Creating community in the classroom: Part 3 (monitoring progress)

This series of lessons is designed to help develop a sense of classroom community through use of group goal-setting, decision-making, brainstorming, peer feedback, positive reinforcement, and positive peer pressure. The lessons will help students create and maintain a supportive environment for learning. Part 1 focused on goal-setting process and practice. In Part 2, students applied knowledge of the goal-setting process and cooperatively created a plan to work on short-term group goals. In part 3, students will monitor the effects of their plan by determining whether short term goals are being achieved.

A lesson plan for grades K–8 Guidance

By Pat Nystrom

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Related pages

• Creating community in the classroom: Part 1 (setting goals ): This series of lessons is designed to help develop a sense of classroom community. Group goal-setting, brainstorming, peer feedback, group decision-making, positive reinforcement, and positive peer pressure are used to create a safe, supportive environment for learning in the classroom.
  
  In Part 1, students are introduced to the goal-setting process. They will practice the first step of the process as they set individual and class behavioral goals.
• Creating community in the classroom: Part 2 (cooperative planning): This series of lessons is designed to help develop a sense of classroom community through use of group goal-setting, decision-making, brainstorming, peer feedback, positive reinforcement, and positive peer pressure. The lessons will help students create and maintain a supportive environment for learning. Part 1 focused on goal-setting process and practice. In Part 2, students will apply knowledge of the goal-setting process by cooperatively creating a plan to work on group goals.
• Creating community in the classroom: Part 4 (rewarding improvement): The fourth lesson in a series on improving classroom learning climate, this lesson provides an opportunity to evaluate student progress and to provide positive reinforcement for improvements in behavior. Using a one to ten continuum, students will subjectively evaluate class progress on the ten adjectives listed as class climate goals. After this process, students will publicly recognize those classmates who have helped the class improve or who have personally improved.

Related topics

• Learn more about character education, community, goals-setting, guidance, life skills, and problem-solving.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• reinforce positive behaviors observed during previous sessions.
• review the steps in the goal-setting process and relate steps to the lesson activities.
• practice another step in the goal-setting process by monitoring progress toward short-term goals.
• be given an opportunity to work cooperatively as a class.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

45 minutes

Materials/resources

• Writing materials
• Post-It notes

Pre-activities

This lesson is third in a series. Part 1 of Creating Community in the Classroom focused on goal-setting as students set long term group and individual behavior goals. Part 2 focused on (1) considering options (students identified and listed obstacles to success, and (2) making a plan (students chose specific behaviors that needed improvement and agreed to improve.) Part 3 provides an opportunity to monitor progress toward the short-term goals created during Part 2. Part 4 will focus on the next steps in the goal-setting process by providing an opportunity to monitor progress and to reward improvement.

Activities

1. Remind students of the positive, cooperative behaviors they demonstrated during the last few sessions.
2. Briefly review the activities of the previous sessions and relate them to the steps in the goal-setting process.
3. Do they remember their list of behaviors that would have to be reduced or eliminated if the class reached its long term goals? Let volunteers try to remember the negative behaviors as you write them on the board. Complete the list from your notes if students leave out any. Remind the class that they targeted certain behaviors to work on and made a committment to improve in those areas. Circle the targeted behaviors on the board.
4. Draw a large circle on the board or chart. Explain that students will place themselves in the circle with an “X” based on how included they feel. This is not about being in the “in” crowd but about feeling “in” or cared about or safe in the class. (Those who place their “X” nearest the middle would be those who feel that classmates listen to their ideas, that the class cares about their feelings, that if something tragic happened to them it would affect classmates’ feelings. Those who place their “X” outside the circle would feel that classmates wouldn’t care if they never came back, that no one wants to hear what they say, that they don’t matter.)
5. Inform students that the activity of the day will require a high trust level, that nothing will be learned if people don’t reveal their true feelings. Ask whether they think classmates will be brave enough to be honest. Ask if they (individuals) will be brave enough. Ask what could happen that would make a person regret being honest. Ask what might happen that would make a student happy they were brave enough to tell the truth. Using the by-now-familiar one to ten continuum (ten is highest), measure trust level. Have each student tell the number that they believe represents the trust level of the class.
6. Before students start the activity, explain that if the plan is working, if the negative behaviors are disappearing, if the class is getting closer to its long term goals, the progress should show up in students’ feelings about being “in” the class. Start markers around the room from both sides and have students watch in silence to see where others place their “X’s” in the circle.
7. When everyone has placed an “X” in or near the circle, ask for student perceptions. Ask students if they were surprised at where people placed their marks. Echo what they say and ask for more information. Allow students to offer evidence that a classmate is more included than they feel and than their “X” placement indicated. Allow students to move their “X” if the discussion makes them feel more included.
8. Ask the students who put marks nearest the center of the circle if they would be willing to describe what classmates do to make them feel included. Try to get as much specific behavior description as you can. You may have to offer hypotheses for their consideration.
9. Ask if any who put marks far from the middle of the circle would talk about what classmates do to make them feel unwanted or unimportant. Suggestions may be needed to get them started. Try to keep names out of the discussion, and head off anyone who wants to argue with the speaker. (”Is this what happens when you try to explain how you feel?”)
10. When you consider all we have heard today about how people feel, do you think the class has eliminated any of the negative behaviors you listed? Have you made any progress toward long-term goals? Do they want to continue the plan made the previous week? Do they need to try something new? Sometimes they decide to continue the old plan but add one short-term goal. Sometimes they throw out the whole plan and choose a different strategy. They may decide they need to get to know each other better and you can offer to find activities for the next sessions that will help them work on that. Part 4 of Creating Community in the Classroom can wait for a few weeks.
11. Acknowledge and express appreciation for productive or supportive behavior you observed during the lesson. Praise specific students who were particularly open or insightful and thank them for their courage. Tell them that Part 4 will focus on evaluation and rewarding progress.

Assessment

• Number of students who volunteer ideas.
• Number of students offering positive reinforcement to peers.
• Teacher and administrator observations of class behavior.
• Number of mediations provided for class members.
• Number of discipline referrals for class members.
• Improvement in student perceptions of class trust level.