Building Community

I recently started a new Morning Meeting series.  I asked my students to write their personal definition of community.  Their definitions ended up giving us this bulleted list:

• It is a group of people who work together and help one another.
• There are rules to help keep the community safe and clean.
• A place where people live, work, and have fun together.
• There are community buildings like libraries and parks.
• An environment with people, neighborhoods, buildings, cars, leaders, and rules.
• Being nice to one another, maintaining friendships, and working through problems.
• Community is all different people with different religions and cultures, all working together. There are sometimes different rules for while we are in school and out.

 After sharing the list with my classes, I asked them to discuss where they see these happening at our school.  We made a chart and posted it to display what is positive.  Then we discussed areas that needed improvement.  Both classes believed that respect was the area needing the most improvement.

 

In another meeting we decided on a plan of action.  The kids made a list of ways we can show respect to one another.  From that list we picked three areas we felt were going to be effective for us to focus on.  The students chose to work in these areas by doing the follow things:

• Manners: saying Please, Thank You, and Excuse Me, and being the bigger person by walking away to avoid conflict
• Be Friendly: include everyone, smile at eachother, and give 'meaty' compliments
• Be Helpful: share supplies, be a homework buddy, and offer to help when you see someone struggling.

The conversation was pretty amazing.  At first, they wanted to get a police officer on campus to make sure people were being treated fairly.  This lent itself to a conversation about locus of control.  This is something fifth grade students struggle with.  They need to learn that they have full control of themselves and they shouldn't spend so much time worrying about things they can't control.  The resulting list focused on things each student could do.

I encouraged them to pick one area they would focus on.  Our next step as a class is to chart how often we are doing these things.  Here is a "lesson" plan for the discussions.

Becoming Aware of our Community


Day 1:

• Have students reflect on the questions ‘What is a community?’

• Compile those responses into a bulleted list.

Day 2:

• Share the bulleted list with your class.

• Have groups turn and talk about where they see evidence of the definitions of community in their own community at school.

• Variation: Give each partnership, trio, or group one or two of the bullets and use a protocol for a higher level of active engagement ;o)

• Add their ideas to a chart. I used the heading: In our community…

• Hopefully you will have a few bullets the kids say they don’t see at our school or that they think could be improved. If a group grabs onto that hold them off because that’s where you are going the next day.

Day 3:

• Connect to the chart you made the previous meeting.

• Start a discussion about any of the bullets that your class decided weren’t visible at school.

• Create a chart based on student ideas. I used the heading: In our community, we could improve these areas:

• Advise students to think on these overnight, and have an idea for what one your class could focus on.

Day 4:

• Connect to the chart you made the previous meeting.

• Have groups discuss which area they could like to focus on. Get a consensus across the class and choose one area to work on as a class.

• Put your area on a new chart.

• The class brainstorms ways they could improve that area. Once there’s a good list, have the students develop a plan on how they are going to actively make a change in their community. They should also come up with a way to monitor their progress.

Day 5:

• The class should reflect on the processes used to develop their plan. What was the purpose? How did it make them feel to discuss these issues? Do they feel a responsibility to create a positive change at their school? What do they think being part of a positive change will do for their lives? Do they make any connections to this work and work they do at home with their families or at their church? Are they worried about implementing the change? If so, what is the worry and how do they think they can deal with it?