Community Building

Source: Yahoo Images

Overview of the Module

This module provides opportunities for students and teachers to learn more about each other in order to create a safe learning environment and strong sense of community for all members of the class.

What exactly will teachers find in this module?

This module incorporates music, icebreakers, and other experiences to help support the development of a classroom community. The resources and suggested activities in this module can be used at any time to support the development of a strong community of learners.  

Why is this module important?

This module is important because it promotes camaraderie among members of the class by learning more about one another on a personal level. This helps to build a safe learning environment with a true sense of community and trust.

How does this module connect to bullying?

Often people are bullied because of their misunderstood quirks and characteristics. This module helps students embrace and celebrate the differences between each other.

Content

Additional Resources for Teachers

Books

Johnston, P. (2003). Choice words: How our language affects children’s learning. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Websites

Classroom community: http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/bluestein-building-classroom-community.shtml

Don’t put people in boxes video:

Kid President-20 Things We Should Say More Often:

Kid President- A Pep Talk:

Lesson Topics

Celebrating our Similarities and Differences
Group of Friends Smiling

Lesson Goals: 

This activity will help students acknowledge the similarities and differences amongst peers in a positive way. In celebrating these differences, the students will create a sense of community within the classroom.

How does this lesson connect to bullying? This lesson will help to encourage empathy among students so they are more apt to befriend versus bully each other.

Materials/Resources for Lesson:

Lecture structure:

  • Open
    • Show the video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwt25M5nGw
    • Questions after the video:
      • What is your reaction to the video?
      • What is the overall message?
      • Have you ever judged someone based on a stereotype and then learned you were wrong after getting to know them?
  • Body
    • Ask the students to form a large rectangle in the center of the room. Ask students to move to the middle of the rectangle and shake someone’s hand when they hear a statement that applies to them (much like the video).
    • Sample questions (you may change these questions to address the interests and needs in your classroom):
      • This is the only school you have ever attended.
      • This is your first year at this school.
      • You play sports or participate in any extracurricular activity
      • You have siblings.
      • You have a pet.
      • Your parents are divorced.
      • You enjoy coming to school.
      • You have been bullied.
      • You love to read.
      • Your favorite food is pizza.
      • You prefer iPhone over android (and vice versa).
  • Close
    • Exit Slip: 3-2-1
      • 3: Write down three things you learned today about your classmates.
      • 2: Write down two things you want to know more about your classmates.
      • 1: Write down the name of one person you would like to learn more about.
Drum Circle Monologues

*Lesson adapted from: https://collaborate.teachersguild.org//challenge/empathy/ideate/drum-circle-monologues

Lesson Goals: Students will continue to build a classroom community by sharing stories of adversity and how they overcame it.

How does this lesson connect to bullying? This lesson will help students connect to their classmates’ perspectives and experiences. This will build empathy and connect peers through shared experiences with bullying.

Teacher Resources:

Materials/Resources for Lesson: Small drum OR the floor, desks, or hands (anything that can make a beat or rhythm)

Lesson structure:

  • Open
    • Warm Up:
      • Use your hands and body as an instrument.
      • Students will repeat patterns and rhythms modeled by the teacher.
  • Body
    • Gather students in a central area (if there is no drum available, students will remain in their desks) and ask them to sit in a circle. Explain that they will be creating a drum circle and the goal is for them to express themselves creatively, as well as emotionally. Remind students to be respectful of others.
    • The teacher will start the activity by making a pattern/rhythm on the drum. Students will echo the pattern/rhythm created by the teacher while the teacher shares a brief, yet powerful experience with bullying. Students will volunteer to make their own pattern/rhythm on the drum. As the beat is established by the class, the student who created the pattern/rhythm will tell a unique and personal story about their experiences with bullying over the rhythm of the drum.  
  • Close
    • Reflect:
      • What were some running themes between the stories you heard today?
      • How did you feel in each situation?
      • How has the drum circle experience changed the way that you see your classroom community?
    • Ask students to work together to write an affirmation for victims of bullying. Provide students with a variety of instruments and ask them to choose one. Create a group rhythm using all of the different instruments:
    • Ask one student to join the circle at a time and make a sound with their instrument that goes with the rhythm/beat established by the teacher.
    • After everyone has joined the group rhythm go around the circle and ask each person to share one positive word about this experience.

Monday Motivation: A Pep Talk!
Pep Talk. Source: Kelly Teague, Creative Commons

Lesson Goals: To build a safe and trusting learning environment.

How does this lesson connect to bullying? Students will learn more about each other in order to make authentic connections with each other. Students will gain a better understanding of the importance of building each other up emotionally.

Materials/Resources for Lesson:

Lesson structure:

  • Open
  • Body
    • Post the quote “We are all on the same team.”
    • What does this mean to you?
    • Introduce the game “this or that.”
      • Directions: I will call out two words in the same category. If you like the first word better go stand on the left side of the room. If you like the second word better go to the right side of the room.  

Sample Categories:

*Students can also create “this or that” categories.

Bar soap or liquid soap?

Store-bought gifts or handmade gifts?            Mac or PC?

Pen or pencil?                                                 Underwater or up in the air?

Trees or flowers?                                            Snake or lizard?

Cat or dog?                                                     Jokes or riddles?

Christmas or Halloween?                                 Valentine’s Day or Fourth of July?

Elmo or Ernie?                                                 School or no school?

Jam or jelly?                                                     Sweet or sour?

Mom or dad?                                                     Sister or brother?

Clean or dirty?                                                     Bad or good?

Wading pool or running through sprinkler?           Rain or snow?

Sun or moon?                                                      Beach or pool?

Dolphins or whales?                                            Walk or skip?

Addition or subtraction?                                      Multiplication or division?

History or English?                                              Fair or theme park?       

Cowboys or aliens?                                              Numbers or letters?

Hop or skip?                                                          Hide-and-seek or obstacle course?

Cartoons or animal shows?                                  Books or puzzles?

Ants or spiders?                                                   Opened or closed?

Door or window?                                                  Inside chores or outside chores?

Saturday or Sunday?                                           Sit or stand?

Fast food or mom’s cooking?                             Toys or video games?

Play inside or play outside?                                  Markers or crayons?

Day or night?                                                        Video Games or a book?

*Adapted from 350 This or That Questions Game Rules. (2017, October 30). Retrieved March 31, 2018, from https://icebreakerideas.com/this-or-that-questions/#This_or_That_Questions_for_Kids

  • Close
    • Show the video: “Kid President – 20 Things We Should Say More Often”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5yCOSHeYn4
    • Introduce “Motivation Mondays”
      • Directions:
        • Every Monday come in and write something on the motivation board (*you can use a dry erase board, a cork, board, chart paper, or even just a wall. *Use sticky notes to replace writing directly onto the surface.)  
        • You can write a motivation for a specific person, yourself, or the class as a whole.

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