Picturing a Classroom Community: Student Drawings as a Pedagogical Tool to Assess Features of Community in the Classroom

ABSTRACT

Community in the classroom remains critical for a successful classroom climate. However, assessing classroom community features can be challenging, and P-12 students’ voices are often left out of the discussion. One way to examine student perceptions of classroom community is through the use of student drawings. In this Pedagogical Implications article, the authors provide (1) a discussion of research on classroom community and the use of P-12 student drawings, (2) a framework teachers and teacher educators can use to investigate community features in their classrooms with student drawings, (3) the Picturing Impressions of Classroom Community Tool to interpret student drawings, and (4) a framework to use student drawings to create change within the classroom. The authors aim to demonstrate how student drawings can act as a pedagogical tool, providing insight into student perspectives on classroom community. The authors provide examples of elementary student drawings collected to illustrate how teachers and teacher educators can implement the process.

KEYWORDS:

• Student drawings
• teacher evaluation
• classroom physical features
• classroom activities
• classroom descriptions

Notes

1. Researchers understood “river-reading” as a collaborative process where students take turns reading.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennie L. Farmer

Jennie L. Farmer is an assistant professor in special education at Clemson University. She studies academic and social-emotional interventions related to school outcomes, teacher education, and research methods.

Alison E. Leonard

Alison E. Leonard is the Assistant Professor of Arts & Creativity at Clemson University’s Eugene T. Moore School of Education. Her research focuses on arts education, particularly embodied forms of inquiry.

Mindy Spearman

Mindy Spearman is an associate professor in elementary education at Clemson University whose teaching and research focuses on elementary social studies methods, American educational history, curriculum studies, and qualitative research.

Meihua Qian

Meihua Qian is an assistant professor in learning sciences at Clemson University who studies creativity, gifted education, and statistical modeling.

Suzanne Rosenblith

Suzanne Rosenblith is a professor at Clemson University who studies religion and public education, philosophy of teaching and learning, social-political philosophy, and educational equality and justice.