Classroom Community

As the end of the semester nears, I am reflecting on the semester and also some of my blog postings. My students are doing so well reading the Journal and discussing current business events. This is how semesters always end! It has really become very fun and valuable. The early challenges are worth the effort. I often forget this when students are struggling in the beginning of the semester.

One of the best results of using the Journal in my classes is the classroom community it helps to create. After using the Journal for years, I sometimes take for granted what the Journal current events discussion adds the classroom atmosphere. I was reminded once again of how important it is pedagogically to build classroom community when I read the book "My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student " by Rebekah Nathan (Cornell University Press, 2005). Dr. Nathan is a college professor who chose to move into a dorm and take classes - to become a college freshman - as her sabbatical project. The book is a quick read with some interesting insights into the other side of our world - college from a student viewpoint. It opened my eyes on a few points.

Dr. Nathan seems to value classroom community as much as I. On pages 93 of her book, Dr. Nathan states that "Despite the fact that classes rarely function as communities, this ideal is powerful within the American classroom - at least for teachers. A good class is often thought of as one in which students speak repeatedly, and the teacher's role…focuses on the elicitation and clarification of each student's viewpoint." She laments the lack of this atmosphere in the classes in which she was enrolled.

In discussing the importance of classroom community, Dr. Nathan also quotes French anthropologist Herve Varenne, who "would characterize as the shared American ideal of community: a place of equality, informality, intimacy, and reciprocity." Isn't that what we would all want to provide for a learning environment for our students?

Students often tell me how much fun the classroom discussions are. Once they get beyond the initial awkwardness of speaking in class about current events, they enjoy it. So perhaps incorporating WSJ current events would build important community in your classroom as well.