Class Building

Spencer Kagan defines class building as the process by which a room full of individuals with different backgrounds becomes a caring community of active learners. (Kagan, Cooperative Learning Structures for Classbuilding, 1995.) As we analyze class building, we will examine ways to create and sustain a positive classroom environment in order to provide a positive learning situation for all students.

Teachers should implement class building activities for a variety of reasons:

•To help students get to know one another
•To create low risk opportunities to for social interactions amongst all students
•To demonstrate the notion of accepting and respecting all ideas
•To assess students prior knowledge or misconceptions
•To resolve any conflict that may be resonating in the classroom
•To build a class bond