Offord,+Monique,+Classroom+Community+Building

====Hello everyone! I am Monique and I am a 32 year old student. This is a picture of my husband Ryan and I on our wedding day. I am not very computer savvy and don't take many pictures of myself, so this was one of the few I could find to post. I feel so fortunate to have had the crazy life I have had to bring me to where I am today. I truly love this program and all of the wonderful people in it. I enjoy seeing everyone's faces at school and I treasure all the insights and things that I learn from each and every person. ====

====**//Something that you want us to know about you or something about you that is interesting...// **==== ====This is a hard question for me...I think the answer has a lot to do with perspective and the reader. I can say that I am an "open book," nothing really embarrasses me and you can ask me anything and I will probably give you an answer, but beware, I can be brutally honest and sometimes I think that is a weakness because it can become offensive. I am very old fashion at heart and feel like I was born in the wrong time period. I liked when life and the times were "simpler." I could get on my soap box about my old fashion values, but I wont bore you all.... ====

**//Explain your education & career goals...// **
====My education goals are to finish at SOU with a Masters in Teaching. I have recently toyed with the idea of a Doctoral program, but that would come much later. As for my career, I am really open at this point. I know that I want to work with children. I can see myself teaching for a while (hopefully in an alternative, private, or magnet school) and learning as much as I can, then possibly opening my own school. My recent interest in a Doctoral program has me entertaining the idea of being a college professor someday. I guess overall, I am still dabbling with many ideas but feel no need at this point to make any concrete decisions. I will just see where life takes me...one day at a time. ====

**//What brings you joy?//**
====Many things bring me joy! I am a lover of life, especially the small things in life. A simple smell, touch, or sound can bring me great joy. I am particularly connected to the outdoors. I will do anything to be outside. I love living here where we have all 4 seasons and I embrace each one and celebrate them differently. Some examples of things I love to do outdoors are backpacking, hiking, camping, fishing, skiing, rafting, a stroll on a beautiful fall day, experiencing new things, and really anything you can think of outdoors. I also love to get lost in a good book, or knit a scarf on a cold winter day with a pot of hot tea. I have this adventurous, silly, outgoing side of me, and then there is the inner grandma! I love to sew, knit, crochet, bake, and do crafty things. ====

**//What is your greatest fear about being a teacher?//**
====My greatest fear about being a teacher is not living up to my own personal standards, and trying to meet those standards without letting it consume my life. ====

**//Did you ever experience a time when something was extremely difficult to learn?//**
====I had a very difficult time in school growing up in almost all subjects outside of math. I know that my upbringing and family issues were the main contributor to these struggles. The subject that I can say impacted me the most negatively emotionally was reading. ====

**//Explain that time and how it made you feel...//**
====That time in my life was very difficult and emotional. I have blocked many parts of that time in my life out and have a hard time recalling a lot of it. I do remember being scared, sad, afraid, embarrassed, anxious, uncomfortable, angry, and hopeless. ====

====**//How might this piece of your history help you connect to students with learning differences?//** ==== ====I feel like that time in my life made me who I am today and I do not dwell on it at all. I do feel like it will help me connect to the feelings of struggling learners in my own classroom. My history has made me consider special education. I feel like if I can connect to my learners emotionally the rest will fall into place. I am confident that I will do whatever it takes to make every student as successful as they can be, and will go to great lengths to tap into every possible source to achieve that. ====

**//What do you want to gain from this course?//**
====<span style="color: #917391; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">There are many things I'd like to get out of this course. However, when I go into a class with expectations, I often find that my expectations change as I learn the material and I am introduced to things I never knew that I wanted to know. So, for now in a very general sense, I want to learn how to run a successful inclusive classroom. ====

= <span style="color: #cc420f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Classroom Community Building =

====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">I chose this topic because I am passionate about learning how to successfully build a community within my classroom. I feel like building a strong classroom community is the foundation for all other successes that will take place in the classroom. I am also passionate about this topic because in my personal education philosophy that centers around teaching to the whole child and I believe a strong classroom community is the number one contributor to fostering whole child education. When you walk into a classroom with a strong community you can feel it in the air and see it in everything that the students do. I want my classroom to feel like you walked into a family member’s house and that everyone that lives in that “house” is a family member. I can’t begin to express how important this part of teaching is to me and I hope through this research project, I will be far more educate on the subject and on my way to being really good at it with a bit of practice. ====

=**<span style="color: #cc420f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">The top 5 things that I learned during my research of classroom community building are: **=


 * 1) ====<span style="color: #246b2d; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Building a strong classroom community can not only set the tone for the entire year, but dictate many of the successes and enthusiasm amongst the students. ====
 * 2) ====<span style="color: #246b2d; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">There are countless activities out there to use in in order to build that strong classroom community foundation. ====
 * 3) ====<span style="color: #246b2d; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">The importance of meaningful morning meetings throughout the entire year. These meetings not only help continue to build on strengthening the classroom community, but they can easily be used for life skills or integration of curriculum. ====
 * 4) ====<span style="color: #246b2d; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Holistic education and Montessori education strategies have classroom community building embedded in its everyday routines. They also focus on being a part of a whole. ====
 * 5) ====<span style="color: #246b2d; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">An authentic and successful classroom community can translate far beyond the classroom for students. Some students may take the values they learn to the playground, to their homes/neighborhoods, to their future classrooms, and even into their adult lives. ====

<span style="color: #cc420f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 18px;">Top Resource

//**<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Center for Teaching News and Information **//
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] **5 out of 5**

====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">This site is helpful on its own, but the links that it has embedded in it are what makes this site a 5 out of 5. The link that stands out to me the most is one that connects you to edutopia.org, where there is a wonderful 6 minute video on the importance of meaningful morning meetings to build a classroom/school community. The video shows a variety of clips that demonstrate different activities during the morning meeting that build a strong foundation for social and emotional learning. The morning meetings were brought to a particular school by the Care for Kids Initiative. The video describes the transformation that the Care for Kids Initiative has provided over the last two years. ====

====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">This site is one of the first resources that I have come across that refers to the classroom of children as a “cohort.” This vocabulary aligns with my own personal education philosophy, that each student is an important part to the whole (class) and that each student has something valuable to offer. Also, within this site is a list of factors that go into building a classroom community, unlike many I have found thus far. The list includes factors that you may not see in a classroom that currently has a successful community and could enhance it. These factors also align with my personal holistic education philosophy. ====

<span style="color: #cc420f; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px;">Resources

**//<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Teaching Tips: Team Building Activities for Elementary Students //**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] **4 out of 5** ====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">This website offers an abundance of links to games, activities, and lesson plans to encourage team building among elementary school students. There are indoor and outdoor activities, and cross-curricular lesson ideas. Many of these activities can be adapted for different age groups. The site seems to be updated frequently and even has a link to access state standards. ====

**//<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">2. Responsive Classroom //**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] **3.5 out of 5** ====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">This site provides a variety of resources. This site is to help educators to create safe, challenging, and joyful elementary school classrooms. Some of the resources that this site offers are resources for educators, school and district services, workshops, blogs, and literature for sale on the subject. I really like the blogs that teachers have posted. The blogs give great insight to what is working or not working for teachers in their classrooms. They also post their own ideas and strategies to share. ====

//**<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. Building Community in the Classroom **//
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] **3 out of 5** <span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">This document is nice because it is very condensed and is easy to reference specific areas of community building. Some of the areas listed in the article are providing a voice for the students, being friends, promoting respect, working together, student leadership, and individualization. My favorite part of this article is the rubric at the end that assists in finding the right teaching methods and learning methods for multiple intelligences.

//**<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Montessori Success in Minority Communities **//
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] **5 out of 5** ====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is an excellent website that aligns almost perfectly with my philosophy of education. This site is wonderful because it not only gives current guidance strategies, but it also gives lots of inclusive strategies, and strategies that can last a lifetime. This Montessori approach relies a great deal on a strong classroom community for a quality and constructive learning environment. This site also provides some links to articles regarding successful classroom communities among the Montessori education system. ====

//**<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. Performance Learning Systems **//
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] **4 out of 5** ====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">This web site provides a great newsletter on classroom community building. It details why building a strong classroom community is important to the success of the students and the teacher. The newsletter includes strategies for the teacher, team-building activities, ways to celebrate diversity, and access to other resources on the subject. ====

**//<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">6. Teaching Tolerance //**
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] **5 out of 5** ====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">This site offers categories for grade level appropriate strategies for building a strong community within the classroom. There are resources for professional development, classroom activities, a magazine subscription (which is free to teachers!), teaching kits, and other publications on the topic. Many of the activities on this site can easily be integrated into the curriculum and also meet standards simultaneously. Many of the activities also incorporate multicultural education. ====

===//**<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">7. Miller, John P. Educating for Wisdom and Compassion: Creating Conditions for Timeless Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2006. Print. **//===

====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">This book has a small section on classroom community building that leads into local community connections. It is based on holistic education practices. The section describing building a holistic classroom community uses the classroom as a foundation for building strong respectful connections, that can then translate to the local community, and then to life. In holistic education community building, students view themselves as a part of a whole. ====
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">4 out of 5 **

===**//<span style="color: #182291; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 12pt;">8. Mastropieri, Margo A., and Thomas E. Scruggs. "Chapter 7, Improving Classroom Behavior and Social Skills." The Inclusive Classroom: Strategies for Effective Differentiated Instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 2010. Print //**===

====<span style="color: #484805; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">This textbook about inclusive classrooms is relevant for any classroom in regards to classroom community building. The nice thing about the descriptions here are that there is an emphasis on difficult students or students with disabilities. Sometimes these students are the biggest challenge for teachers in building a strong classroom community. Since the strategies in this textbook are based around these sometimes challenging students, it is a great resource for the classroom community building along with many other effective instructional needs. ====
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">3.5 out of 5 **