Back to School: Building Community for Connection and Learning
Back to School Collection
Students will return to school with widely varied experiences. Our strategies and resources help center relationships and care in teaching.
Back to School Collection
Students will return to school with widely varied experiences. Our strategies and resources help center relationships and care in teaching.
Nurturing community, building relationships, and supporting students’ social-emotional needs first will provide an essential foundation before introducing academic content.
Our collection includes short, flexible activities to reorient students to school, help them get to know each other, build relationships, and create classroom community.
We also put an emphasis on establishing open and closing routines. Routines can be a key component of a safe and reflective classroom community, especially at a time when students’ lives and learning have been disrupted by a public health crisis, racial injustice and violence, social protest, and a continuously unpredictable news cycle.
Setting aside five to ten minutes at the beginning and/or end of class to welcome students to the learning space, gauge their emotional well-being, and nurture community can help students experience school as a crucial part of their day that is predictable, meaningful, and supportive.
Participant in Back to School Workshop
Back-to-School: Building Community by Prioritizing Students' Social-Emotional Needs
This on-demand webinar explores teaching strategies and flexible resources designed to help teachers get to know their students as individuals facilitating the process of creating an open, supportive, and reflective classroom community.
