One of the first things teachers learn in school is to build community and culture in their classroom. This helps with classroom management, student engagement, and overall student progress. Then the 2020/21 school year hit and most teachers were thrown into virtual teaching. We didn’t learn that. We didn’t learn how to TEACH in a pandemic, nor did we learn how to build community over a screen. So I know what you’re thinking, “I don’t have time for community building we have to figure out how to LEARN over a dang computer (or ipad)!” Now, don’t get me wrong; virtual teaching is HARD. But we also have to go back to those basics. We know students learn more when they feel like they are accepted and welcome in their classroom environment. We know they will respect us (the teachers) more if they know we care about them and who they are. Building a classroom community makes students feel valued and empowered. It makes them feel comfortable with the people they are surrounded by (even virtually), ultimately giving them the freedom to thrive. And THAT is what we want right? For our students to thrive. Just because they aren’t in a physical classroom doesn’t mean that stuff isn’t possible. In fact, I think I have learned more about my students this year than I have any other year. I’ve made a list of what has worked in my classroom (can we call it that anymore?!) to build community and culture and help my students succeed.

Now that the pandemic is over and most students are back in the classroom, I still apply a lot of these methods to my in-person classroom.

Building a classroom community makes students feel valued and empowered

1. Morning AND end of the day Meeting

A lot of people do morning meeting in their traditional classroom setting and that doesn’t have to go away just because you’re virtual. I start and end every day with a meeting. In the classroom I would go pretty strictly off the book (The Morning Meeting Book), however virtually we mostly do just a discussion question. Mondays are always “what is one thing you did this weekend” and Friday afternoons are always “what are you looking forward to this weekend.” My students LOVE this topic every Monday. I’ve had multiple parents tell me their children said they “need to do something fun so they can share about it on Monday.” We talk about goal setting, hopes and dreams. We also talk about what they want for dinner and their favorite animals. Something teachers know about kids: they LOVE to talk about themselves. This way they get this share out while feeling connected to the class.

This is also a great time to talk about how to word a sentence and answer a question. I always give my students a sentence frame (“This weekend was _____. I_________”) to help them answer in complete sentences. There is so many different standards and topics you can breach in morning meeting alone.

I always end the day with some sort of reflection, or goal setting for the next day. “Did you go into the learning pit today? What is your favorite thing you learned? What was hard for you?” This gets students thinking about their learning instead of being passive with it.

Need an idea for greetings? Try teaching students how to say hello in different languages! I have a FREE resource to try this here.

2. Let them get to know you

This one is my favorite. You are expecting students to tell you all about them, it’s only fair that they get to know you! My students love hearing about my baby, animals and house. Some students ask how my kids are every day. They ask to see my dog. HUMANIZE YOURSELF. You are human so show them that! Make yourself less intimidating and they are more willing to ask questions. If they are asking questions they are taking charge of their own learning. There is no more “the teacher is all mighty powerful.” That was proven not to work. Tell them about you, and they will respect you all the more.

3. Show and Tell

We’re going back in time and bringing back show and tell! Before you ask-NO! This is not a waste of time! Let me tell you the number one reason why. Tell me if this sounds familiar: “Teacher, I got a new toy want to see?! Teacher look here’s my dog! Teacher look at this!” Yea. Thought so. Every Friday morning is show and tell day. Students can bring one thing to share. Is that meeting a little longer? Yes, but it’s Friday, that’s OK. Students know they can’t share their stuff until that day. If they don’t want to share they can pass, but that doesn’t happen often. And back to number 2, you start it off! Share with them! However if you’re like me you learn that most of your stuff isn’t that much fun and you don’t have as much to share 🙂

4. Discussion time before class

I always start my meetings 5 minutes early, turn off my mic and camera, and let students come in and talk to each other. They aren’t getting that normal interaction from school. They NEED to talk to their peers! This gives them that chance and to see each other. They crack jokes, say hi, plan playdates, and show things off. It has become an important part of our routine!

5. Give them as much choice as possible

Choice is a staple in my classroom, virtually or in-person. Give students choice and they are more engaged and have more ownership over their own learning-which is where we want them to be. The reason I put this on building community and culture is because it helps you see what type of learners your students are. For example, most of my day is self-guided. We have 3 class times a day, 30ish minutes a piece. The rest of the day they are going through notebooks on seesaw with lessons embedded. It is up to them how they do this. Do they take breaks? Do they do it all at once? Do they skip around? You can see how they learn and adjust your teaching based on that.

Along with choice comes with management and rewards. I let students choose their own rewards when we earn them. We have a collection of rewards that they sent me (dance party, PJ day, watch a show, ect.) When they earn the reward they feel so much more connection to it because they either picked it or their classmates did. They have more buy-in and engagement.

I have a fun way to help students buy into their learning with a Word Wall input form. Students can choose the words that go up on their class word wall!

6. Celebrate THEM!

This is easier than you think! When students achieve anything we celebrate them as a class. This could be completing their work on time or early, finishing all their sight words and moving onto the next list (this is what I use for), making growth on an assessment, etc. What I do is call them out (or even multiple students) and say something like, “________ completed all their sight words for list 1! Let’s celebrate them on the count of 3!” Count to 3, then we all clap! We woo hoo and congratulate them. This is simple, FREE and they absolutely love it.

Classroom community and culture is not only doable in a virtual setting- but it is NECESSARY. Just because they aren’t in a brick and mortar classroom doesn’t mean school needs to be completely different. Give them something to look forward to. Help them see that it’s not the end of the world that they are over the screen (which some may think). Get them EXCITED to be in YOUR class!