Building Our Community (3/15/2011)

Laura Peterka, Teacher, Emotional Support Class at Easton Area Middle School

Our focus this year for our 7^th grade class is to build community within the classroom. To do this we needed to teach our students how to be good team members and how to respect everyone for their differences.  Mr. Jim Bloom, the Mental Health Worker, and I worked together to help enhance our students’ abilities in these areas. Mr. Bloom uses many well-known games, such as UNO, into teambuilding games. For example, when students lay down a “Draw Four” card, they have to say one positive trait about the person who has to draw the four cards. When they put down a “Wild Card”, they have to say something positive about themselves. The students love playing this game. While they were playing UNO, I was writing down all the kind words that were said about them.  When the game was over we discussed how it feels when someone says something nice about you, and how it feels to say something nice about another person. The goal is for the students to use positive words and praise each other without prompts or games. In order to remind the students of all the kind words that were mentioned, I created small signs for each student. Now when they are having a rough day, they just need to look at the sign and remember how many positive attributes they bring to our community.