Building Community in the Writing Classroom
Creating Community in a Writing Classroom
As the first day of school quickly approaches for us here at the University of Mississippi, I find myself trying to think my way through last year’s problems. One such problem was the issue of community in my classroom. Out of four sections, two bonded extremely well, while two did not. The two sections that did bond as a community were very rewarding to me, because they taught each other as much as I taught them (perhaps more). They genuinely cared about one another, helped one another, and became the type of peer collaborators that made my job easier. Simply put, they wanted to improve as students and writers, and in my (biased) opinion, they did. They held each other accountable for mistakes, and that fostered a strong and motivated community of writers. The bonds formed in those two sections will continue into those students’ sophomore years here at Ole Miss; they will always be friends and root for one another’s continued success.
The other two sections seemed to divide into several distinct cliques, and while many students sought to improve and did, they never really helped one another by maintaining a strong atmosphere of accountability. In several cases, they helped each other complete work close to the deadline, never mentioning that the procrastinating student was to blame, but usually hinting that it was possibly my fault.
Let me be clear that I was proud of all of my students, but I could not help pondering why two sections came together in such a positive and motivating way, while two simply decided to limp through the class and semester. I also cannot keep myself from wondering if something I did caused this, or was it just the mixture of students in a given section. I believe that good teaching comes from constant questioning and changing; therefore, I have begun outlining some ideas to help all four sections bond closely this year.
Here is a compiled list:
1.) Distinguish sections as families (this has worked very well in past sections)
2.) Foster a stronger online community
3.) Integrate student cultural references to help in the understanding of complex rhetorical ideas
4.) Be open to students’ ideas for classroom discussion
Whether I will be successful or not remains to be seen, but I do hope to share with you what I have tried, what has worked, and what has failed when we meet together in late September. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you.
Best,
P. Keith Boran