Maggie K - RFE #3

My partnership school, Underwood, seems to have created a strong sense of community among its faculty and students. The first thing I noticed with relation to the feeling of community was how warm and welcoming the office staff is. The front desk receptionist seems to know, or at least recognize, all of the staff or students that enter the office and continues to greet them with a helping attitude. As we go to Underwood more often she also seems to recognize us better. She asks us how things are going or tells us to have a good weekend as we leave for the day. I have had the privilege to meet lots of the staff members at Underwood and they seem to really enjoy each other and respect one another. On our first day at the school Ms Walker introduced me to the librarian and she was very welcoming to us and told us we were welcome to use any of the resources in the library. I feel Underwood creates this sense of community because they help one another and are conversing with one another. Some schools can isolate regular classroom teachers from office staff or from special area teachers. Underwood keeps all of the staff “in the loop” with what each department is going through or accomplishing. An example of this was one day the principal came on the intercom to inform all staff and students that the school had received an award of excellence from the magnet program. Throughout the day staff was talking about this and congratulating the Magnet Program Coordinator for all of her work. This example exemplifies how the staff stays in communication and works together to create their sense of community.

Underwood as a whole has accomplished this sense of community and my partnership classroom has done so as well. Ms Walker has a very unusual relationship with her students because she is able to balance a friendship feeling with an authority role very gracefully. Ms Walker knows what is going on with her students not only academically but socially as well. There have numerous examples of this thus far in the semester but the one that sticks out to me was regarding a little girl in the classroom. She walked into the classroom one day with tears streaming down her face. Ms Walker took her aside and spoke with her and found out she was upset about Kiss-O-Grams, which she was in charge of collecting. She was upset because the staff member who was supposed to supply them with the Kiss-O-Grams had not given them to her so she had not sold any. Ms Walker took the time out of her lunch time, which is 20 minutes, to find the Kiss-O-Grams and give them to the little girl. I feel this contributes to the community of the classroom because by doing little things like taking time out of her schedule to help her students she shows she cares. With small acts of kindness Ms Walker does not have to “overdo” the friendship-ness and she can focus on being the teacher or authoritator during instructional time.

Underwood as a whole and Ms Walker’s class have both accomplished the sense of community most schools and teachers long for. I feel a strong sense of community is best reached by working together and have relationships with all students or staff. Most outsiders can feel if a school or classroom has a sense of community upon arrival. Since Underwood is a magnet school and prospective parents are always wondering through the hallways, this sense must always be present and so far I have witnessed it day in and day out throughout the school and in my classroom.