Across college campus classrooms, students of all ages have a deep need to feel welcomed, included, and engaged in their learning communities. In order to best prepare our college students for their professional careers, professors and instructors should foster social and emotional learning in their learning spaces. Social and emotional learning is linked to the success of students, teachers, and school environments (Usakli & Ekici, 2018). Social and emotional learning builds community and fosters collaboration in learning spaces. Faculty can foster that community and connection with their students beginning on the very first day of classes. Students begin to feel included and welcomed in their learning environment immediately upon entering the room.
By engaging in social and emotional learning, students can gain social awareness which increases their empathy and promotes student understanding of people they encounter from diverse backgrounds (Sorbet & Notar, 2022). The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning or CASEL (www.casel.org) introduces five areas of competency. Those five areas include: self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and self-management. These five competencies are crucial in developing students’ social and emotional knowledge and skills. These social and emotional skills provide students with the ability to understand and regulate their emotions as well as the emotions of others (Schonert-Reichl, 2017; Casel, 2020).
Building a Community of Learners
Every classroom is the starting point for a community to come together and form a cohesive group, no matter the age or ability of the students. This is an opportunity for active student engagement and can be utilized no matter the course modality. When students feel like they belong, they are more likely to be present both in attendance and participation. Community is important in every classroom, in-person, synchronous, and asynchronous, as it is both a benefit to the students and the instructors.
This is a space that is committed to achieving academic goals as well as promoting social interaction and collaboration. Building a community means everyone is involved in social and emotional learning (SEL). Engaging in SEL encourages awareness of others, their backgrounds, and allows a place for empathy among students. The classroom is the perfect environment for students to encounter others who may be very similar to themselves, but it is an even better place for them to increase their opportunity to experience other people who are quite different from themselves (Sorbet & Notar, 2022).
How can we practically add some community-building ideas into our classrooms in action? Four core ways of building community and improving social and emotional learning (SEL) in any classroom are discussed below. These strategies can be used in any classroom setting, whether it’s pre-K or college, as most people want to feel included and part of the group.
1. Welcoming Students
Start the first session with a greeting, an icebreaker, set the ground rules for the room, and establish norms and expectations for the community. Verifying the pronunciation of a student’s name, or the name they would prefer to be called, along with personal pronouns, is a great way for a student to be recognized and seen. When having students meet one another, avoid forcing my name is, where you’re from, what’s a fun fact, allow the ice to melt while asking students to work together on a common task such as: completing a puzzle, solving a riddle, or creating something among themselves – keeping the stakes low and encouraging communication. Remind the students that they are a team, and teams work together for one another. What are some examples to get started? Starting with cooperation and connection, this starts them off without having to immediately talk about themselves, establishes a comfortable environment, and eases them into the class/course.
What does this look like?
- Personally greet each person as they enter the classroom.
- Networking Bingo: Cards with various statements, “same major,” “plays an instrument” “left-handed.”
- Visually appealing space with artwork, posters with various people groups, comfortable seating arrangements, etc.
2. Getting to Know Your Students and One Another
Act quickly to learn names so that you can recognize the face and put a name with it quickly. This is likely to happen faster in an elementary classroom, but college students want to be known just as much as adolescents. Do not be afraid to have name cards; utilize the photos from the school’s roster system to create a quick reminder of who is who in your classroom. One other way to learn names is to take a quick video and plan the classroom with their name tags set in front of their table seats. This way, you can go back to the office and watch the videos a few times and get familiar with who sits where and learn their names. Set a goal of having them memorized by the third week of a full semester course.
What does this look like?
- Speed Meeting: 2 minutes, 2 people in each group, do this several days in a row or several times in one day. Giving a prompt such as “What’s one thing you are excited to learn about in this class” to get the conversation started.
- Think-Pair-Share: A good way to get students to contemplate a topic, question, or concept, so they do not feel put on the spot for an answer. They think to themselves, pair with a partner to discuss, then share with a larger group or the whole class (Kagan, 2017).
- Celebrations: Have celebrations for birthdays, accomplishments, achievements.
- Small Groups: Have students work together to research and explain a concept.
- Mentorships: Encourage mentorships among classmates.
- Journal: Encourage students to journal, inspire emotional expression.
3. Words of Affirmation and Praise
Reinforcement and affirmation work well in college classrooms and K-12 classrooms as well. Recognizing and reinforcing appropriate responses, hard work, good citizenship, and positive community involvement are essential. Whether it is a policy to do verbal shout-outs, write notes, or send emails, letting students know that you notice them and their efforts is another way to reinforce their contribution to the community.
What does this look like?
Student Shout-Outs: Class members can share words of encouragement and appreciation to other students for strengthening relationships and building positivity.
4. Community Outreach
Encouraging learning and community outside the classroom can also be incorporated into any age group. Integrating real-world experiences that a student can easily accomplish that connects their content of the course with the real-world adds to the validity of the course content. Encouraging students to engage in service learning by volunteering, engaging in campus or community needs. This may be a campus-wide clean-up day, spring cleaning day if a storm comes through that knocks down limbs off trees, or the like.
What does this look like?
Form study groups, organize optional coffee meet-ups, or other optional ways students can connect outside of the classroom. These may look like a park play date on the 2nd Saturday or each month from 1-3 pm at the City Park for your younger students and families.
No matter what type of community-building efforts are made, the students in the classroom will benefit. As with anything in the teaching world, start small and see what works. If one activity or idea works with one classroom of students, try it again, but know it may not work the same way the next time around. Students are resilient and adaptable; they will observe you, the teacher, as trying to make the classroom fun and friendly.
Dr. Raglena T. Salmans, EdD is an assistant professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation, Exercise & Sport Science at Eastern Kentucky University. She has over 20 years of experience in higher education. Dr. Salmans teaches student success seminars, leadership, event planning, and program management courses and serves as an internship coordinator for the Recreation and Park Administration program. Her research interests consist of college success strategies, professional preparation and leadership development, and building community in classroom settings in preparation for real-world application.
Dr. Stefanie R. Sorbet, EdD is an associate professor in the Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education at the University of Central Arkansas. She has over 25 years of experience in both elementary and higher education combined. Dr. Sorbet instructs positive classroom management courses and supervises interns in their field placement. Her research agenda consists of mentoring novice and preservice teachers in classroom management, social and emotional learning, and building community in classroom settings across all disciplines and grade levels.
References
CASEL. (2020, August 1). Advancing Social and Emotional. Retrieved from www.casel.org
Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2017). Social and emotional learning and teachers. The Future of Children, 27(1). https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.2017.0007
Sorbet, S. R., & Notar, C.E. (2022).Social and Emotional Learning: Meeting and Addressing Educator and Student Concerns While Providing Benefits for All Involved. Social Science, Humanities and Sustainability Research. Vol 3, No 3. https://doi.org/10.22158/sshsr.v3n3p95
Usakli, H., & Ekici, K. (2018). Program on multiple trajectories of social-emotional and misconduct behaviors. Prevention Science, 18, 214-224