Creating Classroom Communities

I had the great fortune to work with an exceptional group of educators today. Our focus was on establishing and maintaining a sense of community in the classroom. Those who know me well understand how strongly I feel about the need for having a strong sense of community in our classrooms. If teachers are frequently having to put out fires dealing with discipline problems, disagreements among the students, and students working against one another, high levels of learning cannot happen. I had a wonderful day working with this faculty! Everyone exhibited such tremendous respect for young people. It was obvious that these teachers find joy in what they do. I promised them that I would try to post a link to listening bookmarks. Unfortunately, technology is not being agreeable right now, so I'll just e-mail the bookmarks to Leslie. I hope they are helpful. I also hope that everyone has a great opening to the school year!