Honors Program Theses

Award/Availability

Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Christine Canning

Abstract

For more than thirty years, educators have been pushing for the development of community within schools. In 1974, Gene Stanford and Albert E. Roarke wrote about the destructive potential of the then current attitudes about education. Teachers and students had specific roles to fill, and education was seen as competition between peers. Stanford and Roarke suggested that the best educational practice should rely on collaboration among students and teachers. Twenty-five years later, Mara Sapon-Shevin reiterated the view that classrooms must support cooperation and eliminate discomfort and fear from the classroom environment to maximize student learning. Today, teachers and administrators speak of building healthy classroom and school communities, to ensure that all who participate in the classroom and school have access to an environment that is both physically and emotionally safe. A healthy classroom community is the foundation of a supportive learning environment where all students can be encouraged to develop to their full potential. The teacher is charged with creating a suitable learning environment for all students. A healthy classroom community provides a solid base for a learning environment. Within the classroom, it is logical for the teacher to help foster the development of a healthy classroom community by engaging students in a variety of activities designed to help them learn each other's names and about each other's lives.

Year of Submission

2005

Department

Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary Education

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Comments

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Date Original

5-2005

Object Description

1 PDF file (24 pages)

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