Bienvenidos a la Familia! Welcome to the Family!

Blog Post #1: Creating Community in our classrooms

What is the most essential thing in your classroom?

Your students' feelings when they enter your classroom determine much of their academic success in your class. That took me years to understand, and after a few years of reflection and observation, I have the experience to back this statement up. If I could tell a new teacher the most important thing they could do in the first few weeks of school, it is to establish a community in their classroom. There is a method and planning to do this. It does not happen because the kids get used to each other after a few weeks of school. In fact, before I intentionally planned how to create a sense of community in my classes, some classes got worse after the first few weeks of the year! It will take weeks of practice and can seem monotonous, but the payoff is worth it. It is not up to the students to create this school family. It is the responsibility of the teacher. I have some suggestions that have worked for me and hopefully can help you!

1.       Classroom Routines and Procedures- Routines and procedures are essential to classroom behavior management. Students do not know what to do unless you tell them. Then, you must show them physically what the routines and procedures look like. The teacher must model the behaviors and then have the students practice them. It feels and seems silly to model behavior like this is how we raise our hand to ask a question, but you must! In my class, we do the same thing every day, without fail, for the first ten minutes. That sounds boring, but in all my years of teaching, it creates security for the students and makes my job easier. It gives me time to get attendance, and the students get settled down quickly. Let me show you specifics and give you a peek into what students do in my class.

·       Vamos work- this is on the board daily when they walk in. They grab their composition notebook and fill in the answers to simple review questions. I take attendance and monitor their work during these first five minutes. It is also a great time to get some feedback from previous lessons.

·       Secondly, we do a greeting circle. It is like kindergarten! They still love it in eighth grade. They first greet me in Spanish and then their neighbor. If I skip this by accident, they let me know!

·       Third, we do the weather and the calendar. We review numbers, months, days, seasons, and more.

·       Lastly, we do the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish, and I take prayer requests in English. They memorize the prayer by October without any requirement and feel like they can talk a lot in Spanish when they recite it!

"An effective teacher always has the procedure or schedule posted or ready for distribution when the students arrive." (Wong, 2007, p.5)

2.       Classroom Rules and Expectations- I keep my procedures simple because they work for me. The first few days of school, I let the students devise a list of their own rules, and then I narrowed the list down to three. Here are the three rules I chose from their list:

• Come prepared!

• Show respect!

• Be kind!

              When a student breaks a rule, I ask what rule it falls under. My school has a protocol for behavior, and I do not have to invent my own consequences. They get a warning, and after that, they get a behavior infraction. There is a progression of consequences for not following rules, but I have not had anyone get more than one infraction, and I will tell you why. There is a huge WHY! This brings me to the third step in creating community in the classroom.

"A well-managed classroom gives every student the chance to have one of the best learning experiences of his or her life." (Wong, 2007, p.8)

3.       Relationships and attitudes- Relationships are the foundation of the community, and building them begins when students enter my room. I can be a bright spot in a student’s day. I know the pressures today’s children face because I have raised four. You never know what is happening in a student’s home or friendships, and your warm smile or compliment might be the highlight of their day. We can have a powerful impact on our students. Here are some concrete ways to build relationships in your classroom:

• Leave your negativity at home and be intentional about your actions. However, this does not mean you are fake with your students.

• Share life with your students. They hear stories about my husband, children, and animals, places we have been, special events, and even the mundane. Let them know you are a person, not just their teacher. Please take the opportunity to celebrate them when there is an opportunity. I celebrate birthdays with a silly birthday crown, and they love getting a picture with me in it! It truly is the little things.

• Observe your students; ask them if something seems off. If I notice a student is down, I might say quietly, are you tired, having a bad day? Sometimes, they are fine, but other times, they need encouragement. It’s those moments when we can tell them to stay after class, give them a piece of candy, or tell them you are a safe person to talk to that makes a difference.

• Model the behavior you want from your students. You teach your students every day when you do not even realize it. Students watch everything we do and say. They notice if they see us treat our coworkers with kindness and respect. They also mirror how we treat them. I do not need to raise my voice if my students are upsetting me by making poor choices, interrupting, not staying on task, or bothering another student. I go to their desk, tell them I love them, and I am annoyed and ask them to step outside until they can follow the procedures and not disrupt the class. When discipline is handled with love, the results are different. Never get in a power struggle with a child because you will not win!

4.       Physical environment- your classroom is a home away from home for you and your students. I believe it should be clean and organized. It reflects you. I am not saying it has to be fancy, but it does not take much to keep the desks wiped down, the board clean, a few lamps placed to soften harsh lighting, soft music, and even a diffuser to make it smell nice. I decorate my room for the seasons and holidays. As I said earlier, even though the kids are older, they love the pumpkins on the door at Halloween, the turkeys in November, Valentines in February, and more. It is a small gesture to keep my room festive, but it expresses my love for my students. The little gestures of kindness we make for the kids add up! They notice!

Here are a few things my students had to say about my class.

"Mrs. Hewitt kept us engaged and brought us all together. She used enjoyable games to teach us and keep us motivated. Throughout the year, although being the oldest in class, I felt like I was a part of a family. Her classroom was a positive environment and a light throughout my day." A male student from the class of 2023

"I loved being in Mrs. Hewitt's classroom. It was peaceful, and I looked forward to attending her class every day." A female student from the class of 2024

Lastly, enjoy these children while you have them! Please make the most of the days you have together. And there will be days that they exhaust you, but remember, each day is a chance to start again. Take your commitment seriously to prepare your students for the future, but along the way, take the time to have fun!

Classroom communities do not just happen over time. Teachers must be intentional and have a vision for their classes and the environment they want to create. If each teacher could touch just one life, our world would be better! You can be that one!

References

Wong, H. (2007). The Well-Managed Classroom 1. https://www.wtc.ie/images/pdf/Classroom_Management/cm6.PDF

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