Building Comunidad (Community) – Catch The Next Inc

Building a Strong Learning Community

Objectives:

The primary objective of this module is to empower participants to create a strong sense of community within their classrooms. By incorporating asset-based approaches such as gallery walks, conocimiento activities, and the establishment of explicit course norms, instructors can foster a learning environment characterized by familia (family), cariño (caring), respeto (respect), enhance student engagement, improve student outcomes, foster a positive learning climate, and empower student's voice. By implementing these strategies, participants can cultivate a truly effective learning environment that prepares students for success.

Materials:

Attention Getter: YouTube Video: How Educators Can Help Students Feel Like They Belong

CTN's philosophy is to promote a sense of belonging in the classroom.

Required Activities:

Gallery Walk: Conocimiento and Setting Norms Padlet

Parking Lot: Questions, Comments, & Suggestions Padlet

Additional Resources:

Building Communidad Lesson Plans

To create a truly effective learning environment in your courses, we need to foster a sense of community, or comunidad. This means building relationships based on familia (family), cariño (caring), and respeto (respect).

As an instructor, you play a vital role in cultivating this community. By engaging with your students in a genuine and supportive way, you can create a space where everyone feels valued and connected.

ACTIVITY: To experience this firsthand, please explore the Padlets below. They offer a glimpse into how we can build comunidad (community) within our courses.

Resources

Gallery Walk: Conocimiento & Setting Norms Link

Virtual Gallery Walk is an active learning strategy where students move in groups or individually through different stations where questions and prompts are posted for students to share knowledge and work collaboratively. This exercise, a “gallery walk” icebreaker, is called “Conocimiento” and is used in Catch the Next trainings and has its origins in the Chicano movement, where it was used as a way to foster dialogue and understanding among those gathered to work for the Movimiento. This activity also includes questions to facilitate setting norms in the classroom. Open the link to participate in this activity. Please make sure your name appears in the post, so you can receive proper credit for your work.

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Parking Lot: Questions, Comments, Suggestions Link

Padlet is a space to ask questions about the course, share your thoughts, and suggest ideas. Don't worry about being perfect! This is a safe space for everyone to learn and grow. Open the link to participate in this activity. Please ensure your name appears in the post so that you can receive proper credit for your work.

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Building Communidad Lesson Plans

This folder contains resources for the activities and lessons in this lesson. Feel free to refer to these resources as you work to create and implement these strategies in your courses.

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