Goal 15: Develop a safe, inclusive, and healthy learning environment that promotes respect, values differences, and mediates conflicts according to state laws and local protocol.
At the beginning of the year, I spend four days focusing on creating a respectful environment in my classroom. I feel that it is very important for my students to feel like a part of the classroom community. For my first artifact, I am posting pictures of my student-generated discussion rules. Classes spend a day working in a few different groups (I give them a playing card and use that to arrange the groups differently throughout class - i.e., by number, suit, etc) to create specific goals that should be followed throughout the year any time a group discussion is happening. I first asked students to work with a partner to create a list of the ten rules that they feel are most important to follow during a group discussion. Next, I have them combine with another pair and choose the top five rules from the two lists they created. Those top five rules are then taken to a new group where students work to make them specific and classroom-oriented. Finally, I have groups choose the top two most important rules - resulting in about 20 rules that are shared with the whole class. The class works together to combine rules, specify rules, and choose the top five-six rules that they feel are important for their class to follow.
For example, first period ended up with the following rules:
1. Respect ideas: let others finish speaking.
2. Give your full attention and stay on topic.
3. Listen to and watch the speaker.
4. No judgement.
5. Have a good attitude: be involved and give your input.
These class discussion rules are a good example of how my students and I work to create a respectful, inclusive learning environment. Having students work together with multiple groups of their peers on an assignment like this really helps them to think about what they would want if they were speaking to the class. I feel that this makes my classroom a safe and mentally healthy area where students can be free to share their thoughts and opinions. During class, I rarely have to remind them about these rules - more often than not, they enjoy chiding one another for things like talking over a classmate or being disrespectful.
For example, first period ended up with the following rules:
1. Respect ideas: let others finish speaking.
2. Give your full attention and stay on topic.
3. Listen to and watch the speaker.
4. No judgement.
5. Have a good attitude: be involved and give your input.
These class discussion rules are a good example of how my students and I work to create a respectful, inclusive learning environment. Having students work together with multiple groups of their peers on an assignment like this really helps them to think about what they would want if they were speaking to the class. I feel that this makes my classroom a safe and mentally healthy area where students can be free to share their thoughts and opinions. During class, I rarely have to remind them about these rules - more often than not, they enjoy chiding one another for things like talking over a classmate or being disrespectful.
For my second artifact, I am posting a picture of the back wall of my classroom. During those first four days of school, I have my students work with a small group to make "mini posters" that give reasons for why each student reads and writes. I encourage my students to think of reasons beyond "to do well in school," or "to learn new things" - instead, I encourage them to think about how reading and writing will help them in their future after high school, or to do well in the things they enjoy outside of school. This really helps my students to find a connection between my class and their lives; in the Common Core sense of thinking, it helps them to find the "real-world applications" for the content. In the sense of this goal, this activity helps my students to feel like a part of this class. In addition to the mini posters" about why we read and write, my students also bring in a picture of themselves participating in their favorite hobby or activity. After bringing in a picture and completing the posters, students stand in front of the class with their small group and discuss what is on the poster (why they read and write), what is in their hobby picture, and how the two relate. I then post the mini posters and the student photos on the back wall.
As you can see, not all of the students found specific connections between their hobbies and why they read and write. Since many students chose to write down the more "obvious" reasons for reading and writing, I turned the short presentations into a class discussion - if a group gave general reasons for reading and writing, I had the class help them out in making connections to their hobbies or aspirations during discussion. This ensured that everyone was able to see the connections, and it also helped the other students to step into one another's shoes for a moment. Again, this really helped them to consider the lives of their peers outside of class.
We are valuing each others' differences by acknowledging the fact that everyone is here for a different reason - all of my students have different hobbies and aspirations, and making connections between these things and our class encourages them to see each other as more than just peers and students. People who may not have had a connection before may make a new connection - in my first period class, for example, I had three students who all competitively ride dirt bikes, and they didn't know this about one another before. Finding out they had this in common gave them a connection beyond the classroom. Over the last eight weeks, I have seen them stepping outside of their typical groups of friends and working with one another, supporting one another's ideas, and encouraging one another during group discussions.
It seems to me that students frequently have their group of friends at school, and they can't help but see all their peers as nothing more than other bodies at school. As teenagers, students often do not stop to think about what their peers' lives may be like outside of the school setting. Discussing hobbies and aspirations as a whole class helps them to see each other as more than just additional students in the classroom. Students were able to see that their peers - especially those that they may have otherwise simply looked past and chosen not to get to know - have talents, goals, and dreams that may not be too different from their own. This makes my classroom much more inclusive than it may have been otherwise.
As you can see, not all of the students found specific connections between their hobbies and why they read and write. Since many students chose to write down the more "obvious" reasons for reading and writing, I turned the short presentations into a class discussion - if a group gave general reasons for reading and writing, I had the class help them out in making connections to their hobbies or aspirations during discussion. This ensured that everyone was able to see the connections, and it also helped the other students to step into one another's shoes for a moment. Again, this really helped them to consider the lives of their peers outside of class.
We are valuing each others' differences by acknowledging the fact that everyone is here for a different reason - all of my students have different hobbies and aspirations, and making connections between these things and our class encourages them to see each other as more than just peers and students. People who may not have had a connection before may make a new connection - in my first period class, for example, I had three students who all competitively ride dirt bikes, and they didn't know this about one another before. Finding out they had this in common gave them a connection beyond the classroom. Over the last eight weeks, I have seen them stepping outside of their typical groups of friends and working with one another, supporting one another's ideas, and encouraging one another during group discussions.
It seems to me that students frequently have their group of friends at school, and they can't help but see all their peers as nothing more than other bodies at school. As teenagers, students often do not stop to think about what their peers' lives may be like outside of the school setting. Discussing hobbies and aspirations as a whole class helps them to see each other as more than just additional students in the classroom. Students were able to see that their peers - especially those that they may have otherwise simply looked past and chosen not to get to know - have talents, goals, and dreams that may not be too different from their own. This makes my classroom much more inclusive than it may have been otherwise.