Building Community

See it in Action in Peel!

Alyssa Gray-Tyghter and Andre Mattrasingh open up about their experience on Teachers Like Us

Listen to their podcast! 'Teachers Like Us'

Reflect:

How are we thinking about relationships differently? Between student and educator? Between students?
How are we consistently creating opportunites for meaningful connection in the classroom?
How are we creating the conditions for connection in every learning opportunity?
How are we taking time to repair relationships when harm is done, knowing that this is a process that takes time? Knowing that this repair is integral when creating a positive, supportive learning community?
What messages are we communicating about friendship, love, true belonging, and inclusion?
How are we intentionally seeking to learn and understand more about the communites we serve?

Learn:

Something to Read:

23 Ways to Build and Sustain Classroom RelationshipsThese teacher-approved activities will help create the sort of classroom bonds that pave the way to academic success.

Building a Learning Community From Day OneTeachers can foster a learning network in the classroom by focusing on strategies that lead students to work closely together.

Building Community With Restorative CirclesA technique for proactively building the skills and relationships students will need when challenges arise.

Building a Joyful Classroom CommunityIn a year full of uncertainty and stress, teachers in the early grades can create a safe and even joyful learning environment.

10 Powerful Community-Building IdeasStrategies for ensuring that students in every grade feel like they’re part of the classroom community.

6 Ways to Create and Sustain CommunityInterviews with teachers reveal the importance of relationship-building and student voice and choice. Here’s how to incorporate these in classroom routines.

Time Spent Building Community Is Never Time WastedLFJ Deputy Director Hoyt Phillips offers insight into the significance of intentional and consistent relationship building—inside the classroom and beyond.

Something to Watch:

Something to Listen to:

LE 216: How to be Vulnerable with Your Students

69. Cultivating a Sense of Belonging in Schools w/ Kat McKim - This Restorative Justice LifeKat McKim is a writer who also works in operations at a network of K-12 schools in New York City. She loves working behind the scenes to put all the pieces together and make everything flow smoothly—a passion that perhaps surprisingly applies to b...

Something to Work With:

Sense of Belonging

How are we measuring a sense of belonging at school?

Components of belonging
Reflective questions
Possible tools to use to measure a sense of belonging

Measuring School BelongingUnderstanding and interpreting your results.

"Belonging is dynamic, individually experienced and multi-faceted. When assessing school belonging in your educational setting, interpreting the results can be challenging and complex. This complexity is to be expected and arises due to the unique individual needs, varying social and emotional competencies, and diverse perceptions and needs of belonging among students."

Define belonging
Consider individual needs
Consider multiple factors at play
Involve Students in the process
Implement change based on findings

Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education Framework offers practical strategies for accomplishing academic and social-emotional goals side by side. This framework also provides valuable advice for implementing culturally responsive pedagogy and describes how teachers can bring anti-bias values to life.

The critical practices in this framework are based on the values exemplified in the Social Justice Standards.

The framework is organized into four sections: Instruction, Classroom Culture, Family and Community Engagement, and Teacher Leadership. In each section, you can explore recommended practices, find helpful explanations and learn how each practice connects to anti-bias education. Drill down further for specific strategies you can try in your own classroom.

Top 10 Back To School Activities to Build CommunityBuilding community in your classroom is critical to a great year! Students who feel safe, valued and a sense of belonging are infinitely more willing to take social and academic risks in your classroom. So how do you build that sense of community? Well, I have gathered up 10 of my favorite activities to share with you today.

10 Ways to Create a Safe Learning Environment - Teaching with Jillian StarrHow can we create a safe learning environment for our students? How can we create spaces where our students feel understood and appreciated for who they are? I am going to be answering these questions, and highlight some of the ways to I create a safe learning environment in my classroom. I hope a lot …

Have morning meetings
Create micro-environments in the classroom
Differentiate instruction
Student Agency
Co-construct consequences (what does justice look like)
Work from an asset model
Make curriculum and instruction culturally responsive and relevant
Create predictable structure and routines
Celebrate acheivement
Co-construct norms and expectations around communication

6 Strategies for Building Community in the ClassroomHow do you foster a sense of safety and belonging so students can focus their energy on learning? These strategies for building community in the classroom will help.

Create human values for learning
Co-construct behaviours around these values
Build culture and climate with goals
Develop a shared conflict resolution language
Establish SEL routines
Play around with routines during SEL mini-lessons

*Love this article!

We are pleased to share a new e-module Identity, Belonging & Relationships: Nurturing children’s self-regulation and well-being through culturally relevant and responsive practices.

The e-module is intended to align and deepen understandings around self-regulation and culturally relevant and responsive practices. Understanding how Early Years pedagogy, culturally relevant and responsive practices, and self-regulation lay the foundation for nurturing learning environments, empowers educators to deepen relationships with children and families.

Let's Talk

This guide provides concrete strategies for creating 'safe' spaces with students and how to have courageous conversations with students

Have students generate 'community agreements'
Honour student experience
Prioritize social emotional skills and safety
Equip students with language and skills

Get to Agency!

Act:

Co-Construct Classroom Community Expectations and Mutual Agreements:

35 Restorative Justice Circle Questions to Engage Middle School StudentsBy creating a safe, brave container for self-inquiry and deep listening, restorative circles are a powerful tool for building community, checking in, sharing stories, learning about relationships and values, encouraging individual and shared goals and dreams, and taking responsibility for behaviors and choices.

5 Questions for Learning About Values

What makes you feel safe, supported, and empowered in friendships? At school? In your community? In society? How do you share these qualities with others?
Do you think it’s ever okay to lie [cheat, steal, etc.]? Why or why not? Has anyone ever lied to you? How did that make you feel?
What are some rights you think everyone--including you--deserves? What might the world look like if everyone had these rights?
Have you ever done something to help someone else when you thought no one was watching? How did this experience make you feel?
What do the words ‘justice’ and ‘injustice’ mean to you? How do you think we can proactively create a more just classroom, community, and world?

Developing Classroom Values Collaboratively With StudentsHigh school teachers can facilitate classroom management through an approach centered on shared values established with student input.

Using Community Agreements to Start the Year StrongTeachers and students can get off to a good start by determining their values and setting expectations for each other as a group.

Affinity Spaces

Making SpaceAffinity groups offer a platform for voices often relegated to the margins.

Toolkit for Making SpaceThis toolkit describes how affinity groups help marginalized students to be seen and heard, and provides step-by-step recommendations on how to launch an affinity group—or revamp one that already exists—at your school.

"Students need to be able to be themselves at school—and that’s where affinity groups come in. A group of students who share an identity are going to relate to each other in ways they can’t with peers who can’t or don’t understand their experience. It’s about safety and, in some cases, about fundamental issues of injustice."

Share Your Story:

Encouraging Students to Be StorytellersStudents in kindergarten through second grade can develop the ability to share original stories, strengthening their literacy skills.

The Power of Sharing Your Story With StudentsRevealing imperfections and showing vulnerability connects teachers to students—and students to deeper engagement.

The Value of VulnerabilityIf we want new teachers to become great teachers, we must help them feel safe enough to take risks, make mistakes, and embrace uncertainty.

Promote Power With - in a Loving Way

Troublemakers

Play Together! Have Fun! Create Joy!

Home Page | Restorative Teaching ToolsGames and Activities for Understanding Restorative Practices Explore games Restorative Teaching Tools Training Based on the approach to training

Circles GamesHere are some games to engage your students: Alphabet Game The teacher chooses a random letter, and any students who have that letter in their name changes spots. This can be varied by using...

Work Together Towards a Common Goal:

Using Projects to Build CommunityStarting the year with a fun small-group project helps middle and high school students get to know and trust one another.

How might we bring identity work into every lesson?
What opportunties are we providing to learn more about our students?
What opportunties are we providing for students to learn and understand themselves in different ways, and for them to understand each other better?
How are we centering student well-being in the classroom?
How can we create the conditions for healing?

Build Optimal Environments For Students

Building Optimal Learning Environments

Strategies to consider:

soft starts
morning meetings and daily check-ins
flexible schedules and flow of the day
creating microenvironments
celebration circles
models of learning
reframing behaviour
recognizing and reducing stressors

Meet in Circle:

Connection Circles

Daily Shout Outs

Community Building Circles

Consolidation Circles

Community Circle Questions

Prioritize Well-Being and Connection:

Daily Check-ins - Strategies for Social Emotional Well Being

Social Emotional Well-Being

Check out more resources and information to consider on this Google Site:

https://sites.google.com/pdsb.net/socialemotionalwell-being/home

Recognize the social emotional well-being of students:

Daily check-ins (two word check in, mood meter)

Opportunities for self reflection (Check in journals or drawing prompts to label emotions)
Time for small group reflection (sharing prompts or reflective questions)
Surveys (google forms or questionnaires)

Teach Vocabulary for Emotions:

Brene Brown: "Human emotions and experiences are layers of biology, biography, behaviour and backstory.

We understand how emotions and experience show up in our bodies and why (biology). We get curious about how our families and communities shape our beliefs about the connection between our feelings, thoughts and behaviour (biography). We examine our go- to response (behaviour). We recognize the context of what we're feeling or thinking. What brought this on? (backstory).

Understand the Brain Science and Connection to Learning

How Restorative Justice Helps Students LearnRestorative justice allows everyone affected by a harm to return to a calm state that is optimal for learning.

Additional Resources

Building Classroom Culture Through Student AutonomyStudents who have a say in creating classroom rules are more likely to abide by them, but getting student buy-in can’t stop there.

A Simple but Powerful Class Opening ActivityThe rose and thorn check-in is a quick strategy for building community and developing student voice.

Building a Joyful Classroom: Top 10 Strategies Based on Education in FinlandEducation in Finland focuses on bringing joy to the classroom, so why not incorporate some of those strategies into your own class?

A Classroom Culture Built on TrustWhen students feel safe being vulnerable with their classmates, it strengthens their relationships and improves learning outcomes.

Page updated

Report abuse

Building Community

See it in Action in Peel!

Alyssa Gray-Tyghter and Andre Mattrasingh open up about their experience on Teachers Like Us

Listen to their podcast! 'Teachers Like Us'

Reflect:

How are we thinking about relationships differently? Between student and educator? Between students?

How are we consistently creating opportunites for meaningful connection in the classroom?

How are we creating the conditions for connection in every learning opportunity?

How are we taking time to repair relationships when harm is done, knowing that this is a process that takes time? Knowing that this repair is integral when creating a positive, supportive learning community?

What messages are we communicating about friendship, love, true belonging, and inclusion?

How are we intentionally seeking to learn and understand more about the communites we serve?

Learn:

Something to Read:

Something to Watch:

Something to Listen to:

Something to Work With:

How are we measuring a sense of belonging at school?

Components of belonging

Reflective questions

Possible tools to use to measure a sense of belonging

Define belonging

Consider individual needs

Consider multiple factors at play

Involve Students in the process

Implement change based on findings

The critical practices in this framework are based on the values exemplified in the Social Justice Standards.

Have morning meetings

Create micro-environments in the classroom

Differentiate instruction

Student Agency

Co-construct consequences (what does justice look like)

Work from an asset model

Make curriculum and instruction culturally responsive and relevant

Create predictable structure and routines

Celebrate acheivement

Co-construct norms and expectations around communication

Create human values for learning

Co-construct behaviours around these values

Build culture and climate with goals

Develop a shared conflict resolution language

Establish SEL routines

Play around with routines during SEL mini-lessons

We are pleased to share a new e-module Identity, Belonging & Relationships: Nurturing children’s self-regulation and well-being through culturally relevant and responsive practices.

Let's Talk

This guide provides concrete strategies for creating 'safe' spaces with students and how to have courageous conversations with students

Have students generate 'community agreements'

Honour student experience

Prioritize social emotional skills and safety

Equip students with language and skills

Act:

Co-Construct Classroom Community Expectations and Mutual Agreements:

5 Questions for Learning About Values

Affinity Spaces

Share Your Story:

Promote Power With - in a Loving Way

Play Together! Have Fun! Create Joy!

Work Together Towards a Common Goal:

How might we bring identity work into every lesson?

What opportunties are we providing to learn more about our students?

What opportunties are we providing for students to learn and understand themselves in different ways, and for them to understand each other better?

How are we centering student well-being in the classroom?

How can we create the conditions for healing?

Build Optimal Environments For Students

Strategies to consider:

soft starts

morning meetings and daily check-ins

flexible schedules and flow of the day

creating microenvironments

celebration circles

models of learning

reframing behaviour

recognizing and reducing stressors