In my class, I emphasize to my students that I don't have many rules, but that the main rules, even though not written anywhere are RESPECT and TRUST. I make sure I tell them that if they can commit to that, that we will have a good year. I give example of what disrespectful comment are, and that we need to stay away from them. I make sure they are clear on bullying, harassment, and their consequences. I explain why the rules on sweaters, and how not following rules, can have a negative consequence when trying to go to a social. I make sure they know that making mistakes is human, and that many times, I will make mistakes, but that we must learn from them, and instead laugh, we need to help each other. But overall RESPECT is what makes us bond, and get along in class as much as possible.
I like how simple and clear the expectations are. I know in the past, I have made the mistake of creating too many rules and expectations and I had a hard time following them myself. Having worked with your students in the past, I know that they respond to the trust and respect you develop and emphasize. Looking forward to working in your room and learning from you.
It great to further ask students to write down what trust and respect sounds looks like and sounds like in a classroom.Many students need this modeling-great start!!
On the first day we met in the dance room and everyone wrote one awesome thing that happened over the summer and one not so awesome thing that happend on a card with no name. Then we mixed up the cards and read them aloud and guessed whose was whose. The next time we met I used that inside-outside circle strategy where one circle rotates and you switch partners each time that we did in PD last year in the MPR with the chairs facing each other and had the girls talk to each other for one minute about what they are excited and looking forward to as 8th graders and what they are nervous about. We also practiced making eye contact and smiling to whoever we were talking to. Building community is a little tough when they've already separated themselves into little cliques. I'm trying to go either whole group or use strategies where they switch partners and can't be with their friends the whole time.
The three things I have done to facilitate community were to go over the rules and expectations of the class. I also did "share arounds" where the students were asked to tell us about themselves, and what they did over the summer. Connected to that I did a "Stand-up" activity where I would mention questions like, "who flew on a plane over the summer?" and whoever did would stand. Lastly, I shared about myself, and fielded personal questions.
Regarding teaching practices, I implemented KAGAN strategies like Pair/Share, and Stand up, Hand up, Pair up. I was also in the habit of having students say back to me in their own words what they heard me say from the front.
Hey Mr. Thomas, I agree with you on rules, and as to sharing, we did share out on who likes sports (what sports), music, and type of music, fun and boring summers. For the most part, kids already knew each other, so they've been sharing since the 6th grade.
I also agree with connecting with students through shared activities. Allowing students to share both in small and large groups really gives them the opportunity think about responses and prepares them to be more comfortable when sharing with the whole group. Nice :)
Building community with certificated and classified staff in meetings, sharing their hopes and fears. Short and long term goals. Meeting one another and checking in with summer and finding common interests.
Building community by sharing summer experiences, discussing library books & textbooks, and updating website/calendar/marquee with information and events that bring us closer together.
Ms. Konopliv and I also shared our summer experiences with the students! The students really enjoyed sharing their summer and realizing others did similar things.
I agree as well with these three. It starts with respect for one another. Without respect, the student(s) will talk and be rude while someone else is talking of sharing. So, listening is very important because each student should be able to listen to each other. Finally, each student should be given the chance to share out loud, while everyone else is quiet, respectful and listening.
I have been working in other classrooms for the first time in my professional career and using this opportunity to better integrate myself in YOKA as a whole community. I have been following the lead of the teacher who I am working with, while simultaneously getting to know students I have yet to work with. Not having a classroom of my own is a new obstacle, as it is more challenging to feel like I am part of a community, but teachers and students have been so welcoming and warm. I am trying to be consistent in working with RSP students in their classrooms and respectful of the spaces that I am working in.
Building Community 1. Marshmallow Challenge - Students worked in collaborative groups to build a tower out of spaghetti and a marshmallow. 2. Ice Breakers - 2 truths and a lie, decorating their "space" (folders), interest survey and introduction letters 3. Classroom Roles to distribute responsibilities and norms
Teaching Practices 1. Routines - Revisiting classroom setup and notebooks 2. Kagan - Think, Pair, Share and Talking Chips
I like how you are using the marshmallow challenge so early in the year. I am sure that some of the students have done this in the past, but there are so many different ways they can complete the activity. I never thought about doing this activity at the beginning of the year. I wonder how long you will be sweeping up tiny pieced of spaghetti? :)
1) Rules, Procedures & Expectations 2) Think/Pair/Share, Write/Pair/Share & Stand/Pair/Share 3) Student Information - students wrote about themselves and discussed with 5 other people in the room.
Meeting the students at the door and being consistent with the norms is my focus the first week. It makes a big difference for the rest of the year. Always referring back to the syllabus is also a way of expecting students to be accountable of their actions in the classroom.
Some activities I've done the past week for community buildling: 1) Give-One-Get-One: YOKA Dragon Pact, 2) Similarities and Differences, and 3) Who Am I.
The Give-One-Get-One activity is helpful to get students out of their seats and share their responses/knowledge with each other. We used it as a community builder in reviewing the Dragon Pact, but it can be applied as a strategy in content.
The "Who Am I?" community builder is similiar to 2 Truths and 1 Lie. Students write 3-4 thigns aboaut themselves, and then teacher collects all the cards. Teacher reads the 3-4 facts, and students have to guess who is the student. This game can be applied later on using content, e.g. historical figures.
This week, I had the students participate in interactive name remembrance activity along with an activity where the students find out what they have in common with the other students. Further, the students created a hard copy school designed facebook page that will be posted in the classroom for all the students to see.
Some teaching practices I used this week to build a community culture include, community circles and think, pair, share activities. This activities ensure that the students are communicating both verbally and through writing.
We build and cultivate relationships in our classrooms by creating routines, and investigate how to create communities from our classrooms. This can be by: All of us learning each others’ names Students being grouped with classmates they might not seek out on their own and then being asked to learn something new about them Pictures of student work posted around the classroom Or our class webpage where students can find blog posts of our work in class and photographs of their contributions
Three things that I've done to build community were: 1) Explaining and teaching the classroom rules via entire activities and scenarios that helped students reason the importance of having rules and see their value. 2) Full class icebreakers where each student meets and learns something about each classmate 3) Classmate biographies where pair of students interview each other and write a narrative biography about each other using 3rd person point of view.
I greet each of my students in the line they form outside and shake their hands. This is a way to engage with them and informally check to see how they are doing prior to entering my class. I have used a lot of get to know you activities this week such as index cards with their name and info. We used the back of the card to play two truths and a lie to learn about each other. I start my class off with a journal and have done pair, discuss and share.
1: Our IMPACT Fellow Ruth came up with an activity called How you see yourself VS How the world sees you, which helped students reflect how they are seen by others and how much they allow others to see about themselves. 2: For advisory some students created a birthday wall and we displayed everyone's b-days on cupcakes. 3: Waving hands in air to acknowledge others. Teaching Practices: 1: Using white boards Up to practice math problems before making it permanent in their notebooks. 2: Bringing extra composition books for those students that forgot it the day we set them up so all students set up notebooks at the same time. (target 50cents).
One thing I did this week to build community was the kagan strategy of mix pair share, where the students walk around and find a partner and share their response to certain questions such as favorite musician, summer highlight, favorite clothing store, etc. I also had tables find things they had in three things they had in common with one another and share out with the class. We also shared birth stories using kagan's round robin where student go around the table sharing out. Some teaching strategies that are working for me are the use of the hand signal to regroup students after a group activity, and consistently reviewing and repeating the class expectations and rules.
We did an activity where students within their cooperative groups did a rapid interview with each other. I stress that they are part of our school community and that we as teachers are here for their education and protection. With my eighth graders I have come full circle and now I expect them to be the leaders of our student body.
To establish community norms, I introduced students to the idea of a community norm & informed them our 4 community norms are Respect, Collaborate, Support, and Enjoy. As groups, I have them rotate through 4 posters where students see the designated norm & write what it Sounds Like and what it Looks Like. Each student has a marker & they're allowed to write in any language or draw. This lets students participate in the creation of our community as they specify what each norm means to them. I have these hanging in my classroom to remind students of the importance of this activity. I then had students "cup stack" with only 1 rubber band and 4 strings tied to the rubber bands. They were to build 3 different configurations in groups of 4, without letting any part of their body touch the cups (only the rubber bands & strings could touch the cups). I then had them categorize the 4 norms into their strengths and weaknesses, self-evaluating their group. As a reflective piece, I am having students write 2 examples of how their team showed each norm & 1 way their team could improve for each. We will be sharing them during the next class period before engaging in another group activity centered around engineering.
1. RJ Community building circles 2. Fun ice breakers that engage all students 3. Activities that will make it easier for students to connect with their teachers
For the first week, I went over the rules and and explained why each of them contributes to a safe environment that is conducive to the students succeeding. My advisory is now 7th grade so I did the "Hopes and Fears" protocol with them. Specifically, what are there hopes and fears for 7th grade and the rest of middle school. At first, they were shy to share, but I shared my hopes and fears and that helped them become more comfortable sharing. Also, once they saw that other students had the same hopes and fears (sometimes over 20 shared the same fear), they were more willing to open up and feel connected. One student even said it validated her thoughts. This week, I did both teambuilding and classbuilding. There was a building challenge (who could make the tallest structure with the cups), getting to know the class (class bingo), team problem solving (crash landed on the moon). Ferrel
The first way we build community in the classroom is through the discussion of our class regulations, where we talk about RESPECT and HONESTY. Relating to the classroom, the school, and our lives outside of school. Since we are a "class" working together for a common goal of success, we talk about students taking care of themselves first, their table second, and that allows the teacher to better take care of the classroom as a whole. Lastly we talk about being positive. If you surround yourself with positive friends, if you have positive support from home, you are more likely to make smarter choices and have success in school and life. One of the effective teaching practices for the first week is defining and establishing goals for the year. Having students set up goals paves the way for them to take responsibility for the choices they make throughout the year. Along with goal setting we reflect upon the previous school year, in order to better understand our successes and failures.
Awareness month project to connect students with LAUSD polices, behaviors and ensuring students are safe at school.Our parents have begun the campaign to keep the school safe by making anti-bullying, non discrimination, sexual harassment, LGBTQ safety.
Creating an environment where students are respected and praised for their hard work and accomplishments. Walking around the classroom and getting the students involved and making them feel they are part of a team.
Ways that we built community in my classroom is by working on an I am poem. Students wrote a poem about themselves and I swapped the poems and they were read by another classmate. It was great to see my students reactions to hearing someone else read their written words. We went over respect and how important it is to for them to respect themselves, others, and our classroom. We also went over how we have to help each other and ways that we will do that "Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind.... or forgotten."
1) The first thing I did was go over students expectation with the students in order for them to understand that they belong to a community of learners where their actions affect everyone in the class.
2) I also had students do name tags that reflect things about them. They then share out with their elbow partner, and lastly, they each introduce their partner to the class.
3) I also did a human hunt where students walked around the classroom with a worksheet with things they may have done over the summer and had to try and find someone different for each box.
Two effective teaching practices I used first week were:
1) Quiz-Quiz-Trade for students to review the classroom syllabus, as well as be introduced to this strategy, which they will use in the future.
2) Draw-Pair-Share for students to draw things about themselves in their name tag, pair up with their partner to share their name tag, and had their partner share out their partner’s name and one thing about them.
Three best practices I would do the last 3 years in class were: (1) sign up kids emails and have them blog personal points of view on current topics, mostly to get them to know how to use the hardware and software (2) Establish clear goals and expectations: both academic and social; kids really appreciated knowing they were safe from bullying and cursing (3) remove the "front of the room" and sit among the students everyday; they tripped out at first but then saw the benefits of one-to-one coaching opportunities
I try to build community by using classroom jars. In each period, the students feel like a team and they use positive peer pressure to reinforce good behavior. I also did a lot of table group work where the students need to work together to accomplish a task/assignment. I also went over the DRAGONS pact to let the students know that we as a community need to follow these guidelines. I used Chalk Talk to promote discussions and this actively engaged their attention. I had the students discuss their responses with their elbow partner.
My first weeks are build on going over rules and procedures, classroom expectations, syllabus, AUP letter, grade policy, listening skills, respect and trust. In between I have group activities such as "people hunt" (Kagan Strategies) where studends will walk around meet and greet and find similarities. We make nametags, organize notebooks, have colored pens ready, giving students incentive pads for stickers for applying listening skills and good behavior. It is important to set the record straight at the beginning of school and continue to build on that and constantly reminding students who they are and consequences for good and bad behavior. We are defining bullying/hate crimes right now in groups. They will be watching a 15 min. TED TALK "Imagine a world without hate" from which they will learn more about bullying and hate crimes. They will discuss in groups and add to their list of bullying and hate crimes and final assignment will be writing a reflection when they experienced bullying or hate crime or witnessed it.
I experience a positive encounter with several teachers. They welcomed me with open arms by sharing pointers on what to expect the first day of school. I also was given valuable support in the classroom by a veteran teacher. That allowed me to sit back and observe and gather myself. Some of the staff also offered to share they lunch time to get to know the new staff.
In my classroom, the students were ask to work as a team and support each other. We also talked about the Dragon Pact. We discussed having a positive
The first icebreaker I started with was two truths and a lie. Students were able to learn about each other and also flex their creative muscles by thinking of creative lies. Then I used classroom bingo as an icebreaker for classes that had extra time and this allowed the students to get out of their seats and stretch a little.
During my advisory I organized an informal RJ circle. I asked students to describe summer in one word. I then asked my students to listen to the words and remember one that stuck out in their minds. During the second round students then got to ask a fellow classmate to elaborate on why they chose that word. It
The progress on "Awareness" month s going well with my 6th grade advisory girls. They seem to be understanding to different topics. We decided that if we treat others as humans, with respect, things would be better. I struggled with not knowing the importance of the power of communities. I will use these activities more often.
In my class, I emphasize to my students that I don't have many rules, but that the main rules, even though not written anywhere are RESPECT and TRUST. I make sure I tell them that if they can commit to that, that we will have a good year. I give example of what disrespectful comment are, and that we need to stay away from them. I make sure they are clear on bullying, harassment, and their consequences. I explain why the rules on sweaters, and how not following rules, can have a negative consequence when trying to go to a social. I make sure they know that making mistakes is human, and that many times, I will make mistakes, but that we must learn from them, and instead laugh, we need to help each other. But overall RESPECT is what makes us bond, and get along in class as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteYes. Rules are very important Mr. Ramos- I agree that is an excellent way to facilitate community, particularly emphasizing TRUST AND RESPECT!!
DeleteI like how simple and clear the expectations are. I know in the past, I have made the mistake of creating too many rules and expectations and I had a hard time following them myself. Having worked with your students in the past, I know that they respond to the trust and respect you develop and emphasize. Looking forward to working in your room and learning from you.
DeleteIt great to further ask students to write down what trust and respect sounds looks like and sounds like in a classroom.Many students need this modeling-great start!!
DeleteThis is the time to get our classroom rules in place. Next month it will be to late :(
DeleteOn the first day we met in the dance room and everyone wrote one awesome thing that happened over the summer and one not so awesome thing that happend on a card with no name. Then we mixed up the cards and read them aloud and guessed whose was whose. The next time we met I used that inside-outside circle strategy where one circle rotates and you switch partners each time that we did in PD last year in the MPR with the chairs facing each other and had the girls talk to each other for one minute about what they are excited and looking forward to as 8th graders and what they are nervous about. We also practiced making eye contact and smiling to whoever we were talking to. Building community is a little tough when they've already separated themselves into little cliques. I'm trying to go either whole group or use strategies where they switch partners and can't be with their friends the whole time.
ReplyDeleteI must try that activity.
DeleteI like that we incorporated writing into the activity, Circles, inside outside are great strategies for socratic seminars, Advisory check ins etc.
DeleteI like that idea of guessing which fact goes with a particular student.
DeleteThe three things I have done to facilitate community were to go over the rules and expectations of the class. I also did "share arounds" where the students were asked to tell us about themselves, and what they did over the summer. Connected to that I did a "Stand-up" activity where I would mention questions like, "who flew on a plane over the summer?" and whoever did would stand. Lastly, I shared about myself, and fielded personal questions.
ReplyDeleteRegarding teaching practices, I implemented KAGAN strategies like Pair/Share, and Stand up, Hand up, Pair up. I was also in the habit of having students say back to me in their own words what they heard me say from the front.
Hey Mr. Thomas, I agree with you on rules, and as to sharing, we did share out on who likes sports (what sports), music, and type of music, fun and boring summers. For the most part, kids already knew each other, so they've been sharing since the 6th grade.
DeleteI like to see Kagan strategies used in the first week- speakign an d listening is key for learning.
DeleteI also agree with connecting with students through shared activities. Allowing students to share both in small and large groups really gives them the opportunity think about responses and prepares them to be more comfortable when sharing with the whole group. Nice :)
DeleteBuilding community with certificated and classified staff in meetings, sharing their hopes and fears. Short and long term goals. Meeting one another and checking in with summer and finding common interests.
ReplyDeleteBuilding community by sharing summer experiences, discussing library books & textbooks, and updating website/calendar/marquee with information and events that bring us closer together.
ReplyDeleteMs. Konopliv and I also shared our summer experiences with the students! The students really enjoyed sharing their summer and realizing others did similar things.
DeleteListening, respecting, and sharing.
ReplyDeleteCircles to get to know each other.
Moving around the round!
RJ Circles have begun in classes-this build community-thank you for beginning circles!
DeleteMs. Konopliv and I also did a similar circle sharing activity called Talking Chips. It was a Kagan activity!
DeleteI agree as well with these three. It starts with respect for one another. Without respect, the student(s) will talk and be rude while someone else is talking of sharing. So, listening is very important because each student should be able to listen to each other. Finally, each student should be given the chance to share out loud, while everyone else is quiet, respectful and listening.
DeleteI have been working in other classrooms for the first time in my professional career and using this opportunity to better integrate myself in YOKA as a whole community. I have been following the lead of the teacher who I am working with, while simultaneously getting to know students I have yet to work with. Not having a classroom of my own is a new obstacle, as it is more challenging to feel like I am part of a community, but teachers and students have been so welcoming and warm. I am trying to be consistent in working with RSP students in their classrooms and respectful of the spaces that I am working in.
ReplyDeleteBuilding Community
ReplyDelete1. Marshmallow Challenge - Students worked in collaborative groups to build a tower out of spaghetti and a marshmallow.
2. Ice Breakers - 2 truths and a lie, decorating their "space" (folders), interest survey and introduction letters
3. Classroom Roles to distribute responsibilities and norms
Teaching Practices
1. Routines - Revisiting classroom setup and notebooks
2. Kagan - Think, Pair, Share and Talking Chips
This is me...Ms. Huang & Ms. Konopliv :)
DeleteI like how you are using the marshmallow challenge so early in the year. I am sure that some of the students have done this in the past, but there are so many different ways they can complete the activity. I never thought about doing this activity at the beginning of the year. I wonder how long you will be sweeping up tiny pieced of spaghetti? :)
Delete1) Rules, Procedures & Expectations
ReplyDelete2) Think/Pair/Share, Write/Pair/Share & Stand/Pair/Share
3) Student Information - students wrote about themselves and discussed with 5 other people in the room.
Meeting the students at the door and being consistent with the norms is my focus the first week. It makes a big difference for the rest of the year. Always referring back to the syllabus is also a way of expecting students to be accountable of their actions in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteSome activities I've done the past week for community buildling: 1) Give-One-Get-One: YOKA Dragon Pact, 2) Similarities and Differences, and 3) Who Am I.
ReplyDeleteThe Give-One-Get-One activity is helpful to get students out of their seats and share their responses/knowledge with each other. We used it as a community builder in reviewing the Dragon Pact, but it can be applied as a strategy in content.
The "Who Am I?" community builder is similiar to 2 Truths and 1 Lie. Students write 3-4 thigns aboaut themselves, and then teacher collects all the cards. Teacher reads the 3-4 facts, and students have to guess who is the student. This game can be applied later on using content, e.g. historical figures.
This week, I had the students participate in interactive name remembrance activity along with an activity where the students find out what they have in common with the other students. Further, the students created a hard copy school designed facebook page that will be posted in the classroom for all the students to see.
ReplyDeleteSome teaching practices I used this week to build a community culture include, community circles and think, pair, share activities. This activities ensure that the students are communicating both verbally and through writing.
We build and cultivate relationships in our classrooms by creating routines, and investigate how to create communities from our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteThis can be by:
All of us learning each others’ names
Students being grouped with classmates they might not seek out on their own and then being asked to learn something new about them
Pictures of student work posted around the classroom
Or our class webpage where students can find blog posts of our work in class and photographs of their contributions
Three things that I've done to build community were:
ReplyDelete1) Explaining and teaching the classroom rules via entire activities and scenarios that helped students reason the importance of having rules and see their value.
2) Full class icebreakers where each student meets and learns something about each classmate
3) Classmate biographies where pair of students interview each other and write a narrative biography about each other using 3rd person point of view.
I greet each of my students in the line they form outside and shake their hands. This is a way to engage with them and informally check to see how they are doing prior to entering my class. I have used a lot of get to know you activities this week such as index cards with their name and info. We used the back of the card to play two truths and a lie to learn about each other. I start my class off with a journal and have done pair, discuss and share.
ReplyDeleteThis is Mr. Bautista by the way.
Delete1: Our IMPACT Fellow Ruth came up with an activity called How you see yourself VS How the world sees you, which helped students reflect how they are seen by others and how much they allow others to see about themselves.
ReplyDelete2: For advisory some students created a birthday wall and we displayed everyone's b-days on cupcakes.
3: Waving hands in air to acknowledge others.
Teaching Practices:
1: Using white boards Up to practice math problems before making it permanent in their notebooks.
2: Bringing extra composition books for those students that forgot it the day we set them up so all students set up notebooks at the same time. (target 50cents).
One thing I did this week to build community was the kagan strategy of mix pair share, where the students walk around and find a partner and share their response to certain questions such as favorite musician, summer highlight, favorite clothing store, etc. I also had tables find things they had in three things they had in common with one another and share out with the class. We also shared birth stories using kagan's round robin where student go around the table sharing out. Some teaching strategies that are working for me are the use of the hand signal to regroup students after a group activity, and consistently reviewing and repeating the class expectations and rules.
ReplyDeleteWe did an activity where students within their cooperative groups did a rapid interview with each other. I stress that they are part of our school community and that we as teachers are here for their education and protection. With my eighth graders I have come full circle and now I expect them to be the leaders of our student body.
ReplyDeleteCan i steal this from you ? great activity!
DeleteTo establish community norms, I introduced students to the idea of a community norm & informed them our 4 community norms are Respect, Collaborate, Support, and Enjoy. As groups, I have them rotate through 4 posters where students see the designated norm & write what it Sounds Like and what it Looks Like. Each student has a marker & they're allowed to write in any language or draw. This lets students participate in the creation of our community as they specify what each norm means to them. I have these hanging in my classroom to remind students of the importance of this activity.
ReplyDeleteI then had students "cup stack" with only 1 rubber band and 4 strings tied to the rubber bands. They were to build 3 different configurations in groups of 4, without letting any part of their body touch the cups (only the rubber bands & strings could touch the cups). I then had them categorize the 4 norms into their strengths and weaknesses, self-evaluating their group.
As a reflective piece, I am having students write 2 examples of how their team showed each norm & 1 way their team could improve for each. We will be sharing them during the next class period before engaging in another group activity centered around engineering.
1. RJ Community building circles
ReplyDelete2. Fun ice breakers that engage all students
3. Activities that will make it easier for students to connect with their teachers
For the first week, I went over the rules and and explained why each of them contributes to a safe environment that is conducive to the students succeeding.
ReplyDeleteMy advisory is now 7th grade so I did the "Hopes and Fears" protocol with them. Specifically, what are there hopes and fears for 7th grade and the rest of middle school. At first, they were shy to share, but I shared my hopes and fears and that helped them become more comfortable sharing. Also, once they saw that other students had the same hopes and fears (sometimes over 20 shared the same fear), they were more willing to open up and feel connected. One student even said it validated her thoughts.
This week, I did both teambuilding and classbuilding. There was a building challenge (who could make the tallest structure with the cups), getting to know the class (class bingo), team problem solving (crash landed on the moon).
Ferrel
The first way we build community in the classroom is through the discussion of our class regulations, where we talk about RESPECT and HONESTY. Relating to the classroom, the school, and our lives outside of school. Since we are a "class" working together for a common goal of success, we talk about students taking care of themselves first, their table second, and that allows the teacher to better take care of the classroom as a whole. Lastly we talk about being positive. If you surround yourself with positive friends, if you have positive support from home, you are more likely to make smarter choices and have success in school and life.
ReplyDeleteOne of the effective teaching practices for the first week is defining and establishing goals for the year. Having students set up goals paves the way for them to take responsibility for the choices they make throughout the year. Along with goal setting we reflect upon the previous school year, in order to better understand our successes and failures.
ice breakers,cultural events, cooperative group learning project based
ReplyDeleteAwareness month project to connect students with LAUSD polices, behaviors and ensuring students are safe at school.Our parents have begun the campaign to keep the school safe by making anti-bullying, non discrimination, sexual harassment, LGBTQ safety.
ReplyDeleteCreating an environment where students are respected and praised for their hard work and accomplishments. Walking around the classroom and getting the students involved and making them feel they are part of a team.
ReplyDeleteWays that we built community in my classroom is by working on an I am poem. Students wrote a poem about themselves and I swapped the poems and they were read by another classmate. It was great to see my students reactions to hearing someone else read their written words. We went over respect and how important it is to for them to respect themselves, others, and our classroom. We also went over how we have to help each other and ways that we will do that "Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind.... or forgotten."
ReplyDeleteThree ways that I built community are:
ReplyDelete1) The first thing I did was go over students expectation with the students in order for them to understand that they belong to a community of learners where their actions affect everyone in the class.
2) I also had students do name tags that reflect things about them. They then share out with their elbow partner, and lastly, they each introduce their partner to the class.
3) I also did a human hunt where students walked around the classroom with a worksheet with things they may have done over the summer and had to try and find someone different for each box.
Two effective teaching practices I used first week were:
1) Quiz-Quiz-Trade for students to review the classroom syllabus, as well as be introduced to this strategy, which they will use in the future.
2) Draw-Pair-Share for students to draw things about themselves in their name tag, pair up with their partner to share their name tag, and had their partner share out their partner’s name and one thing about them.
Three best practices I would do the last 3 years in class were:
ReplyDelete(1) sign up kids emails and have them blog personal points of view on current topics, mostly to get them to know how to use the hardware and software
(2) Establish clear goals and expectations: both academic and social; kids really appreciated knowing they were safe from bullying and cursing
(3) remove the "front of the room" and sit among the students everyday; they tripped out at first but then saw the benefits of one-to-one coaching opportunities
I try to build community by using classroom jars. In each period, the students feel like a team and they use positive peer pressure to reinforce good behavior. I also did a lot of table group work where the students need to work together to accomplish a task/assignment. I also went over the DRAGONS pact to let the students know that we as a community need to follow these guidelines. I used Chalk Talk to promote discussions and this actively engaged their attention. I had the students discuss their responses with their elbow partner.
ReplyDeleteMy first weeks are build on going over rules and procedures, classroom expectations, syllabus, AUP letter, grade policy, listening skills, respect and trust. In between I have group activities such as "people hunt" (Kagan Strategies) where studends will walk around meet and greet and find similarities. We make nametags, organize notebooks, have colored pens ready, giving students incentive pads for stickers for applying listening skills and good behavior. It is important to set the record straight at the beginning of school and continue to build on that and constantly reminding students who they are and consequences for good and bad behavior. We are defining bullying/hate crimes right now in groups. They will be watching a 15 min. TED TALK "Imagine a world without hate" from which they will learn more about bullying and hate crimes. They will discuss in groups and add to their list of bullying and hate crimes and final assignment will be writing a reflection when they experienced bullying or hate crime or witnessed it.
ReplyDeleteI experience a positive encounter with several teachers. They welcomed me with open arms by sharing pointers on what to expect the first day of school. I also was given valuable support in the classroom by a veteran teacher. That allowed me to sit back and observe and gather myself. Some of the staff also offered to share they lunch time to get to know the new staff.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, the students were ask to work as a team and support each other. We also talked about the Dragon Pact. We discussed having a positive
Ms. Tripodes
ReplyDeleteThe first icebreaker I started with was two truths and a lie. Students were able to learn about each other and also flex their creative muscles by thinking of creative lies. Then I used classroom bingo as an icebreaker for classes that had extra time and this allowed the students to get out of their seats and stretch a little.
During my advisory I organized an informal RJ circle. I asked students to describe summer in one word. I then asked my students to listen to the words and remember one that stuck out in their minds. During the second round students then got to ask a fellow classmate to elaborate on why they chose that word. It
ReplyDeleteThe progress on "Awareness" month s going well with my 6th grade advisory girls. They seem to be understanding to different topics. We decided that if we treat others as humans, with respect, things would be better. I struggled with not knowing the importance of the power of communities. I will use these activities more often.
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