Page 51 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

CHAPTER 2
How Can I Build a Learning Community in My Classroom: Strategies for Including All Children 23
students rather than pretend that they did not exist. However, it is important to acknowledge such differences matter-of-factly and respond to them within the spirit of learning community norms. Talk and act in terms of coping (and helping others to cope) with special needs, not labeling or pitying those who have them.]
Principle 1: Supportive Classroom Climate: Students learn best within cohesive and car- ing learning communities. The teacher establishes a positive learning community in which students are encouraged to take risks and use mistakes as opportunities to learn. The teacher cares about students as individuals and attends to their emotional and social development as well as their academic development. Principle 10: Cooperative Learning: Students often benefit from working in pairs or small groups to construct understandings or help one another master skills. Cooperative learning promotes stu- dents’ social and emotional development and has the capacity to promote students’ academic growth. Students learn from each other when they share knowledge with each other and teach each other skills. Principle 12: Achievement Expectations: The teacher establishes and follows through on appropriate expectations for learning out- comes. Teachers’ expectations about students’ abilities play a role in students’ sense of self-efficacy, or what they feel capable of doing. The teacher holds high expectations for students, coupled with strong support for students to achieve those expectations. Please see Chapter 14 for a more in-depth description of each principle.
Supportive Classroom Climate, Cooperative Learning, and Achievement Expectations
Launching a Learning Community
You may want to begin your school year as Mrs. Paul does by putting forth a vision of your classroom as a learning community, using past class events, work samples, and per- sonal stories to engender early interest and provide meaning and context. Each new class, however, would be encouraged to generate its own ideas. You would plan carefully to ensure that every child has classroom (departmental) responsibilities that are within his/her capacity, match committee goals, and fit the community vision. You also would set aside periodic committee and total-class reflection time to ensure that learning community efforts are contributing to social understanding and personal and civic efficacy.
How do you envision the first day with your students? We
suggest that at the start of the school year you do the following:
• Establish a vision of your classroom as a learning community.
• With students, write a set of guidelines or principles regarding
how the classroom will be run.
• Plan carefully to ensure that every child has responsibilities within
his or her capacity.
Instead of using the president’s office and cabinet as your metaphor, you could use the governor of a state with a supportive cabinet, a family, a sports team, or a
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