Life in a Crowded Place: Making a Learning Community

by Ralph Peterson

No one will deny that life in classrooms is an intense social experience. Crowded together with students for six or more hours a day in a space no bigger than a large living room, the immediate response of most teachers is to maintain control and enforce obedience. But creating a communitybringing students together and keeping them togetheris the most vital aspect of a teacher's work. Without it, real learning cannot take place, as even the soundest philosophies and techniques amount to little without a community to bring them to life. The concept of community in the classroom is certainly not new, but little has been said about what makes up a community, how it is created, and what functions it fulfills. In Life in a Crowded Place , Ralph Peterson helps teachers see what it is they do when they bring students together to make a community. The hope here is to show teachers what is going onto identify and nameso that they can exercise greater control over their work and understand the kind of learning community they are making (or need to make) and how that community functions to influence the quality of learning and life in elementary and middle school. Readers of this book

Genres: Teaching, Professional Development

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book grabbed my attention. While many of the ideas presented were not new ideas, it was nice to see the ideas presented in a way that supported holistic teaching and bringing a learning community together.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peterson makes a good point about the importance of rites and ritual in the building of a classrooom community but there are only so many ways you can say "rites and ritual are important" and so many examples you can give before starting to sound redundant. Read the first chapter, that's all you need.

[Kaitlyn]

Life in a Crowded Place is a book about Peterson's personal experiences in a classroom. He goes from teacher at a high-end private school to teach at a lower socioeconomic area. He describes how the different the kids are and how different he has to teach. It was comforting as a future teacher to read this and know that I will struggle but ultimately, because I care I will succeed.

[Barbara Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt there were a many great ideas in this book that I would like to see applied in our new charter school.