Classroom Communities

I wanted to post about how different students within the classroom all feed off of each other and really make the classroom a community. Today at my field placement I was laughing almost the entire time. The students within this class are so funny and really have fun, but learn as well. I find a lot of things really funny, and sometimes I tend to laugh at inappropriate times. I have learned to control this in most situations but sometimes the students are just so funny that I cannot help it but to laugh out loud. I noticed that the students within the classroom are all friends, and I think this is extremely important. School can be a scary place for many students and them being scared can prevent them from fully reaching their academic level. My teacher within this classroom has somehow created this community where all students help each other and really be there when a student is in need of some one's help. This counts with school work, home work and technology as well. The students take about 20 minutes a day to work on keyboarding. They play games on the computers but are learning how to type and key correctly. They have so much fun doing this and are always looking forward to it. I have noticed that the students encourage each other during this time. Sometimes some of the students get frustrated and want to quit, but the other students encourage them to keep going. I want to build a classroom like this and make sure that all students are comfortable and feel good about themselves to want to learn. To many students chose not to participate because they are uncomfortable or are scared of what the other students are going to think of them. I used to be one of those students, but then I realized that I had to get over it if I was ever going to succeed and be taken seriously. I think having knowledge in technology and things that other students your age can relate to, allows the foundation of building a classroom community and giving each student a chance to be comfortable, and share. Going back to how the students make me laugh, I really am going to have to work on that because when they notice that I am laughing, they usually say something like "oh the teachers laughing" and then they think it is okay to laugh like that. It is totally okay to laugh and have fun during school, but at the right times. Sometimes students can think they are being laughed at for something they did, versus something funny that happened. I want to make sure that I never make a student feel like I am laughing at them. Let's face it, kids say the darnedest things is so true. They just lay it all out there and it is great. I hope to bring my classroom to the place where my teachers classroom is right now.