Chapter 23: Building Community Democratic Community Moral Community Professional Learning Community Community of Inquiry Within the Larger Community

School as Democratic Community Powerful Reasons For: 1) US public schools exist to sustain democracy; prepare students to be informed and responsible citizens. 2) Within democratic governance, schools work better and are more likely to improve 3) In a democratic community, student experience higher-level learning and achievement than in conventional schools.

Schools as Democratic Community John Dewey: To experience democracy, schools should do the following: Value and Respect each individual. Assure Equitable Treatment of all groups. Involve all members of school community (teachers, students, parents) in decision-making. Two-way Communication; free flow of ideas; open discussion of controversial issues.

Schools as Democratic Communities Democratic Pedagogy: Students should.... Work actively with problems, ideas, materials, and other people as they learn skills and content. Have escalating degrees of choice. Be responsible to peers, teachers, parents, and school community. Use educational time purposefully, intelligently, productively. Decide how to make contributions to the community.

Schools as Democratic Communities Assume escalating responsibility for securing resources (people and materials outside of school) and finding places where they can apply and further their learning. Demonstrate what they know and can do in public settings and receive public feedback. Work together. Learn from one another, in groups and individually , at a pace that challenges all.

Moral Community A moral school community is committed to the overall well-being, growth, and development of each community member. Moral communities are built around moral principles. These principals foster development of a school that enables students to develop as moral persons prepared to contribute to a better society.

Moral Community Themes: Care: In caring schools, adults are open and receptive to students. They engage students in informal conversations, listen, and are aware of what is going on in students’ lives inside and out of school. Care is reciprocal. Teachers model care and teach students to care for each other. Teachers identify students’ better selves and help them develop themselves in positive ways.

Moral Community Themes: Wholeness: We cannot separate different aspects of student growth: cognitive, physical, emotional, creative, social and moral development all must be considered. The principle of wholeness equally applies to the adult members of the school community .

Moral Community Themes: Connectedness and Inclusion: Schools have an obligation to break down artificial barriers to natural relationships in students’ lives and learning. Connections between content areas and real life should be made. Roles should not be narrow. Administrators, teachers and students should engage in leadership, teaching and learning. Inclusion begins with equality. All students are of equal worth as human being and as members of the school community.

Moral Community Themes: Justice: Treating members of the school community in a fair and consistent manner Peace: Providing effective student discipline. Making peace, healing rifts, growing civility.

Moral Community Themes: Freedom: Learning and freedom – to dream, explore, take risks and to learn from failures – go hand in hand. Trust: Consistent efforts on care and create wholeness, connectedness, inclusion, justice, peace and freedom can lead to trusting relationships among members of the school community. Empowerment: Involving members of the school community in decision-making. Changing assumptions, norm, roles and relationships that create barriers.

Professional Learning Community Professional learning communities (PLCs) “Communities of professional working to improve student learning together by engaging in continuous collective learning of their own.” (Hord & Sommers, 2008).

Professional Learning Community Characteristics of PLCs (Louis, Kruse, and Marks, 1996; DuFour, 2005; DuFour,Eaker and DuFour, 2005; Hord & Sommers, 2008). 1. Shared beliefs, values, and norms. 2. Distributed, supportive leadership. 3. Collective learning. 4. Deprivatization of teaching. 5. Focus on student learning 6. Collaboration

Agreement on Focus of Inquiry Gathering and Analysis of Data Community of Inquiry Agreement on Focus of Inquiry Gathering and Analysis of Data Reflective Dialogue Action

Engagement with the Larger Community School Based: School/Community Collaboration: Service Learning School/Business Partnerships School Community Council Legislative Issues School Board Guest Speakers PTA and Volunteerism Web-based Partnerships

Engagement with the Larger Community School-linked Community Services: Welcome and orient new community members. Provide food, clothing, school supplies. Provide meals. Health screening and services. Child Care. Adult Education Early Childhood/preschool Education Family Support Programs

Community as Learning Environment Service Learning: Service + academic learning. Community Service Projects planned, performed and reflected upon. Place-Based Learning: Social, cultural and natural aspects of the students’ local environment as a context for learning. Ex: Field Trips. Eco-Centers, etc. Democratic Learning: Integrate students’ personal concerns with larger world and common good. Projects dealing with race, ethnicity, class, gender. Influence on legislators. Participation in political processes, etc.

Five Attributes – One Community Engagement with the Larger Community Democracy Moral Principles Professional Learning Inquiry