Journal Article

Creating Caring Learning Communities

Larrivee, Barbara

2000

Overview

First and foremost, promoting a culture of community requires that the teacher make the quality of relationships equally as important as the teaching/ learning process. Cultivating the classroom as a community of learners relies on instituting policies, practices and routines that involve real connections with students that solidify student-teacher alliances. Putting community-building into practice includes: - Creating a vehicle for open and ongoing dialogue with students Getting to know students and their backgrounds by taking an interest in students' life stories Infusing the classroom with communitybuilding experiences embedded in methods, structures, and content learning Responding to students with acknowledgment and acceptance rather than defensiveness, judgment, or denial Creating classroom norms that balance the growth of the individual and the well-being of the community. BARBARA LARRIVEE, professor in the Department of Learning, Literacy, and Culture, California State University, San Bernardino, is author of Authentic Classroom Management: Creating a Community of Learners.

• Publisher: Indiana State University School of Education,Indiana State University
• Subject: Academic Standards / Advocacy / At risk students / Authenticity / Caring / Classroom management / Classrooms / Communication (Thought Transfer) / Communities of Practice / Community / Community Relations / Control theory / Controversial Issues (Course Content) / Educational research / Emotional Intelligence / Evaluative Thinking / Group Structure / Individual Characteristics / Individual Differences / Integrity / Interpersonal Relationship / Learning / Learning Processes / Literacy / School Effectiveness / Schools / Sense of Community / Student Attitudes / Teachers / Teaching / Teaching Methods