We Belong
50 Strategies to Create Community and Revolutionize Classroom Management
Laurie Barron, Patti Kinney
- 192 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
We Belong
50 Strategies to Create Community and Revolutionize Classroom Management
Laurie Barron, Patti Kinney
About This Book
The secret to every positive learning environment? Belonging. When students feel that they belong in their school and classroom, commitment to learning goes up and behavioral disruptions subside. And when teachers embrace an SEL-infused approach to classroom management that helps every student feel valued, safe, and competent, belonging soars.
We Belong offers 50 targeted strategies to increase students' sense of belonging and reinforce the habits that support classroom harmony and learning success. Authors and award-winning educators Laurie Barron and Patti Kinney explore the dynamic partnership of belonging and classroom management and share specific ways to* Build authentic, positive relationships with students and among students
* Create spaces that feel physically and emotionally safe for all
* Teach and foster social-emotional competence
* Increase student engagement and motivation
* Foster a sustaining sense of community
Covering a range of key topicsâfrom behavioral expectations to conflict resolution to more effective collaborationâthis practical guide for elementary and secondary teachers includes downloadable forms and templates to support strategy implementation. Use it to revisit your priorities and reshape your practices so that all students in your classroom can say of themselves and their peers, "We belong."
Frequently asked questions
Information
Belonging Thrives When Teachers Believe and Prepare
* * *This chapter includes information, self-reflection prompts, and active strategies to help you get ready to develop a climate and classroom management plan where belonging can thrive. We also include some tips for designing a first-day plan to kick off your belonging practices the right way.* * *
Strategy 1: Reflect on Belonging
- Describe or define belonging as you understand it, based on your own experiences.
- List a few places or situations where you feel or have felt a sense of belonging.
- How can you "tell" you belong in those places or situations? Dig into those feelings of belongingness and describe them.
- List a few places or situations in which you feel or have felt a lack of belonging.
- Think back to your student days. What factors contributed to your sense of belonging (or not belonging) at school or in a classroom?
- List some signs you look for or have seen that suggest students in your classroom don't feel a sense of belonging.
- Describe what and how you feel when you see a student (or perhaps a child of your own) struggle with belonging.
- Describe your past experiencesâsuccesses and failuresâwith helping students feel they belong.
- Describe the ways in which your own background, culture, and life experiences are similar to those of your students.
- Describe the ways in which your own background, culture, and life experiences are different from those of your students.
Strategy 2: Boost Your Belonging IQ
- Review the opening text of the Introductionâthe three paragraphs beginning on page 1. Highlight (or record) the words, phrases, or ideas that stand out to you. Make notes about why these grabbed you.
- Highlight the definitions of belonging and school belonging in the "What Belonging Is" section, beginning on page 2. Read them aloud. Then, in this same section, highlight the final two sentences of the Baumeister and Leary quote. Read these sentences out loud. What stands out to you? What experiences from your own practice do they call to mind?
- Review the list of the research-verified benefits of belonging in the section "Why Belonging in School Matters," beginning on page 3. Highlight any benefits you have personally witnessed. What other characteristics or benefits of belonging you have seen?
- On pages 3â4, review the bulleted list of what students can experience when they do not feel a sense of belonging in school. Highlight consequences you have personally witnessed. What other consequences of "not belonging" have you seen?
- In the "How to Increase Belongingness" section (beginning on p. 4), put a checkmark by factors you already attend to. Circle or highlight factors that challenge you, that you haven't thought much about, that you would like to learn more about, or that you would like to increase your abilities to provide.
- Review the section titled "Classroom Managementâand the Difference It Makes" (beginning on p. 5). Carefully reread the final two paragraphs. In your own words, briefly summarize the partnership between classroom management and belonging.
- In that same section, highlight concepts or messages about classroom management that excite you. Which do you find most compelling?
- In the section, "How to Combine Belonging and Management in Practice" (beginning on p. 8), highlight the topic sentence or key idea in the opening paragraph.
- In that same section, reread each of the six actions for increasing belonging. Pause after each one and ask yourself, "Can I commit to doing this consistently and better than I have already been doing?" Jot down one idea or goal for action next to each of the six actions.
- What one sentence, phrase, or idea from the Introduction was the most powerful or memorable to you? Write it down. Continue to refer to it as you make your way through the book.