Building a Sense of Community

This week my class had an assignment to find an article about education and write a summary on the article we chose. The title of my article is "Building a Sense of Community with School-age Children."

The aricle starts off by saying that community plays and important role in the development of a child's self-esteem. The article also says that children need to know haw they belong in the world and they also need to be more aware of the others in the community.  The first step to helping children become part of a community is to make them feel part of a group. The article lists ways to promote a sense of community in a group. The list includes: allowing children to make decisions, promoting leadership and communication skills, and encourage children to set their own goals. The article also lists ways to help children feel part of a larger community. The list includes: starting a 4-H club or scout troop, taking part in community activities, entertaining senior citizens, and collecting food for families in need. The article is summed up by saying that if children become involved in the community then they will learn to care about the people in the community.

In my opinion I think that the article is correct. I think that if children feel like they are making a difference in the community then they are going to want to help out more. Do you agree or disagree with the article? Do you think that children should be involved with the community?

Comments

[Lani]

Hi Mary,

You made me think back to my years in school as a student. I don’t remember developing that serious sense of community in school, although I do remember community related projects. I do remember developing that sense of community in one online course I took a few years ago as an adult and that was really powerful; learning was challenging but because of the community feeling, it seemed like a safe place to take risks and try new skills. I remember that as one of the best learning experiences of my life!!! And I believe community had lots to do with that.

Then I thought back on my years in the classroom. I think that without knowing exactly what I was doing, without giving it a name, I made efforts to develop a community in the years I taught students with learning disabilities, in the professional development I provided for teachers, and in my last years in the classroom with students who wanted to be teachers. And I’d like to think that the learning that occurred during those times was pretty special. And I know that the feelings of all the members of the community including me were positive and good!

I observed a first grade classroom two years ago in which there was a remarkable sense of community. I’ll never forget, one student dropped all of her crayons on the floor. The teacher just said “Jill needs a friend.” And the next thing I knew, 4 students were on the floor helping pick up all the crayons!

How do you think your future classroom might look and feel and sound if you decided to make a conscious effort to develop a sense of community? Do you think that is something you may do?

Best,
Lani

[Mary]

Hi Lani,
I just want to thank yu for yur comment. To answer your first question I think that children in the classroom will start to become more helpful and more willing to interact with each other if there was a bigger sense of community. To answer your second question I think that is something that I will definately do in the future.

[tincher]

I think that building a sense of community is imparative to positive development of a child. All children need to feel like they belong. I hope you will see the teacher you are going to work with demonstrate allowing kids a community. What kind of things would you let student make their own decisions on?

Mrs. Tincher

[Mary]

Hi Mrs. Tincher,
Thank you for your comment. To answer your question, I think that I would let my students decide things like what they want to do for free time and I would give them a list activities that go along with the lesson and let them vote on which one they would like to do.