Student Learning Communities: A Springboard for Academic and Social-Emotional Development

Student learning communities (SLCs) are more than just a different way of doing group work. Like the professional learning communities they resemble, SLCs provide students with a structured way to solve problems, share insight, and help one another continually develop new skills and expertise.

With the right planning and support, dynamic collaborative learning can thrive everywhere. In this book, educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Almarode explain how to create and sustain student learning communities by:

Designing group experiences and tasks that encourage dialogue. Fostering the relational conditions that advance academic, social, and emotional development. Providing explicit instruction on goal setting and opportunities to practice progress monitoring. Using thoughtful teaming practices to build cognitive, metacognitive, and emotional regulation skills. Teaching students to seek, give, and receive feedback that amplifies their own and others’ learning. Developing the specific leadership skills and strategies that promote individual and group success.

Examples from face-to-face and virtual K-12 classrooms help to illustrate what SLCs are, and teacher voices testify to what they can achieve. No more hoping the group work you’re assigning will be good enough-or that collaboration will be its own reward. No more crossing your fingers for productive outcomes or struggling to keep order, assess individual student contributions, and ensure fairness. Student Learning Communities shows you how to equip your students with what they need to learn in a way that is truly collective, makes them smarter together than they would be alone, creates a more positive classroom culture, and enables continuous academic and social-emotional growth.