Coleman,+Katy,+Classroom+Community+Building

Welcome to my Wiki page all about Building Classroom Communities! My name is Katy Coleman and I am in the 1 year MAT program. I am part of the Klamath Falls co-hort and and have enjoyed meeting so many great people during my time spent in the valley!



What is interesting about me is that I received my Bachelors degree in three years and will have my Masters in a total of 4 years, I will graduate at the age of 22(yikes)!

Ideally, I plan to graduate from the program and move into a teaching position at a school in Klamath Falls. I would be willing to teach any grade K-6, I used to favor the primary grades, but after student teaching in a 5th grade class, I have found that I enjoy the upper elementary students just as much. I hope that my willingness to teach any grade will make me more marketable, but realistically I know that the chances of me getting a teaching position right away are slim. For that reason, I do have a couple of back-up plans. I would like to get into subbing, or take a position as a Pre-K teacher to get some experience under my belt. I would also like to work towards getting ELL and reading endorsed. In the future, I know I want to take Spanish classes to further my development as a teacher. I absolutely love spending time with my family, friends, and boyfriend. I am very much a homebody and enjoy nothing more than cuddling up by the fire on a cold day with my loved ones around me. I went to OSU for my undergrad work, but despised the rain of the Willamette Valley and missed home too much, so I returned to Southern Oregon to enjoy the sun and snow that Klamath Falls has to offer. Growing up, I showed horses and that is something that I will continue to do as long as I can. Other than that, I love doing things outdoors. Camping, fishing, and boating are among my favorites and I have recently learned to wake board. I love to downhill ski and am looking forward to having the ski resorts open up soon (fingers crossed)!

As far as a time when I had difficulty learning, it was my last year at Oregon State and I had a class about the Holocaust. The Holocaust is a topic that really interests me, but the teacher was one that I had a very difficult time learning from. He would stand up in front of the room for 2 hours twice a week and read off of a PowerPoint outline. In order to be successful, we were told that we needed to take strenuous notes as he talked. I had such a hard time staying awake because he did not do anything to make the material interesting, he did not even show pictures. In a class about the Holocaust, we talked about Hitler for one class period, because he had taken so much time to talk about the background of the whole thing. It was so frustrating to not learn anything about a topic that I was so fond of. It was by far the worst class I have ever taken, but it did make me realize how I want to be as a teacher. I want to find ways to get all students engaged in the learning and make sure that students want to be at school and want to learn.

My greatest fear about being a teacher is failing my students. There is so much pressure that comes along with the job and I am afraid that I will not be successful in getting my students to a strong endpoint. I am hoping this course will provide me with some strategies to utilize in my future classrooms to ensure that I help all students become successful.

Now, on to Classroom Community Building! I chose this topic because I am a firm believer in making students feel safe and comfortable in the classroom. I want my students to feel open to express themselves and to share their ideas with others. However, before students feel safe enough to do so, a strong sense of community needs to be established in the classroom. From the very first day, we are creating a certain environment for our students. When we take the time to let students introduce themselves and their interests, they will start to discover that they have a lot more in common with their peers than they had thought. From that foundation, a teacher can create an open and inviting classroom where all students feel important and want to participate. When we teach our students to work well in a group, we are preparing them for their futures. Working as part of a community is an essential skill and students need multiple opportunities to grow and practice.

The Top 5 Things I learned: 1. Respect, Respect, Respect! The most important thing I can stress is how important respect is to building a classroom community. As teachers, we must model respect and treat our students with respect in order to receive that respect in return. Students need to be held to a high standard of respect and must understand that the classroom is a zero-tolerance zone for any disrespect. When this respect is built and apparent, a strong community will form in the the classroom. Respect... It is the golden rule after all. 2. Having daily opportunities for students to get to know each other (community building activities) or work together (cooperative learning) lets students know that a strong community is important. Students need many chances to get to know each other and we need to make time for these opportunities in our hectic schedules, especially during the first weeks of a new year. We are all social beings and students need opportunities to work with other students to build relationships and learn about working well together. 3. When there is a positive classroom community, students will enjoy school more, be more engaged, and have higher academic achievement.The positive environment will make students feel safe and comfortable to be themselves and become self-motivated learners. 4. Holding weekly class meetings is a great way to let students know that their input is important. During these meetings, have students discuss what they have on their minds and what they would like to see in the classroom. This is especially important when new students enter throughout the year so they can be a part of the classroom community as well. 5. Remember, each year we will get a new group of students that will be very different from our last. It is our job to get to know each and every student as an individual and to find strategies that work well for the current group of students. If a past method is not working, try something new, but always remember to create a welcoming and supportive community!

My Top Resource

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #800000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The one resource I would recommend is the Kagan Cooperative Learning book. Cooperative learning is something that strives off of having a strong classroom community. Because of that, this book offers two chapters worth of class building and team building strategies. The chapters explain the importance of classroom community and suggests ways to build a strong and positive environment. There are numerous activities to employ in the classroom and multiple ideas that will surely help to build classroom community. Building a classroom community, yet another great benefit of cooperative learning! I rate the resource 5 out of 5 because it really is top notch and provides an immense amount of useful resources.



<span style="background-color: #c0c0c0; color: #404040; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 150%; text-align: center;"> 8 Additional Resources

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Resource 1: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The following link will take you to a Scholastic article about building a classroom community during the first weeks of school. The article begins by stating that teachers need to be accepting of all student's backgrounds to create a welcoming environment for all students. It is all about celebrating the individual within the community context. The article discusses ways to build community through identity, familiarity, warmth and beauty, trust, predictability, and family involvement. The article provides specific strategies to use in the classroom. I give the article 5 out of 5 because it provides great ideas to utilize and covers all of the aspects of elements that affect the classroom community.

<span style="color: #a43fa4; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">@http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/building-community-classroom-0

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Resource 2: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">This is a great video I discovered during my research. The teacher was placed in a classroom where there were many negative statements being made about the students. This teacher, however, entered the school year with a different perspective. She had the students take a survey to discover which area of multiple intelligences the students were strongest in. Then, instead of having a class with at-risk students, students with IEPs, and behavioral problems, she had a classroom of kinesthetic learners, spatial learners, and linguistic learners. She could then focus on the strengths of the students and they felt they were an important component to the classroom. Each student now knew the areas they could contribute to the classroom as an expert, which really built a positive community for the class. I give this video 4 out 5 because it is a great way to approach the classroom, but I think she could have added more details about what to do with each of the students now that she new their strengths.

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Resource 3: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The following link will take you to an article titled, "Building Community in the Classroom." The article is ten pages filled with numerous ways to build a strong sense of community in the classroom. It covers everything from giving students a voice in the classroom, having students make friends with their classmates, promoting respect in the classroom, having students work together to solve problems, giving students leadership roles, and discussing individuality. I give this article 5 out of 5 because it gives great advice and ways to build a strong and positive classroom community.

<span style="color: #800080; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">@http://www.wholeschooling.net/WS/WSPress/CommBldgMH.pdf

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Resource 4: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The following video is a discussion of the Tribes agreements. Tribes is a system for building learning communities in the classroom. While adopting the principles of tribes, there are four main agreements that students must follow while in the classroom. These agreements include <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">attentive listening, appreciation, participation and right to pass, and mutual respect. This video briefly covers what each of these agreements look like in the classroom and what students should do to meet those agreements. I give this video 3 out of 5 because it has some brilliant ideas, but the video is quite brief and lacks specific ideas.

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Resource 5: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The following link will take you to the official Tribes website. The website is a fountain of great resources to use while creating a classroom community. Tribes is all about creating a learning community for students. The website provides information, classroom tools, articles, and resources to use while creating a classroom community. The website can also lead to opportunities for professional development and ordering resources to utilize. I give this resource 5 out of 5 because Tribes is a very strong method to developing a strong classroom community.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">@http://tribes.com/

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Resource 6: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The following video is a woman discussing her use of interactive blogs in the classroom and school. She discusses ways she uses the blog to create interaction for students and how students can participate in the blogs at home. There is also a school-wide blog where students and staff can track the movement of two fictional characters. These blogs would be a great way to build community in and outside of the classroom. Students could add to the blogs and learn about their classmates while doing so. I give this video 4 out of 5 because I love the idea of having a classroom blog, but not all students would have the means to be able to participate.

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Resource 7: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The following link will take you to a short article titled, "A Community of Learners: Building a Supportive Learning Environment." This article discusses a few different ways to make the idea of "community" an important part of the classroom and school. It discusses how this "community" does not just happen, but must be created with great intentionality. The main thing they discuss is holding community as the core value of the school. The article also discusses the importance of holding community meetings for the school so the outside community can become very involved with the happenings of the school. I give this article 4 out of 5 because I like that it addresses making the school a part of the greater community, but would like to have seen a little more detail.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">@http://www.edutopia.org/envision-schools-learning-community-respect

<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Resource 8: <span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">The following link will take you to the Teaching Tolerance website where I found a short article about how a teacher began the school year by building a classroom community. The teacher began the school year by having the students brainstorm ideas of what a bad classroom looks like and what a quality classroom looks like. The students and teacher then signed a contract agreeing to do the things to create a quality classroom. They went on to brainstorm ideas of things that would help or hurt the quality and made posters to help remind them. I give this resource 4 out of 5 because it includes great ideas for creating a classroom community but is a bit brief.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">@http://www.tolerance.org/activity/chaos-community

<span style="background-color: #c0c0c0; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Community Based Learning Project <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Account:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> For my Community Based Learning Project, I was able to attend an IEP meeting at Shasta Elementary School. The meeting was for a first grade student who had recently transferred from another school in the area. The student already had an IEP for Speech in place, but this meeting was about adding a learning disability to that IEP. The student was already being pulled out for speech since he had moved to Shasta. Present at the meeting were the K-3 Special Education teacher, the student’s classroom teacher, the K-3 Speech and Language Pathologist, the mother of the student, and myself. The primary testing for the LD was already completed before the student transferred schools, so the test results were transferred as well. The testing was initiated in 2010 due to the initial assessment based on the response to intervention.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The Special Education teacher did most of the talking throughout the meeting. She began by presenting the situation in an understandable way. She stated that the meeting was to modify the IEP by adding the Learning Disability aspect to it. The majority of the meeting was spent going over the student’s test scores. The tests included things like the DIBELS assessment, an IQ test, and some other tests. There was some discrepancy between the student’s IQ and classroom performance. While his IQ was not at a concerned level, he was not performing at grade level in the classroom setting. He struggled with recognizing and naming letters and numbers, he could only read a few sight words, and he was struggling with performing basic math computations. The teacher said that if the issues were addressed now, hopefully he would catch up and be on grade level for the rest of his education.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The teacher asked for the mother’s input and she was very willing to get her child whatever he needed to succeed. The parent did not add very much to the conversation but was concerned that the child would be missing the regular class work while being pulled out for resource on top of already being pulled out for speech three times a week. The classroom teacher reassured her that he would be pulled out at times that worked best for the schedule so he would not be missing classroom instruction outside of the math and reading.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> They all decided that making the revision to the IEP was necessary. They decided that the student would continue to be pulled out for speech three times a week for 20 minutes and added that he would be pulled out every day for reading and math with the Special Education teacher. He would spend 60 minutes a day in resource for reading and 30 minutes a day in resource for math. The Special Education teacher also suggested some ways for the classroom teacher to help him while in the classroom. She was to modify assignments as needed, read directions aloud for the student, and give him extra think time before answering. They also discussed to possibility of having an extended school year for the student, but the mother said he had a good memory and did not think that would be necessary.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The meeting ended by the teacher going over the alterations that were made to the IEP. All of the participants signed the documents and they set a date of three years to come back and re-assess the student’s progress. They then asked the mother if she had any other concerns, gave her a copy of the parent rights, and said they would be sending her a copy of the IEP. The whole meeting lasted about 30 minutes.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Reflection:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> I found this experience to be very informational. I never knew there was so much work and time spent during the IEP process, especially when it comes to the paperwork. It made me really respect the Special Education teacher, because not only does she have to teach the students that come into her room, she also has to do all of the entry testing, the paperwork, and find time to meet with all of the parents. She also has to teach students from kindergarten through third grade, so she does not have just one grade to focus on. It amazes me that one person can do this job and provide services to so many students, it is a very respectable position.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The whole meeting seemed to go very smoothly to me. I think that since the student already had an IEP for speech in place that the parent was more aware of the process and did not have as many questions. I was surprised that the parent did not speak up more, she seemed to accept anything the teachers said or requested. I was glad to see that all of the teachers were very nice and made an effort to make the parent feel important and state the positive aspects of the student. I think it would be interesting and beneficial for me to attend an original IEP meeting at some point so I could see how the generation process occurs. I also wonder how it would be to have a meeting with parents that are not quite as accepting or open to suggestions.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Being able to see this process will aid me greatly in my future classrooms. Knowing how the testing and IEP process occurs makes me understand that I have to be flexible with my schedule and give the resource teacher plenty of time to get things figured out. There is a lot of time and work that goes into creating an IEP and it is important that I, as a classroom teacher, do my best to give students the resources and support they need while they are under my supervision.