Building a Community Inside the Classroom

By

GILBERT R. DE LUNA
Teacher III, Magsalisi West E/S, Jaen South

Building a stronger community is always a factor towards achieving success in

education. A community builds goodwill, trust, connection and interdependence among
members. A community fosters better relationship and productivity between and among
the direct stakeholders of such community. A classroom is a microcosm of a
community as it comprise a wide array of members, with common traits and thereby
providing the homogeneity necessary to build a community. Alost everyone inside the
classroom would want to become a member of the classroom community (Elias, 2016),
to belong, to be a part of learning and success.

The teacher plays a central role in developing a stronger community inside the
classroom and one has to be creative and resourceful in order to develop relationships
between and among the pupils. Creative in such a way that a teacher should be able to
implement related activities inside the classroom that will enable the pupils to know
each other better, to understand and appreciate similarities and to appreciate individual
differences and uniqueness.

A teacher should be able to initiate classroom activities pinned on values, in both group
and individual efforts, these activities should enable the pupils to identify the needs of
every members, and how to help them achieve their desires. The role therefore of the
teacher is as a facilitator for these kinds of activities.

Parents participation is likewise a key into developing a stronger community inside the
classroom. A teacher should tap into the efforts, and when it is warranted by the dictum
of the curriculum should be able to integrate parental participation in classroom
activities. This is likewise coaching to parents to pupils other than their children would
be able to help the teacher inculcate the value of parent appreciation in the
collaboration of education.

According to Church (2018), building community inside the classroom should be

predicated on identity, familiarity, warmth and beauty, trust, predictability and family
involvement. Once again the teacher should be able to create an atmosphere
conducive to developing stronger tie-ups and dependence inside the classroom in such
a way the socialization is greater. This could be facilitated by accurately designed
group activities taking into consideration the uniqueness of every individual. After all
this is the cornerstone of the K to 12 system of basic education.

21st century anyway is a century of communication where everyone is connected with

one another through various means. A teacher should be able to maximize the given
situation, whether utilizing new technologies, or the traditional method of
communication, messages between and among the members of the classroom is
imperative.

Prepared by: Checked by:

GILBERT R. DE LUNA DIOSDADO P. JUAN
Teacher III School Principal I