Education

Building Classroom Culture: Buddy Up to Foster Belonging and Connection

This year, I am trying something new to help them begin to build relationships with each other.

Jeremy Jorgensen

Nov 1, 2023 — 2 min read

Each year, we give two surveys to our Crew (homeroom) that focus on the theme of belonging. Most students acknowledge that they feel cared for by their crew. The area that always seems to be the lowest centers around them feeling like they know the rest of their Crew well and that they are cared for by each other.

Buddy Up

This year, I am trying something new to help them begin to build relationships with each other. Every week, I'm going to partner them up with a new student and provide opportunities for them to complete activities together and get to know each other.

I hope that they will start to learn more about their classmates and feel more comfortable with the people who aren't their "friends". We are one week into this, and I see potential here. We'll see what they say when we complete our next round of surveys.

Here are some more ideas that can help build classroom culture and promote belonging - Click Here.