The Bothering Box: A Way to Build a Positive Classroom Culture for Students

Running a student led classroom can mean that sometimes the best laid plans for the school day fall by the wayside. Prioritizing what is important when building relationships with individual students and a classroom community can often pause the academic day. Our ELA block got cut short this past week due to a note that was left in our bothering box. A student happened to mention he or she felt excluded from a few of the other students in our classroom.

At the start of the school year I observed classmates gravitating towards other students from a previous classroom, sports, or other after school activities. The exclusion was not intentional, but the student’s feelings became the priority for me. If the student wanted me to talk to him or her, he or she needed to sign his or her note left in the bothering box. If he or she wanted me to be aware of a bother happening in his or her life, he or she could drop the bother in the box and walk away. There was no name on this bothering box slip.

This one note drove the class meeting we had instead of working on vocabulary. Discussing what it meant to have an inclusive classroom was our topic for our class meeting. I wanted to show students what you put the box does get addressed, building trust between students and teacher.

I started the discussion asking what inclusion of others meant. Students had a range of valid ideas. We also discussed when you try to include someone, how to handle when the other person wants to be alone. This is a reality for our students. I dove into an analogy that students could relate to. I shared that when you do not pay attention to your surroundings and do not give another person a good chance you might miss out on the opportunity to learn and grow from someone new. This is similar in their world to not giving a book a good chance. They could miss the opportunity to go on an adventure, learning something new, or disappear into a world so different than their own.

To build a collaborative and inclusive culture I surprised students by breaking them up into random groups to play indoor recess games. We had Connect Four, Headbandz, Jenga, Chutes and Ladders, Uno, and Guess Who going on all at the same time. I heard a lot of laughter and conversation happening between students who had not really spoken to each other yet this school year.

In these moments we all flourish as a classroom community. We took a break from our academic day to play and have fun with each other. This experience helped our class be ready the rest of the week to take on challenges together. I even noticed different partnerships forming and students sitting near new friends. We, as educators, need to take more cues from our students. I will forever be grateful for the bothering box that has helped me delve into the social emotional needs of our classroom community. The next note left in the bothering box was this experience made a student think about the time he or she had to end a friendship. That will be a conversation for next week!