By, Emma Janas
Part 1.
The article that I chose to relate to this week’s reading was titled, “Community Connected Learning in community schools: why it is essential for whole- school transformation”. The themes that I chose to emphasize in my current connection were describing exactly what the description of a community classroom is, what goes on within a community classroom, the 6 practices that the article listed for community classroom learning, and what needs to be present for a community classroom to succeed. I choose to emphasize these themes because they described how beneficial a community classroom is to a student’s learning as it allows them to grow in their education by dealing with real world experiences as well as having the goal of neighborhood and educational change within the classroom, I talked about the different factors and values that need to be used within the classroom to promote equality such as teaching lessons based around language and culture, and lastly I talked about the specific practices that could be used within the classroom such as experiential learning, partnership between peers, and learning outside of the classroom as well. My article and the reading from this week which was titled “Community Schools: bringing educational change through partnerships”, both discussed the importance of community partnerships, and how social identity is a key factor in community connected classrooms because it allows students to embrace their uniqueness and where they came from and learn about their peers and their backgrounds and cultures or identities as well. Another connection in both the article and the reading is the need for collaboration within the classroom between educators, family members, students, and teachers so that each and every individual is learning from each other and promoting the students ability to grow inside and outside of the classroom. Lastly, the article and reading both discussed how trust is needed in order for a classroom to succeed.
Part 2:
Prior to my current connection, I always believed characteristics such as trust and collaboration to be vital to a classroom, but I never truly looked into the community aspect of learning and how beneficial it can be to a child’s education. I learned so much about the topic. I learned how important it is for school to be an environment where families, schools and communities come together in order to allow each child at the school to have an equal, diverse, and well rounded education. I also learned the importance of cultural considerations within the classroom and how it has a large influence on kids’ learning as they are able to form a deeper understanding as to where their family and community partnerships are. I also learned how a community classroom allows students to form connections between their school and community and look deeper into what is going on in the world around them on a deeper level. This topic matters to me because as a future educator I want my classroom to be a safe space where equality is seen all the time. I also want my students to be able to express themselves, their identities, their cultures, and their backgrounds. Lastly, I want my students’ education to extend further than just inside the four walls of the classroom. I want them to be able to look at things from a real world perspective and be using all the skills that they build in the classroom to grow their knowledge on the world around them.
Part 3 References:
Part 4 Google Slide:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OYp7e8-Hgvi0lNa8sslAGkRr3Rp0SnriURzNBgL6FEY/edit#slide=id.g2a158741a84_0_40
Emma 