the leg and died of massive blood loss!"

- Participant, Age 10, in simulation of U.S. Civil War battle

Karen Park Koenig, www.rethinkingschools.org, vol. 23 (2009)

Just because we do something does not mean that it is educative. Without intentionality it could just as easily be miseducative.

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATIONA Philosophy…

• “Intentional, purposeful approach to teaching and learning”

• Harnesses the natural power of Experiential Learning

• Is a formal way to support learning

• Intended aim, outcomes, objectives to focus the experiential process

• Uses experiential methodologies, of which there are many…

Wilderness Education

Adventure Based Counseling

Inquiry

Service LearningArt, Play, Music, Drama & related Therapies

SimulationsExperience Based Training and

Development

Environmental Education

Internships

Expeditionary Learning

Adventure/Challenge Education

Philosophy of Experiential Education

And more…Equine Assisted Therapy

Cooperative Education Project Based Learning

Problem Based LearningAdventure Education

Commonalities

• Process-based

• Safe environment that supports risk taking

• Student/learner centered

• Experiential Learning Model (cycle)…

APPLICATION: GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

CLOSING

Homework

• Bring an artifact that has meaning for you

• Write a question about what you would like to explore regarding community building, adventure ed., use of activities, or other topic related to the class.

“Education – true education is not a process of pouring in from without, but of calling forth what is within. It’s not a process of memorization or socialization or instillation, it’s a process of nurturing, of allowing, of evoking. It’s a process of bringing forth the person one is meant to be.”

~ Jeff White

For PowerPoint, activities, and handouts:

www.goalconsulting.org