Building a Caring Community of Learners

To build a caring community of learners is to have a foundation that is consistent, positive, and has caring relationships between the adults and children. To have a caring community of learners you must provide children a physical, emotional, and cognitive environment. All of this allows for children to feel more comfortable in their environment, which in turn will allow them to open up and participate in class activities.

How I Build a Caring Community of Learners

To help build a caring community of learners, I try to make the children feel comfortable and free to explore while still following classroom expectations. One example of this would be when I had a conversation with child O. Multiple times child O had brought it to my attention that he doesn’t like it when I use the word ‘silly’, usually it was when I said he was being silly or someone or something was silly. The last time he mentioned it is when I made the connection that this was important to him and that I should do something to make him feel more comfortable with my choice of words. The scenario went like this; child O says “hey, I don’t like that you say silly. My mom says it’s not a nice word”. So I say “I’m sorry you don’t like that word, what other word do you think I could use instead of silly”? He stayed quiet for a moment then said “I think you should use the word funny, ya use funny”. Having this conversation helped build our relationship by discussing what the child was comfortable with, and having him choose the word that he knew and understood made it even better.