Creating Community in the Classroom
MMSD Class: Winter 2015
Carla Hacker: chacker@madison.k12.wi.us
Kathy Hellenbrand: khellenbrand@madison.k12.wi.us
Laurie Frank
Lsfrank@mac.com

Flow
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 Welcome/Introductions
 Intentional Community Building
 Ground Rules/Protocols/Non-Negotiables
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Connections
Create Base Teams
 What is a Sense of Community?
 Creating a Framework
 Working Definition

 Why Create a Sense of Community?
 So Why Do We Do It?
 Container Concept
 Creating a Sense of Community…
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Supports Learning
Fosters a Safe Environment
Is Experiential
 Closing
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Questions and Application
Reflection: Running Class Journal
 Next Class: Artifact & Question

Ground Rules/Protocols/
Expectations/Goals
Non-Negotiables
 External
 Enforced
 Safety
 Respect

 Assume good intentions
 Ouch/Oops
(Spinach in the teeth rule)
 Right to Pass
 Be Present
 Confidentiality

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Positive Behavioral
Interventions and
Supports (PBIS)
2 nd Step
Responsive Classroom
TRIBES
Above the Line
Restorative Practices (e.g.
Peace Circles)
Social Emotional Learning
(SEL)
Professional Learning
Communities
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Avid
Advisory
Freshman Academy
Individual Learning
Plans (ILP)
RTI (Response to
Intervention)
Bullying prevention programs (e.g.
Olweus)
Disarming the
Playground
Stress/Challenge

From Group to Community
“In genuine community there are no sides. It is not always easy but by the time they reach community the members have learned how to give up cliques and factions. They have learned how to listen to each other and how not to reject each other. Sometimes consensus in community is reached with miraculous rapidity. But at other times it is arrived at only after lengthy struggle. Just because it is a safe place does not mean community is a place without conflict. It is, however, a place where conflict can be resolved without physical or emotional bloodshed and with wisdom as well as grace. A community is a group that can fight gracefully.”
M. Scott Peck M.D.
The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace

Thomas Sergiovanni states that “the need for community is universal. A sense of belonging, of continuity, of being connected to others and to ideas and values that make our lives meaningful and significant -- these needs are shared by all of us.”

“The people in one’s life are like the pillars on one’s porch you see life through. And sometimes they hold you up. And sometimes they lean on you, and sometimes it’s just enough to know they’re standing by.”
Anonymous

Community is consciousness of connection, combining and comprising:
Courtesy, communication, collaboration, cooperation, consideration, caring, compassion, curiosity, commonalities, common goals, confidence, creativity, courage, challenge, camaraderie, and conceivably chocolate.
CTC Group, 2004

“So why do we do it?
What good is it?
Does it teach you anything?
Like determination? Invention?
Improvisation? Foresight? Hindsight?
Love?
Art? Music? Religion?
Strength or patience or accuracy or quickness or tolerance or which wood will burn and how long is a day?
And how far is a mile?
And how delicious is water and smoky green pea soup?
And how to rely on your self?”
Terry and Renney Russell, On the Loose

“People and environments are never neutral, they are either summoning or shunning the development of human potential.”
Purkey & Novak, Inviting School Success
See Invitational Education at www.invitationaleducation.net


Community Meetings
 Ropes Course Elements
 Simulations
 Activities
 Wilderness trips
 Rituals
 Curriculum
 Sharing/Talking circles

How do we Increase the Probability of
Helping and being Beneficial?

INTENTIONALLY UNINTENTIONALLY
INVITING INTENTIONALLY
INVITING
UNINTENTIONALLY
INVITING
DISINVITING INTENTIONALLY
DISINVITING
UNINTENTIONALLY
DISINVITING

~ Wendell Berry

Maxine Greene, educational philosopher, author, social activist, and teacher
“… we are bombarded with messages about
“what is” and what “ought to be.” [This is a] …
“mystification or ‘surface reality,’ that many people take for granted as objectively true.”

Maxine Greene, educational philosopher, author, social activist, and teacher
“To transcend the effects of mystification, it is necessary to wake up to the world and start seeing it from a variety of vantage points…
Humans have the unique “capacity to surpass the given and look at things as if they could be otherwise.”

What are the qualities of your container(s)? How have you & others felt/operated in healthy containers?
Unhealthy containers?

• AT PEACE
• CARING
• COMPASSIONATE
• CONFIDENT
• CONTRIBUTER
• CREATIVE
• CRITICAL THINKER
• EMPATHETIC
• EMPLOYED
• FORGIVING
• GET ALONG W/ OTHERS
• GOOD COMMUNICATOR
• GOOD PARENTS
• GOOD SELF ESTEEM
• HAPPY
• HEALTHY
• HONEST
• INDEPENDENT
• INTEGRITY
• LITERATE
• LOYAL
• RESOURCEFUL
• RESPECT
• RESPONSIBLE
• SELF RESPECT
• SELF SUFFICIENT
• SENSE OF HUMOR
• SUCCESSFUL
• MOTIVATED
• PATIENT
• WELL-INFORMED
• PERSEVERENCE
• POSITIVE ATTITUDE
• PROBLEM SOLVERS
• PRODUCTIVE CITIZENS
• RELIABLE
• RESILIENT

Supports Academic Learning
Safe, caring, and orderly environments are conducive to learning.
Caring relations between teachers and students foster a desire to learn and a connection to school.
When students can self-manage their stress and motivations, and set goals and organize themselves, they do better.
From: Zins, J.E., Weissberg, R.P., Wang, M.C., and Walberg, H.J, eds. (2004).
Building Academic Success on Social and Emotional Learning: What does the
research say? New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

… four-year study confirming that school-based social and emotional learning programs that help students build positive relationships, develop empathy, and resolve conflicts respectfully and cooperatively also have a positive effect on academic performance.
(from article by International Institute for Restorative Practices: www.safersanerschools.org/library/caselstudy.html)
* Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning http://www.casel.org/downloads/metaanalysissum.pdf

Supports Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
See www.CASEL.org

Safe, Caring,
Challenging,
Well-
Managed ,
Participatory
Learning
Environments
Greater
Attachment,
Engagement
& Commitment to School Better
Academic
Performance and Success in School and Life
Teach SEL
Competencies
• Self-awareness
• Social awareness
• Self-management
• Relationship skills
• Responsible decision making
Less Risky
Behavior, More
Assets, More
Positive
Development http://www.casel.org/downloads/Safe%20and%20Sound/2B_Performance.pdf

Bullying – More than a label
“A student is being bullied or victimized when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more students.”
~ Dan Olweus

Social-Ecological Framework
• Pain
• Fear
• Adult attitudes
• School climate

Pre-Bullying
1. Behavior that, if escalated, could become bullying.
2. Norms that set the stage for bullying if the behavior becomes intentional, consistent, and abusive (e.g. sarcastic humor, put downs, unconscious and/or unchallenged use of derogatory terms)

Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs
Esteem
Belonging
Security
Retrieved from: http://two.not2.org/psychosynthesis/articles/maslow.gif

PBIS Continuum and PII Approach*
* Positive
Behavior
Interventions &
Supports and
Prevention,
Intervention ,
Invention
INVENTION
INTERVENTION
PREVENTION

APPLICATION: GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

Homework
• Bring an artifact that has meaning for you
• Write a question about what you would like to explore regarding community building, adventure ed., use of activities, or other topic related to the class.
• Alone, in pairs, or in a small group – bring in an activity, experience, or other way to create a sense of community

“ Education – true education is not a process of pouring in from without, but of calling forth what is within. It’s not a process of memorization or socialization or instillation, it’s a process of nurturing, of allowing, of evoking. It’s a process of bringing forth the person one is meant to be.
”
~ Jeff White