More Time to Teach: Building Community in a Challenging Classroom

Almost every teacher has had a class that is a challenge at some time. This program can be viewed by individual teachers or used in a professional development situation to focus on ways to build classroom community. The coaching educators, Jeff Fink and Jon Halpern, are longtime elementary teachers who now work with teachers and parents nationwide. Their theory is that if time is taken to build community in the classroom, there will be more opportunities to teach without the interruptions and distractions that a challenging classroom often exhibits. In building community, they note the importance of separating behavior from the child and keeping the focus on the behavior, not the student. They also talk about addressing difficult topics (racism, sexism, homophobia, and bullying) as the opportunity arises. Finally, they discuss creating opportunities for success while holding students accountable. Each of these points is demonstrated through the use of classroom scenarios that are each played out three times: first, with no instructions for the viewer; second, with instructions to look at how the students react to the teacher's behavior; and finally, with the teacher's behavior changed. There are opportunities during each set of scenarios for the DVD to be paused for discussion. While the vignettes are somewhat contrived, they do show ways that teachers can change their attitude and behaviors to create a more peaceful classroom.—Ann Brownson, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston