Guest Post by The Odyssey Initiative's Michelle Healy

At every beginning of the school year when I was a teacher, my kids and I fit ourselves into a circle on the rug and benches of our classroom meeting space and tried our best to answer some form of the question, "What does a positive classroom community feel like?"

Elementary schoolers are experts at recognizing what makes a learning environment feel good. Variations of "It's a place where people are friendly and nice," or "a positive community respects each other," would pop up each year, along with some less traditional answers like, "A classroom community with a lot of snacks is a positive one."

This year, as I've been traveling to schools across the country and blogging with The Odyssey Initiative, answers to this question have come up over and over again in our interviews with educators and school leaders. Many educators have attributed their students' learning successes to the establishment of a positive classroom and school community in which students are known as people and recognized by their peers and teachers for their individuality. At Mustard Seed Schoolin Hoboken, NJ., Early Childhood Director Shanna Pargellis shared with us her ideas about a teacher's most important role. "Each child comes with gifts into the learning space, and I think some of those children who seem so undervalued have some of the greatest gifts. Our job as educators is to seek that out, to find what those gifts are that each child brings, and to encourage growth in those gifts and shore up any weaknesses. But then, those gifts are not just for yourself, they're meant for the community."

Click here to continue reading.