Create A Learning Community

Reprinted from Fast Forward’s newsletter Forward in the Fifth, January 2000

Students live and learn best in classrooms and homes where there is a comfortable environment for exploring and sharing. They need to experience a sense of belonging and achieving within a social group. Building a learning atmosphere for children gathered in close quarters for long periods of time requires thoughtful planning. The teacher and parent can build this vital sense of unity at school and at home.

Teachers: Know and accept your students for who they are. Approach each child as an individual with special interests and talents to be explored. Know and accept the curriculum, standards and testing methods with all their imperfections. Engage students in the process of how to connect the learning to their immediate real world. Know your subject so well you could teach it without a textbook. A “Great Teacher” finds ways to connect learning content together as a whole experience. Take the risk of allowing students to pursue interests which are fulfilled within the required studies and in ways the teacher can grow as a learner.	Parents: Know and accept each child as an individual with unique talents and needs. Every person learns and performs in different ways. Focus on what the child knows and can accomplish, such as playing the piano, driving a go-cart or drawing cartoons. Know and accept your child’s interests. Use curiosity to its best advantage. Encourage exploration and experimentation.
Sense of community at home and school reflects certain characteristics: Cooperation is valued above competition. Children reflect understanding that they are able, responsible, valuable. Adults respect the individual abilities and seek what is best for each child. Children understand that learning is something you do for yourself and take responsibility for their own learning. Adults expect and encourage children to learn. The learning environment is safe, friendly and comfortable.
*Ceremony* Children need a frequent turning away of their attention from the reality of everyday life. Give students “a break” with these activities.
Classroom	Home
Acknowledge a personal achievement. Set aside time for personal journal writing. Challenge students with a math teaser. Initiate a “thought of the day” or daily vocabulary word.	Discuss a current issue or event. Each family member shares experiences from the day’s activities, vacation plans, reading interests.
*Ritual* Children need the order and discipline of daily routines, performed without thinking, to create a sense of security and stability in the lives. They learn that every member of the community has a role in maintaining orderliness.
Classroom	Home
Be firm and consistent in acts of moving from one activity to another, (gathering into a circle, getting writing materials ready, being properly clothed for the outdoors). Remember: children are individuals in the ritual of “getting ready.”	Be firm and consistent in simple acts of family safety and togetherness (buckling seat belts, attending sports or religious events, finishing household chores).
*Celebration* To celebrate is to recognize or honor someone or some event that the community values as whole. Celebration can happen spontaneously when a team wins a game or a student receives an unexpected award. Most celebrations require planning and preparation which are packed with essential learning ingredients.
Classroom	Home
Plan with students to celebrate special days (first day of spring, “Poetry Power Day, 100th school day, “Hat Day”, as well as traditional holidays). Celebrate spontaneous events (first snowfall, new student, sports or academic win, student receiving scholarship).	Celebrate birthdays, family milestones, visitors. Recognize individual achievements (passing a driver’s license test, memorizing a piano recital piece, a parent receiving a promotion or raise). Remember: Celebrations can become flat and routine if they occur too often.
*Conversation* Children need to verbalize and interact with adults and their peers. Talk encourages children to get tuned in to the sensitivities of others, to take turns sharing and to receive affirmation as an individual.
Classroom	Home
Engage children in “talk story.” Allow students to share their own story worlds (real or fantasy) about subjects of interest to them, such as pets, motorcycles, playground. To limit long winded storytellers try a “talking stick,” any object which can be passed to another speaker after maximum amount of time allocated.	Take advantage of brief periods of time with one child or together with family, such as driving to a doctor’s appointment or band practice, giving youngsters a bath, preparing a meal or shopping together. Adult who share their own dreams, fears or ideas will discover their children opening themselves in the same manner.
*Discussion* Discussion is a different process from conversation. The act of discussing issues requires exploring new ideas, debating their value and drawing conclusions. Through discussion children develop reasoning skills, make judgments about their ideas, and develop understanding.
Class & Home The classroom and home must be “safe” places where students are free to express ideas without fear of judgment or intimidation. One enduring strategy is brainstorming, the act of generating ideas rapidly without thought of value judgment. Rules for brainstorming include: everyone’s idea is accepted and recorded in the student’s words without ridicule and one idea can “piggyback” or “trigger” an off-shoot idea. Brainstorming encourages student input to the design of classroom studies and family plans.
*Authority* Teachers and parents exercise their greatest authority when they teach and enable children to take initiative and responsibility for themselves. The development of this personal authority frees students to express themselves, to judge their work and to approach life’s decisions confidently.
Class & Home Authority of parent and teacher is unquestioned in matters of a child’s safety and builds secure boundaries. However, life is in a constant state of change and daily decisions shared and negotiated with students can promote independent learners.
Residency Who lives in this place? Who takes care of this space? The classroom and home are “crowded” spaces were social individuals live and study in close quarters.
Class & Home Develop a sense of oneness by engaging all community members in designing activities, arranging physical space to best suit everyone’s needs.
Jobs Jobs, or chores, teach children responsibility because there are choices to be made with regard to time, abilities and incentives.
Class & Home Engage children in decision-making about what jobs need to be done, how jobs will be organized, criteria for the quality of work done and what serves as an incentive. Have them reflect on their work as a responsible member of the community.
Playfulness Playfulness is the freedom to behave for the mere pleasure of the act itself. Observe children at play. They make their own rules, take turns, figure out things, question, experiment — in short, they learn. Why? Because they are engaged in self-expression.
Classroom	Home
Laugh. Use humor to teach. With an imaginary video camera catch students in “Candid Camera” scenarios. Reverse the teacher’s viewpoint occasionally. Do the opposite of what students expect. Pretend to be a hardware salesperson, a beautician, a firefighter to illustrate the concept. Use the ridiculous as teaching examples. Why are there are no orange elephants? How do you keep fish from smelling? What if human beings had six fingers on each hand? Play music, dance, paint a mural in the classroom. “Dress up” in costume.	Build sand castles on the beach. Squirt each other while washing the family vehicle.

Material for this article was extracted from: Life in a Crowded Place: Making a Learning Community by Ralph Peterson, Heinemann Publishers, division of Reed Elsevier, Inc., Portsmouth, NH, 1992 and Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech, Warner Books, Inc., New York, NY 1990.