Ground Control Instruction
Dos Rios Elementary * November 27, 2017
What is class culture?
We all want to build a positive classroom culture. But sometimes it can seem so elusive! This Deep Dive is here to help you consider how you can build a class culture that promotes academic achievement and social and emotional literacy.
Class culture is the foundation of a successful classroom, setting the tone while communicating and maintaining clear expectations. It also sets students up to hold each other accountable in reaching the classroom expectation and their shared goals.
Essential Questions (click on these links)
Let's dive in and explore how successful class cultures are built and improved upon over time.
- How can I build relationships with students?
- What does a vibrant and engaging culture look like?
- How can I create, uphold, and share responsibility for classroom norms?
- How can I help students work together?
Video Resources (click on these links)
- Creating a Community of Learners
- Encouraging Students to Persist Through Challenges
- Tribes: Agreements for Learning Together
- Classroom Expectations
Tch Blog Posts on Class Culture (click on these links)
- Classroom Culture vs. Classroom Management
- Sustaining Strong Classroom Culture Throughout the Year
- 6 Ways to Build Relationships with Students
- Building Relationships with Students: Walking the Line Between Rewarding & Exhausting
- Four Strategies to Create a Culture of Success in Middle School
Additional Resources (click on these links)
Making Math Matter
Mathematics Teaching Practices: Use and Connect Mathematical Representations
See download at bottom for full article.
Reading Rockets - Contributed by Ryann Miller
Write Alouds
From Read Write Think
Write-aloud is taught to small groups or a whole class in briskly paced, 10- to 15-minute lessons. Model your own writing of a short text, generally choosing one particular aspect of a genre to write-aloud (such as an opening or closing paragraph of a longer essay or a dialogue between characters).
- Plan write-aloud lessons for types of writing that present particular challenges to your students. Prepare for the lesson by writing your own short texts and developing awareness of your own decision-making while you write.
- Tell students that you will be verbalizing your own thinking for them as you write. Ask students to pay attention to the decisions you make as you write, and remind them that they will be producing this same type of text themselves.
- Explain to students what kind of text you will be writing and what you want to accomplish as you write this text. If you are writing a persuasive essay, for example, remind students very briefly that you will need to convince readers of your own point of view. For narrative dialogue, point out that characters' talk should explain the main problem of the story.
- As you write (using chart paper or document viewer), make verbal statements that describe your own decision-making processes:
- Now I need to summarize my main points. I think I should look back at my outline of points that I made in the rest of the essay.
- Hmm, what can I have this character say now in order to show how upset she is?
- How can I spell this word? It will help if I say the word slowly to myself first.
- After you have completed the write-aloud for a short text, ask students to comment on what they noticed about your thinking during the activity. You may want to ask students to talk about what seemed to be most important to accomplish as you were writing. You might also ask students to describe what you were thinking about as you wrote a challenging part of the writing.
- It may also be useful to ask students to talk about their own thinking and decision-making used while they are writing this same kind of text or to work with a partner to write their own example.