In chapter seven Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman discuss
creating a community in the classroom. In a community students can feel more
accepted and therefore be more receptive to learning and be more willing to be
active participants in their education. I know I feel this way when I am in a classroom,
or atmosphere, where I feel safe. I agree that creating community is important
to a classroom and is something I really want to establish in my classroom. In
reality it is more difficult than it appears. I only see my class every other
day and while they may see each other more often than I do I have found it hard
to establish a community like atmosphere in my class. “So unless the classroom is
a place where kids see learning as useful and meaningful to them-connected to their
individual interests- teaching content reading “Skills” or comprehension
strategies or anything else simply doesn’t stick for a great many of our
students (Daniels & Zemelman, 2004, pg 169.)” I agree and that is why I try
to bring real world scenarios and examples of biology into the classroom. Many
students have wonderful questions regarding the content and these questions
only fuel their peers to have more questions. Their inquiries often lead to
students’ making discoveries about topics they find interesting and I was
amazed at the level of research some students had done to satisfy their personal
inquiry. Creating a community is a main goal to me and my classroom and it
works well in science classes, especially in lab practices and class
discussions.
Daniels,H., & Zemelman, S. (2004). Subjects Matter:Every Teacher's Guide to Content-Area Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
