December 2024

Building Community Within the Classroom

Ivey Davis, Middle School Principal

As Christians, God calls us to live in community, and it is a true blessing to be a part of the Christian community here at Prince. Our mission is “To partner with Christian families to provide scripturally based discipleship while pursuing excellence in academics, fine arts, and athletics from a biblical worldview.” One of the ways that we remain focused on our mission is by building Christian and academic community within the classroom.

At Prince, each member of our faculty is a professing believer of Jesus Christ. Not only does this provide a Christ-centered environment in the classroom, but this also allows our faculty to pour into our students’ spiritual growth as well. All of our classes are taught from a biblical perspective in order to prepare a solid foundation for our students in all academic disciplines. This Christlike community in our classrooms sets the tone for student interaction with peers and adults in their lives. Our students are able to be bold in their faith when sharing in classroom discussions and are empowered by their peers and teachers to do so. Students often share prayer requests in class and view their classroom as a true community of Christian believers.

As we build community in our classrooms at Prince, not only are we supporting our students’ spiritually, but we are also equipping them to grow academically. Teachers play a pivotal role in how students view school. Research states that if students have a positive relationship with their teacher, they are more likely to engage in classroom discussions, ask questions, and demonstrate a deeper understanding of the material (Renzulli). By focusing on student-teacher relationships, we strive to foster an engaging classroom that allows academic curiosity to occur and students to feel safe taking academic risks in their classroom participation.

Nurturing a sense of community in the classroom is also healthy for a student’s social development. Collaborative learning activities such as group projects or peer reviews encourage students to learn from one another and learn how to work together toward a common goal. Engaging classrooms provide opportunities for students to develop critical thinking skills while fostering peer relationships within the classroom (Johnson and Johnson). Classroom communities that encourage peer cooperation help develop the whole student and better prepare students for life beyond their time at Prince.



Thank you for partnering with us to build Christian community within our classrooms and helping to develop the four pillars of our mission statement – scripturally based discipleship, academics, fine arts, and athletics.

References:

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (2017). Cooperative learning in the classroom; The foundation for positive group dynamics. Educational Psychology, 39(1), 89-104.

Renzulli, Joseph. The Relationship Between Student Engagement and Student Achievement [Student Engagement Instrument Included].