Fostering a Sense of Belonging in the Classroom
With technological distractions inside the classroom, lifestyle stressors outside of it, learning challenges and varying degrees of disability, not to mention every student’s inner voice that questions their worth at every turn, it’s a wonder how learners get through it. Finding a place to learn and belong is of urgent, vital importance. Feeling valued and included by peers begins with the educator, and benefits the grown-ups and kids alike.
Classroom Camaraderie is a Universal Win
In every milieu, a child who feels like they don’t belong simply does not want to show up, wherever that may be. They will push back at every turn in order to check out, whether it be with their physical or mental presence. And who can blame them? Imagine as an adult attending a party that amounts to a room full of cliques with no interest in including you. Would you show up enthusiastically, or begrudgingly?
A sense of community is a legitimate human need. We have seen where, without this sort of acceptance, children gravitate to the wrong elements, who exploit their lonely feelings and negatively influence decision making. Creating a sense of belonging for all children positively impacts school attendance, the quality of their social groups, and focus within the classroom. This is particularly necessary for neurodivergent individuals who have an even more difficult time finding a place they fit and feel seen.
Bottom line: the byproduct of a meaningful connection is an energized and motivated classroom, the ideal environment for enrichment.
Representation Matters
This is the mantra of our times, proof positive how kids perceive themselves and their futures is a mirror for how they’re portrayed in the world around them. Little girls who witness women in traditionally masculine roles see their options broaden, children of color seeing people who look like them in positions of leadership know they’re respected, and the same goes for autistic children adopting role models from current events and media figures.
Instruction featuring all walks of life, with an effort to include marginalized subsets, serves to celebrate a diverse constellation of history makers. When a student can find a shared trait with them, their sense of possibility grows. A broad array of learners deserves a broad array of heroes for them to build their own aspirations and feel a kinship toward. Not only does this strengthen each child’s sense of belonging and self-worth, it builds cross-cultural and cross-neurotype admiration within the classroom.
A Curricular Connection
“I hate reading.” “Why do I even need algebra?” “Who cares what a bunch of old guys in powdered wigs did?” We’ve heard it all before. Heck, we probably said the same things as students ourselves. It’s difficult for kids to latch on to subject matter that feels irrelevant to their experience, too challenging, or just plain boring. Overcoming this apathy however is the difference between a student who dives in and participates, or zones out and disconnects. Disconnection of course is the opposite of belonging.
We have to proactively reject the negative talk around the lesson plan and ignite their sense of wonder. We all remember that one a-ha moment in a class somewhere along the way, when we were captivated by a story, or found our own aptitude in a subject surprising, or found a personal connection to what was being taught. That moment the classroom had our full attention and our imagination awakened, and we were excited to come back and build on it with more information. The common denominator for all of those moments was a link between our outside world and our classroom.
Reading won’t be fun until you introduce stories with themes familiar to them. Algebra will be unnecessary to them until you introduce grown-ups whose exciting careers depend on it. The powdered wig guys will stay old and dusty until students are imagining a life without their chosen church, or the ability to complain about their government on social media, where many kids live and breathe. Creating relevance roots the information in their reality.
The caveat of course is that additional neurological challenges, such as dyslexia or ADHD, and can be driving disinterest for many kids. “I hate reading” might actually be better expressed as “Reading is too hard” for some. This sort of emotionally-charged statement is what we’re trying to mitigate. Instead, reiterate every day that ability and rate of comprehension live on a spectrum. Not everyone is going to excel or memorize at the same rate, but not being the first in class to learn means only that. “Someone else understood the concept before me, and I will get it soon, too.” And often getting the answer wrong is the first step toward getting it right.
Skew Toward Collaboration
A sense of belonging in a classroom can sprout more locally, for instance in group work, study pods, and among friendships. This will require a keen eye as their leader, observing who orbits together naturally, where there is chemistry and capitalizing upon that. We are sometimes eager to split allies up in group work, but it can also be valuable to make their classroom experience fun and comfortable, so that completing an assignment together feels like a team win, bolstering their morale. So long as these groups are productive, leaning in to the rhythms of the room is often a useful strategy.
Inevitably however a handful of outliers will have difficulty finding their place, which leaves them ostracized, intentionally or otherwise. One way to prevent this is empowering your students at the outset to be mindful of this and seek out kids who aren’t being included. Embolden students you know to be leaders to be proactive with this, and reward that effort toward inclusion privately. Particularly for kids on the spectrum, being pulled into a group by a peer is more powerful than by a teacher.
Of course many times you will need to play matchmaker, and your awareness of friend groups in the classroom will pay off. When appropriate, create teams of completely disparate personalities, being sure to pair more socially sensitive students with people who will allow them to participate fully and be an asset. Some unlikely bonds will naturally result, especially if they’re grouped together repeatedly, and their achievements are shared again and again. For many students, belonging to that group is a driver to get out of bed and come back every day willing to stretch themselves.
Establish Trust
Students need to be sure their classroom is a safe place from bullying and humiliation, where people will be looking out for them. Peer influence is devastatingly weighty; if only a teacher’s care was enough to ward off the bad intentions of others! But you can still set clear expectations early and often about what you will tolerate, and what behavior is rewarded. If students on the margin know their classroom is physically and emotionally safe, you are reinforcing a social standard one can hope extends beyond your four walls.
It’s incumbent upon teachers to establish an air of respect and rapport with students, so that they feel comfortable asking for help, starting with something as simple as raising their hands to ask a question. Even us big kids can hesitate for fear of looking silly, or give the impression we weren’t paying attention when something was being explained the first time. We do this without the same social pressure students face, so it would behoove us to reiterate regularly that all inquiry is a contribution, and that one student raising their hand is likely helping answer a question a classmate was too afraid to ask.
Check in with your students and their parents individually, to be sure they’re engaged and have what they need to stay present. Adapting your lesson and showing consideration so they can flourish will send a message they’re valued and an important element to the classroom dynamic. Sometimes a sense of belonging is built on the foundation of security in a given space, where they can safely let down their guard. Oftentimes, the classroom is their only safe haven to be accepted and accommodated, and there aren’t many better places than one of learning to feel that way.