Teacher Inquiry Project
Building Community, Fostering Connections
How do we build community for students who are struggling to communicate? As a librarian, I get to see many students throughout the day. Some would never check-out a book if they were able, some are avid readers of things that people consider “unacademic”, and some just need to find a book they can endure reading for class. As a librarian, I strongly believe in the concept that every reader has a book. Not everyone will become avid readers in their lifetime, but everyone has a book that will make them not hate reading. For some students, the breadth of our collection (nearly 15,000 items) is too daunting to select a single title.
I spent time reading professional literature on the topics of building community, fostering connections between people of different cultures and backgrounds ( whether student-student or teacher-student), and teaching skills for individual student success. As a librarian, I am occasionally able to work on these areas in a one-on-one context, but this project will be my first time tackling these ideas in a small group. By collaborating with Freshman teachers, I hope to be able to create a book group of students who may struggle with their independent reading projects for a variety of reasons (focusing primarily on multilingual learners and Indigenous students).
From what I see as a librarian in the West High community, teachers fall back frequently on phrases that Cohan et al write about in their article “Partners in Learning”: “They don’t speak English? How can we even try to involve them? We don’t have the resources” (38). As white teachers in a predominantly white community, it can be daunting not only for teachers to tackle racial topics, but even for teachers to scaffold lessons to the level of language acquisition students possess. Sometimes these difficulties are intertwined with each other in unexpected ways. The first step of the cadre process will address scaffolding lessons on my end. By testing scaffolding skills with a small group, I will be able to relay the information to teachers who will be able to implement it in their own classrooms. My step for professional learning will include both the cultural aspect and the language acquisition aspect.
After discussing my project idea with my principal, who was encouraging, I first sat down with the chair of the English department to discuss the likelihood of department buy-in. I wanted to start the group with in-coming freshmen so that I could build every year. I want this to be a constant in their time at West High. And I want to build a new entry group every year. I was encouraged by the department head, so I reached out to current Freshman teachers to have it on their radar for the fall.
There’s lots of moving parts for this project. I have to get buy-in from English teachers, I have to get buy-in from parents, and I have to get buy-in from students. To English teachers, I’m presenting this as an opportunity to help students who might otherwise struggle with a large project the opportunity to succeed. To parents, I want to market it as an opportunity for small group, directed reading. It will allow their students to be able to discuss ideas that are important to them and their community.To students, I intend for them to understand that this is an opportunity for them to fulfill a school assignment while having another supportive person in the building and not having the stress of finding something they want to read. It gives them a place to voice their thoughts and opinions in a safe way. It gives them an opportunity to see themselves in a novel.
Much of what I read noted that regardless of subject or cultural context, the key element to building community was to “establish a comfortable and cooperative working climate” (Cassarà 9). In order to do that, there seems to be three established keys across all the research. Lloyd et al in “Classroom Discourse: An Essential Component in Building a Classroom Community” layout these three things in their Facilitate-Listen-Engage (FLE) model. The first step is to “model [yourself] as a learner at every opportunity. Students will learn from [your] openness to learn about what is important to them and [your] willingness to apply the principles of classroom action research” (Cassarà 10).As a facilitator in the FLE model, the teacher “intentionally plans lessons, engaging students in discourse” (Lloyd et al 291). In designing my book group, I want to allow students who feel nervous about speaking in large group settings an opportunity to engage in a smaller community. In her article “Citizenship at Its Core”, Carol Ann Tomlinson writes, “I think we get closer to [creating community] when we read books together that take students into worlds and lives they have not experienced, showing them the shared humanity of all people, and when we use resources that reflect the voices, beliefs, dreams, and fears of people who came before us and people who live among us now” (91). Living in a predominantly white community, led by predominantly white educators, white students are inherently (albeit perhaps unintentionally) offered more chances to succeed. Community seeking is a given. For students of other cultures–be that Indigenous students or students who have moved from other countries–sense of community has been removed from them. Students who immigrate to the U.S. will have plenty of educational opportunities to see the dominant white perspective. Indigenous students have already spent much of their formal schooling learning about white perspectives. Giving these groups of students a reflection of their lives or of another group is an opportunity they are not often given.
The second key to creating community in the classroom is the second step in FLE: listen. Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey tackle listening through community circles. Community circles “[build] the skills and stamina for engaging” in honest conversation when discussing novels, getting to know one another, or engaging in restorative practice (74). Most importantly, “community circles are as much a place for active listening as for speaking, respect is key” (75). Active listening is a hard skill to teach. Something that Carol Ann Tomlinson points out as well: “There’s no easy path to listening, empathizing, understanding diverse views on critical issues, thinking clearly, using viable evidence to shape thought and expression, learning to disagree without disrespect, and the scores of other skills and attitudes that are foundational to effective citizenship” (90). It is easier to practice active listening in a small conversational group than in a larger class–especially if it is lecture based. Listening to one another allows students an opportunity to reason, analyze, and support any argument they want to make. These are skills that are emphasized cross-curricular. As students grow in confidence through the book group, they will be able to take these skills to other classrooms and subject areas.
Finally, the other side of the listening coin is engagement. Jamie Zepeda in her work with younger children points out that for students “new to our country, with a limited English vocabulary, [...] finding and making friends [...] is a frightening task” (21). While Zepeda is working with younger children, this is true for students of all ages. It is difficult for many freshmen who come in to make new friends when they are put into a larger group than their middle school courses. By creating a smaller group for students to participate in, I hope to give students a space where “each person and his or her cultural background are respected and valued” (Casssarà 10). This allows students to be vulnerable and make connections between our readings and their own lives. Zepeda points out, “when we understand someone’s story, or their circumstances, we are more empathetic to their experience” (22). My intention as facilitator of this reading group is to choose texts which students will be able to relate to and also push against. By giving students a novel which they can relate to, we can practice community based education defined as “opportunities to immerse students in the issues–and possibilities for civic engagement–that exist within the context of their own communities” (Lowenstein and Smith 51). Place and community based education allows students to engage outside of the walls of the classroom. I want students to know that they are valued outside of the group–whether at school at large, in the Billings community, in Montana as a state, or in the United States as a whole.
Keeping these concepts in mind, I want to choose a novel that will allow for conversation, is available in multiple formats, and in multiple languages. As I will be working with English teachers and their final assessments for their independent reading projects, I need a novel that will allow students to complete their specific teacher’s requirements. I want it to be a novel that allows for students to see Indigenous people in a non-trauma based setting. I would prefer something either modern or futuristic in setting. Indigenous people are not relegated to history, and I want students to know that there are books that show that. I need to preread any options before selecting them. Per Montana Code Annotated, Title 20, Chapter 7, Part 1, I need to notify parents of the selected book as it will undoubtedly include gender identity and intimate relationships.
I have attained seven options: A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger, Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger, Walking in Two Worlds by Wab Kinew, Apple (Skin to the Core) by Eric Gansworth, The Barren Grounds by David A. Robertson, Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith, and potentially Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley (it is published May 2, 2023). I’m still working on prereading the titles in order to make a decision about which will be best for Fall semester’s project.
Although it is my hope that our class will be primarily discussion dominated, I do want to teach students several things. First of all, I want to teach them strategies for breaking down the reading and their projects into manageable chunks. Whichever book we choose, I will have students mark how far they need to read each week to finish it early enough for us to have sessions to work on their final project. We may spend time together reading the book if necessary. We will look at the parameters of the final project so we can know what to focus on during our reading. Then I will teach them how to annotate their book. My school has generously offered to buy students individual copies. I will show them multiple ways to annotate with the goal that they are prepared for their final project.
By creating this small book group, I hope to affect a large change in how specific groups of students access the library. I want them to know that the library is a safe space for them to ask questions, get help on assignments, or get help with any aspect of life. If we can’t help them directly, we can introduce them to someone who can.
Works Cited
Cassarà, Shirley. “Many Nations: Building Community in the Classroom.” Assessment Update, vol. 16, no. 3, June 2004, pp. 9–10, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ790754&site=ehost-live. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.
Cohan, Audrey, et al. “Partners in Learning.” Educational Leadership, vol. 77, no. 4, Jan. 2020, pp. 34–39, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mih&AN=141670188&site=ehost-live. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.
Delpit, Lisa. Other People’s Children : Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New Press, 1995.
Fisher, Douglas, and Nancy Frey. “Community Circles Build Restorative School Cultures.” Educational Leadership, vol. 80, no. 1, Sept. 2022, pp. 74–75, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mat&AN=159881044&site=ehost-live. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.
Gauthier, Launa. “Redesigning for Student Success: Cultivating Communities of Practice in a Higher Education Classroom.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, vol. 16, no. 2, Apr. 2016, pp. 1–13, doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v16i2. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.
Jones, Kel Hughes. “Building a Faculty’s Skills in Culturally Relevant Teaching.” Educational Leadership, vol. 79, no. 3, Nov. 2021, pp. 38–43, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mat&AN=153386213&site=ehost-live. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.
Kimberly Nix Berens. Blind Spots. The Collective Book Studio, 2020.
Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities : Children in America’s Schools. Broadway Paperbacks, 2012.
Lloyd, Malinda Hoskins, et al. “Classroom Discourse: An Essential Component in Building a Classroom Community.” School Community Journal, vol. 26, no. 2, 2013, pp. 291–303, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=120454457&site=ehost-live. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.
Lowenstein, Ethan, and Gregory Smith. “Making a World of Difference by Looking Locally.” Educational Leadership, vol. 75, no. 2, Oct. 2017, pp. 50–56, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mih&AN=125627099&site=ehost-live. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.
“Risk and Protective Factors | Suicide | CDC.” Www.cdc.gov, 5 Aug. 2022, www.cdc.gov/suicide/factors/index.html#factors-protect.
Tomlinson, Carol Ann. “Citizenship at Its Core.” Educational Leadership, vol. 75, no. 3, Nov. 2017, pp. 90–91, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mat&AN=125935947&site=ehost-live. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.
Zepeda, Jamie. “Stories in the Classroom: Building Community Using Storytelling and Storyacting.” Canadian Children, vol. 39, no. 2, 2014, pp. 21–26, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=95705845&site=ehost-live. Ebscohost. Accessed 18 Apr. 2023.