There are many ways you can build a sense of community within your classroom. Elementary teachers are masters at this with their morning meetings, bucket-filling, and classroom jobs, but teachers of any age can dedicate time and energy to creating a sense of community amongst their students. A sense of community - ‘we’re all in this together’ allows all students to participate and be successful. Find out more about community building from CASEL.

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Ditch the rules and develop norms 

The beginning of the school year is the perfect time to establish classroom norms. Co-created norms describe how students want to feel and be treated. They are written as a positive agreement, “allow all voices to be heard” rather than a negative rule “don’t dominate the conversation”. They allow students to have a voice and ownership of behavioural expectations and can be a powerful tool to hold each other accountable. For this to happen, it is best when the norms are agreed upon by everyone and displayed in the classroom all year. You can have your students make and sign a norms poster or create visual representations of each norm. This way the class can frequently revisit the norms to evaluate how they are doing. Norms are expected to be upheld by all members, but with the understanding that we sometimes make mistakes. Instead of a punishment for not following a rule, a breach of a classroom norm might require a reminder and an individual or whole class discussion about how to get back on track. To make norms even more meaningful, try connecting them to your school's mission and values. 

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Create structures to deepen relationships 

At the start of the school year, teachers often dust off their icebreakers to get to know their students. “I’m Kai and I love koalas.” Whilst fun, these quick games can get stuck at the superficial level and often don’t live past the first week of school. Consider establishing rituals or structures throughout the year that allow you to deepen your relationship with your students.

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‍‍I like to mix up student groups a lot as I want students to feel comfortable talking to people besides their friends.

Flippity is a great tech tool to help quickly make randomised groups. Another easy way to mix up students is by having students stand in concentric circles (inside, outside circle) or two lines facing each other. Prepare prompts for a quick discussion (ex. What is your favourite holiday and why?) Prompts should be light, easy and inclusive. To practice active listening skills, demonstrate to the class what whole-body listening looks and sounds like. After a few minutes of discussion, pick one or two students to paraphrase what they learnt about their partner. Then have students rotate or shuffle along to discuss a new prompt with a new partner. These activities allow students to get to know their peers, take the pressure off choosing a partner, and change frequently so no one feels ‘stuck’ with someone. Inside, outside circle (or two lines) can be used to start a class, as a transition between activities, or as a brain break, and requires little to no preparation. All you need is a few prompts (check out some of mine here).

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Before starting a group project, don’t forget to build in some time for students to get to know each other. A quick - “introduce yourself and find your most uncommon commonality” activity works well. Alternatively, there is a great ‘Venn Diagram Exploring Similarities and Differences’ activity by IFSEL (Institute For Social Emotional Learning) that allows students to get to know each other on a deeper level. Students work in pairs or threes and are guided through questions that explore their interests, preferences, values, identities, hopes and dreams. The questions start easy and get increasingly more in-depth. Using the Venn diagram, students record their similarities and differences. After completing the activity, students discussed what they had in common with their partner and what was different.

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