Community building in the classroom

The purpose of this research study was to answer the question: What can teachers do in the classroom to create a caring classroom community? Sub-questions I posed were: 1) What part do ceremony, ritual, rite, celebration, conversation, play, routines and jobs, and residency play in building a classroom community 2) Does a caring classroom community promote self-esteem?; and 3) Is a caring classroom community an explicit aspect of a teacher\u27s curriculum, or does it seem to implicitly fall into the classroom routine? My research built upon the limited previous research on community building in the classroom. The two major sources I based my observations on were Ralph Peterson\u27s (1992) book Life in a Crowded Place and Nancy Meltzoff\u27s (1990) dissertation Relationship: The Fourth R. This study took place in a public elementary school located in the Pacific Northwest. The participants were K-4 elementary teachers and observations were of their classrooms. Information was gathered through taped interviews and observations.: In, order to protect participants\u27 rights to privacy and anonymity I have provided pseudonyms for all participants in this study. After collecting and organizing field notes and interviews, I learned a number of methods and techniques for teachers to use in order to create a caring classroom community. I discovered a great deal of overlap and interconnectedness between Meltzoff\u27s strands of community, Peterson\u27s signs of community, other relevant literature on community building, and the methods and techniques suggested by the teachers I interviewed. The teachers I spoke with felt it was very important for teachers to have the explicit goal of creating a caring classroom community, and also felt there was a direct correspondence between the classroom community and a child\u27s self-esteem