Community and the Whole Class
People will typically be more enthusiastic where they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community than they will in a workplace in which each person is left to his own devices”
-- Alfie Kohn
Teaching kids how to feed themselves and how to live in a community responsibly is the center of an education.”
-- Alice Waters
If poverty is a disease that infects the entire community in the form of unemployment and violence, failing schools and broken homes, then we can't just treat those symptoms in isolation . We have to heal that entire community.
-- Barack Obama
This page is dedicated to ways you can build and connect with your whole class. It acts as a sort of "bringing together" of the Individual and Par/Small Groups.
Community and the Whole Class - Strategies
This is under construction as I complete my internship!
One thing that I am beginning with is a class sharing activity on Monday mornings after the weekend. Before we begin class, I give each student the opportunity to share with the class about something exciting that they encountered over the weekend.
In the photo below, the class took about 20 minutes to color their very own puzzle piece, which we then fit together on a little corkboard I keep at the back of the class. The students regularly visit it to look at their piece. I think it is a nice reminder of community.
One thing that I am beginning with is a class sharing activity on Monday mornings after the weekend. Before we begin class, I give each student the opportunity to share with the class about something exciting that they encountered over the weekend.
In the photo below, the class took about 20 minutes to color their very own puzzle piece, which we then fit together on a little corkboard I keep at the back of the class. The students regularly visit it to look at their piece. I think it is a nice reminder of community.
Check out the gallery below for even more suggestions (though I did not yet get to try them)!