Spring break is finally here and I want to share some of the ways that I build classroom community. Let’s face it, if you don’t have a strong foundational relationship with your students, those few weeks before spring break (and leading up to the end of the year) can be downright torture!
Classroom community is so important to build. If you can put students at ease (lowering the Affective Filter), their subconscious will do the job of absorbing grammatical information like word order, verb endings, and mastering the subtleties of the subjunctive.
1. Music
I used music in my classes even before I taught using comprehensible input, but now it has much more purpose!
- This year we built on our March Music Madness by using it as a tool to form, express, and defend opinions about music. Humans are opinionated and love to share what they think. Music is a safe outlet that allows for healthy disagreement without hurting feelings. We took our discussions about the songs in this year’s bracket (read about it here) up a notch by first writing down WHY we felt a certain way about a song and then discussing with our nearby classmates. Those that wanted to share with the class could (and many did!) as the final step.
- Instruments! In a former life, I was a Kindermusik teacher and still have a bag full of toddler-sized instruments. I will pull out the bag from time to time (not too often, I want them to LOVE using them!). Playing an instrument breathes new life into a song and will free students up to dance.
- Serenading special people in the building is one of my favorite ways to have fun and make people feel special. We have sung happy birthday to the librarian (every. single. class. period. of. the. day!), the office staff, the wonderful cooks in the school kitchen, other staff members, and the most important people in the building – the janitors! It only takes a few minutes of our time but students feel very proud of themselves for helping to make someone’s day special.
2. Special Guests
- When learning about vallenatos and serenatas earlier this year, I discovered that one of my students has a special connection to an instrument commonly used – his grandma plays the acordeón! Of course I invited her in to play for us. This was hands down one of the best, most fun days we have ever had in class! You can read more about it here.
- I have a friend who is a theatre director in Spain, Adolfo Simón. He is kind and loves to share theatre with children – especially those in a rural community like ours. He specializes in performance art and when he came to Indiana last fall, he shared a special piece created just for my students. Did they understand all of it? Nope! But that wasn’t the point. They experienced something most of them will never do again and we have had MANY conversations about it since.
3. Get Distracted (in the target language)
- If a conversation goes “awry,” go with it! Students think they are getting me “off track” and that “we aren’t doing anything” when this happens. But, the joke’s on them! There is nothing more challenging in the target language than maintaining a spontaneous conversation! They don’t happen too often, but when they do, I inwardly cheer and roll with it.
4. Laugh and Have Fun
- The biggest gift of all is laughter! If you can laugh at yourself and allow yourself to be the butt of the joke you are doing much more than chuckling with your students. You are 1) showing that you are not perfect and that you do make silly mistakes, 2) demonstrating that vulnerability is OK, 3) drawing attention to YOUR imperfections which in turn draws attention AWAY from others’ imperfections, and 4) modeling appropriate reactions. Laughter takes the sting out of comments meant to be critical and removes their negative power. It is SO HARD to learn this! And, trust me, I give students ample opportunities to laugh AT me!
5. Praise (but not falsely)
- Everyone wants to feel smart and accepted. EVERYONE. On a daily basis, I tell students they are so amazing and intelligent. They have a LOT to be proud of. They can effectively communicate in a second language- something their parents’ generation likely cannot do. They WILL be successful because of what they have already accomplished in their short time in our classrooms!
- Praise is important – but remember that students can see right through false praise. So use it frequently, but not so much that it loses its power.
- Remember that students come to you from a lot of different situations: they may have just failed a math test, or forgotten to do a homework assignment that is sure to lower their grade, or they may have relationship problems. I want to be the teacher who lets them know that failure is an important part of learning BUT that it doesn’t define who they are. I think I’m pretty good at this because I have had students who wrote in their anonymous evaluations that my class the first class they felt smart in!
6. Games
- Games are fun! They reinforce learning and cause that wonderful, healing reaction called laughter! I sprinkle my lessons with games that are appropriate to the activity.
- I try to stay away from games where only one or two people are actively participating while others are waiting around for their turn, bored and not engaged.
- See AnneMarie Chase and Martina Bex blogs for some awesome and easily adaptable games!
7. Puntos!!
- This idea comes from La Maestra Loca, Annabelle (Allen) Williamson. I adapted it and have used it for 2 1/2 years. My students love it! If I forget to give them points for something great, they remind me by snapping their fingers (instead of clapping, it’s quieter!) and calling out “puntos!” The funny thing? The points actually mean…. NOTHING! I award them for positive reinforcement and always randomly. But there is never a party or anything attached. Just bragging rights that their class has more points than some other class! Adding a few (or a million) points to the board awakens even the sleepiest of classes!
What are your favorite go-to strategies for building classroom community? I’d love to hear from you!
