- What do you think about classroom community? Is it important?
Having positive feelings of community is essential to the functioning of a classroom. When students feel as though they know one another and have connected to their peers, they will be more invested in each other and the well-being of their class as a group. Classroom community can have a massively positive impact on a child’s school experience – a study done by Cousik et al (2015) demonstrated that a sense of community and inclusivity in the classroom improves a child’s performance at school. Having a classroom community enables children to make connections and learn how to be a supportive member of a diverse group. Community cultivates a sense of belonging and teaches a variety of social skills such as cooperation, verbal expression and emotion management.
2. What is one thing you would like to try in your practicum over the next few weeks?
Something I would like to do in my practicum in the next couple weeks is have a moment (or two) to connect with each child in my class and learn a bit about them and what they are passionate about. I think this will help greatly in my efforts to become apart of their classroom community, and make each child feel valued and important.
3. Does assessment need to have a value added to it?
I do not think that assessment needs to have a numerical value (or letter grade) added to it, but I do believe it needs to have a certain value to it to be useful for teachers; educators need assessment to able to evaluate where the child stands in comparison to a typical developing child of their age group. I think in the majority of cases that this value is something only for the educator to know, to use for guiding their teaching and instruction for that child. This information should, of course, be shared with parents at parent teacher conferences/other meetings to keep them involved in their child’s education. The value of assessment in primary schools should not be used so that children can place themselves in a ranked hierarchy (i.e. shared publicly or given to the child to tell them if they did ‘badly’, rather so that you as an educator are as aware as possible of each child’s needs and development as the year progresses.
References:
Cousik, R. (2015). Cultural and functional diversity in the elementary classroom: Strategies for teachers. Journal for Multicultural Education, 9(2), 54-67. doi:10.1108/JME-03-2015-0010