Caring and Connected Classrooms
The caring and connected classroom reveals a teacher's humanity, creates student families and endorses collaboration throughout the year.
Research shows that when students feel connected to their teachers and to other students they are more likely to develop a sense of optimism around their learning experiences and sense of belonging in the classroom. The ramifications of this for professional development means that we must grow our teachers in ways that extend beyond their direct, content pedagogies. It means that as part of a teachers’ professional development, we must continue to make space for strategies that specifically support the nurturing of caring and connected classrooms throughout the school year. To do this, here is a list of potential strategies that our learning communities might try:
The creation of a 30-Day staff challenge. Ask staff to choose one bell for thirty days in which they greet and converse with students upon entering the classroom. To help teachers “see” the tangible benefits of this strategy, encourage teachers to use a conversation log or a class spreadsheet for jotting down notes. At the end of the thirty days, ask teachers to share their conversation logs or notetaking spreadsheets at a staff meeting, so others may “see” the benefits of giving this staff challenge a try.
The distribution of a pre-packed conversation toolkit (like The Connection Toolkit for teachers seen here) for each pod or hallway in a building. Teachers can circulate these conversation starters among the colleagues in their pod, for use on different days and times. These already-prepared conversation starters will spark lighthearted interactions at the beginning of a class bell and work well with move-and-share protocols, such as a Mix N’ Mingle or Maitre D’.
The Caring and Connected Classroom as a topic of choice for professional learning days.
For a collegial, informal PD session, guide teachers through questions that will help students to get to know them. This Toolkit from Perts suggests questions like: 1) What influences have shaped who you are and how you teach? 2) Who are you outside of the classroom? What interests drive you? and 3) Who created a caring classroom for you when you were in school? How did they do that?
For a more formal PD session, gather strategies that will help teachers showcase their own personal humanity and create a sense of connection among the learners within their room. To do this, encourage teachers to:
Reflect on their personal fears and flaws as they connect to events and discussions in the classroom.
Share lighthearted and moving stories that give support to the content or the Habits of Mind that fit the learning within the classroom.
Build in-class social networks to ensure that all students have small and immediate peer groups for support.
Create rotations among social groups to expand learners’ connections across the class.
Use technology platforms to support student-centered question /answer and classroom collaboration while at school and at home.
Invite students to co-create classrooms norms for classroom discussions and student-run teams after the beginning of the school year.
Instill whole-class routines to foster social connections among students on a weekly, if not, daily, basis.
Offer Google surveys and check-ins to get a read on students’ perceptions of their progress and sense of belonging within the class.