Hello!

Yesterday in class, we had a lot of discussion on how to embed more social and emotional learning in both the teaching and the learning in classrooms. As you may or may not know, I’m currently doing my practicum in a Kindergarten/Grade 1 classroom that does actually embed a lot of SEL teachings throughout the school day. My S.A. does an awesome job in making the entire day very SEL. I didn’t actually notice how much social and emotional learning is done in the classroom till yesterday when I had a discussion with my other classmates who are also doing their practicum in a Kindergarten-Grade 1 classroom!

My practicum class does things such as morning meetings, “how well did I do today” charts in Gym class, A LOT of SEL stories, a chance for collaborative work (in Math for example), family reading in the morning, “hug, handshake or high-five” at the end of the day and of course, a LOT of Centre time — after all, they ARE only 5-7 years old.

With that being said, I’m going to talk about this great resource I found online called “Creating Caring Classrooms” by Lundy and Swarts (2011).

I spoke about my Inquiry topic/question in my last post, but to refresh your memory, my topic is on how teachers can develop class community/unity in a split class or how teachers deal with a split class without compromising class community and unity.

This resource tackles the idea of building classroom community/unity, something that I’m really interested in, in terms of my topic and also because I think that classroom community is such an important aspect of learning in schools.

Community, as mentioned in the book, is about “everyone feeling (like) they are apart of the classroom experience, that they are included, honoured and valid community members who won’t be judged for who they are and how they present themselves in the classroom” (pg.13). It says how “the most effective classroom is  one with a caring, positive and cooperative learning environment” (pg.13).  — and of course it would be! We all know that when we feel safe in an environment, only then would we feel comfortable to explore, learn and grow!

This books gives great tips on how to build community, some of which are:
1.Write end-of-the-summer letters to families
2. Prepare a welcoming environment
3. Create a space that works
4. Greet students by name (We have learned from our other classes how important names are to students, and to adults alike. I wouldn’t want people mispronouncing or changing my name)
5. Connect with parents (this is something that I see my S.A. do quite a lot!)
6. Set rules and routines
7. Plan together
8. Agree on positive class symbols
9. Come up with a “class name” (I guess this further strengthens the idea of a community)
10. Determine how to begin and end (My S.A. does a good job making everyone feel included in the class with morning meetings in the well, morning and “hug, handshake or high-five” at the end of the day)
11. Establish a forum
12. Hold class meetings
13. Involve the students in communication with families
14. Engage in outreach
15. Encourage leadership
16. Reward GROUP accomplishment (As opposed to individual accomplishments)
17. Promote high expectations
18. Help students play together (PLAY is super important)
19. Discuss routines to help resolve conflict
20. Foster independence

It continues on with listing great activities that all help build that sense of community in the classroom.

This is definitely a resource that I’ll be checking out of the library or checking online — the activities and games mentioned are all great for embedding SEL in the class and thus, helping build that sense of unity and belonging — even in a split class! 🙂