Creating A Community In Your School
Why don’t students want to go to school? So often, students complain to their parents and teachers about not wanting to come to school or hate school. Of course, students would always rather be “doing something fun,” which usually means either sitting scrolling on TikTok or playing Fortnite. The real question is how teachers and principals can make school a place that students of all ages want to go. This is especially hard in secondary schools because, from my experience, middle schoolers and high schoolers hate everything. All jokes aside, if school were a place that students were eager to go, then everyone would have a more enjoyable and beneficial experience. The proper solution is to create a sense of community in schools for educators and the educated. A place where you are happy and willing to spend a lot of your time, where people there care about you, and you understand the real benefits of education.
The community impact would be most significant on the study body in all schools. Recently, there has been a massive push for Social Emotional Learning, or SEL, in different curriculums nationwide. While students need these skills, what is the sudden push for, and why is it necessary now when it wasn’t in previous years? There are many different possible answers to this question: the COVID-19 pandemic, too much technology use, single-parent households, or a combination of many things. This is clearly a significant issue plaguing the student population across the country, so a sense of community within a school would let students know they have someone to talk to and people supporting them if needed. A school community is not just having friends at school; it is everyone at that school caring about each other.
The feeling of a community also boosts students' motivation. How, you might ask? Students who know those around them care are likelier to want to do well. They would be motivated to do well for their teachers, parents, and classmates. Students would also be comfortable pushing each other to do and be better. Children may feel comfortable telling each other nice things instead of constantly teasing and bullying one another.
The benefits would not be solely for students. Teachers and staff would probably experience the most benefit. Often, teachers feel alone; a sense of community would diminish this feeling. This is not a call for more useless “team-building” activities on professional development days or after-school meetings. Instead, teachers should be allowed more time to spend with one another during the workday. Either to plan or have more time in general to form these bonds. An example of this would allow grade-level or content-level conference periods to overlap so that teachers have more opportunities to connect with each other.
So, how do you create a sense of community in schools where there are none? Firstly, retain as many teachers as possible year-to-year. Parents and students must know what to expect, and having stable teachers is an excellent way to start.
How do you get teachers to stay? Pay them more.
Secondly, teachers need to make more of an effort to keep in contact with their student's parents and families. Many teachers already do a fantastic job of this, but it needs to be a larger point of focus across the board. Not only should you contact parents if students are acting up in class but also when they are being exceptional. Or, if a student has been out for multiple days, call and ask where they are to show that you care. Another way to keep in contact would be a weekly or monthly “newsletter” for your class. This could be as vague or extensive as your schedule allows, but parents must know what their students do in class.
Finally, make school a place students want to go. This is obviously easier said than done, but there are ways to make school more “fun” for students. For example, have a monthly family night at the school, have more free time throughout the day, have more built-in fun days at school, or reward students who perform well in class. One or all of these things would contribute to making school a more desirable place to go. Forming a school community takes time and effort, but if all those involved work together, then education will see a great change.
