Creating Community

Community engagement and student learning

I believe in collectively creating a positive community within my classroom. One way we do this is by following these Guiding Principles from Michael Sorrell, President of Paul Quinn College: LEAVE, LEAD, LIVE, LOVE.

1. LEAVE places better than you found them

2. LEAD from wherever you are

3. LIVE a life that matters

4. LOVE the community greater than yourself

As a class, when we follow these core values, we create a classroom ethos of We over Me: The needs of the classroom community supersede the wants of the individual. We work together to be successful fifth-grade students.

Throughout the school year, I help my students see the different layers of community in their lives. Their family is one community; the classroom is another community. These principles continue to apply as their community grows outward: family, classroom, grade-level, school building, neighborhood community, etc. Using We over Me, the classroom walls dissolve and students see the importance of connection and being selfless in their communities outside of school.

One way that our community engagement and classroom values impact student learning and success is through our weekly Design Kitchen. Adapted from Google X’s Design Kitchen, each week I present students with an opportunity to find ideas and solve problems in their various communities (e.g.: family, classroom, school, etc). From inspiration to implementation, students prototype human-centered solutions to real-world problems, learning how to radically collaborate with each other. It is incredible to see how students work together to solve a variety of real world problems, such as:

• How might we redesign our morning routine in order to be better prepared for learning?

• How might we redesign Halloween so as not to appropriate different cultures?

• How might we get students to recycle more in our building?

• How might we prevent our neighborhood park from vandalism?

These project ideas require students to focus on building their creative confidence, strengthening empathy, embracing ambiguity, learning from failure, iterating, and remaining optimistic. These mindsets impact my students’ learning and their success in the classroom. When students have a connection to their communities (classroom, neighborhood, family, etc.), they have a vested interest in being a successful student because they are a member of their larger community. They want their communities to be successful so they work hard to be a successful learner so that their community thrives. Using design thinking as a framework for problem solving helps students see that solving challenges requires thinking big, collaboration, iteration and designing solutions that are connected to the members of the community. For example, in order to get students to recycle more in our building, instead of painting more recycling bins in bright colors, my students went out into the school community to learn why students were not recycling. They could empathize with their classmates and students in other grade levels, which led to more successful recycling solutions. Combining We over Me with Design Kitchen creates a positive community within my classroom, dissolves classroom walls and connects my students with the community.

Resources

Frame your own Design Challenge - I use this resource in my Design Kitchen for students to design their own independent study design challenge.

Traditional Problem Solving versus Design Thinking - I replace business thinking with traditional classroom problem solving. Think about how you teach problem solving. Do you provide all of the problems? Do they only have one solution?

The 5 Chair Challenge - A great beginning design challenge for your students!

Have a great week!

—Adrian