In spite of all my efforts to build classroom community in past years, students too often did not get along. Tension flared into bad behavior, especially during independent work and transitions.

An underlying problem
Upon reflection, I saw that part of the cause for these was my assumption that students should automatically be able to do certain basic routines well. I didn’t carefully set expectations, and we didn’t model and practice routines enough. I now know we teachers should assume nothing and teach everything!

I’ve used modeling this year to teach important daily routines, including how to enter the room at the start of the day and prepare for a successful morning. I made sure to be clear and precise with students
as we modeled and practiced each step of the morning routine:

• how to come through the door
• how to walk to where we keep our backpacks and personal effects, and how to store them
• how to read and respond to the morning message
• how to sign up for lunch
• how to engage in learning tasks before the meeting itself begins
• how to transition from learning tasks to the circle
• how to sit in the circle and wait for the greeting

Go slow to go fast
Modeling and practicing took time up front but really paid off. The students know what’s expected during the first part of the school day, and they are getting along much better as a result. Little disputes about who is hogging the glue stick and who is in whose way have for the most part disappeared.

Careful observing
In addition to better modeling and practicing, I have played to one of my strengths—classroom awareness—to build a more solid learning community. In the past, I used my awareness skill to help manage behavior and teach content, but I hadn’t thought to use awareness to help students get along better. Here are some of the things I look for, what I find, and how I use Responsive Classroom practices to respond to certain situations.

I look at each student’s face as we greet at the door first thing in the morning. This gives me a sense of each student’s social-emotional state. A few moments later, I check in with each student during our morning routine. Our chat may be assignment-related or about being organized and ready for the day.
As we talk, I’m reading them again, sizing them up and I make appropriate adjustments. For example, sometimes conflicts arise in the gym before students come to class. I look for signs of this on their faces, in their body language, and in their tone of voice. If I sense a problem, we discuss what’s happened and try to resolve the problem before Morning Meeting, our daily community-building gathering.

Which students are talking together, getting along well, socializing? Who is forming a friendship with whom? If I allow students to choose where to sit for Morning Meeting, I watch where they choose to sit. I watch the audience members during sharing time, to see how they react to the student sharing. I also observe children in the hallways, in the lunchroom, and on the playground.

Action follows observation
Based on what I observed in my students’ demeanor, I have changed how I approach social interactions among my students. I arrange my classroom so students are seated in pairs and change the seating arrangement once a month so they sit beside “new friends.” I also pair them up for literacy centers, switching these partnerships every three weeks. I tweak the pairings based on my observations to make sure that everyone receives chances to work with people outside their comfort zone.

I often assign seats for Morning Meeting and base many of these seating arrangements on my observations. Sometimes I seat two students who are just beginning to get along or not getting along (if I think they can handle it) next to each other so their relationship can grow a little during the meeting. If two students have been distracting each other, I seat them away from each other for a time, until I think they can handle sitting next to each other again.

I realize now that it’s one thing to be aware of these types of relational behaviors and another thing to do something about them. Now, I’m taking action!

More adjustments
At two points early in the year, I wrote down my observations and captured more insight. The first time I did this was in early September. As I read my notes, I realized that a lot of my students were nervous about starting second grade, making new friends, and having a new teacher. In response to what I observed, I chose simple, non-threatening greetings, shares, and games, and I used modeling and practicing extensively to make sure students understood the expectations for each new greeting and game.

In November, I wrote down my observations again, and I noticed that students were much more comfortable in our classroom and felt a part of the learning community. Also, perhaps because of my daily checking in with them and trying to solve problems on the spot, they were much more comfortable talking to me about their problems, concerns, fears, and anxieties.

Julie Gilbertson teachers 2nd graders at Paperjack Elementary School in New Richmond, Wisconsin.