How might building community within a middle school advisory group impact student success?

Seminar Title

How might building community within a middle school advisory group impact student success?

Community building

Middle School

Middle School

Special Education

All Disciplines

How important is community building in the middle school environment? Research indicates that building relationships with students increases their overall level of positive feelings toward school. It can impact attendance and willingness to try new, sometimes difficult tasks that they may not have tried on their own. By building the community of my advisory group of high functioning special education students, I found that they are more willing to seek assistance from each other and from the teachers that they work with. The trend indicates that the students were meeting their goals and passing their classes. These students have also indicated feelings of success and pride in their work, their comfort level to advocate for themselves and their grades had increased as the sense of community was being built. #studentsfirst, #studentgoals, #classroomcommunitybuilding, #studentinvolvement, #studentgrit

(Intro to AR) The question that guided my research was as follows: How might building community within a middle school advisory group impact student academic performance? A review of literature provided a basis for ideas to implement in my advisory group to promote a sense of community, as well as strategies to be taught to students to advocate for themselves in a positive, productive manner. Through my research, the important topics that emerged were learning communities, community building, collaboration, social-emotional learning/life skills, goal setting, and communication. The research also indicated that positive, cooperative learning communities promote higher levels of academic success, expressed in higher overall grades and decreased missing assignments. As a result of this research, the lessons that I chose to implement during my advisory time involved looking within yourself for strengths (The Formative Five), motivational videos and activities/games focusing around goal setting and identifying and implementing methods of achieving goals. (Method and Data) As the first trimester progressed, students completed Google forms that recorded their goals and timelines. As an advisory group, we focused on one personal and one academic goal. Their success was determined by looking at 1) number of missing assignments 2) number of passing grades 3) how they rated their effort during a given time frame and 4) what they needed to change. As a result of my new understandings and knowledge of data tracking, I was able to transfer this to my students. They were required to look at not only the current classwork that needed to be completed but also previous materials that may not have been completed. We had weekly, individual meetings to discuss their progress. Prior to our meeting, they were asked to record their grades and the number of missing assignments. As the trimester progressed, the students were acutely aware of their goals, their grades, and their missing work. During our individual conference, we talked about their academic goal, whether they were working toward achieving that goal and what changes needed to increase success. (Conclusion) Based on the research and implementation of activities, I found that our team building activities had a positive effect on students felt at school. They demonstrated growth and empowerment based on their interactions with each other and comments from teachers that indicate that they had been advocating for themselves. The data indicated that their overall assignment completion improved, as well as an increase in their positive feelings toward school. Students use the vocabulary of grit, integrity, and motivation on a regular basis. They talk about their future goals and transferring those goals on to high school.