We can create a community in our classrooms by first establishing respect for each other. From teacher to student and from student to teacher. This is done by setting clear rules for students to follow and holding yourself, as a teacher, accountable for the lives of each student.
Of course, we can spend time together outside the classroom on field trips, or seeing each other in the community, but I have created a sense of community with my class during lunch time. At lunch time, the rest of the teachers stand and walk around the lunch tables yelling at their students to keep quiet. I sit at the table and eat lunch with my kids. Our table is the quietest and well behaved. This is because I model how to eat properly and converse with them as if we're having Thanksgiving dinner. It puts me in a position to be asked questions:
Ms. Brown why do you use a fork and knife to cut your sandwich?
Ms. Brown, do you always have to use a napkin to wipe your face?
Can I use my fork when I eat too?
Does your mommy help you cook your food at home?
Do you have to eat salad all the time?
Maybe I go overboard, but I always take time answer their questions and allow them to share stories concerning food at home. This is due to my upbringing. Some of the best times in my life were spent at the dinner table and I incorporate a sense of family with each group of students I get. (The picture shows the family out to dinner at Olive Garden with my small twin relatives - Elizabeth, 8 months, was learning how to eat by herself...how FUN!!!)
Walking Trees confirms that I’m not the only teacher who sincerely has to rely on the total reciprocation of love in the classroom. When Ralph is separates from his wife, he is devastated and loses love at home. He finds love in the classroom through the writing of the students. He realizes that writing can go further than personal experiences and branches out to other forms of writing. The introduction of different types of poetry he reads from students is therapeutic for him and helps to bring him out of his temporary slump.
Of course, we can spend time together outside the classroom on field trips, or seeing each other in the community, but I have created a sense of community with my class during lunch time. At lunch time, the rest of the teachers stand and walk around the lunch tables yelling at their students to keep quiet. I sit at the table and eat lunch with my kids. Our table is the quietest and well behaved. This is because I model how to eat properly and converse with them as if we're having Thanksgiving dinner. It puts me in a position to be asked questions:
Ms. Brown why do you use a fork and knife to cut your sandwich?
Ms. Brown, do you always have to use a napkin to wipe your face?
Can I use my fork when I eat too?
Does your mommy help you cook your food at home?
Do you have to eat salad all the time?
Maybe I go overboard, but I always take time answer their questions and allow them to share stories concerning food at home. This is due to my upbringing. Some of the best times in my life were spent at the dinner table and I incorporate a sense of family with each group of students I get. (The picture shows the family out to dinner at Olive Garden with my small twin relatives - Elizabeth, 8 months, was learning how to eat by herself...how FUN!!!)
Walking Trees confirms that I’m not the only teacher who sincerely has to rely on the total reciprocation of love in the classroom. When Ralph is separates from his wife, he is devastated and loses love at home. He finds love in the classroom through the writing of the students. He realizes that writing can go further than personal experiences and branches out to other forms of writing. The introduction of different types of poetry he reads from students is therapeutic for him and helps to bring him out of his temporary slump.
2 comments:
When establishing a classroom community, it is important to think about what type of community you yearn to establish. Modeling the behavior you wish students to emulate is an excellent way to achieve the classroom community you have envisioned. You can model the correct way to complete an assignment, how students should properly interact with one another, and, yes, the lunch time routine. (By the way, whenever I eat lunch with my students, they are also always well-behaved and engaged in more "adult" conversation.) However, modeling is entirely ineffective if not supported with respect for the students you teach. By valuing and answering student's questions, they will be more willing to follow protocol and a fluid classroom community will develop in no time.
What a great idea. By you actually sitting down with your students and eating with them not only do you have time to listen and share but you also show that you respect them and choose to eat with them. I can say I never had a teacher sit with me at lunch but I can see how well it can form bonds. The truth is, when teachers are constantly yelling to be quiet kids rarely listen, "its just the teacher..." Because you show respect to your students they are much more likely to show respect to you and there is no need to yell. Do you ever miss having some time to yourself though? It must be a little tough on a bad day to never get five minutes to yourself.
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