Thursday, November 1, 2012

Brief points on community building


Studies have shown that a strong sense of classroom community contributes to a positive student outcomes; they will do better than those who don't. Unfortunately, many American schools traditionally use competition, awards, and achievement based grouping to encourage learning -- which likely undermines a child's sense of community.
Students with a high sense of community showed:
Greater academic motivation and performance
They liked school better and enjoyed class
Empathy and motivation to help others
increased conflict resolution skills
More altruistic behavior

Teachers should consider:
Use welcome notes
Visit children and their families
Celebrate success
Use class meetings to take notes and identify possible issues
Down play competition
Display everbody's work
Use non-competitve games
Involve all children
Rotate classroom responsibilities
For school principals:
Organize schoolwide acitivities
Start a buddy program

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