Building Classroom Community and Relationships All Year Long

I have a confession to make. I always skipped icebreakers and getting-to-know-you activities to have a few more minutes to discuss a hot topic or analyze a fascinating article for a few more minutes. I used to shock my seventh graders by taking attendance on the first day and launching right into a lesson about medieval allegories. I didn’t really care where they had gone that summer or what sports they played or how many siblings they had. So I feel a bit guilty when teachers talk about how critical relationships are to student success and suggest beginning-of-the-year activities to kickstart bonding. Then I remember that I did get to know my students well. Before the year was out, I knew quite a bit about how my students saw themselves, their big goals, their concerns, and their perceptions of the world around them. And I never had to suffer through a rock-paper-scissors tournament.

There are teachers who can make icebreaker activities fun rather than awkward, or whose "Welcome to My Class" PowerPoint with pictures of vacations, spouses, kids, and pets feels sincere rather than forced. (If I tried to do these things, you might wish we could get back to that medieval allegory lecture.) Regardless of how you handle the first day of school, the opportunities to build relationships with your students present themselves every day, and you can cultivate more throughout the year.

Here are some tips for building community and relationships all year long:

Center Conversations: Short discussions are a great way to activate prior knowledge or to discover local connections to a topic you're teaching. If you're using Gibbs Smith Education textbooks, Spark It!, Turn & Talk, and What Do YOU Think? activities provide prompts for succinct conversations that challenge students to engage with the subject matter. Once students are more familiar with a topic, Socratic discussions, academic debate, and exercises in civil discourse are great ways to practice different styles of communication while deeply exploring a topic. Our Teacher Tips provide advice for making sure class discussions are inclusive for students with a variety of communication styles and preferences.

Hype Up Colleagues, Classes, and Extracurriculars: Many of us were raised with the threat that "when you get to 3rd grade/7th grade/11th grade/college" we would have to do something in a particular way or face a horrific fate. Rather than focus on the dire consequences of not meeting an academic milestone, I like to use my perspective of vertical alignment across grades or familiarity with my grade-level team's courses to create connections among classes. If students know that the knowledge they're building in one class will help them make connections next year, or informs some extracurricular passion, they're more likely to see that information as valuable and begin seeking connections on their own. This is also a chance to share personal interests and introduce extracurricular opportunities in an organic way. Encourage students to brainstorm ideas about how they can share special knowledge or make connections between areas of interest and your course. Check out the Flex It! activities in your GSE social studies books for ideas about cross-curricular assignments.

Ask for Meaningful Student Feedback: Student feedback surveys can be useless and even detrimental if they ask the wrong kinds of questions. Ask the right kinds of questions, and you can tap into what activities, topics, and feedback are most likely to keep your students engaged. (I was genuinely shocked that my high schoolers desperately wanted stickers on essays and tests.) The beginning and the end of a quarter or semester are great times for students to share what they've experienced in your class and what they would like in the future. Alternatively, consider appending some of these questions to the Self-Reflection portion of a Chapter Assessment or Unit Assessment.

• Which activity did you enjoy most? Why?
• Which activity was the most challenging for you? Why?
• What do you think are your strengths as a student? What skills would you like help developing?
• What kind of feedback from teachers do you think helps you improve your work? What kind of feedback makes you feel confident?

In addition to questions about academics, occasionally asking questions about students can help you create connections between the curriculum and their interests, hobbies, dream careers, and favorite media. Incorporate questions about them as a quick warm-up, exit ticket, or journal question after a test. 

Use Projects to Dig Deep: You find out quite a bit about your students with creative projects. Whether it's knowing which of their personality traits they value most or discovering someone has a secret talent for music, projects give students the opportunity to explore who they are, consider who they want to be, and share their skills and stories with you, their classmates, and their school communities, all while exploring social studies themes and topics. Whether it's recording a walking tour that describes the history of their neighborhood or an oral-history interview with a grandparent, you get insights about who they are and where they're going. Check out Sharpen Your Skills! activities for exercises that engage C3 social studies skills and Spotlight On! activities for project-based learning. 

Share the Big Picture: Grades are important for college admissions, and standardized tests matter quite a bit if they're tied to school funding. But let's get real. Social studies teachers prepare students to do things that normally appear as taglines for superhero movies: save democracy, protect the planet, fight injustice, defend humanity, etc. Although you are responsible for preparing them for tests, grading work, and writing recommendation letters, make sure your students know that you also are rooting for them to save the world, in whatever way speaks to them. Remind them of their goodness, their potential, and their uniqueness that makes them important, now and in the future. This is critical context when you hold them accountable to high standards and expect them to participate. The stakes are high, and you’re counting on them.