Community Building/Climate Building Activities/Practices
The teacher and the students will build a classroom community of learners where it is safe to try new ideas with trial and error. The classroom will be a safe environment for students to share their opinions. While the student is at school, the classroom should be a safe place for them. The students should care for each other, their teachers and the school. The students will continuously work together in groups and works towards a common goal. The students will acquire a sense of significance for being active participants in their own education. This will allow student’s opportunities for practicing perspective taking and fostering intellectual growth while helping students to become more ethical and compassionate. Also, by building the classroom community, the students will have a stronger commitment to key democratic values, significantly greater academic motivation and performances and empathy/motivation to help others. I will establish a safe learning environment by the following climate building activities:
True/False Teacher:
This activity would give the students an opportunity to get to know the teacher on the first day of class. The teacher would develop a true/false “pop quiz” about themselves and have the students take the quiz individually. Once everyone is completed, the students can discuss in their collaborative groups, or whole class to “second guess” who the teacher is. Finally, the teacher will introduce themselves and go over the answers to the quiz. This is a fun activity to introduce yourself to your students.
The Human Knot:
This icebreaker helps a group to learn how to work together as they learn how to communicate, provide leadership, problem solve and trust each other to get out of the human knot. The students will form a circle, then place their hands towards the middle of the circle to grasp someone else hands. The students should introduce themselves to the person they are holding hands with. The teacher will explain that the groups (7-16 students) cannot let go on their partner’s hands. The goal for the students is to untangle themselves, without letting go of each other’s hands and form a circle. This is a great activity for students to get to know each other names as well as working together to finish the task.
Name Search:
The students circulate to find other students with certain characteristics to sign the activity sheets. The students would seek out someone else who fits the descriptor. By the end of the activity, each person in the classroom will have a descriptor that fits him/her.
Two Truths, One Lie:
Students complete statements that would represent two truths and one lie about themselves; then, they will share them to the class. The students will have to guess which of the statements are false.
Interviews:
The teacher will ask students to pair up. As the class comes back together, each person will introduce their classmate to the rest of the group. This allows students to practice their active listening skills and learning about their classmates interest and hobbies.
I will be friendly with my students:
However, I am still their teacher and not their buddy. I will act professional with them in my classroom as well as outside of the classroom.
Establish a difference between Power & Authority:
During various times of the semester, I would give the students an opportunity to run parts of the lesson, but I will remain an authoritative figure in the classroom. This will allow the lesson to be student center and it gives them to an opportunity to foster their learning and forming connections on their own.
Establish Classroom Rules & Expectations Collaboratively:
Even though I will set some rules in my classroom through Love and Logic and Responsible Thinking Process, I will allow the students to create the classroom social contract. Also, I incorporate the school board and district rules that are publish in the school’s student/teacher handbook into our classroom rules.
The Marshmallow Challenge:
This challenge encourages teams to work together in collaborative, innovative, creative way to build the highest free standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The entire marshmallow needs to be on top and one team member cannot hold on to the structure when the time runs out. Those touching or supporting the structure at the end of the exercise will be disqualified. Each team has eighteen minutes to complete the challenge. By the end of the activity, the students will learn how to identify the assumptions of the project, and how they should test them early and often. Thus, the students need to think innovative while problem solving.
Great Egg Drop:
Students will form small groups and compete against each other as they design an egg package to save an egg from sustaining an 8 foot fall. Also, the students will create a 30 second jingle selling their package design. For each group of approximately 5 students, the group will be provided straws, masking tape, a raw egg and any other items you want to give for creating the egg package. This activity will teach teamwork, problem solving, critically thinking and leaderships skills as each group competes in this challenge.