Understanding The Importance And Effect Of Community Building On School Climate In Middle Schools

Term

Summer 2017

Capstone

Capstone Project

Degree Name

MAEd

Facilitator(s)

Maggie Struck

Content Expert

Heidi Lee

Abstract

Understanding the middle school student is a task that each middle school teacher attempts do in order to have success. Middle school teachers can support their students by creating a strong classroom community where the students feel connected. Students who feel connected to their schools, to their classroom community, and accepted by their peers and teachers, tend to be: academically motivated, engaged in learning, and have less discipline issues (Osterman, 2000). This is especially important for these students as they become more independent. Schools that provide a strong sense of community within classrooms are hard to come by and many times the teachers within those schools do not have the tools, strategies, and information that is needed to do so for their students (Schaps, 1995). The purpose of this capstone project was to create a professional development course for teachers in their opening week teacher workshops centered on community building in middle school classrooms. The project allowed teachers to: understand the importance of community building, participate in community building activities, and provide resources for teachers that they are able to use within their own space in the school.

Project Type

Professional Development

Keywords

Community Building, Staff Development

dc_type

text

dc_publisher

DigitalCommons@Hamline

dc_format

application/pdf

dc_source

School of Education Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

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