Valuing the success of all my students is my fundamental responsibility as a teacher. Before any learning is possible, students need to feel safe within my classroom. My role is to create an environment where students feel they can come as they are, express themselves freely, and be treated with respect and care. Classroom community and sense of belonging is the foundation on which everything else in the classroom is built: management, motivation, learning, and feedback. As an educator, I prioritize using soft-start questions, team building activities, random acts of kindness, and other similar intentional steps to make my students feel comfortable, safe, and welcome in my classroom.
Artifact #1: Thursday Check-In Forms
Thursday Check-Ins are an example of how I regularly seek student voice in the classroom. Especially under pandemic conditions, my students were under a lot of emotional stress. These check-in forms were a way I gave students an opportunity to share how they were feeling, what they were proud of achieving that week (with links to learning standards and specific assignments), and also give me feedback on my teaching. At the end of the form, students had a chance to share any other things they wanted me to know about how they were doing. This idea was inspired by this Twitter conversation and reinforced the idea that, within the classroom, we were all learners: teachers and students alike. These check ins were one way I could identify when my students were feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or excited about things happening in their lives. As a whole, the check-ins contributed to the idea that within our classroom, everyone’s well being was a priority. Students were able to self-assess and felt free to express the things that were helping and hindering their learning.
Artifact #2: Class Kahoot game
Pictured above is the scoreboard of a whole-school Kahoot trivia game my English 9 class participated regularly in on Fridays. We didn’t often do too well because we were only a grade 9 class, but on this particular day we made it onto the final scoreboard, coming in 5th place out of all the classes in the school. My students were ecstatic. Overall, Kahoots became a regular way for me to build the classroom community. My students began regularly creating their own Kahoots based on their interests for us to play as a whole class during our breaks. This became a valuable way to form connections between students and allow everyone to connect in a low-pressure competitive context. At the end of the quarter, when asked about a highlight or favourite memory/tradition from the course, most students said class Kahoots were their favourite. They all mentioned how Kahoots allowed them to connect positively with their peers and feel happy and welcome within the classroom community.
Conclusion
As educators, we have the powerful potential to make a positive difference in the lives of our students through positive interactions with them and their peers. My greatest goal as a teacher is to make sure my students feel safe, heard, and valued in my classroom. As I step into new teaching positions as a TTOC or other classroom teacher, I’d like to build up my tool-kit of team-building activities that are best suited to me and my students. Now that my professional year has come to a close, The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle will be worth the re-read with the new perspectives I’ve gained in my classroom. I will continue collaborating with other educators in my school, district, and on Twitter to come up with ways to engage student self-efficacy and expression in my classrooms.