It was the last period of the day, and I was feeling frazzled. My sophomore English class was engaged in a fun group project, but I had not anticipated the individual attention each group in this particular class would need. I ran laps around the room, putting out fires and redirecting attention. I paused by a group in the front to ask what they needed, realizing that they would need extra help to apply what they had read to the activity. One girl looked up at me and smiled.
“I’m okay. I feel safe in this class,” she said. “I feel like I can be myself.”
Her comment, in a moment when I was fully prepared to reteach and help them work through literacy skills, has played over in my mind since then. My perception of what was necessary in the class was so different from hers. The content we teach is always important, but students can learn it best when they are in an environment where they feel accepted and like they belong.
You’ve probably played games to begin a class—Two Truths and a Lie, Find Someone Who, Interview a Classmate. These activities are fun, and they help students connect when they don’t know us or each other. But as the days roll by and the games drift into memory, how do we continue growing that unity in our classrooms and help our students work together as a cohesive whole? How do we ensure that they feel safe enough with us and with each other to take the risks they need to be able to grow as readers and writers?
See Each Student
As a high school English teacher, I might see up to 200 students a day rotating in and out of my classroom. It felt overwhelming to try to know and help each one of them in a 42-minute period. I worried about students who tried to hide and disconnect.
I started making a tiny mark on my seating chart next to the name of each student with whom I made a meaningful connection each day. It didn’t have to be long; it just had to be a connection over things that mattered to them, and it could be in the hallway or the cafeteria or before school. By Wednesday, I could identify the students I was missing and make a concerted effort to reach them by Friday. I talked often with the majority of students, but this strategy helped me make sure no one slipped past.
Help Them See Each Other
We used structures when working together to teach students to use leadership strategies and listen to each other. Students rarely went to groups without instructions on how they should help each other with their reading and writing, whether through an organizer or through specific questions to ask each other. Perhaps most importantly, they typically worked with the same people in class. We didn’t change groups very often so that students could know each other and learn to trust and work well together, especially when sharing writing. The goals were camaraderie and growth as readers and writers.
Help Them Identify Strengths
My husband became an English major in college because of one professor in a literature survey class who chose his short essay to read to the class and highlight everything he did well as a writer. He left that class thinking, Maybe I could do this and changed his major shortly afterward.
I often focus on what students need to improve. But identifying strengths is a more powerful learning tool. When I conference with students, I need to note not only what they do well in their writing but what their writing is telling me about their lives. Their strengths can be shared with the class and can identify students as experts. If a student writes an effective introduction, it’s easy and empowering to share it and tell other students to bring their own introduction issues to him. Being recognized for what they do well gives students a boost of confidence that helps them see they have a place in the class.
The day one student told me she felt safe with me reframed the way I thought about my class. I wanted my students to grow as readers and writers, but the best path to reaching these goals was by giving them the opportunities to trust me and to trust each other.
