Classroom Community RFL#2 Sara Hale

Both my partnership school, Swift Creek Elementary School, and my SBTE, Mr. Houghton, do a wonderful job of creating a sense of community. As soon as you step into the school, you feel a sense of community. In the morning, fifth graders, many of them from my class, greet people, hold doors, and monitor the school. This allows everyone to feel welcome when they enter the school, and it gives the safety patrol members a sense of authority and pride. Also, around the school, you can find many posters that say, “ROAR.” The mascot for Swift Creek is the cougars. Tying in with the cougar mascot, there is a school-wide behavior policy called “ROAR.” This stands for Respect, On the path to success, Act responsibly, Remember Self-Control. In addition to being posted around the school, the ROAR pact is also posted in my SBTE’s classroom. Also, every morning at the end of the announcements, the students say the ROAR pact together after saying the Pledge of Allegiance. They also state their graduation year. This builds a sense of community because graduation is a common goal for all students, and all of the students in each class have the same expected graduation year, showing a similarity in all students.
Another reason that there is a sense of community at Swift Creek is that student accomplishments are posted on the walls. There is tons of student artwork posted on walls throughout the school. This is great because it allows students to show off their hard work! In addition, on many teachers’ doors, there are cougar paw prints. Students can write about why they are appreciative of another student or teacher on a paw print and post it on their door. This allows the entire school to see the great things the students do for one another! By posting students’ work and good deeds on the walls, it shows the students that it is truly their school and their chance to shine.
Although Swift Creek does a great job of building community, Mr. Houghton seems to take it above and beyond in his classroom. Mr. Houghton and his students follow ROAR, but they also have their own classroom rules. These rules are posted in the classroom and outside of the classroom. What is amazing is that Mr. Houghton hardly has to remind the students of these rules. The students seem very well behaved! When the students are talking too much, Mr. Houghton simply says, “I’m waiting,” and the students get quiet. The students seem to respect Mr. Houghton, and for the most part, they do not act out or show disrespect.
Mr. Houghton also has a pledge to his students posted and signed. In this pledge, he promises to keep students safe, make things as fun as possible, make time to help the students, and show respect. There is a strong sense of mutual respect in the class, and I think that this “teacher pledge” may be one reason for that. Students can see that the teacher is willing to work hard and respect the students, so they are more willing to work hard and respect the teacher and their classmates.
Mr. Houghton has different jobs for the students. These include door holders, carrying the balls to the playground, carrying the first aid kit, wiping tables at lunch, etc. He writes these jobs on the board each day. By having jobs for the students, it allows the students to feel important and responsible. They feel that they are truly part of a community that must work together to get things done and to be successful.
I think that Mr. Houghton’s personality plays a major part in building classroom community. He is a very friendly, relaxed, funny man. He knows how to joke around with the students, but he never does so in an inappropriate way. The students laugh a lot in his class. Mr. Houghton knows how to have fun, but still get things done. He knows when there is a time for work and a time for play. He allows the students to work together often and to talk while working, as long as they get their work done. I think that it is great that he does not have to be too strict, yet the students still learn a lot!
Mr. Houghton also does a good job of building an atmosphere of community with the classroom setup. The desks are arranged in rows of three or four, and the students in these rows usually talk with one another. There are posters all around the room for students to look at. Some of these are educational, but there are also posters for the students’ interests. Mr. Houghton and many of his students love basketball, so he has tons of basketball posters. By having posters of an activity that the students love, the students instantly feel welcome and comfortable. Mr. Houghton also has some pictures of his old basketball team and of his wife on his desk, which all of the students have seen and told me about. By allowing the students to learn a bit about his personal life, the students really “know” him and therefore feel an even stronger sense of community.
I really like the sense of classroom and school community at Swift Creek and in Mr. Houghton’s classroom! When I teach, I definitely hope to have the same sense of community. I plan on creating a teacher pledge, posting class rules, hanging up student work, and having class rules. I would also love to have Mr. Houghton’s laid-back but efficient style of teaching! Mr. Houghton is definitely a great role model for learning how to create classroom community!