Community-building in a whole language first-grade classroom

• Main Author: Rogers, Sheri Everts
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-1994
• Subjects: Curricula; Curriculum development; Educational sociology; Literacy; Teaching
• ISBN: 9798208878859

The purpose of this participant-observational study was to describe and understand the processes involved with creating a community of learners in a culturally diverse classroom from the perspective of the teacher. The study focused on a first grade teacher who voluntarily examined with the researcher the process of building a community with her students. Ethnographic techniques were the primary methods used and included participant-observation, interviews, the informant's teaching journal and other documents. The results of the study indicated that particular themes emerged as vital components in this teacher's process of building a community of learners. They were: unconditional love, empathy, positive regard for children, teacher's own positive regard, valuing the children, asking children for their understanding of events and activities (questioning), genuineness, parental connections, and listening to the children's individual stories. The teacher struggled with lack of community within her own school environment and sought to provide for the children what she wished for herself. She was, however, able to create a community of learners with the other adults (e.g. the student teacher, the paraprofessional, and the researcher) in the classroom, which proved beneficial to her sustained growth. The children were substantially changed by the community of learners of which they felt a part. They were socially as well as academically connected with a tightly-woven net of caring which allowed them to take risks.