Walton Burns - Classroom Community Builders

Classroom Community Builders

Activities for the First Day and Beyond

by Walton Burns

Copyright 2017 Walton Burns

ISBN: 978-0-9977628-7-7 (paperback)

978-0-9977628-6-0 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017907358

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, introduced into

or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means

(electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.

Country of Manufacture Specified on the Last Page

First Printing 2017

Published by:

Alphabet Publishing

1204 Main Street #172

Branford, Connecticut 06405 USA

www.alphabetpublishingbooks.com

From the First Day to a Classroom Community

M y first book with Alphabet Publishing was a collection of activities for the first day of class called, simply and boringly enough, 50 Activities for the First Day of School . In it, I shared activities that helped students start working together from the first day. There were a number of name learning and icebreakers, as well as activities to start assessing and practicing language, and to set the tone and expectations of the classroom community. Generally, teachers seemed to like it.

However, while discussing the book, I was introduced to the debate about icebreakers and classroom community activities. For example, many teachers question whether icebreakers are an effective method of getting students to bond or a waste of time. Or can we design better icebreakers?

Perhaps putting students straight to work is the best way to build community. Some teachers even suggested that classroom community wasnt important to learning. As teachers, content should come first, the argument went. We dont have to like each other to study together, do we?

As I reflected on these perspectives, I looked at my own practice, read up on some of the research, and chatted with other teachers. I even wrote some articles here and there about the topic to try to get feedback from other teachers and writers.

Put simply, if a student doesnt feel they can speak freely in the classroom or make mistakes, that student wont participate fully in class. Spending time helping students get to know each other a bit and practicing teamwork skills is clearly time well spent.

On the other hand, it is true that teaching teamwork skills and doing icebreakers cuts into class time. I dont know of any teacher who feels that they have too much class time. Furthermore, students like to walk away from class feeling that they have accomplished something besides learning that Pengs favorite color is blue. So perhaps instead of empty icebreakers, we can look at teamwork activities that are also relevant to the content of the class. Rather than choosing between teaching our subject or doing community building activities, we can find activities that do both.

This book, which is a sort of second edition to 50 Activities for the First Day of School, but also something of a new entity on its own, attempts to do just that. These activities build community without forcing you to sacrifice teaching your subject. They also try to cover the various angles of community building.

The first section, Set Your Expectations , includes activities that set clear class expectations. By setting clear rules and communicating those rules to your students, you are helping the community persist. Activities in this section also help make clear that your classroom is a safe, respectful place to work hard and learn. Some of them are group-oriented ways to do needs evaluation. Others allow you to share class rules or good study habits in ways that also practice key teamwork skills such as listening to others, valuing others contributions, sharing expertise to help the group, and finding compromise and resolution to conflict.

The activities in the Working Together section are the heart of the book. These are 35 cooperative learning activities that get students working in teams on tasks and using language. Some allow students to practice teamwork skills. Some are primarily focused on language learning. Others focus on the theme of the class. And many are task-based team exercises that I find fun to teach and that students find fun to do.

I have included a section on Getting-to-know-you Activities . However, rather than being empty ice-breakers, these activities require group work and seek to help students feel a part of a larger community. Some of these activities will be familiar to readers of 50 Activities for the First Day of School . Ive included the ones that teachers and reviewers felt were particularly good at building classroom rapport. Others will be completely new.

Theres also a section with five Getting to Know Your Teacher Activities that put the spotlight on you, the teacher. Of course, you can turn any getting-to-know-you activity into a get-to-know-the-teacher activity by modeling it for the class (and I hope you will do just that). However, these five activities are particularly well-suited to helping students get to know you. Dont forget that you are often a bit of a mystery and students are curious about their teacher as a human being. In an EFL class, you may be the only person from your country theyve ever met. And putting yourself out there shows that you are a good sport and willing to build rapport with them.

Finally, please dont forget that building community and helping students work together isnt something that we do in the first week of class, and forget about. Its something to work at year-round by giving students multiple chances to work together, and continuously cultivating a classroom.

Resources

Many activities in the book involve a handout or a worksheet. Go online to Our Resource Page for free samples that you can download and print to use in your classroom, or adapt as you see fit. Sample worksheets are also included in this book after many activities.

Did something in this book go especially well? Did you come up with a variation or adaptation of something you found in this book? Or did something not go quite as you expected? Please share with other students. Join the Classroom Community Builders Facebook Group to post your success stories and your suggestions.

Set Your Expectations

B uilding community is about more than getting to know each other or even working together. Its also about having common expectations and ground rules. As a teacher, you want your classroom to be a studious and respectful space. This book begins with 11 activities that set a good tone and clear expectations in your classroom. The first two activities, Book Scan and Book Field Trip, allow students to grapple with the subject matter of the course. They can also work as needs evaluation activities, giving you an idea of your students expectations and interests in the class, as well. Syllabus Scavenger Hunt and Classroom Rules Negotiation focus on class rules and policies. The remainder of activities introduce and help establish good classroom behavior, in fun student-centered activities that require groupwork skills.