The authors: Sue Vernon, director of research and development, Edge Enterprises, and Jean Schumaker, associate director, Center for Research on Learning. A version of this article originally appeared in the April 2001 issue of Strategram, a newsletter for SIM teachers.
Return to Article ArchiveRespect. Tolerance. Confidence. Belonging.
All too frequently in today's classrooms, these basic components of a supportive and productive learning environment are missing. Instead, many students experience threats, aggression, antisocial behavior, intolerance, and violence. School can become a fearful and unhappy place. Students who are the targets of harassment often see their grades deteriorate, and their fear can lead to absenteeism, truancy, or dropping out of school. Loneliness, victimization, and alienation become a reality for these students.
The Community Building Series is a set of instructional packages that has been developed to address these issues. It includes procedures and materials that teachers can use to create a sense of community within inclusive classrooms. The three major outcomes associated with the program are that students feel both physically and psychologically safe, that students become involved in activities without fear of ridicule or rejection, and that the learning and performance of students is enhanced.
The first program in the Community Building Series, Talking Together (Vernon, Deshler, & Schumaker, 2000) was designed to meet these goals in general education classrooms and is now available. This program serves as the basis for the remainder of the Community Building Series, much like the SCORE Skills program serves as the foundation for the Cooperative Thinking Strategies Series.
In the Talking Together program, students learn basic social strategies for participating in whole-class activities, such as whole-class discussions. They also learn about the concepts of respect, tolerance, and learning community. They learn that learning communities are characterized by attributes such as honesty, trust, working together to facilitate learning, encouragement, empowerment, a sense of responsibility for the growth and learning of others in the class, and an environment in which all individuals are valued. Students learn to participate respectfully in class discussions, to give each other a chance to speak and be heard, to work constructively with partners, and to express support and kindness toward others.
The skills and concepts learned in this program are foundational to communication within learning communities and other group environments and can be used by students throughout their lives.
The program presents these skills and concepts through six lessons:
The Talking Together program was field tested in 1999 with a total of 20 teachers and 377 students. The results of the field tests indicated that elementary students in the experimental classes who had participated in the Talking Together program knew significantly more about how to create a classroom community than students in the comparison classes. Students in the experimental classes could define concepts such as respect and tolerance and name and explain the skills necessary to create a learning community.
More students in the experimental classes participated in class discussions than did students in comparison classes, and their participation was more respectful (hands were lowered when others talked, there were fewer disruptions, and fewer answers were yelled out). In addition, the number of negative comments made by students during class discussions decreased in experimental classes over the course of the field test and was significantly lower than the number of negative comments made by students in the comparison classes at the end of the field test.
Teacher behavior also changed as a result of using the program. Overall, experimental teachers complimented their students more, they provided more low-risk opportunities (such as partner responses and group responses) to keep all students actively involved, and they called on more students after providing instruction in the program than before the instruction.
The satisfaction ratings by both students and teachers were high. Students recommended the program for other students, and teachers strongly endorsed the program.
Among the benefits reported by teachers were fewer arguments and fights, more respect, less inappropriate talk, less interrupting, kinder behavior, and less time spent on discipline when they used the program. In evaluations of the program, they wrote that it provided "good life-long skills" and "important skills to learn to promote school success," that it was "very user-friendly," and that overall the "Talking Together program is great! It is needed at the beginning of the school year by both students and teachers!"
Of the 30 experimental teachers who have participated in the field studies to date, all have indicated that they will continue to use the program in the future.
Although the Talking Together program was field tested with third- through fifth-grade students, the program can be adapted for older students. The topics, concepts, and skills of the lessons of Talking Together are appropriate for all age groups. With minimal planning, age-appropriate examples and activities can be substituted for those sug-gested in the manual, and questions can be formulated to promote thoughtful responses and in-depth discussions.
Many students in today's classrooms need to change their behavior. Unfortunately, changing behavior is not easy. Requiring students to engage in positive, community-building behavior, teaching them confidence- and competence-building skills, and providing numerous opportunities for them to practice the skills to develop and maintain respectful and healthy relationships can begin the process of change.
Although metal detectors, locker checks, and increased security may help prevent violence, restructuring the learning environment to create a positive and supportive culture not only will improve school safety but also will enable all students to become meaningful and integral parts of the fabric of the school community.
Respect, responsibility, and civility need to be taught and practiced by all members of the school. Clearly, schoolwide efforts to develop safe and caring learning communities are a pressing need. The Talking Together program begins the process of building such communities with a focus on individual classrooms. Future studies will expand these ideas to create a more schoolwide focus.
The Talking Together manual is available from Edge Enterprises, 708 W. Ninth Street, Suite 107, Lawrence, KS, 66044, (785) 749-1473, toll free (877) 767-1487, fax (785) 749-0207.
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