Creating Cultures of Connection and Belonging (CCB)

Creating a Culture of Connection & Belonging (CCB)

Maggie Ayau ED 644: Learning Environments II Dr. Margary Martin University of Hawai'i-Hilo School of Education

ED 644 | CCB Final

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

Index

Introduction

Learning Environment

About this project and my purpose and approach

CCB in classroom design

Theory of Learning

First Weeks

Schedule of activities to build CCB in the first two weeks of school

Statement of guiding beliefs about student learning

Sources List

Creating CCB

Materials and resources referenced

Creating a developmentally and culturally reflective CCB in the classroom

Melitas, iStock Photo

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

Introduction

Marilyn Kahalewai

How can I create a culture of connection and belonging?

This culminating project is an exploration of theoretical and practical approaches to creating a Culture of Connection and Belonging (CCB) in a 6th grade English Language Arts (ELA) classroom in Hawaiʻi. Apart from course material studied to date in the Master of Arts in Teaching program at the School of Education at University of Hawaiʻi-Hilo, my Cooperating Teacher, Kumu Holly Lee, was influential in providing ideas and insights supporting a teaching praxis in alignment with cultural sustainability, social-emotional development, and Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ).1

SOURCES

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

Introduction

Marilyn Kahalewai

Part of my experience in this program has involved integrating academic principles of HĀ, in accordance with the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, with other conceptual frameworks like HEART, introduced through the School of Education. Another such framework in use at my school site, Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi, is the ʻŌiwi Edge Learning and Teaching Expectations.2 This framework structures learning across three dimensions: kauhale, moʻolelo, and naʻauao. The first and most central dimension, kauhale, is defined as "a nexus of pilina whose structures and values put the learner at the center." In the ahupuaʻa system, the kauhale (depicted to the far left of Marilyn Kahalewaiʻs illustration) functioned as a network of houses, each with its own purpose, together constituting a home settlement.3 The flourishing of the kauhale required every person to live in accordance with their individual kuleana, maintaining the function of each hale and traveling as needed between them. Yet together, the kauhale served as a center of gathering, relationship, and collective care. It was with this additional kauhale model in mind that I conceptualized my approach to CCB. Mahalo e Kumu Holly for this contributive lens.

SOURCES

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

THEORY OF LEARNING STATEMENT

I see teaching and learning as equal parts in a process of co-creation: making meaning of and within the inner world and the outer world, the self and the collective, the real and the imagined. As a Language Arts teacher, my work is to hold trusting space for students to participate in the ancient human tradition of storytelling by learning to listen, interpret, and give shape to their own stories. Navigating a complex world, made even more so in many ways during the formative years of adolescence, requires students to use critical and abstract thinking to simultaneously form connections and notice gaps in connections, locate patterns and recognize nuances within them, organize information and discern their own intuition. Students develop these skills even more successfully when they are secure in their sense of belonging, knowing their unique voices and stories are needed and celebrated around our fire. To do this, my responsibility is to model and facilitate belonging in our classroom space by implementing the Hawaiian cultural values of BREATH/HĀ and holding students accountable to the well-being of themselves, one another, and our shared community.

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

Mila Tovar

CCB STATEMENT

Creating a Culture of Connection & Belonging

Strengthening HĀ and kauhale in the classroom

To create a Culture of Connection and Belonging (CCB) among sixth graders, developmentally appropriate Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies are used to engage early adolescent students with the work of integrating their emerging identities into the learning process, as well as building kuleana, pilina, and leo mana as a classroom community. My CCB approach holds in balance the importance of supporting students as individuals exploring their own sense of self (nurturing the "me" — a culture of connection) with the importance of cultivating a climate of reciprocal transformation,4 opportunity, and shared power as a collective kauhale (uplifting the "we" — a culture of belonging).

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

CCB STATEMENT

My CCB approach also allows students to practice agency, which is for youth entering this particular stage of cognitive, behavioral, and social development.12 Choice is a crucial motivator for early adolescents learning how to negotiate an emerging sense of self — one that with a Marcian lens can be understood as having the potential to become both more solidified or more flexible13 — with the pressures of various phenomenological environments and ascribed identities, as proposed by Spencer.14 To support this process of negotiation, my CCB promotes a duality of learning in alignment with the Hawaiian concepts of manaʻo and naʻau: helping students bridge the gap between intellect (conventionalized Western ways of "knowing-as-thinking," symbolically housed in the brain) and their intuition (Indigenous ways of "knowing-as-sensing," traditionally associated with the gut).15 Integrating kuleana, pilina, and leo mana into the foundations of our classroom, in addition to implementing personal and cultural perspectives when studying diverse texts, provides students with the opportunity to learn to navigate between manaʻo and naʻau — the various hale of knowing — as well as form metacognitive awareness16 and assume leadership over their own learning.

When considering identity development as a lifelong act of self-authorship marked by the ongoing process of revising and revisioning,5 an ELA context is full of opportunities for students to partner with each other and their teacher in co-constructing a multifaceted understanding of the world and themselves through the ancient human art of storytelling.6 Drawing from Hawaiian educational frameworks such as Dr. Kū Kahakalau's "Pedagogy of Aloha,"7 "Pūpūkahi i Holomua" by Kealiʻi Kukahiko et. al.,8 and "Hoʻopilina: The Call for Cultural Relevance in Education" by Shawn Malia Kanaʻiaupuni et. al.,9 my approach to CCB focuses on three Hawaiian cultural elements: kuleana, pilina, and leo mana. Based on the critical theories previously cited, my CCB approach creates a student-centered and community-centered learning environment that is culturally informed and sustaining10 with the aim of equipping students to take agentive, authorial roles as knowledge producers in our collective futurity.11

SOURCES

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

PILINA

CCB APPLICATIONS

COMMUNITY NORMS

Some applications of CCB are offered here using a model based on Ecological Systems Theory (EST),17 with identity development theories informing classroom routines, informing the physical environment, informing community norms — all surrounding a HĀ piko and corresponding to a cultural facet of CCB. Click the numbered layers in the category boxes for an example of CCB in action at each level. Click the cultural terms in the chart for additional context.

PILINA

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

KULEANA

CLASSROOM ROUTINES

KULEANA

HĀ

IDENTITY THEORY

LEO MANA

LEO MANA

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

INFO

FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL

In my opening weeks of school, our class will practice new routines, build relationships through group activities, and share aspects of our experiences and identities in our journal, writing exercises, and Lokahi Wheel project, culminating in an "I Am From" poem. We will also introduce class colleagues, whom students will be paired with for some preliminary writing workshops. Our goal is to introduce poetry as a way of exploring and expressing who we are, and all the things that make us who we are: our relationships, special places, values, interests, and personal stories.

Welcome

Greetings, orientation to class

Routines

Communicate expectations on Day 1 and spend five minutes each consecutive day focusing on the following aspects of class functions: transitions (enter, exit, and traffic flow between desk space, work areas, and Living Room), Class Constitution, resources (maintenance and use), and work areas (protocols for independent work).

Slam Poetry

Multisensory video intro, text as embodied

Journal covers

Personalize with parts of identity

Syllabus

Overview and expect-ations

"I Am From"

IAF mentor text, partner analysis

Consti-tution

Form class commit-ments

Solo work

Use tree map and worksheet to write first IAF draft

Minute to Win It

Group game with intros

Reflect & respond

Day 3: Read written poem and annotate independently. What stood out to you? Day 4: Small group share

Routines

Kuleana, pilina, leo mana

Collea-gues

Intro, business cards

Lokahi Wheel

Explore multiple facets of identity, integrate different ways of knowing into literature, display personal values and stories to class

Poetry of place

Wahi pana mentor text, tree map 101

Treemap

Independent free write on personal wahi pana

INFO

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

SECOND WEEK OF SCHOOL

The second week of school will provide a bit more independence while still allowing opportunities for group work. We will focus on three poetic devices, each using an accompanying mentor text that is culturally and/or developmentally relevant (building leo mana) exemplifying that device. Each lesson opens with a game (building pilina) and ends in either partnered or independent work (building kuleana). Students have a few explicit opportunities to develop SEL in their metaphor poem and end-of-week check-in, but at this point much more of that is built into personal sharing prompted by the poems and activities.

Symbols of Hawaiʻi ʻāina: intro to metaphor

Senses activity: intro to sensory imagery

Guess the symbol: use Lokahi Wheel

"Line-at-a-time" chain game using rhyme

Complete the lyric using popular songs

Game

Place-based mentor text

Slam and lyric poetry: features, mentor texts

Mentor text 1: metaphor, theme, motif

Mentor text 2: metaphor, theme, motif

Sensory Imagery

Rhyme and line

Split, compare written vs. spoken poem

Symbol

Reflect & respond

Annotate, highlight metaphors

Solo work

Continue working on metaphor poem

Group work

Identify sensory detail in set of texts

Journal: effect? Physical, emotional, other? Group share.

Annotate, fav rhymes, effect?

Reflect & respond

Hōʻike: portfolio

Intro to unit final, rubric, expectations

Group share

Reread, sharing out metaphors and meaning

Solo work

Add five sensory details to IAF draft

Group work

Study rhyme schemes, vote one for class

Work-shop

Workshop any poem written thus far

Checkins

Journal: how is the class going for you so far?

Work-shop

Practice IAF workshop as colleagues

Solo work

Choose personal prompt for metaphor poem

Free write poem in that rhyme scheme on subject of choice (identity theme)

Add symbol to metaphor or IAF poem, revise

Solo work

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

Sources

1 Nā Hopena Aʻo Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

11 Pūpūkahi i Holomua

12 How People Learn II: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

2 ʻŌiwi Edge Teaching & Learning Expectations Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi Hālau Kupukupu

13 Understanding Youth

3 Kauhale Wehewehe

14 Ibid.

4 Understanding Youth: Adolescent Development for Educators Michael J. Nakkula and Eric Toshales

15 Field Experience, Cooperating Teacher

5 Ibid.

16 How People Learn

6 Ibid.

17 Understanding Youth

7 Pedagogy of Aloha Dr. Kū Kahakalau

18 How People Learn

8 Pūpūkahi i Holomua: Moving Hawaiian Education for All Learners beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic Kealiʻi Kukahiko, et. al.

19 Ibid.

20 Hoʻopilina

9 Hoʻopilina: The Call for Cultural Relevance in Education Shawn Malia Kanaʻiaupuni and Brandon C. Ledward

21 How People Learn

10 Ibid.

Maggie Ayau | September 2024

ED 644 | CCB Final

Classroom Resources

Resources like pencils, clipboards, and highlighters are organized in open areas for easy access. Together the class stewards these shared resources with the help of protocols laid out in the first few days of school.

LEO MANA

Identity development theory: Learning reflects learners.

"In the context of Hawai‘i, studies indicate that Native Hawaiian children learn, connect, and retain knowledge more effectively when the material is culturally meaningful and relevant to their own lives and experiences."20 "A key dimension of creating equitable classrooms involves building a classroom environment where all students' ideas are valued."21

20Hoʻopilina: The Call for Cultural Relevance in Education

21How People Learn: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures

KULEANA

Purpose, commitment, responsibility

The classroom is stewarded as a place of learning; resources are intentionally maintained and distributed. Students take care of one another and themselves as valued members of a social and intellectual community rooted in mutual trust, respect, and accountability. Effort is recognized before achievement, and the balance, prosperity, and well-being of the collective is regarded as the sum of its individual contributors.

Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ) | Responsibility, Excellence

PILINA

Identity development theory: Learning is relational.

"Individuals' brains are critically shaped by social relationships...the information people learn through these relationships supports not only their knowledge about facts and procedures but also their emotions, motivations, and interests."18

18How People Learn: Learners, Contexts, and Cultures

Class Library

Books are stored in shelves around the classroom, always within sight and reach. The walls, especially the corners, of the room feel a bit like a library. Books from the monthly featured genre are on rotating display. The shelves are organized to make browsing literature appear easy and inviting.

Class Library

Books are stored in shelves around the classroom, always within sight and reach. The walls, especially the corners, of the room feel a bit like a library. Books from the monthly featured genre are on rotating display. The shelves are organized to make browsing literature appear easy and inviting.

Whiteboard

I use my whiteboard for interactive assignments or direct instruction, rather than primarily to display static visual information. This leaves more space for me and my students to use the whiteboard to demonstrate creative or logistical processes such as editing and brainstorming, and to assist with remembering data.

KEY

Hover over elements for description. Click on colored icons for more info.

• RED: Door
• GREEN: Student work
• MAGENTA: Storage
• ORANGE: Visual display

• PURPLE: Literature
• TEAL: Resources
• BLUE: Group work area

Group Work Area

In our classroom, social interactions and relationship-building are a critical part of learning. Group work areas like these are arranged throughout the classroom to make it easier and more comfortable to gather with a partner or team for in-class collaboration. Students can choose between a cushioned chair with a side table for a "cafe-style" experience, or use a large circle table for more hands-on projects.

LEO MANA

Voice, authority

Our classroom is a space where emerging identities and interests can be explored and expressed. Students take on the role of knowledge producers, and their identities and experiences are recognized as valid sources of learning. Students share decision-making power, exercise agency over their learning, use concepts representative of their context to encounter new texts, and apply their knowledge into real-world situations.

Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ) | Total Well-Being, Hawaiʻi

KULEANA

Identity development theory: Purpose is motivation.

"To learn intentionally, people must want to learn and must see the value in accomplishing what is being asked of them...Motivation to learn is influenced by the multiple goals that individuals construct for themselves...when they perceive the school or learning environment is a place where they “belong” and when the environment promotes their sense of agency and purpose."19

19How People Learn: Learners, Contexts, & Cultures

Group Work Area

In our classroom, social interactions and relationship-building are a critical part of learning. Group work areas like these are arranged throughout the classroom to make it easier and more comfortable to gather with a partner or team for in-class collaboration. Students can choose between a cushioned chair with a side table for a "cafe-style" experience, or use a large circle table for more hands-on projects.

Bulletin Board

Student work is on display along with other student-centered resources like flyers and the daily bell schedule.

PILINA

Healthy relationships

Nurturing healthy relationships between teacher, students, and families is an important part of creating a culture of connection and belonging as well as a vital asset to learning.1 Social-emotional learning is developmentally and culturally informed, and integrated into all levels of classroom operation.

1 Culturally Responsive Learning

Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ) | Belonging, Excellence

Class Library

Books are stored in shelves around the classroom, always within sight and reach. The walls, especially the corners, of the room feel a bit like a library. Books from the monthly featured genre are on rotating display. The shelves are organized to make browsing literature appear easy and inviting.

Teacher Storage

Resources are stored here for year-round use along with teaching materials. This storage cabinet is not used for student access and is kept closed during class time.

Class Library

Books are stored in shelves around the classroom, always within sight and reach. The walls, especially the corners, of the room feel a bit like a library. Books from the monthly featured genre are on rotating display. The shelves are organized to make browsing literature appear easy and inviting.

Teacher Storage

Resources are stored here for year-round use along with teaching materials. This storage cabinet is not used for student access and is kept closed during class time.

Emergency Exit

Part of our classroom safety plan includes fire drills and other emergency response protocols. This door is kept unlocked from the inside and remains closed during school hours.

Classroom Resources

Resources like pencils, clipboards, and highlighters are organized in open areas for easy access. Together the class stewards these shared resources with the help of protocols laid out in the first few days of school.

Bulletin Board

Student work is on display along with other student-centered resources like flyers and the daily bell schedule.

Teacher Files

In these short built-in storage drawers and cabinets are important files, confidential documents, teaching resources, and other materials available for teacher access.

Teacher Storage

Resources are stored here for year-round use along with teaching materials. This storage cabinet is not used for student access and is kept closed during class time.

Bulletin Board

Student work is on display along with other student-centered resources like flyers and the daily bell schedule.

PILINA

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

• Desk pods or semi-circle fosters collaborative, relational learning and conversation
• The Living Room draws students together for whole-group instruction
• Photos of student work and their ʻohana and wahi pana are displayed on bulletin boards

PILINA

COMMUNITY NORMS

• Open lines of communication are maintained between teacher, students, and families through a monthly newsletter and progress reports
• Games are often played in class to bring students together
• Class colleagues are established support partners with whom students workshop their writing and collaborate on individual goals
• Student participation, presence, and personhood are actively recognized by all members of the class

Living Room

The Living Room is an idea borrowed from my Cooperating Teacher, Kumu Holly Lee, who teaches 6th grade English Language Arts at Kamehameha Middle School. She believes that "students do their best thinking and learning when they are comfortable." The Living Room is used for all direct instruction and some independent work. This draws students together during whole-group instructional time.

Wheeled TV monitor or smartboard

Used daily to project agenda, educational resources, and other visual information. My classroom would have this monitor or smartboard mounted on an adjustable stand with wheels for easy mobility around the classroom, ensuring optimal visibility for all students.

Teacher Storage

Resources are stored here for year-round use along with teaching materials. This storage cabinet is not used for student access and is kept closed during class time.

Group Work Area

In our classroom, social interactions and relationship-building are a critical part of learning. Group work areas like these are arranged throughout the classroom to make it easier and more comfortable to gather with a partner or team for in-class collaboration. Students can choose between a cushioned chair with a side table for a "cafe-style" experience, or use a large circle table for more hands-on projects.

Group Work Area

In our classroom, social interactions and relationship-building are a critical part of learning. Group work areas like these are arranged throughout the classroom to make it easier and more comfortable to gather with a partner or team for in-class collaboration. Students can choose between a cushioned chair with a side table for a "cafe-style" experience, or use a large circle table for more hands-on projects.

PILINA

Healthy relationships

Nurturing healthy relationships between teacher, students, and families is an important part of creating a culture of connection and belonging as well as a vital asset to learning. Social-emotional learning is developmentally and culturally informed, and integrated into all levels of classroom operation.

Nā Hopena Aʻo (HĀ) | Belonging, Aloha

Main Entrance

Every day before entering class students line up outside and are greeted at the door with a Question of the Day.

PILINA

CLASSROOM ROUTINES

• Students are greeted upon entering the classroom with a Question of the Day
• Students use daily journals to express personal ideas, interests, and insights with their teacher
• Regular office hours provide space for students to ask questions or check in
• Talk Story time opens the month with casual conversations and updates
• Every lesson includes a partner or group share

Kuleana

CLASSROOM ROUTINES

• Every class opens consistently with independent work at the desk
• Homework is only assigned if work is not finished during class time
• When student grades drop 50% below their average, a check-in is scheduled; if no progress is made after two weeks, a conversation opens up with families
• Hōʻike, or culminating skill demonstrations, are planned at the end of each major unit or theme

KULEANA

Physical environment

• Various types of work areas are purposed for student use at the individual, partner, and small group level
• Class Constitution is displayed prominently
• Materials (dictionaries, highlighters, pencils, etc.) are visibly organized around the room for easy access, with all sharing responsibility for their care
• Class library is displayed around perimeter, so books are accessible and easy to locate

KULEANA

Community Norms

• Students know how to engage in multiple styles of learning and can effectively apply knowledge individually, in partners, and in small groups
• Students access the resources they need to fulfill their responsibilities
• Students encounter challenging texts or diverse perspectives with curiosity and rigor
• Responsibilities and expectations are clearly and consistently reiterated

LEO MANA

Classroom Routines

• Students are always offered options when completing major projects or assignments
• During group discussions, facilitation practices are used to ensure everyone gets recognized
• Different modalities are incorporated into the lesson to accommodate multiple learning preferences and reinforce understanding
• Culturally significant literature, media, practices, and stories are referenced and studied regularly

LEO MANA

Physical Environment

• Free seating is used to allow student choice around the people they work with and next to
• Flexible seating also means students can move around the classroom into spaces that serve their learning needs
• Visual, interactive artifacts from different modalities exhibit students' lives and experiences

LEO MANA

COMMUNITY NORMS

• Learning is relevant; students readily apply new knowledge and perspectives to serve the greater community
• Independent work time provides students opportunity to practice agency and metacognitive awareness

• Students process ideas and insights that are different from their own, broadening their perspectives while also keeping them grounded in their own unique context

INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS

On these pages, hover over select activities for CCB and HĀ connections. Click on the icons above each daily lesson for start-of-class routines — these exercises also connect to CCB and HĀ.BLUE: Relationship-building, group work, social-emotional learning MAGENTA: Personal identity, self-reflection YELLOW: Routines, expectations, and commitments GREEN: Direct instruction, anchoring skill or concept PURPLE: Independent learning, critical and intuitive thinking