Creating a sense of belonging and identity in your class and school by Teacher Academy

I think that classes have an own identity and every member fo the class has to be part of it

2016-09-19 12:19:29 UTC

Gordon, Malta

2016-09-19 12:56:16 UTC

Each school has its own reality. Some teachers argue that multiculturalism is hindering the way local students learn. Other teachers look at this situation as a challenge and do their best to deal with the situation and thus amending their way of teaching in order to accommodate all students irrelevant of race, religion etc. A school wide effort is needed in order to successfully recognise cultural diversities. Of course conflicts will arise and it is not always possible for a teacher to solve a problem especially if it is related with racism.

Marcela, Italy

2016-09-19 13:10:45 UTC

Each class has something like a class identity. The students participate at all the activities and they consolidate their relationship.

Marianthi Arvanitidou - Greece

1canislupus22 — 2016-09-19 13:15:41 UTC

An identity is who or what a person or thing is. Your identity defines who you are. It is a self-representation of your interests, relationships, social activity and much more. Our sense of identity and belonging is impacted by various factors, including our experiences, relationships, and our environment.Identity is multi-faceted, meaning that a combination of many traits forms one identity. An identity can be defined as anything, depending on what you wish others to perceive and also how others wish to perceive you.

Eugenia Ioana Vlad, Romania

2016-09-19 13:18:04 UTC

I am a modern teacher and year by year I tried to change something in my class, but all the time I want to keep the symbol of our class....to be a family and to respect each other.

BAr

dotriv — 2016-09-19 13:45:08 UTC

Barbara Trivelli

dotriv — 2016-09-19 13:45:17 UTC

Barbara Trivelli

dotriv — 2016-09-19 13:45:18 UTC

Barbara Trivelli

dotriv — 2016-09-19 13:45:21 UTC

In my school a

Barbara Trivelli

dotriv — 2016-09-19 13:45:24 UTC

In my school each class has a name : I'm with the Ladybirds. This helps to create a sense of belonging to a specific group

Uğur TÜRK, TURKEY

ugurogretmen — 2016-09-19 14:09:44 UTC

Federica Italy

2016-09-19 14:21:17 UTC

I thik Erika was speaking about my headmistress! She celebrates the diversity and she cares pupils of each country.She wants the teachers to do their best to help them to learn and to grow.
My school takes part of "Rete Tante tinte"
http://www.retetantetinte.it/

Rosa Gaspar/Portugal

2016-09-19 14:46:35 UTC

Each school has a different way of teaching and learning.
Every day in school, students can meet their need for power if teachers and others provide them with opportunities to achieve power with and power within. If students do not have opportunities to meet their need for power in these healthy, productive, and responsible ways, they will most likely choose power over. e do, but we do not have choices about experiencing powerful urges to meet our five basic needs.

Cristina Popescu, ROMANIA

cristina82ro — 2016-09-19 14:50:49 UTC

Yes I do feel that each of my classes has its own identity especially because they are indeed a cohesive group like Alicia said, they are like a family.

Nadya, Stankova

nstankova68 — 2016-09-19 14:59:38 UTC

Each school has its own reality. Some teachers think that multiculturalism is hindering the way local students learn, others accept it as a challenge and do their best to deal with the situation. Sometimes there are conflicts and it is not always possible for us to solve them but I always to try to talk with their parents and about their problem.

Paola B., Italy

2016-09-19 15:03:30 UTC

Yes, I think each class has a sort of class identity. The students share a class email or a class whatsapp group or cooperate to many activities such as sports activities.

Xanthi, Greece

xalbanaki — 2016-09-19 15:06:51 UTC

It seems that techniques and activities help in students’ socializing and build class identity. The educational system is the unique establishment that supports the processes of pupils’ social and cultural integration. This is why it plays an important role in creating the conditions for admission and recognition of pluralism and diversity. Diversity is not in the spotlight, but as far as it can be part of the educational capital and it can be utilized proportionately

Zorica, Stockholm, Sweden

zorica_salijevic — 2016-09-19 15:17:51 UTC

The changes in life is sometimes very dramatic and difficult. Specially for my students who are, the most of them, coming from war aria as the refugees. They lost all and they do not have nothing here in new country. For them Sweden is the safe solution but in the same time a unknown and different culture and difficult language. They come to school with a lot of diversity in the classroom and they are afraid. I try to encourage them not to be afraid. I try to build a "safe" place for them when we are all in the same situation. They all need to learn Swedish and they all find it very difficult.

I try to be a friendly face, person they can contact and get help not just in learning lessons from the school, also I try to help them to write a letter to some authorities and try to create feeling that they belong there in the classroom and they need to take a challenge to learn new language and to be a part of Swedish society. This /our classroom is our little family! We celebrate their successes and help each other to overcome difficulties. I have to say that I feel myself lucky and privilege to work in such environment and to have support of my colleagues in this process of teaching. As Alicia said: They are like a family - because a lot of my students don't have their own family here in Sweden and they do not have any one here, just their class friends and me. Through this process of learning and banding they learn that diversity is not bad, but it is educational capital who will provide their better integration in Swedish society.

Iliyana, Bulgaria

2016-09-19 15:30:00 UTC

As I do not have many different languages in my classes and pupils all speak the language of instructions, conflicts if appear sometimes are connected with the students behavior and interaction with classmates. I try to speak to these students and their parents, we as a class family discuss problems and search for their resolving. Before I take a new class, I always have a talk with their former class teacher to be informed about kids, their needs and interests. When you trust students and show this to them, they feel closer and value their class life and vision. And the problems become less.

Ida, Italy

DT22 — 2016-09-19 15:36:18 UTC

I think it's fundamental make the students work in interactive and interrelated groups to create a sense of belonging. If there are difficulty at the beginning with language or of empathy I associate language to images and video. Working together and create artifacts together it's the better way I've experimented.

Teresa, Italy

teresacirivello — 2016-09-19 15:45:31 UTC

I think it's very important to create a sense of belonging to a class. I'm trying to do this with EDMODO, a virtual class to share documents about my lessons, videos, imagines and everything I want they know.

Benedetta, Italy

bettabulli — 2016-09-19 15:49:35 UTC

It's very important that each class has its own idenity, but it's essential that every student shares this identity. Students have to feel good in their classroom and they need to be accepted by their friends.

Ana Nojkovska

spasovska_ana — 2016-09-19 16:10:36 UTC

Each student is an individual person but the whole class has some identity, too. The sense of belonging, of being accepted as a part of the group and respected is a very important issue in the life of every human being. especially in the lives of the students

katia from italy

2016-09-19 16:25:06 UTC

I think that it' s very important to create in its classroom a supportive climate, where everyone feels part of the whole.

Olga, Czech

2016-09-19 17:09:55 UTC

Ich finde das Klima in der Klasse sehr wichtig. Die Schüler sollten sich in der Klassenkommunität gut fühlen. Darum würde ich einen internationalen Tag für jeden ausländischen Schüler auch mit Hilfe von Eltern organisieren.

Cinzia, Italy

nicomd — 2016-09-19 17:16:28 UTC

To foster the sense of belonging to a community of a foreign student it is important to develop educational policies in the school that involve the whole community , parents as well as local authorities. Only in this way they can feel part of the community in which they live and study. Our school ,together with local Humanitarian Associations and the Town Hall authority, organizes every school year intercultural events on solidarity and intercultural themes . Our local cinema every year organizes a film festival on related intercultural themes like "Citizen of the world" or "Dark shadows" on the negation of rights, or on religion diversity ...and the school is involved in a series of activities. We also have a web magazine on Interculturality on which students post their project works.

Clara, Portugal

claraabegao — 2016-09-19 18:01:50 UTC

I agree with Alicia when she says “the first step is to celebrate diversity” and Erika has a very strong though when she says “the school headmaster is the key”.
My school celebrates diversity. Every year we do a "show" in which students show their competence in the field of music, theater, sport, in foreign language, the volunteer spirit, among others. All are invited to participate, but in groups. This group also includes a teacher and two family members. All contributes to be the best team. Parents are invited to participate.

At the beginning of each school year I´m used to do team building activities with my students. In my classes, I try to develop the sense of belonging. We have a Facebook group (private), and frequently we work using Google docs/slide. We also have community projects: next Christmas we are going to offer pillows to the city Hospital; my students are responsible to ask the other school students and their families to bring pillows and some pajamas that we will offer the pediatric oncology service.

Francesca, Italy

2016-09-19 18:04:23 UTC

Create a positive atmosphere in the classroom it is essential to make every training activity and education. The use of of cooperative learning techniques will help each student as important, each student is a part of a whole picture. The students must work together to complete the work assegned.

Natalja, Lithuania

2016-09-19 18:52:35 UTC

Sometimes it is very diffucult to understand how foreign students are feeling in our school. I always talking with classroom teachers to know more about them and I like doing online surveys, when I can find is there are problems in the class or no.

Efi, Greece

douloumi — 2016-09-19 19:08:53 UTC

I think it is very important to create a sense of belonging in a class. We teachers have to know how to accieve this goal. Bullying wouldn't be a problem anymore.

Sónia Rocha, Porto, Portugal

soniacmr18 — 2016-09-19 19:22:43 UTC

First of all it is important to create the right atmosphere: a place where students feel safe and cherished. After usually I propose everyone to help each other in whatever. So they know they belong to a class but each is important in this group.

Helen, Ireland

helen_p_english — 2016-09-19 19:41:14 UTC

EAL students often remark that school discipline and teachers are less strict in Ireland than in their home countries. That helps to make them relax a little bit. We don't have a system where students must repeat a year if their results are poor. This also helps students to settle into their new learning environment. There is a lot of emphasis here on pastoral care of students. Teachers see their students as individuals and seek to discern their anxieties and concerns and help them deal with that.
I still think more needs to be done, though, on promoting the intercultural competence of teachers.

Despoina Amarantidou, Greece

damarant — 2016-09-19 19:42:33 UTC

A friendly and open atmosphere helps students feel more relaxed. I also try to integrate foreign students into games and team-work.

Ana, Croatia

anaznidarec — 2016-09-19 19:43:20 UTC

I totally agree with our speakers - headmaster plays important role!

Sonia, Spain

2016-09-19 19:44:37 UTC

I think we have to cooperate to create a nice environment in the classroom and that our students become confortable, in this way, this atmosphere will help a lot to acquire anythin we want from them

Kondylo Glarou/Greece

seagullitsa — 2016-09-19 20:09:09 UTC

There is a friendly atmosphere between my students as they have been known each other for years. I try to support this nice environment with national and European projects and team activities inside and outside the classroom.

Maria,Italy

maria_sorvillo_rosaria — 2016-09-19 20:56:42 UTC

I think that first of all it is essential to promote a sense of community through the formation of the class as a group and the promotion of cooperative ties among its students, encourangig mutual aid, cooperation, peer learning and groups of work.The commitment and the merit of the individual are valued and rewarded in a relaxed and non-competitive environment , aimed at mutual success.

Eleftheria, Greece

2016-09-19 21:01:30 UTC

Generally, the class atmosphere is friedly and warmly. Sometimes, as i mentioned in previews topic, some students may cause problems like making jokes with other pupils. However, i think that all understand the community which they are and often solving their differents at themselves. Finally, i'm in interesting in learning more about the ways in which i can deal with in the future in order to solve with my pupils others possible problems.

Kasia, Poland

katerinaki62 — 2016-09-19 22:03:49 UTC

One cannot generalize about whether the class has its identity/unity or not. Sometimes they have , sometimes they have to work out on it long, yet never reaching the end. Not only do the students have to collaborate because we assign them tasks to perform, but also we have to become one of them. This thin, fragile structure of being their friend and at the same time an authority or a reference point, so to speak, unconsciously shows and gets them used to the situation that a friend, peer, colleague can teach them something. Peer education- extremely powerful way of building respect to the best of everybody.

My school is a theatre to all its actors. There is no week free from some kind of events which can be attended by the ones who want, thus building their confidence and through that the community of strong individuals who want to build the castle. The situation at my school is good but not ideal, and definitely might be better. We are not so open as a structure to innovative methods due to the pressure from parents on the test results. The kids reproduce the knowledge not " produce" . Memorizing kills creativity and there is not much time to apply non-formal forms of education. As a result, students do not feel owners of their knowledge because nobody wants to own a useless thing. My colleague teachers conform to the system requirements in the vast majority of cases fearing job losses or other repercussions from parents. This is the reality but I fight. I organize exchanges, write Erasmus projects ( four successful ones wit a Good Practice Certification), collaborate on eTwinning and do everything to teach through experience. If I stop- I will also stop working at school.

maria cristina baleani

2016-09-19 22:04:44 UTC

In my classrooms there is a friendly atmosphere. students like themselves and they like staying with me ( I hope). They work happily, even because I allow them to work together, using pc devices to get help. they help each other

Rosaria, Italy

2016-09-20 06:28:21 UTC

In my opinion
it is highly valuable to promote student-centered teaching, by encouraging autonomy, cooperation, and student voice. Student-centered teaching enables students learn self-efficacy and cooperation with ways to contribute ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Peer tutoring encourages students to help one another. Furthermore it is important to cultivate diversity as a resource for learning by considering it not an add-on, but an integral part of having students co-create an exciting curriculum

Christina, Greece

christinaefm — 2016-09-20 06:32:42 UTC

My classroom is characterized by a relaxed atmosphere, by evidences of wholesome and purposeful activities, by displays of children's work and by the best use of available facilities.

As a teacher I am relaxed, well-poised, enthusiastic person. My professional manner is spiced with a keen sense of humor. There is an air of confidence and of calm about me.

In this well-ordered classroom, men tal hygiene is considered equally as important as physical health. Security, cooperation, adjustment and confidence on the part of my students are thought of as definite assets to achievement.

The students reflect an attitude which can come only from mutual respect and admiration. As teacher and pupils we plan and work together, an orderly approach to problem-solving becomes predominant. Boys and girls work together in small and large groups to complete projects and seek information.

Marco, Italy

pianotti_marco — 2016-09-20 06:41:56 UTC

I think it is very important to create a sense of belonging in a class for the special needs students.

Ilaria, Italy

2016-09-20 07:43:08 UTC

In my class there is peace and harmony. it is important to create a cooperative atmosphere between students and teachers to work well throughout the school year

M

2016-09-20 07:48:49 UTC

Maria

2016-09-20 07:48:53 UTC

Maria,

2016-09-20 07:48:55 UTC

Maria,

2016-09-20 07:48:56 UTC

Maria, ITALIA

2016-09-20 07:49:00 UTC

Maria, ITALIA

2016-09-20 07:49:14 UTC

I think it's very important to create a serene atmosphere in the classroom and peaceful coexistence through socialization between students and the creation of a spirit class in order to facilitate the internalization of shared rules.

Guner, Turkey

gunerozen — 2016-09-20 07:56:46 UTC

Prejudices are great barriers even for teachers. Students are so curious about foreign cultures, they have a great willing to understand the others. Unfortunately teachers are not succesful to get the right way goes to peace. We need more education than students need.

Colomba, Italy

2016-09-20 08:26:51 UTC

In primary school it isn't easy to create a cooperative atmosphere but it's important to work well and with serenity

Anne Fischer, Berlin

2016-09-20 10:05:16 UTC

My class definitely has a class identity and a feeling of being in a small community. This is no surprise though as my students have been together in the same class since the beginning of their school career. My colleagues and I work hard on creating a classroom of openness. Students are rewarded for their behaviour of openness and caring for others. We also have a weekly meeting where students can put any concerns they have in a box anonymously and we discuss them. This gives them a sense of comfort knowing that their problems can be solved and that they can express their concern without causing trouble in the class. My school does a lot to celebrate the different holidays and events of all the cultures in the school. Students are encouraged to bring and share information about their cultures and religion. This is then shared and proudly displayed in the community hallway.

Teresa, Ita

2016-09-20 12:43:55 UTC

I think that key competences are very important for all students ,especially for those with some difficulties. I often do group work and role play. It is very important to work with serenity.

Sonia Galderisi, Italy. My classes are quite close between them and also with their multicultural classmates. I have worked and still work a lot with all of them to create a feeling of belonging to a small community. I often make some learning projects and do groups work mixing them and putting together just the ones that had some conflicts. In this way my students have the possibility to clear their positions and also their judgement. As regarding their relationship with students who come from other cultures, I realised that both like speaking about their hobbies, traditions and making comparisons. My students often ask me more information about some particular other countries traditions and I'm happy to stimulate their curiosity, because this contributes to a sane competition between them, especially when we do interactive exercises at the Whiteboard. We know that children love playing and I use various capturing games in the classroom and they appreciate and would never stop. I have a good English team and we work in harmony, sharing and comparing our teaching experiences.

sonia_galderisi — 2016-09-20 12:47:47 UTC

Manuela, Italy

2016-09-20 12:48:55 UTC

If we are able to enhance the sense of belonging into our classrooms, we are able to create a positive environmental where all students feel at ease to communicate and share their ideas, because they feel to be accepted by the community. The creation of this environment is not easy at all, because each class has peculiar challenges, compositions and students can come from different backgrounds. Cooperative learning or group work could be suitable solutions to mitigate issues, even though the role of the teacher is crucial, first of all in the distribution of workload and composition of groups, and also in monitoring the activities in order to intervene whether required.

katia - italy

il_cerchiomagico — 2016-09-20 13:07:14 UTC

every classroom has its own identity. it is very important to create a positive environnement among the students, activities such as cooperative learning, role playing and group activities in general contributes to a better learning and also to close students each others

Teresa, Italy

2016-09-20 13:10:19 UTC

I think that key competences are important for all pupils, especially for those with some difficulties.
Very intersting is the use of cooperative learning, role playing and group activities too.That is very important for pupils and teachers.

Laura Italy

pintastra — 2016-09-20 13:27:00 UTC

Is is very important to create a positive environnement in the classroom with activities such as cooperative learning, learning by doing, brainstorming, role playing and group activities in general contributes to a better learning and approach to close students each others

Annalisa, Italy

isaese77 — 2016-09-20 13:40:53 UTC

I feel that we do a lot of work to create a sense of belonging and identity in our classes every day. We organize also projects with the cooperation of external actors opening a window to the hole community around the school. However al lot of collegues are sceptic, thonking that these activities subtract time to learning, but it's learning too!

Patrizia, Italy

2016-09-20 14:55:01 UTC

It is very important to create in the classroom a sense of belonging to the group where everyone can communicate, understand and be understood by others. The group is a safe environment where you build trust and where you feel good. It is not always possible to achieve this mainly because families and some teacher are not available. Teachers are concerned that it is taking time to learning. It is not easy to convince them, but when they see that the group is an environment conducive to learning a little 'time to try them too.

Mariangela, Italy

2016-09-20 14:56:57 UTC

We work every day to build up a feeling of belonging to the class/school community. Unfortunately we have only in a few occasions cross-cultural mediators but we have a teachers’ intercultural team at school who help newly arrived pupils. Of course most of the work is everyday practice in the classroom where we help students develop a sense of belonging and thus create the condition for them to learn together with their peers. Our positive attitude is of course crucial. �

Simona, Italy

palmotti — 2016-09-20 15:07:42 UTC

Sense of identity is very important for students. Classroom is like a refuge and companions look like a clan. Students say that they're on safe with their friends and when there's a new entry they search to know who is and what he/she likes or dislikes. Teacher must enlarge and grow this "clan".

Marzia, Italy

marziast — 2016-09-20 15:08:18 UTC

I think it's foundamental to create a sense of belonging in classrooms and schools. Classes are like microcosmes, where mst of emotions, experiences, conflicts live. If students learn to recognise these processes and how to manage them, it will probably easier to manage the same problems outside. It is necessary to make students feel confortable at school, they must think that THEIR school CARES them, that it embraces them, even their diversity. I agree with Erika when she says that there are a lot of teachers who can't accept their own students, they don't like them, they don't think they may realize something good. How could a pipil feel confortable, open hs mind and his heart in such a negative contest? Students understand well when a teacher is interested in them, in their learning, in their growth, when a teacher helps them collaborating with the rest of tha class, intead of isolating them because of their diversity. In these cases, students WANT to belong to that class.

peggy stefanidou Greece

pegstefan — 2016-09-20 15:16:13 UTC

my motto is:
total tolerance
total acceptance
total respect..
so the students usually feel protected and free..and i am working really hard in this direction...

Simona, Ital

2016-09-20 15:16:17 UTC

Lovely idea

ARIANNA,ITALY

ariannasinisi85 — 2016-09-20 15:18:59 UTC

ARIANNA,ITALY

ariannasinisi85 — 2016-09-20 15:19:01 UTC

Because the school (or class) is a place of real life, and so that there is not only a pseudo-adherence to rules, but a real and committed sharing, these features are necessary:
• Membership: the space where we meet has to be heard as their own. There is a sense of individual and collective belonging. In relation to this site I have also feelings of rights and duties.

• The concept of place of life implies a life. It is not enough to play in the group's activities must come to stay together long-lasting. The idea of a place of life is associated to that of a path of life together, even if there are not of the precise time limits, the unit of time of such a path is the school year.

• Living together means to know and recognize. Try one of the feelings of affinity for the other, of difference, of sympathy, of collaboration or even opposition. There is known one by one. It does not feel anonymous.

• Living together it implies that the person is considered in its entirety. If only a part of me is involved, I do not have the feeling of belonging to a "place". If at school are only a schoolboy and not a person with its characteristics and its history, real life will be elsewhere.

• Living together means growth and development of the person. A place of life is that it is synonymous with transformation in the sense of growth of knowledge, behavior, of his being in general.

• Living together is something that gives meaning to existence. The school becomes a place of life if not confined only to give an instruction, but also allows you to communicate, to build together.

Silvia, Italy. Silvia, Italy. I really hope to find some ispiration from the posts in this padlet to create a sense of community in my classes. I think this would help a lot in establishing a positive learning environment and would make our job so much easier. Last year I witnessed a spontaneous accomplishment of perfect integration when the students from one of the classes with the highest number of foreign students prepared a dance to perform at the end of the school year show. They accomplished to teach the Italian students the lyrics of an Urdu song and the moves to go with it and they sang it and danced in front of all the other classes and parents. This really created a sense of community in that class and I have to admit that this was a spontaneous initiative from the students' part, the only contribution from us teachers'part was not to oppose it and allow some spare time for practice!

2016-09-20 15:30:56 UTC

Maria Paola, Italy

2016-09-20 16:14:28 UTC

I think that celebrating diversity and being proud of it, it could be possible to foster student's sense of belonging to the classroom. It's fundamental to have an open mind and inspire the beauty of the curiosity.

Mary

mrformichelli — 2016-09-20 16:18:38 UTC

Mary, Italy

mrformichelli — 2016-09-20 16:19:08 UTC

My classes have something like a class identity because they share the same spaces, they work together every day, they often gang up to reach the same objectives. Classes and school assemblies often help community building. Sometimes students watch films or documentaries about cultural differences and then discuss about them with the help of their teachers. All teachers collaborate on students integration in my school.

Triantafyllia, Greece

sivakatr — 2016-09-20 17:00:05 UTC

My classes have an identity because we collaborate, we communicate we share a culture we have built in class.

Nikos ,Greece

2016-09-20 17:10:50 UTC

It’s a great idea celebrating diversity in the school. Creating the sense of belonging in a class is the first step.

Maria,Italia

mariagranatiero — 2016-09-20 17:22:39 UTC

There are colleagues who are close to Pensiono hard to open your mind to new cultures.

Francesca

pacenca — 2016-09-20 17:26:55 UTC

It's really difficult to reach this kind of confidence. Of course I strongly believe that all of these topics are very very important to promote education and culture.

A

martaegiov — 2016-09-20 17:28:30 UTC

Angela, Italy

martaegiov — 2016-09-20 17:28:30 UTC

The sense of belonging is very important in all groups. First of all in the family. A school becomes essential if you want to create a group that develops social skills and bound by common goals. One of the most effective methods of developing the sense of belonging is the laboratory method and cooperative learning. It 'also the determination of the groups really important. The change of roles and dramatization are other very effective methods. At my school, another useful method has been organizing sports team groups.

antonio P.

2016-09-20 17:56:53 UTC

I agree with the two speakers when they say that the class identity and the feeling of belonging to a small community is essential to get the learning progress. I try to create it by some activities at the beginning of the school year when I ask them about their hobbies or their sports favourite football team or sport in their country. Some colleagues don’t accept foreign students because they "cannot explain their lessons". Speaking with them and persuading them of the great opportunity is almost impossible 1Po��]42��

Carla,Italy

carlabisogni241 — 2016-09-20 18:06:53 UTC

There are Indian students in my school when they came the first time in our school some colleagues of mine saw them as a problem because they couldn't
communicate with them .The Indian students could speak English but they didn't.
It took a long time to create a real communication among them.

Antonietta, Italy

2016-09-20 18:58:33 UTC

Community building in classrooms and schools is very important to promote positive relationships. Most of the teacher in my school support good practices aiming at integration in all its forms.

Irini, Greece

pougounia — 2016-09-20 19:01:45 UTC

Sometimes it takes time and it may be hard for a class to achieve a community building but, with a project-based learning, excellent results may come out.

Athina, Ginoudi

aginoudi — 2016-09-20 19:31:05 UTC

The question is really difficult to be answered. I think that implementing innovative educational approaches creates a nice atmosphere in the school community and contributes to the creation of a sense of belonging and identity.

Lino Milita - Italy

lino_milita — 2016-09-20 19:46:50 UTC

A first step would be to create working groups to improve the physical environment of the school. To paint walls of the classroom and then to draw billboards with over the name of the class, and a photo diary of each partner and his hobbies and deeds carried out during the months of the school year.

Sabrina Vespier, Italy

sabrina_vespier — 2016-09-20 20:11:43 UTC

In the classes where i teach i feel like a family. My students feel as they have a class identity, a small community where if one of them has a problem, the problem is of all members of the class and they stay together to resolve this problem. I think that i'm a lucky teacher because i love my students and my colleagues, because they have my same ideas about that. Infact many of them have attended this course and they believe in a multicultural world

Angela P.,Italy

2016-09-20 20:24:05 UTC

In my opinion we must always start from activities requiring collaboration, mutual aid or incentives to do group like for example create a chorus, being part of a team, implement projects. This helps to create a peaceful atmosphere in the classroom and to feel part of a community,especially if you encourage relations even outside of school.

Rosalinda Di Mauro, Italy

rosalindadimauro — 2016-09-20 20:32:31 UTC

The essential elements for creating a sense of community in our classroom are teachers. It is our loving, compassionate attitude towards the children in our classroom that creates a joyful community.

It isn’t easy to make. It is a hard challenge!! Children learn best when they feel they are part of a community, where everyone feels accepted and where individuality is encouraged, where they work collaboratively, and resolve conflicts peacefully.

At the beginning of the school year, in my school we used to organize “the reception day” for creating a sense of community, an environment that says to students, "everybody is welcome here." The new group of students bring with them divergent interests, abilities, cultures, and families. In our first months we focus on establishing a nurturing environment. We try to build a community through family involvement, for examples by asking phone number, email address, or by having a little chat when they drop off and pick up their children. Very often (in theme days), we invite family to visit and share their culture, work, and interests.

Daniela Stefania Pagano - Italy

2016-09-20 20:49:20 UTC

The mutual relationship of trust and respect between teacher and pupils is the starting point to create a sense of community. Working together, generate interest in what you do and be always present makes the job in class easier, creating a pleasant atmosphere. Pupils feel motivated to give more, getting better results.

Ioanna

ioannini — 2016-09-20 21:09:58 UTC

It is very important that students feel part of the same group. To have a sense of belonging, to feel secure and to trust their teachers and their peers. As long as you get it, you should definitely try.

Sabrina, Italy

gsabibou — 2016-09-20 21:10:14 UTC

The sense of belonging to the class is not easily reached. Students must feel very confident, so I usually focus and highlight their talents in front of the class, so he/she starts to feel considered. I like having mottos or habits and children like saying or doing things together, that makes them feel accepted.

Maria Grazia, Italy

giambigia — 2016-09-20 21:54:25 UTC

I think that in classes it’s very important to cultivate diversity as a resource for learning. Generally my classrooms are characterized by relaxed atmosphere and there is an air of relax and of calm which enhances the collaborative relationships and learning processes. The conflicts are resolved peacefully and positively by the students themselves.

Angelamaria Galderisi, Italy

2016-09-20 22:00:44 UTC

Creating a sense of belonging and identity in a classroom is a difficult challenge but also a rewarding experience. To forge a class community to which all students feel they belong and even have a sense of loyalty to, teachers should know their students and group dynamics.
In a multicultural context such community building is of particular importance because students learn to feel connected with each other regardless of their differences and this can prevent conflict.
I think my classes have something like a class identity, a feeling of belonging to a small community also thanks to my support. I underline the features typical of each class and the good result it has reached, also enhancing the eventual cultural differences present in the classroom. The relevant actions at the level of my school helping community building are related to students’ assembly, sport and cultural convention.

Joserra, Spain

joserraj — 2016-09-21 07:14:19 UTC

Although it can be difficult to create a sense of belonging to the classroom due to the diversity we, teachers, must create a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere where pupils can feel confident.

Patrícia, Portugal

2016-09-21 07:15:53 UTC

I usually spend my first couple of lessons trying to get to know more about my students and helping them know their colleagues a bit better too. We do many group and pair activities, I like to challenge them and help them gain trust on their colleagues and appreciate the fact that their differences can be good and helpful.

Louise, Malta

chircoplouise — 2016-09-21 07:17:15 UTC

The general feeling in most schools is that migrant students are a 'problem'. This is often due to the fact that they are not proficient in the language of instruction. But then again it depends mostly on the school and the head of school. What I would suggest is that whenever notices are issued they are issued in Maltese/English and the language of the migrant child. That is one way to show that the school cares, and that they too have space for their culture and language in schools. Schools should never partake in assimilation practices as these alienate the students and their families from the school further. I think building a community of learners (be they parents, teachers, students etc) is one way to create a sense of belonging in the school. The first step is to encourage all parents to visit the school as often as they can. Perhaps even creating a parent-hub where parents can meet, have coffee and talk. Once a relationship between parents is created, they would be more willing to learn from one another and contribute within the school community. In classrooms, it is the teacher who should engage the students and foster a sense of belonging. I would, first and foremost, reflect on my own prejudices and misconceptions about students and cultures and then try to create an atmosphere in the class where acceptance of difference is the norm, where we use these differences to learn from and about each other.

2016-09-21 10:07:05 UTC

M.Elena
I agree with the fact that it's imprtsnt to create a sense of identity in classroom. I think that a classroom is like a team: the most stedents get on well the moste they work in collaborative way. So, the first thing to do the first day of school is to do presentation and start from activities requiring collaboration and not from the classic lesson.

Edit

tothedit0610 — 2016-09-21 11:06:20 UTC

Edit, Hungary

tothedit0610 — 2016-09-21 11:06:20 UTC

Fostering belonging to a community feeling is very important either at group, class or at school level. I try to strengthen this by giving collaborative tasks. Fortunately at English lessons it is easy to realize as we can cover a lot of topics and the number of students is less than in a whole class. In our school there are a lot of community building programmes and the teachers support these programmes either because they find it important or because it is an expectation. We do not really have cultural diversity here, but I think if we had we would support the students. There are several cultural events: lesenacht, Halloween, day of languages, day of our school, students' day etc. organized every school year.

Ilaria, Italy

ladyrandal — 2016-09-21 12:10:36 UTC

The school I'm working in has few pupils, so it's very simple and natural to develop a school identity. Dramas, labs, moments of reflections engage the whole school community, even if I would like even more activities in which the school confront with external actors, strengthen its identity. All these activities are suitable for fostering intercultural competences too. Last ,year a new arrived child, who couldn't speak italian, stenghtened his relationships with other pupils while preparing a drama. These moments of active participation of the students and collaboration can help them develop a sense of belonging. Additionally, I really like the idea of creating a parents-hub where they can talk and get to know each other. In this way, the school could turn in a place from which good practices such as tolerance, curiosity, empathy are irradiated to the whole local community.

Irene Confalone-Italy

confalone — 2016-09-21 12:45:41 UTC

I think a relaxed relationship of trust and respect between teacher and pupils is the starting point to create a sense of community. Working together it's better if you enjoy and you try to do your best. Pupils feel motivated to give more if they work without negative competitivity. Fair play for a better result.

Antonio, Italy

ronzoni_scuola — 2016-09-21 12:53:50 UTC

I believe that the Italian school, at least until now , has never focused on the development of the spirit of belonging to the school , and also with regard to the individual class groups , I have rarely seen a lot them together and , more importantly, almost never I have seen the emergence of an identity class .
I think you could work on that throwing challenges to class groups within the institution or to the institution partcecipare to some event in competition with other schools .

Francesca, Italy

francesca_lombardi1973 — 2016-09-21 12:59:01 UTC

My students interact, share their view with a good attitude and listen respectfully, we're really a small family and the classroom is "their place" where they can find security, meaningful relationships and opportunities for positive identities.

LUIGI, ITALY

2016-09-21 13:28:52 UTC

Another challenge for teachers is to create a sense of class or school community.

Ispir Iuliana-Florentina, Romania

ispiriuliana — 2016-09-21 15:00:47 UTC

Unfortunately, I have not yet understood the gypsy community. In schools children are still differs depending on ethnicity and social status. Is difficult.
Such Any disagreement arises and hate each other children. Gypsy children notice this and: either behave aggressively; or isolated. I managed to get over it and we successfully integrated these children, avoiding differences. Making a single group.

Ispir Iuliana-Florentina, Romania

ispiriuliana — 2016-09-21 15:02:02 UTC

Unfortunately, I have not yet understood the gypsy community. In schools children are still differs depending on ethnicity and social status. Is difficult.
Any disagreement arises and hate each other children. Gypsy children notice this and: either behave aggressively; or isolated. I managed to get over it and we successfully integrated these children, avoiding differences. Making a single group.

Ispir Iuliana-Florentina, Romania

ispiriuliana — 2016-09-21 15:02:06 UTC

Ispir Iuliana-Florentina, Romania

ispiriuliana — 2016-09-21 15:02:09 UTC

Marcella Italy

marfu7 — 2016-09-21 15:02:10 UTC

Marcella, Italy

marfu7 — 2016-09-21 15:02:22 UTC

In my teaching practice I'm always looking for a balance which can foster a sense of community in the classroom, it's very important to create a sense of belonging in classrooms and schools because the children really need to feel part of the same group. In my  school there isn't a cross-cultural mediator neither an intercultural team.

Vasiliki Psaridou/Greece

psaridou — 2016-09-21 15:19:52 UTC

I teach greek in a Minority school in Greece but in fact I am the minority in the school. I am one of the three christians teachers in a school that all students and the other five teachers are muslims. So, I was the one that tried to get to know their culture better in order to find a better way to teach them greek. One of the ways I used was to learn some basic turkish. I tried to pay visits at their houses when I was invited, I danced at their weddings and I generally tried to let them feel accepted. There were some colleagues that were sceptical many years ago but I believe that they should have changed their mind by now.

Maria Grazia, Italy

mgstefanelli — 2016-09-21 15:25:46 UTC

Creating a sense of belonging and identity in my school is very important. Often we let them work together and cooperate in school activities in order to share and build a “big and beautiful family”.

Helen, Italy

helmar62 — 2016-09-21 15:44:47 UTC

At first glance my secondary school does not appear to be very culturally or linguistically diverse but just today I took a new class for the first time and discovered that within the group of 25 students there are 9 different mother tongues! This was a great cause for celebration and many questions arose about classmates' origins. We are going to make some comparative language posters and set up a small intercultural corner (the classroom space is very limited). There is a girl who arrived only a few weeks ago from the Ukraine and knows no Italian or English. She will have a study buddy from another class who has a Ukrainian mum and can help her feel more at home.

Angelo, Italy Last year, I had a class (12th graders) absolutely unstructured and with huge internal tensions. There were social, gender, cultural conflicts.

angelo_boezi — 2016-09-21 16:18:34 UTC

Four students were of Romanian and one of Ukranian origin. Everyone spoke Italian well enough, but there were serious cultural problems.
I intiated multiple actions of identity construction.
I asked them to talk about themselves and the group. I asked them to write down two papers: "This class as it is" and "This class as it should be". I asked everyone to read aloud and discuss his own papers.
We opened a Facebook profile of the class posting in it group shots, family shots...
We painted the walls of the classroom.
We built a bullettin board where to post-it titles of books we were reading.
I engaged students in an external assistence program to elderly and sick.
Tomorrow I'll post in my learning diary a shot of OUR bullettin board. WE are very proud of it because it's the material and physical representation of OUR identity
I engaged students a in group work and mutual assistence program.
I'm absolutely satisfied with the results.

Luisa, Italy

2016-09-21 16:35:15 UTC

It’s very difficult to answer these questions for me because I’ve only been at my new school for 10 days. But, in my previous experience in other schools, I recognise that learning is more effective when there’s a class sense of belonging (including students, teachers and parents). To do this, I take some time at the beginning of the year to have “cohesive” activities, and I take care of this aspect all the year long (monitoring wellness/ conflicts/ etc., facilitating comminication among students to solve conflicts, etc.)

In Italian secondary schools students have one teacher for each subject, and my impression is that the teacher who are more convinced about the importance of community building are those who spend more time in the classroom. There are teachers who only see the kids for 2 lessons a week and they always look in a hurry and worried not to have time to complete their subject curriculum.

Paola Lo Italy

2016-09-21 16:45:10 UTC

I find very important to create a sense of community in our school and luckily both headmaster and some teachers are very active with many projects which involve both students and also the territory for example last year some students taught elderly people how to use the computer or start up, being a technological school it is part of a network of schools that make students create their own business. One of the best product of a start-up experience was made by a boy from Shri-Lanka together with an Italian boy, both of them are my students. Within the classroom framework as Alicia points out it is very important to create this sense of identity and belonging that can be achieved in many ways creating a close facebook group of the class where to share opinions, ideas and upload materials ( my students and I have, in fact, created it) or a class project , this year my third class will be involved together with other classes in a multicultural project using comics as a means of communication to deal with this topic, celebrate diversity for example organizing at Christmas an event where Italian and migrant students present typical food or read poems and sing.

Dimitrios Zisimopoulos, Greece

dzisimopp2 — 2016-09-21 17:05:01 UTC

We participated last year in Erasmus+ KA1 programm with the educational plan ''A class for ALL'', so we have started celebrating the diversity following mainly the tips that Alicia and Erika share with us

Maria Panou/ Kalymnos, Greece

maria_themelis — 2016-09-21 18:07:00 UTC

"Conflicts are solved in a positive way by the students themselves". As an orthodox theology teacher I've explained to my students that we are worth at the name of God and we are all divine, special personalities, so we see Jesus Christ to the face of every human being in the world. Our school is a warm envirnoment were different cultures' students are welcoming, we love them, we support them and they've told us how comfortable they are among us. In Kalymnos all schools had the opportunity to accept and support refugees' children. Our students are very pleased to help them, to call them be friends, equal among them, they help them to learn our language and lesson.

Loredana C., Foggia-Ital

loredana_calabrese — 2016-09-21 18:19:30 UTC

To create a sense of belonging to the class is very important for the integration of these students in the society in which they live. Develop these skills it means making it safer student himself and therefore more happy.

Svetlana (Estonia)

2016-09-21 19:02:29 UTC

I always try to do, that y students feel each other like home. I play and comunicate with them. But no 100 possobilities to make good for everyone.

Apostolia Maladaki

amalad73 — 2016-09-21 19:05:57 UTC

I don’t have only a class. In Greece in secondary schools teachers teach in many classes and different subjects. Given this fact I face class identity in some classes where the students are feeling as a community and they can solve conflicts by themselves because they like each other . in this type of classes it is easier for me to enlarge this feeling because the students are more cooperatives sometimes with simple ways as putting them work in peer groups . but in other classes this is impossible and I have to create from start a community feeling step by step using articles, discussing with them , giving them examples from movies, making them writing essays about community.

Pietra

pietra_sellaro — 2016-09-21 19:45:12 UTC

Pietra,Italy

pietra_sellaro — 2016-09-21 19:45:13 UTC

In every class is important a class identity, a feeling of belonging to a small community. So from beginning we need create a positive and cooperative social climate in which everyone can express their potential and own personality

Ester, Italy

2016-09-21 19:46:38 UTC

For me it's not easy to care for these aspects as I have many classes and I stay in the same class maximum 3 hours.
But nevertheless I think we should focus deeper on this aspect.

Cecilia, Germany

2016-09-21 20:23:53 UTC

The feeling of class belonging or class identity is built through constant pair/group works. I am thinking of organizing a class concert this year to make them work even more together.

Tiziana Italy

Tizianateacher — 2016-09-21 20:34:56 UTC

I am new in the school where I am teaching but as far as I know most schools aim at creating a sense of belonging to a community and sharing information about cultural diversity. We have a lot of students coming from non European countries in Italy and most teachers work on projects to support their integration within the new community and school. Everybody is enriched.

Ana Abaladas - Primary School Teacher (Portugal, Lisbon, Sintra)

ana_abaladas — 2016-09-21 21:20:43 UTC

Students spend most of the time at school. How such it is important that the choice to become a place where students feel good, that part of it and their differences are respected. Schools can promote the week, or cultural days on the different countries which approximates the entire educational community.

Valeria Orazi, Italy

marito31813 — 2016-09-21 21:30:28 UTC

I've been noticed that in the class that I teach in this year theres no a sense of belonging. Students are divided into three or four groups that are linked to their provenance, and I'm thinking how to resolve this problem. I'll hardly work to built a common identity using many stategies like working in pair or in a little group,using role playing and collaborative work in order to reach a condivise target.

Sunay Efe/Turkey

sunayefe — 2016-09-21 22:24:02 UTC

We have a lot of students coming from non European countries in Arapça and most teachers work on projects to support their integration within the new community and school. Everybody is enriched.

Patrizia V

vinci_patrizia — 2016-09-21 22:34:58 UTC

Belonging to a community means students don't feel "diverse" each other. To build up with the presence of all the forces helps the growth of the young kids.

Rosa Giuliano - Italy

rosag73 — 2016-09-22 07:04:42 UTC

Unfortunately I don't think my classes have a feeling of belonging to a small community, there is no real integration where I live. People have a lot of prejudices and when a child live in his family this reality it is very difficult to change his point of view at school. So, I can say that in my classes there are separated groups and I think this depends on the fact that not all my colleagues have a common goal. I work only for three hours a week in each class and this not enough. I completely agree with Erika, racism is in teachers, too. Four years ago I worked in a school where there were seven new foreign students from Africa. They were minors and they arrived in Italy without their parents. They are Muslims so in November they celebrated a very important religious festival and, with the help of the operators in their community, they decided to arrange a party and to invite all the students and the teachers. That evening there were only me and my headmaster at the party. I'm working in a different school this year and I'm very hopeful for the future.

Cinzia

2016-09-22 07:08:42 UTC

I find very interesting the videos. Teaching in my school I learnt that is very important to create a class identity. I try to buoild the feeling of class belonging through pair/group works, cooperative learning, learning by doing. Working in pair or in group the students help themselves to reach a common aim

Miriam,Italy

aleemattia — 2016-09-22 09:34:42 UTC

I have little experience as a teacher,but in my school,being many foreign students,all teachers working to achieve the fullest possible integration,creating a sense of community to membership in each class

Rosa/Italy

rosadilonardo — 2016-09-22 10:11:18 UTC

Cinzia,Italy

2016-09-22 14:01:15 UTC

Giada, Italy

giadapantuosco — 2016-09-22 14:09:46 UTC

I think the best way to create a sense of belonging and identiy in my class is to be open-minded. We live in 2016, not in 1700. Also, I guess that a very important role is played by teachers, as we could see in the video above. If teachers dislike "the others", how could be possible that students play together?

Angelina Alberico

2016-09-22 14:12:51 UTC

In my school there is a great sense of collaboration both among teachers than among pupils. This is evident especially when the frequency of extracurricular projects and curricular projects. In our institute we have a few children of different nationalities, who are helped to integrate both by teachers who by his companions not only class but also of the other classes.

Kristina Kaučić, Croatia

2016-09-22 14:23:45 UTC

A great challenge for us as teacher, to create a sense of belonging in or classes and school as well. The best way is to be open-minded and to do your best to create cooperative social climate.

Roberta, Italy

r_gramenzi — 2016-09-22 14:29:36 UTC

Fortunately, I've been working in schools in which I found a very collaborative and engaged community. But I think the can be no progress in creating a sense of belonging and identity, if there are still teachers who have a negative consideration of the foreign students. I'm making reference to the example

Domenico Gaeta

domenico_gaeta — 2016-09-22 14:42:14 UTC

Classroom management should be built on the philosophy that everyone is equal and everyone belongs. This includes caring for one another, implementing safe behaviour and actions toward one another, supporting one another, helping one another, and tolerating one another. Teachers can encourage students to treat others the way they would like to be treated, and the classroom can be transformed into a cooperative and honest environment, suitable for learning. By creating an inclusive classroom that fosters great morals and a sense of belonging, students can find confidence in themselves and, in turn, have a healthier learning experience.

After having shared a brainstorming session on the word BELONG we can ask our students to reflect individually on where they feel like they belong and where they feel they don’t belong :

· A place where I belong is _____ because _____

· A place where I don’t belong is _______ because _____

THen as a group as a group, come up with answers to the following questions:

· What does a classroom where all students belong look like, sound like, and feel like?

· What does a classroom where students do not belong look like, sound like, and feel like?

Ask students to reflect on times they were included, when they didn’t belong, when they saw someone else not included, or when they didn’t include someone. After giving them time to think about it, bring the class together and discuss how these ideas can be put into action and made better.

Olga Martins, Portugal

olgacarvalhomartins — 2016-09-22 15:10:02 UTC

It is one of the biggest challenges for a teacher, in the beginning of every school year, to create this sense of beginning we are talking about. When we have several classes (some years ago I had 11 classes) and we see the students 2 or 3 hours a week it´s a hard task and takes long. This should be done by the Class Tutor.
We know that it is necessary to create the sense of respect, the class identity feeling, a collaborative climate where everyone can feel respected and can express freely their ideas and feelings without disrespecting the others.

Simona C, Italy

simoneva_2000 — 2016-09-22 16:12:07 UTC

I think creating a sense of class community is one of most important goals in working as a teacher. I always try to create opportunities or situations where my students can experience solidarity or help each other, through little gestures or words. I promote cooperative learning and pair tutoring activities, mixing groups or pairs. It is important for me to make my pupils feel belonging to a learning family, regardless of any differences . No stress in my class. The keyword is collaboration. Moreover, just this year my school is introducing a uniform, as a symbol of belonging. Discussion is open.

Vasilica Gazdac,Romania

vasilicagazdac — 2016-09-22 16:36:58 UTC

Everything and everyone can influence a person’s identity and belonging. While some influences can be major, such as one’s relationship with their family, other influences may be minor, for example an incident with a friend many years ago. For different people, the same experience may have affected them to a different extent, for example, a pair of friends travelling to an art exhibition. While for one friend, the experience was exquisite and a good night out, for the other, it may have inspired them to switch careers and become an artist. Although we all live in the same world where many of our experiences overlap, the reason why we are all unique is because we ultimately choose what does or does not impact us in a crucial or unimportant way. It is through the addition of the myriad parts of our lives that come together to create our identity.

Carmela, Italy

2016-09-22 16:52:41 UTC

An interesting link

Sonia Galderisi, Italy

sonia_galderisi — 2016-09-22 16:57:43 UTC

My classes are quite close between them and also with their multicultural classmates. I have worked and still work a lot with all of them to create a feeling of belonging to a small community. I often make some learning projects and do groups work mixing them and putting together just the ones that had some conflicts. In this way my students have the possibility to clear their positions and also their judgement. As regarding their relationship with students who come from other cultures, I realised that both like speaking about their hobbies, traditions and making comparisons. My students often ask me more information about some particular other countries traditions and I'm happy to stimulate their curiosity, because this contributes to a sane competition between them, especially when we do interactive exercises at the Whiteboard. We know that children love playing and I use various capturing games in the classroom and they appreciate and would never stop.

I have a good English team and we work in harmony, sharing and comparing our teaching experiences.

2016-09-22 17:23:42 UTC

Rosalba,Italy

gabriella s. northern italy

2016-09-22 17:51:02 UTC

Me too I agree that creating a sense of belonging and identity in a classroom is very important to work well and to obtain the good growing of young students. Some times I try to speak with my collegues but they say me that they do enough for them and they have to study better and to learn Italian if they want to use their Diploma. S+q6taos�ݓ �

Calcedonio Fabio, Italy

2016-09-22 17:53:09 UTC

A class is a small society and diversity can lead the entire Group towards conflicts if we don't manage the situation properly. To do this, we can follow the way of "diversity as a resource"by making pupils feel appreciated when they use their native Language for example. A good teacher shuould ever forget not to show his bias(if he has it)against people who cannot speak well the official Language of the place.

Doina Andrei, Romania

2016-09-22 17:58:41 UTC

Teachers can create identity-safe classrooms, defined as places that foster belonging and value for students of all backgrounds. This assumes that schooling is a social process that depends on trust, a process in which their social identity is an asset to school success. We can cultivate diversity as a resource which we can use for learning while demonstrating high expectations through academic rigor and challenging curriculum. Diversity is not an add-on, but an integral part of having students co-create an exciting curriculum by drawing on their unique backgrounds. Every day (not restricted to a specific month or holiday), we can include diverse music, art, games, stories, and activities that reflect the backgrounds of each student. We also can convey high expectations through positive presuppositions, phrases that assume a student's best intention and effort.

Fulvia Italy

leardini — 2016-09-22 18:07:43 UTC

I totally agree with the speakers. I think creating a sense of school community is very important. I promote cooperative learning and pair tutoring between different class. For example I organize lessons in which some old students came and talk with younger students in another class.

Dimitra Arampatzi, Belgium

darabazi — 2016-09-22 18:26:37 UTC

A school is a small community where there must be place for everyone. It can be seen as a colorful world, which deserves to be presented to the others. So, celebrating cultural diversity through the organization os special common activities can be a very good practice, which contributes to understanding and mutual acceptance among different cultural groups.
The environment of the class, both physical and psycological should be adapted to the specific needs to the group of pupils. Work in heterogeneous groups (where everyone can contribute according to his/her abilities), group work for common goals can foster students' sense of belonging.
Moreover, creating a school environment where pupils feel free to express likes and dislikes, take initiatives and participate in discussion can help them build a positive self-image and show respect towards others.

Chara Liakou, Greece

2016-09-22 18:37:30 UTC

I wouldn't say that in the primary schools in the town, where I work there is a specific person appointed, who is in charge of promoting intercultural education. Every class, yes, indeed, has its own identity and the students feel they belong in a scholl or class community, as the students in Greece meet up in the afternoons as well and hang out together. The parents' communities are also very well organized in the primary school and sponsor many activities and school excursion. In diversity matters, though, I wouldn't say the

Irina, Romania

druga_irina — 2016-09-22 18:38:43 UTC

I think is very important to create some opportunity for different pupils to show other the most interesting and wonderful thinks oh their origins. Is important to organize in schools some intercultural activities or party for pupils, were they will present few traditions, values, traditional songs or stories. In my town is an Intercultural movie festival, named Interethnic Film Festival. I encourage my students to participate like volunteers (for organize the festival) or like looker. Before look the movie, each ethnic community organizes a show with traditional songs and dances. And that is e wonderful lesson of diversity. They learn to appreciate each other, respect other people s values. Sometimes, students become curious and they trying to discover other things related to that ethnic community.

Perri Carmela In this particular aspect I can not communicate my experiences . I met colleagues curious but skeptical. In the school where I work are more welcoming students and teachers

perri_carmela — 2016-09-22 18:43:46 UTC

in this particular aspect I can not communicate my experiences . I met colleagues curious but skeptical . In the school where I work are more welcoming students and teachers

perri_carmela — 2016-09-22 18:43:50 UTC

Maria Nikolova

2016-09-22 18:46:17 UTC

Maria Nikolova

2016-09-22 18:46:31 UTC

Students should feel above all equal members of the school community. In our school always we support the cultural uniqueness of our students. They study facultative Roma folklore and participate in festivals in the Roma day on 8 April. Our school participate in the school system at the Center for Interethnic Dialogue and Tolerance "Amalipe" where we are opportunities to get involved in programs and projects for students, and many educational events for teachers to work in a multicultural environment.

Elena S.

esperanzon — 2016-09-22 19:35:50 UTC

Mine's a very inclusive school. It is so as part of the school ethos, as it trains students to become carers and social workers. Therefore, our pupils are generally speaking very sensitive people, who are used to taking notice of other's needs and feelings. We, as teachers, work hard - especially in the early years of the course - to manage class relationships or individual issues, in order for anyone to feel at ease. We welcome a number of disabled students, students with leaning difficulties and, of course, students from different backgorunds. Most classes are used to considering diversity a value and would not isolate a student for the reasons mentioned above. However, I sometimes feel that at times there is a fair amount of showing off going on amongst students and in fact what they do is act out a model they've learnt. But there is no deep understanding in acting out and real tolerance can't be skin-deep.
SO probably we need to work on it in other ways, we need to get them to understand that it is no professional matter, it is something they should be doing for themselves first of all, as there's no such thing as self-respect, and self-respect comes form (REALLY) respecting others.

Jaime Martins, Portugal

joncmartins — 2016-09-22 19:50:33 UTC

A classroom, a school are places where everybody (students, teachers, staff) should feel they belong to a community. It's difficult to create this sense, however it is one of the most important aims of the teacher, that needs to create a positive, social, cooperative and collaborative climate where everybody can feel and express their ideas, their values and show their own personalities.

Rossella Francesconi, Italy

francesconi_ros — 2016-09-22 20:02:33 UTC

The cooperative learning is an excellent working method to work in the classes., it's possible by this method to hold responsible, to create the sense of belonging,and to help every pupils to achieve his educational success.

Laura Mongiò, Torino

2016-09-22 20:18:03 UTC

I think is very important create a classroom identity because it's a small community where it' s necessary a place for everyone and in which everyone can working in pair and help each other. It's difficult to create all this but if teacher encourage respect and promote a collaborative climate, everyone, strangers, disabled students, students with leaning difficulties and students from different backgorunds can feel a sense of belonging

Alicia - Spain

2016-09-22 20:18:54 UTC

Every yera I work in a different school and I have to start to create a certain atmosphere, what is very hard and slow, but I have checked that it is very important because this is the way in which pupils can feel comfortable and improve their strenghts.

Gülşen Korucu,Turkey

gulsenkorucu — 2016-09-23 01:19:32 UTC

I try to creat a positive and flexible atmosphere to make the students have a sense of belonging.My attitudes affect them a lot.So, I aim at being a model as an humanist person and leading them to attend collaborative activities at school .when they accomplish sharing smt in akind way, they begin identifing their own abilities ,feelings and opinions well as a part of class

Stamatia Stamati, Ioannina-Greece

stamatiast — 2016-09-23 06:27:16 UTC

The school is a colourful world for everyone. Teacher and students must be create the sense of community, via activities which strengthen the empathy and collaboration.

Giulia Italy

2016-09-23 08:28:32 UTC

I think that it's very important create the sense of community in a classroom and expecially in a school.
If a student thinks being a part of a community can do much more than if he thinks to be alone. We must work to create our school community

Gabriella, Italy

2016-09-23 09:22:17 UTC

I think that the feeling of belonging to the community has to be encouraged, because sometimes it can’t grow autonomously.

Activities like cooperative learning, working in pairs and tutoring activities can help children feeling accepted by others.

Unfortunally, sometimes it’s the school itself that’s sceptic about these activities and there are teachers that don’t help building a class identity and have a negative consideration of foreign students. I think that in Italy we should work more on teachers to be open-minded.

Mafalda L. - Italy

2016-09-23 10:03:46 UTC

Most of the students feel they belong to their small community (their class or school).
In my school we have 3 tests common to all classes of the same grade. They are stimulated to be competitive and when test results are published sometimes they feel proud (if they're in the top 3) or they start to think they could do better the next time (without feeling discouraged).

I take time to let them talk about their main (extra school) interests or about the sport they play and get other classmates' attention: some have the same interests (maybe they can group together after school?), some didn't even evaluate the chance to play a sport or didn't know how interesting could be a new comic book or tv serie or film or a new rock band or a book someone else has just read and loved.

I use a 30% of my lessons to teach city/region history, habits, myths, dialect (italian textbooks tell very little about south Italy). My goal is to let them feel proud to be southern students.

If we talk about "cultural diversity" related to "having a foreign classmate", I think teachers should be able to talk about EVERY subject with their students, allowing them to speak openly, even if they seem to have some racist ideas.
Teachers should "lead them towards the truth" (what's good about a different culture or tongue, or about war, poverty, disease, handicap and so on). Life's full of real people and real stories. Teachers have to try to "humanize the enemy" and to oppose to stereotypes, hateful ideas or disrespect for diversities in general (often due to a reckless political class inclined to spread populist and misleading messages).

Some of my collegues would really love to do some activity to integrate foreing students or diversity in general. Most of them are sceptical because of the lack of time/space/resources school dedicates to such activities. Some of them don’t want to face (racist) parents discontent or are not interested in integration or are exhausted from (curriculum) work.
Anyway, if they have truobles dealing with some students in their classes, they know they can talk about it and share some good practices.

Maria Domenica Italy

algheroapartments — 2016-09-23 10:25:01 UTC

I often use in my lessons the cooperative learning, it is a good way to create a positive and collaborative atmosphere.

Mafalda L. - Italy

2016-09-23 10:31:31 UTC

I'd propose a label: it would be a picture of the Mediterranean sea with a red heart placed on Italy, sourrounded by colored rays spreading towards other countries.
Italy has always been the "center of the universe - l'ombelico del mondo" (from Magna Grecia and Roman empire to the medieval invading hordes, humanism and Renaissance and so on) and huge "melting pot" of people from all european countries, Africa, Middle East, Asia. Some emperors were spanish, some saints were black, lots of italian words are borrowed by other languages (greek, latin, spanish, french, german, arab).

Maria V, Greece

mbasilopoulou — 2016-09-23 11:40:43 UTC

In my school none of the suggested ideas have been put into practice yet. Although there are immigrants there are no language barriers insurmountable as students speak Greek somehow. Of course this does not excuse the fact that more helpful ideas haven't been adopted yet. What I could say for sure ,however, is that there is no frustration on the part of the teachers but lots of patience ,understanding and respect towards the minorities. In addition, lots of collaborative activities take place where all students are involved one way or the other. I totally agree that there must be a sense of belonging and identity in our schools and classrooms and we should definitely foster the team spirit, embrace cultural diversity and work all together. I always ask my students to share various kinds of information from their cultural background and pinpoint the similarities as well as differences of cultures .

Isabella, ItalY

issabella1 — 2016-09-23 11:46:25 UTC

It's very important for me that all students feel part of the same group, the same community in our classroom as with other students. All the teachers can work for to create a positive and open-minded atmosphere. I use for example the cooperative learning in my lessons or we make many debates about current affairs or problems. The students (and me, also!) learn step-by-step to respect different ideas or points of view. So we can try to create the feeling of belonging.

Thomas, Austria

t_baldauf — 2016-09-23 13:30:21 UTC

I use PBL a lot in my classes, starting with Pairprogramming and up to real life challenges like organizing the next Safer Internet Day for 2nd grade pupils. My school is very much focused on classes and groups

Valentina, Italy

valentinabertazzoli77 — 2016-09-23 13:53:55 UTC

I use often cooperative learning, where the pupils learn to learn. I create the small groups, where there are different personalities and different talents, but every pupil is useful. This method works also with disability children.

Marilena, Greece

becsa1 — 2016-09-23 14:08:46 UTC

I teach music in secondary education. My subject is 1 hour per week in each class, so I don’t really get to know the students early on, it happens gradually in the school year. This year I teach in a school, where 2/3 of the students have a migration background, as Erica Hummer mentioned (from Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Russia, Egypt, Morocco, Africa, Bangladesh, Pakistan). I think, in Greek schools, students’ different cultures such as the above-mentioned ones, are not mentioned or discussed really during class, much less celebrated through the entire school. There are some projects/activities, such as school choir, theater group, maybe an environmental project etc, which help students get a sense of achievement and of belonging in the school community, but they are on a small scale and only a small part of the school’s student body participates. Of course, you can find some sense of class identity in most classes, but I think it is mostly due to the huge amount of time these students spend with each other for many years (especially in primary education) and the relationships they form, which means that some students are not that much recognized/participating in this small community, but get a little lost in the background.

Valeria Benatti - Italy

vally_benatti — 2016-09-23 14:54:20 UTC

Even if I used to teach at a primary school with very young learners, I immediately realised that they focused more on competition rather than on the sense of community, partnership, and common achievements. That was probably also due to their parents, who put a lot of emphasis on excellent marks and results. What I tried to do during my year as an English teacher, was to let students play games and do activities in small groups or pairs, so that they could realise that it is essential to help each other in order to achieve better results. Unfortunately, there is no school policy on these matters, so that the idea of developing a sense of belonging to a community is left for the most part to single teachers and their own initiative. Some of my colleagues seemed to be willing to cooperate and develop a more integrated system within the class, others were not. Nevertheless, I have left that workplace, so I need to start back again this year, and I hope to start really soon

Raffaella, Italy

2016-09-23 16:00:43 UTC

I feel pupils begin to have an identity as a community in the second class: I divide the students into groups of two: each contributes in the study. The lessons are held: the pupils are invited to contribute. They study together and do research activities in classroom. I prefer to use the concept maps and cooperative learning too. I teach them how to organize and how to take the news from books, newspapers, etc. Peer to peer is important. The school is generally available for change but colleagues are not always available. For them it is more important to finish the program. I can involve colleagues sometimes. But it is difficult.

Maria M., Italy

2016-09-23 16:09:36 UTC

I work in a different class and school every year and I have to re-start to create a community every year. I notice that is different to work in a class where the former teacher has created a sense of belonging or not. I think that team working, gaming practice and exercises to know each other are important to create class identity.

Lucia - Italy

2016-09-23 16:30:19 UTC

My students are still very young (11-14), and, fortunately, they tend to consider other childrens for what they are, just children, and then they play and talk of everything, considering other’s cultural differences as they can consider the colour of the hairs: as a part of their friends.Most of them grew up together since they are six, as a part of the same group of students. They could maybe have problems with students entering their class now, independently from where they come from, because not part of the original group

gabriella t. - italy

gabrita2003 — 2016-09-23 17:30:33 UTC

I think that for creating a good sense of belonging in a group we have to start from us. If we believe in what we are doing strongly we can build a good community. In my school there isn't a particular help for foreing parents. But we collegues are opened to every one who arrive in our school. The sense of belonging can be buit every day showing through comprehention and solidariety. Simple rules and a lot of feeling.

Lina (Italy)

2016-09-23 18:10:07 UTC

Cristina Gila, Romania

2016-09-23 18:44:40 UTC

My students are 13 years old. They’ve been together since 2011 and feel as a part of a group. They celebrated their birthdays together, Halloween, Christmas and diversity day in December and made parties where they invited parents, brothers and sisters.

Activities like working in pairs help students learn faster and be more tolerant and helpful towards each other. In our school, teachers always organise intercultural activities. Belonging means acceptance as a member or part. A sense of belonging to a greater community improves motivation, health, andhappiness. When you see your connection to others, you are happy because you are not alone.

It is important to create in school opportunities for each student to express what he likes and dislikes, to take part in discussions and respect others. The students from my class chose a logo and a picture for their class that expresses their belonging to a community. ��3T,%�

Evangelia Triantafyllou, Greece

evatria — 2016-09-23 20:10:15 UTC

I have always tried making my students feel comfortable during their classes, free to express themselves. I have always tried to bring to the surface any problems regarding their school and/or social life they face and assuring them that there is a way to surpass them looking for a joint solution at the same time. Also, ever since I started using group work in my lessons, I have realised that the students are closer to one another and no students feel being excluded. It is this sense that they have to achieve a common goal that helps them stick together. Unfortunately, there is not a school policy that fosters community building. So, everything relies on teachers who are more open-minded and have a positive attitude towards cultural diversity.

Sandra, Northern Germany

2016-09-23 20:56:10 UTC

Both students and teachers have a sense of belonging to teaching and learning in international classes.

We have teams of teachers who often exchange their views on developments and try out new approaches together. We emphasize that our class is a learning community that can only work, if we really collaborate together. It is important to have class-rules that teachers and students stick to and are negotiated together. They are put up on a poster. Our students love it, if the teachers help the class to stick to these rules. For example the use of mobile phones has increasingly become a problem in our classes because it took most of the attention away from our t/l activities. Students found it very hard to give up on the private use of their phones themselves. So we agreed on the 'red collection box'. Students love the box and hand it around. The collector makes sure that all phones are collected at the start of the learning session. They also love to welcome there phones back at the end of it. The learning athmophere has improved greatly.

Stefania,Italy

2016-09-23 21:08:51 UTC

Last week we made a big poster where we wrote"This is our classroom ,we are very lucky because here we can speak different languages;Italian,English,Arabian,Albanian and Romanian,yes we are international!"I teach in a primary school

Patrizia, Italy

2016-09-23 21:39:58 UTC

My students come from diverse comunities. Most of them are of the Islamic faith: faith is a feeling that creates a strong sense of belonging. What we try to do in our school is encouraging meetings between different cultural and religious identities. We give space to all students and we try to teach respect for all opinions: differences in viewpoint are always welcome in our classes. It is a difficult goal to achieve because adults are convinced of their own ideas and are not always interested in those of others. Among adults of different cultures and religions there is often distrust. There are invisible barriers that only mutual understanding can break down.

viki doga,, greece

2016-09-24 00:57:57 UTC

I don;t think so that there is racism in my school, but the communication between teachers is a great problem.

Georgia Konstantia Karagianni, Greece

jimfayo806 — 2016-09-24 05:55:55 UTC

In my school, classes share a feeling of belonging to the same community, the school community. I work at a Music School where all children take part in music ensemles and share wonderful moments together singing, playing music, taking part in festivals tec. Doing things together creates common experiences and common memories. My colleagues all seem to share the same ideas about cultural diversity, therefore there is a climate of acceptance and solidarity. Music unites.....

Ivana, Italy

Ivana91 — 2016-09-24 06:35:29 UTC

In Italy usually the classes are created divisions in closed groups where hardly the other comrades are allowed. Work of teacher is very hard in this case.

Elisabetta, Italy

2016-09-24 06:51:07 UTC

I think that cooperative learning is the best way to develop empathy and create a sense of belonging to the class and the community as a whole.

Eleonora, Italy

eleonora_mauriello19 — 2016-09-24 07:30:47 UTC

I usually help my classes get a sense of belonging thanks to cooperative learning, as they work in groups, sharing aims, objectives and responsibility. I always ask my students to choose a group name they can identify with , so the members can really feel as part of the group.

Danuta,Pl

2016-09-24 08:24:28 UTC

Singing a common song, playing games, building a campfire – the activities which can help to build a team even if students don’t know many words.
Patrons’ Day, which is celebrated in our school, contributes to identification students with school.

Elena Azzurra, Italy

2016-09-24 09:24:50 UTC

In order to create a sense of belonging I think it could be a good way to work into different directions: first of all, creating a team environment inside the class by fostering cooperative learning. At the same time teachers from different classes have to work together and to cooperate in school projects so that students have the opportunity to develop a shared sense of community. In my opinion the last goal (creating a community sense by means of school projects) is often a little more difficult to achieve because it presumes an high collaboration between teachers in regard to the organization of the projects.

Kelly, Rome (Italy)

KellyVivi — 2016-09-24 11:02:44 UTC

I think that Erika and Alicia are right in every single word. In addiction I can say that it's really important to create a sense of togetherness but it's more important that the teacher believes in it, that he/she shows that together is better and that he/she involves students in creating a "community". When Erika talks about teachers saying to their students they are "stupid" I remembered of a similar situation where a teacher of my school used to say this words to his students and I think this is terrible!! So, first of all teachers have to understand their tasks and then they can

Gaia, Italy

gaialombardi69 — 2016-09-24 13:22:00 UTC

Creating and developing a sense of belonging and togetherness in the classrooms is the most important step to really build a school community.
There are many different ways to involve students in team and group activities, but I usually prefer using games and cooperative learning. They're the most affordable with young pupils, who still use sharing a game as a mean of communication and integration. Working in pairs or in small groups also fosters communication and direct knowledge among the pupils, who come into a spontaneous relationship despite any difference in language or habits.
Of course, throughout the school pupils must breath a general atmosphere of collaboration and cooperation among teachers, where conflict are resolved in a climate of dialogue and problems are addressed clearly and responsably.
In this sense, the communication between school and home becomes a pivotal point in the pupil's process of integration.

Elsa Pereira, PT

elsammhp — 2016-09-24 14:38:52 UTC

I often use in my lessons the cooperative learning, it 's a good way to create a positive and collaborative atmosphere . My school have several projects in Erasmus+ and several clubs of sports, arts, eco-school , european club, and all the students like to work there.

Laskarina Polemi, Greece

laspolemi — 2016-09-24 15:14:12 UTC

I really agree with Erika's and Alicia's views on diversity. Last year an event celebrating diversity was organised in our school on 9th of May (Europe day). Students prepared dishes from Eu countries and created posters on the countries in question. It was a joint effort with the English teacher (Mrs Kappou) of the school adjacent to mine and I would like to thank her for sharing with me this common goal. Erika's comment on fascism is also worth thinking about especially in these turbulent times.

Vicky Archondi, Greece

vicky_archondi — 2016-09-24 16:27:17 UTC

Erika's and Alicia's views on diversity must be espoused by everybody but the majority of the times things are easier said than done. In my opinion, the first thing that we should do is to get officially trained on culturally diverse issues becoming thus more tolerant, open-minded and in a position to appreciate otherness.
My school celebrates diversity by organising a big fiesta at the end of the school year where parents' prepare dishes from their country of origin as well as a demonstration of traditional dances. In that way we get familiarised with the otherness more pleasantly.
In my classes, I usually ask my students to create a motto of their preference that will escort throughout the year and I resort to the solution of 'study buddies' when I have to deal with newly arrived immigrants that lack the knowledge of our mother tongue.

Manuel Garcia Naples,Italy

2016-09-24 16:29:20 UTC

Classroom and community identity are things that I feel are inherent in every learning environment in the world. We intrinsically like to belong to a certain group and identify with certain individuals or categories that help us to express who we are and where we come from. Students that feel that they belong to a group and to one another will be more open to discussion and sharing of experiences, and allow for deeper learning and critical thinking as a result.

Krystyna Pasek-Corsar

krysiapasek — 2016-09-24 17:16:24 UTC

I think that my school is one of the schools that is hiding the diversity. I have a mission to change it, hopefully I will manage it.
In one of my previous school there was a statement from leadership that the school has low passing rate of exams or low grades because of foreign students. There is huge lack of understanding of EAL needs. So many teachers thinks that speaking slowly and loudly helps students how doesn't speak English to understand the instructions. Having a classroom that is open for EAL students helps them to understand that they are not the only one who do not understand or speak English, that there is a lot more students with the same problems but at the same time it is great to put these students in touch with students who were in similar situation few months ago and now can communicate in English. It helps new students to set their own goals and go through the difficult time of being "an alien" with others.

Paweł,Poland

pawelszywalski — 2016-09-24 17:19:24 UTC

How to create a sense of belonging to the school community? It is possible to realize firstly thanks to celebrating students’ cultural diversity. Another way is to integrate students’ family around the school. Fostering their sense of belonging to the classroom may be possible thanks to any kind of activities to the common goals, our arrangement of students collaboration and working together. But the most important are personal attitudes of teachers. Free of the racism, xenophobia and ignorance.

Giovanna Wiplinger Croce

giovywip — 2016-09-24 17:29:46 UTC

In order o build a sense of belonging in each classroom is very important to foster relationship maybe through an activity where their peculiarity are shown as a richness and an exiting adventure through the use of their imagination.
School is like a pirates ship where all the sailors are engaged in an adventure: language and brain are the powerful weapon to fight and win many battles...

Chiara

chiarapastore91 — 2016-09-24 18:04:17 UTC

I love interacting with my students and creating a good atmosphere where everybody feels good. It is possibile when teacher and student usually have a dialogue.

Maria Anna Casoria

goli291174 — 2016-09-24 18:06:34 UTC

In my school some colleagues are sceptical about community building, because of the huge number of foreigners.
Every classroom should be composed by an equal number of "diversity".

Rossella

RossellaR — 2016-09-24 18:34:11 UTC

Develop a sense of belonging to a class is very difficult. I use cooperative learning and group work. In these last years the work sharing through google drive. The school is projected to change, but often encountered reluctance among colleagues and even trying to bring innovation, often the lens fails. still we have to work on teachers

Nancy Papachristou, Greece

nancy_papa — 2016-09-24 19:17:59 UTC

It is so important for me to develop the sense of belonging in my class. I try very hard to make all my students feel accepted and comfortable. A very interesting article about this subject you can read below

http://www.teachmag.com/archives/4681://stat��)H��

Clara, Italy

claragulino — 2016-09-24 19:19:14 UTC

2.4 Creating a sense of belonging to the school community

It’s very sad to say but it’s true: in some schools the presence of too many immigrants is considered as deterrent to enroll local children, because foreign students make slow the learning process of the class. As I see it, the problem wether or not foreign students are in a class; the real issue is how teachers want/can face this challenge: do they have the right competences and energy to take the challenge and try to teach in a creative way through their students’ fears. Patience, awareness, self-criticism, open-mindness, willingness to create a positive atmosphere in the classroom are fundamental qualities a teacher has to develop in order to help students creating and reinforcing their identities and their sense of belonging to the class

M. Cristiana Cagliari Italy

2016-09-24 19:22:57 UTC

In my classes I work to creating a sense of belonging but it is very difficult. I used different action and resources for fostering students sense of belonging to the classroom. I make use of jigsaw cooperative learning strategy, teamwork and circle time.

Anna Bormida, Genova, Italy

annabormida — 2016-09-24 19:48:05 UTC

In the last two years , I work a lot in order to create a class identity an a feeling of belonging to a small community. We've just started our year 5 and I ask my pupils to think about what is their attitude to the class, what they expect from the group and what they expect from teacher. They expect and want to give collaboration, cooperation,, generosity, loyalty, silence, respect and so on . In the school we're working as teacher on the rules and on our feelings. It's true that some teachers are afraid of new entry and considered in a bad way the immigrant families, but I think that together we can help ourselves to develop a positive atmosphere and a peaceful environment among all the classrooms

Carla Senis, Italy

carla_senis — 2016-09-24 20:20:21 UTC

I always have six classes and what I can observe is that every class is different: they all love cooperation, but inside some classes there's still a sense of drift so I have to work a lot to help my students to feel part of a community. I work to give them the possibility to share their contradictory emotions (typical of teenagers) and live their learning in a more costructive way. I can see the best results when they have to complete difficult tasks and their classmates help them. So, cooperative learning is the best way to help them all to feel part of a community.

Asun Ara, Spain

2016-09-24 20:25:06 UTC

I think it is quite important to make your students tell their other mates where they come from, about their likes and dislikes, their needs and interests. If we spend some minutes in all our classes to listen to all the students, they will know each other better and some feelings can appear and it can make a class identity. Teenagers need to tell someone their problems and emotios. If they discover that many children in their class share the same problems and emotions, it is easy to make a solid group. In my school we also try to foster the activities to make our students live together in a pleasant way, but there are few colleagues, but some of them, who think that their only mission at the school is to teach their subjects. Some of them accept to change their minds, but others don't. It is a pity since those teachers who don't like to work on matters of mediation or living together, usually are the teachers who have more behaviour problems in their classes.

Maria A., Serres/Greece

2016-09-24 21:02:31 UTC

One activity I use to enhance the sense of belonging is to create the song of the class. First the students choose a well known song and next we change the lyrics all the class together.
The new lyrics are about the things we do together, about our interests, our likes etc

Francesco M. Manno, Perugia. Italy

franzmanno — 2016-09-24 21:11:30 UTC

Class identity? It really depend on the class! Some of them have a kind of a shared identity but other don't. What said may be referred to a single school as well, with some having a strong, traditional and even historical identity, whereas others struggle for their existence.
A good citizenship may help in creating a sense of a community, even though some colleagues are skeptical about such activities to cultural diversity issues.

Kristina - Vienna

2016-09-24 22:15:35 UTC

First, I'd like to thank Erika for mentioning some of the problems we are facing in Vienna. During my education at the University of Teacher Education in Vienna, I had some sad experiences with professors or training schools. But I am very happy that I could get a job at a school where diversity is welcomed and appreciated. I would love to learn more about the project Erika mentioned in the video, and how they are trying to spread a more positive feeling around schools.

Matteo D., Italy

damatt — 2016-09-24 22:18:28 UTC

I think in my classroom (and in my school) class identity has been built more accidentally than intentionally. However htere are some activities which lead to a feeling of belonging even if they have other manifest targets (I meen sport challenges, cultural challenges etc...).

Kristina - Vienna

2016-09-24 22:19:36 UTC

Creating a class community is essential for learning & teaching. I truly believe that if the students do not feel comfortable in class, there cannot be a positive outcome of learning.

I think the following ideas help to create a positive classroom community:
- welcome present at the first school day
- knowing their names and facts about their families and backgrounds
- taking photos together
- going on field trips
- creating a class symbol
- asking for regular feedback (written form or oral feedback in the coaching lesson)
- teaming up learning buddies
- trying to teach empathy
- team building activities, where sts can bond and find out what they have in common
- appreciation of the different characters in class
- communicating that each student can be him/herself and that nobody has to be perfect
- providing the kids with a platfor to share their fears, worries, happiness, etc.
- celebrating birthdays
- NOT comparing the students
- changing the classroom layout
- giving them the opportunity to make decisions together
- democratic votes for class decisions
- decorating the class reflecting cool experiences they shared
- going on project weeks
- organizing charity events
- working on projects

There is a long list of activites, but especially at the beginning of a school year or in times of trouble, I find it especially important to spend time on team building. If you take the time for it, you will benefit throughout the entire term.

I'm looking forward to learning more about it - as it is my second year of being a class teacher! I'm learning a lot from my students and I am very grateful to have a wonderful, diverse class!

Giulio,Italy

giulio_picciolini1 — 2016-09-25 05:34:31 UTC

The sense of belonging is also a problem for native students. It is not obvious even for them to feel part of a community, or of such school. The identity was shattered into a thousand pieces and you have to put them back to school. But the identity is not immutable. I think it's always changing that is why you can find different ways to reassemble through group work, games or competitions through which to achieve common goals. The achievement of a target TOGETHER is the way.

Aristea, Greece

afpigiaki — 2016-09-25 08:21:14 UTC

Belonging to a group – no matter it is in a classroom or in a community - is a fundamental sense for people to build their self-confidence, social relationships and be motivated to succeed in their life.

Personally, I promote this by asking students in the beginning of the school year to make a classroom contract in which they outline the importance of respect, acceptance and support of each other. Then all the members of the classroom sign the contract which is hung on the notice board throughout the school year. Also, I’ve realized that team competitions and games during lessons help them create a sense of togetherness in order to win. For example, weak students are helped and encouraged by their classmates to participate in order to gain a point for their team. What I try to do each time is to organize the teams in a way so the members of each team are not the same all the time. Doing this I manage to involve all the students with each other.

Manana Jakeli, Georgia

mmmjakeli — 2016-09-25 08:57:11 UTC

A sense of belonging is very important, but for now I have not this problem as all my students are Georgians. I use coperative learning and team work...

Stavroula Lada, Greece

pde4424 — 2016-09-25 09:19:18 UTC

Each year, I try to create a class identity and a class culture. Although there aren't students from different countries, there are children from different backrounds. Some of our activities are:

Learning that for every problem, there is certainly at least one solution.
All students belong to a group and they have to contribute in it their best.
We all help the others do their best.
We share things and use "thank you", "you are welcome" and "I apologize", when necessary.
We learn that each one of us is very special and has got special gifts that make him unique.
We know that each day we learn from one another, so we all have to listen carefully of what someone says and share with us.
We are all different, but we are all equal and we deserve respect.
Collaborative activities make us bond, share and learn each day.
At the beginning of the year we all decide what rules we want for our classroom and which are the consequences when we break the rules we have created all together.
Me, as an educator, I try to make that happen each day, so I can be a role model to my students, so I don't have to say much, show it with my example.

simona_ratan — 2016-09-25 09:22:00 UTC

Simona, Romania
Beyond the variances between members classroom, I always thought we act as a team. My symbol class is the  duckling.We are ducks and we swim in the waters of knowledge.

Caterina Musmeci, Italy

kmusmeci — 2016-09-25 10:06:04 UTC

In my classes the students are classmate to primary or to kindergarten in most cases: this is a advantage because I teach Music in junior high school two hours a week only. Choir or play together help to further develop a sense of belonging and identity in my classes.

Stathis, Greece

slikidis — 2016-09-25 10:12:43 UTC

It's very important to create a sense of belonging and identity in a classroom and it's a challenge we as teachers face every year when we stand in front of a new class, regardless of any cultural diversity. Often we begin this challenge with little knowledge about our students, group dynamics, and time to dedicate to this important task. Building community and identity requires a good understanding of our students and it takes time. But when we have managed to forge a class community to which all students feel they belong and even have a sense of loyalty to, it can be a very powerful thing and hugely rewarding experience for our work as teachers. That happens if we have a class with native students but also in a class where foreign students belong to.

Jasna Šojer/Croatia

jasna_sojer — 2016-09-25 11:12:07 UTC

The class coherence depends a lot on class teacher There is a lot of methods in drama pedagogy to work on group cohesion and in my school I lead workshops for teachers to teach them how to achieve better group cohesion. we use group cohesion exercises, debates, drama improvisations, group activities that help students bond better.

daniela millini, Italy

2016-09-25 12:14:37 UTC

In my teaching experience, team building , class building has always been a priority with new classes. As I work in a low secondary school, most of the responsability for class building often falls on teachers of Italian, who spend more time with the students, or on the teachers who are charged with the role of 'class coordinators'. And I know they all try hard to get positive results, and the other members of the teacher staff do the best they can to collaborate. Yet, especially in the latest years, it seems more and more difficult to get positive results. The problem - or the challenge, if we want to see it from another point of view - are the students. And not because of their cultural diversity. Most of them seem to be, or show out as being very individualist, egocentric, focused on themselves, their own needs, wishes, ambitions - they often lack any kind of empathy towards their schoolmates, or any other human being, they just follow their own way, regardless of the consequences their actions might cause. And that exactly why working on team building, classroom culture has become more and more important, nowadays.

Georgia Alexouda, Greece

alexouda — 2016-09-25 12:41:52 UTC

My school has a great tradition in educational reforms and has its own identity. Diversity is considered as an advantage.

Giovanna. Italy

2016-09-25 13:00:49 UTC

As far as I experienced, cultural diversity is seen as a negative part of schools which have to be hidden instead of becoming part of the school identity. In addition, I think we should work more on building a sense of class and school belonging and identity, for exemple designing and implementing activities which foster social and intercultural competences, especially at high schools where I work. Our school sistem is still too much based on content.

Janice. Barcelona

janicegutierrez19 — 2016-09-25 13:01:57 UTC

To be part of a cimmunity You have to get your kids involved in all kids of activities that happen in the school. Make them say what they think and let them organize.

IDA, ITALY

idadinatale — 2016-09-25 13:03:45 UTC

The first think is respecting their persons and peculiarity and then let them feeling like we are all at the same level and that our diversity is our wealth.
So we can organize activities on their common theme like music, art, TV, VIP…

Maria Papavasilopoulou, Greece

user_1412170174 — 2016-09-25 13:49:01 UTC

My school has been operating for the last two years, so it is a quite small one. We have 70 students, so they have developed the sence of belonging. They feel very "at home". Besides that, I think activities and project in which school, parents and local community have to cooperate can help community building.

Susan, Italy

2016-09-25 15:53:34 UTC

On a schoolwide level, our students have a PE tracksuit with the school logo for winter and summer, and just recently we created a Facebook page which shows the various activities that go on throughout the year. I personally have been responsible for a Christmas chorus that involves the entire primary school (about 240 students) who sing Christmas songs and Gospel music, all the parents and relatives are invited to attend (there is a great turnout!) and then we have a little Christmas party with cakes and beverages.
Other than that…. Each teacher tends to go in his/her classroom and close the door. I have not seen many initiatives that create a sense of belonging to that particular class. Each class does their own Christmas show but only the parents attend it, the other classes to do not see it. Children who do not speak Italian are generally accepted although the teachers tend to see them as obstacles to the proper running of their curriculum. I haven’t seen a lot of curiosity about their mother tongue languages or any celebration of them. A lot more can be done, but, as I said earlier, we haven’t been faced with this issue until very recently.
In terms of community building, as a professional counselor, I also offered parenting workshops which were divided into groups based on the ages of the children. These workshops were focused on providing support to parents in their concerns, fears, questions about parenting and their own anxieties. They proved very effective in creating a group, I saw how parents from all different classes got very close to each other, felt a strong connection. Now that I have left the school, I realize that I left a bit of an empty space that I hope my colleagues can fill with their own ideas and initiatives.

Camelia, Romania

2016-09-25 17:21:21 UTC

I think that the first step in 'Creating a sense of belonging and identity in our class and school' is establishing rules at the beginning of the school year and after that trying to involve all the students in the whole studying process.

Augusto, Italy

augusto_tedesco — 2016-09-25 17:25:58 UTC

This should always be the main goal of our activity as teachers, even if it is perhaps the most difficult one to reach. In my experience, I tend to get my students to work together and cooperate in school activities, so that they can really share tasks and goals, getting to build a “big and beautiful family”.

Mariella, Rome, Italy

fasanelli_mariella — 2016-09-25 17:35:08 UTC

We do try to have a class identity at school having our own poster where sentences, words, images, artifacts, which have turned out to be relevant to us are shown.

At a school level we also try to do this, but my school has got about 1.400 pupils and it is divided in 3 sites and I can notice that even kids at their monthly assembly have difficulties at building up a sense of togetherness

Luigi, Italy

luigi_grifone1 — 2016-09-25 17:38:00 UTC

I try to work on this feeling of school as a small community of people working together for a goal. It's not easy because I change school every year and I can't work continuously in the same environment. Anyway, building up open communities, respectful of all the wonderful diversity they contain, it's a big goal for schools.

Alex_PT

teacheralex_dua — 2016-09-25 17:38:41 UTC

This is always the ideal situation, isn’t it? Ideal for the students and for the teachers as well. There are common rules and class rules which sometimes, no matter what, are broken and then problems arise, especially with students in their teens who tend to be rebellious.

Projects are great to create this sense of belonging and identity once they have to collaborate. Whenever my classes are involved in projects, namely eTwinning projects, this becomes clear as they help themselves in class and out of the class, and share materials and the joy of working together, of achieving goals together.

Floriana, Italy

florianalarovere — 2016-09-25 17:53:37 UTC

When students feel at home in a school and have strong relationships with peers and teachers, they feel more confident and positive about their own individual success. Creating small identity groups is one way to cultivate togetherness. Forming small groups of students that engage in friendly competition and providing opportunities for students to work together with peers can create school spirit.

Angelo, Rivoli, Italy

Angelo — 2016-09-25 18:18:34 UTC

The normality of teaching at my school to create a sense of belonging is not a priority for teachers. When I begin to work in a classroom I propose jobs to variables groups to try to amalgamate the class, but I have no time to dwell too much on test results: If there are good, otherwise I have to continue to fulfill syllabus. In fact, I realized that is not always enough the Cooperative Learning to amalgamate a group class, because I'm the only teacher to make some effort in this direction.
Fortunately, I never had cases of serious conflicts among students.

Rania ,Greece

raniasarri68 — 2016-09-25 19:23:12 UTC

There is a feeling of community but not through celebrating cultural diversity. Rather that assimilating cullturaly diverse students I'm afraid.

Aida Lumshi

alumshi — 2016-09-25 20:49:35 UTC

I think that identity is very important to create a profil of your yourself ,, and to feel belonger

Noelia Fernández Rull, Italy

noeliafernandez_rull — 2016-09-26 08:04:37 UTC

In my school there are a lot of extracurricular projects that creates a sense of belonging such as theather, athletic team competitions, musical performances, Christmas shows. Personally, I promote working in group to achieve common goals; students usually are competitive but also love cooperating and helping mates.

Elena FP, Italy

2016-09-26 08:32:31 UTC

I think it's not always easy to create a class/school identity, especially if students come from different areas and have different backgrounds. Crosscurricular projects involving many classes and teachers can help though, and that's our experience. We get students work in groups and cross-classes towards a common goal and this hepls creating the sense that we are a small community.

Donka, Bulgaria

dkirovska — 2016-09-26 08:54:49 UTC

Surely I can say that our school has a sense of belonging and identity in a classroom. And this is due to the work of all teachers. But often I wonder if we really are able to respond to individual needs and the needs of children of different cultural backgrounds or insert them within the educational system?!

Francesco, Italy

2016-09-26 10:51:39 UTC

Working in a language school is quite a different situation, because there are already many activities planned in order to favour team building and create a sense of belonging to the classroom community. One of the most successful ways, for example, is the outdoors activity where students go in groups on the street to ask people about language facts and stories... at the end of this games, students usually tend to bond their group relationships and start very nice friendships and collaborations.

Marika, Italy

2016-09-26 13:00:27 UTC

Teachers can really influence the atmosphere in the class and are able to build a culture diversity community as well. Using the technology resources, for example, is useful to create a class where students can communicate, following of course some basic rules shared with a teacher, a coordinator teacher.
It is also important the cultural mediator who can speek in Arabic or Turkish language to create a link, a sort of a bridge, between, the family and school talking about a general situation happened in class or with a specific student.

Oriella, Italy

o_coriandolo — 2016-09-26 15:17:15 UTC

In my school to grow the sense of belonging and identity there are a lot of activities: educational tours to know the place to live, role play to know new friends, team working and peer to peer education to learn together, theatre, athletic teams, musical performances...

Andrea, Italy

andrearaccagni8 — 2016-09-26 15:20:49 UTC

The sense of belonging in class and in school could be built with the synergy work among teachers themselves and between teachers and family. Some informal moments likes school trips, small birthday parties in class, shared games during breaks can help.
Personally I try to increase the class identity building with my students shared rules, planning informal opportunities for exchange of personal experiences, structuring group activities and involving them in the use of some multimedia platforms, such as Edmodo, in order to increase the sense of belonging to the group.

Alina from Romania

saftaalina — 2016-09-26 15:25:14 UTC

It is goog to develope a sense of belonging and identity but they must be opened to the changes to new. It is good to cooperate.

Cláudia Rolo, Portugal

claudiarolo12 — 2016-09-26 15:29:12 UTC

A few simple things make a lot of difference to students:

Connect with each student daily.
Turn mistakes into learning opportunities.
Monitor and support student engagement every day (not restricted to a specific month or holiday), include diverse music, art, games, stories, and activities that reflect the backgrounds of each student.
Create norms for the classroom that address not only behavior, but also respect and empathy.
Help create a sense of belonging inside and outside the classroom.

Wolfgang, Austria

oelzant — 2016-09-26 15:46:29 UTC

We try to have a kind of school-identity. Every students gets at the beginning of the school a folder and a scribbling blöock with the logo of the school. The professional sportsstudent get training clothes, T-Shirts, winter-jackets with the school logo and school colours. So they can identify with school in wearing this clothes. (no matter where they come from). On the other hand we have the "sport"communieties: the alpine skiers, boarders,.. who have a stronger camaraderie.

Adele, Italy

adele_cammarata — 2016-09-26 16:14:17 UTC

In my school everything is left on teacher's goodwill... There's no interest (for most of us, not for all, fortunately!) in intercultural competences and I often listen to colleagues who don't think intercultural education is necessary because there is no foreign pupils in their class...

Nils / Germany

2016-09-26 16:36:21 UTC

We don't really have activities ar anything that make the students feel they belong to a community.

Ang3, Italy

2016-09-26 17:30:00 UTC

In my school we try to help students to communicate throught roleplays, dramas, cooperative Group activities.

Ana Fonseca, Portugal

2016-09-26 18:19:36 UTC

I teach in a small village in the center of Portugal, near Coimbra. It is a rural community so there is a strong feeling of belonging. Although it is in the countryside, many foreign people are more and more interested to move into the beautiful mountain scenery, so people from other countries are really welcome.

Besides the City Hall promotes this sense of belonging with activities like The “Feira de Oportunidades e Empreendorismo, in which students are engaged in the community.

As far as our school is concerned, there are a lot of partnerships with local authorities (City Hall, Fire Department, Swimming pool, Nurseries, etc) so we are quite active, and we even have a huge party (arrayal) at the end of the school year.

We, the teachers are open minded and welcome all our students no matter their nationality. We are involved in some Erasmus+ projects and the English teachers celebrate a lot of festivities from other nationalities: Halloween, St. Valentine’s, April Fools Day, and The European Day of Languages…. ,

Melahrini Chalkidiki Gtreece

mpapardeli — 2016-09-26 18:21:03 UTC

In my school we always work in groups so pupils feel that they belong to a small comunity.They help each other .We also cooperate with other schools from other countries through etwinning projects and this way children have learned accepting the differences between people.

Carmen G., Italy

carmen_garau00 — 2016-09-26 18:27:13 UTC

I think my classes and my school, fortunately have developed a very strong sense of belonging. This objective was achieved with the cooperation of all parties: students, teachers, families. This collaboration every year allows to organize many extra curricular activities such as trips, sports competitions, musical groups, theater groups, and also cultural exchanges with students and teachers from other countries and also other continents. Students are very proud to be part of the school community.
One aspect that is lacking, and that in my opinion would be very important, is the presence of a cultural mediator who can help in case of problems and dealing with students and their families.

Loredana, Romania

loredanamandru — 2016-09-27 20:34:34 UTC

In our school we start the sense of belonging and identity from choosing the name of the class and the symbol. In the class they have a special corner where they present themselves and on the class door we post our class key-words, values and our motto. Being a small school, we can easily cooperate between classes, so we chosed our school values and each class works together and show the other classes how they defend them.

Mariella Gallo/Italy

mgallo271 — 2016-09-28 10:08:05 UTC

The parts involved in the process of "belonging" must work for the common objective: the sense of wellness the students feel when they are in class. I sometimes feel that this is not possible because the collegues have prejudices. It's true that the everything start with the Headteacher that "MUST CELEBRATE THE DIVERSITY".

Georgia ,Greece

georgiavou46 — 2016-09-28 12:17:05 UTC

In my school we play team games , have parties , plays etc. and every body feels that he is a part of a small community.We often involve parents in our activities and there aren't any colleagues sceptical about cultural diversity.

Jessica Bruini, Italy

bruinijessica — 2016-09-28 12:27:56 UTC

I think that in my school we all try and build a senso of belonging. Actually our school works as a small community and, like all communities, we are trying to build our own identity.
The activities that are more effective in this sense are the so-called extra-curricular activities, usually held in the afternoon (when lessons are over). School identity and community feeling are something that we have to build up day by day. It is something that starts from the inside of us, teachers. Working in team, planning activities in a cross-curricular framework, defining projects that involve the whole school community... these are some of the basic ingredients for the perfect recipe.

Lara, Italy

laracol71 — 2016-09-28 13:22:48 UTC

In our school we try to build a school identity through projects such as Cross-ship and Unplugged. Last year our students took part in a multicultural project followed by the University of Macerata. Moreover we have the "Intercultural party" every year in which students sing, dance and read poems in their own languages (with translation).
What is still difficult is to build a class identity. Our students find very difficult to work together in the afternoon on school projects for example ( often their families don't like that). We don't have extra-curricular activities in the afternoon. Lessons end at 13:15.

Priscilla, Italy

2016-09-28 13:43:45 UTC

The school where I work is a secondary school, and our geographic area is a high-density immigration area especially regarding Chinese people. In this town we have several shops and post offices with Chinese speaking employees. The first step we have to do is a good communication, respecting the native culture and promoting the Italian one. So we have to help this people building a new culture, trying to preserve the native one. For instance, sharing typical recipes or food sometimes could be a first step in this direction.

Simona De Paola, Italy

simona_depaola — 2016-09-28 14:17:23 UTC

roup works, projects involving small groups of students are the most common activities to foster cohesion in multicultural class.

Cinzia, Italy

2016-09-28 15:09:14 UTC

I teach in two classes: the older one has a good sense of identity, I've worked for two years to create and improve it; the younger one, instead, don't feel like a group: they are very individualistic pupils and it's difficult collaborate between them.
My school is composed of two primary high schools, and I notice that there isn't a sense of identity between them; my colleagues very often create a sort of competition between ourselves that isn't useful to give a sense of unity.

Ionela Lazea, Romania

kameeliah16bis — 2016-09-28 15:43:14 UTC

In my kindergarten we don't have a great diversity of nationalities so we don't really have specific activities to celebrate it. We talk about it usually for Europe's Day or when we have projects.

Elisa

mec972 — 2016-09-28 16:18:49 UTC

technology is really challenging to support integration oriented projects

Clapou Crina / Romania

clapou_crina — 2016-09-28 16:52:53 UTC

In my kindergarten we don’t have many children of different backgrounds. I think it is a little difficult to create a kindergarten identity as a multilingual kindergarten if there are only a few students of different nationality.

Patrizia Giorgi Italia

patti_giorgi — 2016-09-28 17:03:59 UTC

I try to create in the classroom a sense of belonging to the small community class through my subject, the music. I experienced the invention of a short slogan sung with words chosen by the pupils that they can reflect their identity as a class. The pupils also invent the rhythm and melody of choosing among the various proposals slogans together. At the end of the class has its original slogan that serves to present to other classes or to raise awareness and group self-esteem class.

Gina, Hungary

gina_klomer — 2016-09-28 17:20:53 UTC

Erika talked about the atmosphere created by the teachers and the headmaster. Their attitude to diversity will define the whole school and how much kids like being there. So much responsibility in our hand to make them feel good here and to believing in them. As Alicia said, they spent a lot of time in the school, we should create an atmosphere where they love to be in. All these ideas to choose common color for the class, have a website, avatars, making learning circles, study buddies, WhatsApp groups, etc. are just amazing. Can't wait to try some with my students! I have this idea to use some applications with the teenagers to create challenges they can fulfill and share with others.

keratso, Greece

2016-09-28 17:28:33 UTC

elebrate students' cultural diversity (Headmaster plays an important role to show the diversity of the school)
Foster students' sense of belonging to the classroom(ask students their opinion and let them express themselves)
Deal with conflicts in the school environment(language mediator to solve conflicts)
Teachers must deal with racism between them by adopting different ways in approaching students and their families
Students must work in small groups where they will have the chance to learn from each other and make a focus on each other's traditions, customs, stories. They must talk if there are conflicts and try and solve their problems with conversation and make their own arrangement of the way classroom will work in

Maria Theodoridou, Greece

theod_eled — 2016-09-28 17:41:17 UTC

First od all, make an atmosphere of security and respect for all the students:
- meet different cultural backgrounds
-to know where all the classmates come from
- identify and show the places of their students' origin in the map
- learn and respect the humans' rights
Then deepen in their lifes:
-to share stories, food and happenings from different cultures
Accept them (attitude):
-to include people from different cultural backgrounds in school's society
- enjoy this project experience
I'd also agreed with some colleagues who believe that they have to find ways dealing with conflicts and avoid racistic behaviour.

Maria, Greece

2016-09-28 18:17:20 UTC

My classes and my school have something like a class or school identity, a feeling of belonging to a small community. Setting common goals for the whole class or school to achieve or trying to solve problems arising in the school everyday life are ways in which is deing formed a class or a school identity. I have collegues who are more sceptical about such activities when it comes to cultural diversity but they are minority. It is really difficult to cooperate with...

Paola, Italy

paolagag — 2016-09-28 19:13:58 UTC

I have students of year 2. Last year I started to build a class identity, with very simple and practical strategies, for example, we are the class of the red pencils: everyday children followed the track of many red pencils on the walls to find our classroom. They have red pencils with their name on them over their hangers. We made a poster of a big, red pencilcase, with 23 coloured pencils inside: each child chose his/her favourite colour, to symbolize they are different, but at the same time they are part of a group.

cristina, italy

cristina_casanova — 2016-09-28 19:34:23 UTC

usually, before building my classroom identity I fix a simple "rule": respect. some examples and manual activities (group activities) help me to reach this goal and build a great team to cooperate with.

Patrizia Italy

2016-09-28 19:34:55 UTC

In my opinion I think that the most important thing is to be able to create an atmosphere that allows the students to feel good and in doing that you also create the right conditions in which pupils learn without any stress or constrain.

Maddalena Autiero, Italy

2016-09-28 19:53:53 UTC

the sense of belonging can be created, I think, through the sharing of universal values such as environmental protection that also passes through the knowledge of the area from a naturalistic point of view, but also artistic and landscape, food and wine, besides environmental sciences

Fortuna, Italy

2016-09-28 20:00:49 UTC

For creating a sense of belonging and identity in my classroom I try to teach mutual respect especially through group work and dialogue.

Evi Karella-Greece

spevispevi — 2016-09-28 20:47:29 UTC

I try to create a sense of security, respect and acceptance for all of my pupils regardless their cultural or social background. We use to work is small groups where all have equall rights and responsibilites, help and support each other for a common goal. We also take part in etwinning projects with members for all over Europe and this is a great opportunity for children to meet with other cultures, to learn how to understand and respect different ways of living and thinking.

Buddy, The Netherlands

2016-09-28 21:02:01 UTC

I'm only one day a week at my internship and I always started a few weeks after school starts. So I'm not involved in the process.

Rocco/Italy

rocco_spano_24 — 2016-09-28 21:21:59 UTC

I think the lost important thing in a classroom is to respect each other.

Graziella. Italy

tempopienoseconda — 2016-09-28 21:24:36 UTC

We have an African child who does not speak Italian. The pupils have made it clear that they can learn from him French and he can learn Italian from them: mutual learning

Anna, Italy

annascola — 2016-09-28 23:01:01 UTC

My experience shows that the most important think to develop an educational success is to create a good atmosphere. It makes teachers do their job with responsibility and love. In that case, students look at the school in which they study in a different way: full of colors, with colored classroom, friendly objects, to live the school relaxed and in harmony. For this reason it’s necessary the cooperation of a headmaster to create a pleasant atmosphere for productive pedagogical work and develop a sense of belonging to the school community. ogle.c�N| 6g

Nickie Liaropoulou, Greece

liaropoulou — 2016-09-29 08:35:23 UTC

I believe that a shared goal like an eTwinning project or a theatrical play can help create the feeling of belonging and thus, create a school or class identity. This will also help pupils become more responsible and protective towards the school property and their classmates.

Laura Elia - Italy

2016-09-29 14:37:19 UTC

I think it is very important to create an environment conducive to learning by developing their sense of belonging to a group. It requires the cooperation of colleagues, which is not always ... but to establish common objectives and goals is a priority to build the identity of a school.

Dhurata /Albania

2016-09-29 14:50:10 UTC

They are loved but noisy. they play with phones and only like eTwinning projects. Traditional teaching hate.I should be more prepared when you go into class. Teachers who use the old methods have problems with the management of the learning process.

Ozan , Turkey

oznozn_08 — 2016-09-29 19:53:56 UTC

In the classroom, even the seat plan have a big role to create a cooperative atmosphere. By motivating "the other" he/she have the sense of belonging. And this also affects the majority in a good way. If the teacher sees the minority as the same as the majority, each pupil gets the message and respect each other.

Alessandra Pavese, Italy

2016-10-01 13:55:59 UTC

I think that is more important to create an atmosphere of mutual respect of own identities and experiences.

Monica, Italy

monicadonzelli — 2016-10-01 17:05:28 UTC

I believe it is important to foster a sense of belonging, team, beyond the differences.
shared goals and strategies where they have to find a place mutual help and the willingness to put yourself in someone else's shoes

Zenaida, Romania

zenaida_ieremie — 2016-10-01 19:34:44 UTC

Every year I try to create a sense of belonging and identity in my class because I see school not only as a building where children learn different things, but also as a place where they develop their personality, as a sanctuary. Therefore, I try to help my students interact better with the society, with their colleagues through extracurricular activities such as short trips in the city or different games in which they can get to know each other better. But I always decide what activity to do after I discuss with my students or with their parents.

Leo Italy

2016-10-01 20:02:57 UTC

I've been teaching in different schools so i can say that a sense of belonging is a target specially of small schools. I found it in that kind one. Anyway

2016-10-02 00:14:25 UTC

Maria Filippa - Italy
Every class needs a class identity, with a strong feeling of belonging to a small community. I always try to create a positive and cooperative social climate in which everyone can express his/her personalities and competences.

Lorella Schettino, Italy

lorella_schettino — 2016-10-02 13:58:53 UTC

I think create a sense of belonging to a context is critical to creating unity in diversi

Maria, Italy

dimang_mat13 — 2016-10-02 14:57:29 UTC

I think every class needs a class-identity. I try to createa positive learning environment with groups works.

Despoina, Greece

despoina_prapa — 2016-10-02 15:57:15 UTC

I usually create a member card for students in my class. It presents all students' countries'-flags, student's name in Greek,in English, in student's mother language and in a peer's mother language.Some days students have to exchange members cards and collect specific information.Our class identity is this little card ...We are members of all these nations and cultures.We belong in others life as they do.The most important thing in our classes is all the members feel safe, important and respectful.

Rossella, Italy

rossy2305 — 2016-10-02 16:51:41 UTC

I think it is important, even more than just the transmission of knowledge, create inside of my class a sense of belonging. I like to think of the classroom as a place where there are no differences and where each student contributes to the construction of personal identity of' other through the display of their tradizionie and costumes, but especially where there aren't the Rom, the Polish or Moroccan but the citizen of the world.

Agapi, Greece

a_chouzouraki — 2016-10-02 21:17:55 UTC

In adult education, building the team is task no 1! If there's no team, there aren't so many chances to end up to the desired learning outcomes..! So, role-playing is a technique I tend to use in order to bond the members of the class and make them feel part of a common ground. Communication-collaboration-creativity do come up and a reflective discussion at the end also empowers critical thinking!

Edi, Italy

2016-10-05 09:09:56 UTC

Establishing, creating a friendly atmosphere in which everyone feel accepted and welcome is of fundamental importance. The role of the teacher is important, his/her ideas can be felt by students, if the teacher is open-minded and tolerant towards other cultures and backgrounds the classroom will receive and accept a fundamental message of acceptance and respect towards foreign students.

Iuliana, Romania I think that is more important to create an atmosphere of mutual respect of own identities and experiences.

2016-11-06 10:06:07 UTC

mihaela minca , Romania

coman_mihaela — 2016-11-22 16:37:16 UTC

I think we need a team based on trust, respect and willingness to do everything very well with existing resources.

Özdemir Bilgen

2017-01-05 10:16:02 UTC

Bafra Samsun urrkey

Maria Buliga, Romania

2017-02-07 21:49:52 UTC

It is very important that students feel they are part of learning. Considerin this we must do so as to create common elements to all students in a class.

Adela Gariela Muresan, Romania

muresan_gabriela_adela — 2017-10-29 10:54:03 UTC

In my opinion, every person is important, so it is a citizen duty to respect each culture.

Massimiliano, Italy

Professor_Massimiliano — 2019-01-14 15:12:37 UTC

I think is very important to create new opportunity, the class needs learning with small group.