Creating Community in the Classroom

As instruc­tors, we are respon­si­ble for ensur­ing all stu­dents feel wel­come, whether face-to-face or in an online envi­ron­ment. In this sec­tion, we explore ways to cre­ate a sense of com­mu­ni­ty in the class­room.

Gen­er­al Tips

  1. Reflect on your expec­ta­tions of stu­dents and make these expec­ta­tions explic­it (e.g., time keep­ing, adher­ing to dead­lines, and class­room inter­ac­tion). Stu­dents come with a vari­ety of expe­ri­ences, and class­room eti­quette varies across cul­tures
  2. Con­sid­er work­ing with stu­dents to co-cre­ate a set of com­mu­ni­ty guide­lines around behav­ioral expec­ta­tions of both stu­dents and the instruc­tor. Again, be explic­it. For exam­ple, define what ‘show­ing respect’ looks like (how we show respect, polite­ness, etc., varies across indi­vid­u­als, accord­ing to expe­ri­ence, age, cul­ture, etc.) Dis­cuss the con­se­quences if some­one fails to fol­low these guide­lines. Includ­ing stu­dents in the dis­cus­sion increas­es ‘buy-in.’ Be con­sis­tent in apply­ing these co-cre­at­ed guide­lines
  3. Remind stu­dents of the var­i­ous col­lege sup­ports avail­able, includ­ing Ear­ly Assist. Some­times, a behav­ioral or con­duct issue may be a sign of a stu­dent strug­gling with oth­er aspects of their life
  4. Make sure you and the stu­dents are aware of NIC poli­cies around con­duct (Pol­i­cy #3–06 Com­mu­ni­ty Code of Aca­d­e­m­ic, Per­son­al, and Pro­fes­sion­al Con­duct). Be sure to address inap­pro­pri­ate behav­ior imme­di­ate­ly by speak­ing pri­vate­ly with the stu­dent. Describe the dis­rup­tive behav­ior, why it is chal­leng­ing, and explore with the stu­dent how they may be sup­port­ed in adjust­ing their behav­ior.
  5. Devote time every class and espe­cial­ly the first few class­es, for stu­dents to get to know each oth­er. Good rela­tion­ships are built on trust; trust needs to be inten­tion­al­ly fos­tered. Short ice-break­er activ­i­ties can serve as ways for review­ing con­tent, intro­duc­ing new con­cepts, and pro­vid­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty for stu­dents to con­nect
  6. If you plan to use group/team work or projects, 
  7. Where pos­si­ble, address racist and biased com­ments when they occur. While we should avoid sham­ing a stu­dent if they say some­thing harm­ful, it’s more impor­tant to pro­tect the safe­ty of and address the harm done to stu­dents on the receiv­ing end of racist or biased com­ments. Under­stand­ing when to ‘call out’ and when to ‘call out’ is a use­ful guide for inter­rupt­ing bias. Check out Inter­rupt­ing Bias: Call­ing Out vs. Call­ing In
  8. Take a look at the tips for First Day of Class for cre­at­ing an engag­ing first class 

 

Best Practices in Classroom Management (Toronto Metropolitan University)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CFOIgSJyBfuZrVCBjPdZVYhuOwTZTL3GVdeHfV4V_wY/edit#heading=h.ooump3e1ak67

 

Classroom Management (Durham College, Ontario)

https://durhamcollege.ca/ctl/teaching/classroom-management/

  • Good mate­ri­als under Addi­tion­al Resources near mid­dle of page
  • Real­ly good Sit­u­a­tions, Sce­nar­ios and Strate­gies near end of page
Classroom Management Tips (University of Alberta, Alberta)

https://www.ualberta.ca/en/centre-for-teaching-and-learning/teaching-support/classroom-management-engagement.html

  • Many of the links on this page lead to excel­lent pod­casts, blogs and oth­er super resources
Classroom Management (University of Connecticut)

https://cetl.uconn.edu/resources/teaching-your-course/classroom-management/

  • Nice out­line of all the facets of class­room man­age­ment
Classroom Management (Cambrian College, Ontario)

https://teaching.cambriancollege.ca/classroom-strategies/

  • Clean and sim­ple ideas
Managing Group Work
  • Man­ag­ing Diverse Groups Online: PDF Ver­sion
  • How Dimen­sions of Cul­ture Influ­ence Teach­ing and Work­ing in Groups — PDF Ver­sion
  • Tips for Design­ing and Assess­ing Mul­ti­cul­tur­al Group Work — PDF Ver­sion

 

  • Talk about ‘Dig­i­tal Cit­i­zen­ship’ (the norms of appro­pri­ate, respon­si­ble behav­iour with regard to use of tech­nol­o­gy) and stu­dents’ rights and respon­si­bil­i­ties [link] (see sep­a­rate info. Sheet).
  • Explore the tech­nol­o­gy with the stu­dents. Is it work­ing for every­one? What should they do if the tech­nol­o­gy isn’t work­ing prop­er­ly?

Com­mu­ni­cate clear­ly & fre­quent­ly: Imple­ment ear­ly and reg­u­lar check ups to see how your stu­dents are doing.

Build com­mu­ni­ty: Build com­mu­ni­ty. Stu­dents won’t inter­act if they don’t know each oth­er. Think of this step as proac­tive class­room man­age­ment. Build com­mu­ni­ty right from the get-go and encour­age it through­out the course.

  • Engag­ing with stu­dents, rather than just pre­sent­ing infor­ma­tion, can help. Encour­age learn­ers to ask ques­tions and solic­it par­tic­i­pa­tion through fre­quent engagement—ask poll ques­tions or ask learn­ers to type a response in chat.
  • Find ways for par­tic­i­pants to learn about each oth­er, to learn about you, and to find com­mon­al­i­ties in their expe­ri­ences

Be Flex­i­ble: Focus on the learn­ing. Dead­lines are impor­tant, but there are sit­u­a­tions where we can use our judge­ment and offer some flex­i­bil­i­ty.