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Chapter IX
Our Progress: Moving Towards a Community of Helpers

Over the past two months, we sought to equip students with the knowledge and skills for engaging in
productive peer support interactions. To help students attend to one another, we led games and chants
intended to develop their listening, focus, and ability to follow directions. To heighten students
awareness of when they might offer support and when they might need support, we led exercises
exploring their personal strengths, growth areas, and the value of a diverse learning community. To
remind students of each others strengths, every community member selected two strengths to publicly
display on a large chart. If students needed help with a particular task or problem, they could use the
strengths chart to find a classmate who felt strong in that area. Finally, to prepare students for peer
support interactions, we designed a series of activities that highlighted learning strategies and helping
strategies. Then, a group of students demonstrated these strategies through a series of role-plays. Our
curriculum had been carefully scaffolded and implemented so that every student was ready to engage in
peer support.

At the outset of this project, I had wondered how teachers could help kids help each other. Now,
without the guidance of these special lessons, it was time to see if students had internalized these
practices and would help each other during regular learning activities. To recap our fourth learning goal,
we hoped that students would actually reach out for support and offer their support to others. Would
students follow our guidelines for helping, use the strengths chart, and employ helping strategies while
supporting others? To put it simply, was our project working?

Thank-You Notes: Acknowledging and Tracking Peer Support Interactions

How does one judge the performance of a community? As students move and work and play amongst
their peers, it is impossible to keep track of every interaction and its effects. While no research tool
could fully capture our constantly evolving community, I sought to collect some evidence of our progress
using a system of thank-you notes. After every peer support interaction, we encouraged students who
had been helped to write a note to their classmates. To accommodate our less speedy writers, the notes
followed a user-friendly formula: To _____. Thank you for helping me _____. From _____. Then, they
would drop the note into the classrooms Thank You Box. Every couple of days, we would gather as a
class to read aloud the notes, appreciate one anothers help, and re-emphasize our values, guidelines,
and strategies around peer support. We participated in this process for approximately four weeks.
Collating the data, we saw a clearer, bigger picture of peer support interactions in our classroom
community. (For a frequency table of thank-you note data, refer to Appendix G.)

Participation: Were Students Helping Each Other?

Over the course of four weeks, students wrote twenty-five thank-you notes. Considering the time
period, my first thought was that students should have written more thank-you notes. Did the frequency
of these notes actually match the frequency of peer support interactions, or were students helping each
other without writing notes? If this first possibility is true, we must do more to promote the practice of
peer support during classroom activities. If the second possibility is true, we need to adapt our system
for appreciating one another. From my observations, first graders live very much in the present;
perhaps, after receiving support, many students returned to their work and forgot to write notes. On
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several occasions, we suggested that students write notes during transitions, but by the time those
transitions arrived, students were occupied with other matters.

Moving forward, we adapted our actions to address both possibilities. Before learning activities, we
state whether it is an appropriate time to support others and ask students to summarize the four
helping strategies. To prevent students from forgetting peer support interactions, we celebrate
instances of helping directly after learning activities. Using a conversational protocol, students who
received help stand up, invite the students who helped them to stand up, and then privately thank them
for their support. We also experimented with improvisational role plays, where students re-enact peer
support interactions from the previous learning activity. By offering more reminders and a more
immediate feedback system for thanking one another, we hoped that students would practice peer
support on a more regular basis.

Analyzing the data from these thank-you notes, its also clear that some students participated more fully
than other classmates in our community of helpers over this four-week period. Apple participated in
seven interactions, Stephan and Jackie participated in six interactions, while Lauren and Jonny were
involved in five and four interactions, respectively. Over the course of these interactions, each of these
students played both roles, as a helper and a student in need. By recognizing their capacity to help and
learn, these particular students, I concluded, were likely to have a healthy self-image as members of our
community.
















At the same time, we were concerned about students who were not mentioned in any thank-you notes.
Over this four-week period, Percy, Kevin, Gemma, and Emma did not thank a peer for their support nor
were they thanked by another. Did this outcome mean that they had not participated in any peer
support interactions? Perhaps they or their friends simply forgot to fill out a note? As my teaching
partner and I attempted to cultivate an inclusive, participatory community, we wanted to pay special
attention to these students and encourage them to get involved. Overall, it seemed that some students
have embraced their role in our community of helpers, while others may still be sitting on the sidelines.


Community Moments: A for Always Helping

The classroom was abuzz as students worked on the final drafts of an acrostic poem. Students seemed
excited to write about themselves, each line of their poem beginning with a letter in their name. Some
were editing, others were composing a new draft, and still more were decorating their work. As I
glanced over the classroom, I wondered if any students were helping each other. Had they even
remembered that they could support one another? Look, Mr. Paul, said Apple, appearing out of
nowhere. With a bright smile, she pointed to a letter in her poem. A. Always helping. If anyone had
been impacted by our project, it was Apple. At every stage, she had participated whole-heartedly.
According to our thank-you note data, she had helped two other students and been helped by four.
Now, in her acrostic poem, she defined herself as always helping. While I had doubts about the impact
of our project on other students, Apple represents a group of students who grasped the value of peer
support and will carry this experience with them.

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Community Moments: Hearing the Message

I had my doubts about Percy. According to the thank-you note data, he had not participated in a single
peer support interaction. During class-wide activities, he sometimes has difficulty focusing, and I began
to wonder if how much he had taken on board during our lessons on peer support. Since presenting
about his strength, I had rarely heard his voice. Did he understand the ideas underlying our community
and how he might help others?

One day, towards the end of our project, Percy surprised me. During literacy centers, he was speaking
loudly with a friend, so I called him aside to discuss our expectations regarding volume level. After he
identified the problem, I asked an admittedly vague follow-up question: What should you be doing
during centers? Then, our conversation took an unexpected turn. Instead of stating the appropriate
voice levels, he replied, We should be helping each other. If I have a problem, I can check the
strengths chart, and then I can find someone who can help me with my problem. If someone needs my
help with something, and its strength, then I can help them. It wasnt the answer I was looking for,
but it certainly was telling. Although he may not have been fulfilling his potential as a helper in our
community, he had absorbed our communitys main strategy for seeking peer support. Although he
had not invested in our community to the same extent as Apple, he had been listening. Our project was
affecting children to different degrees.

Interactions: With What Were Students Helping Each Other?

The content of students thank-you notes offers a window into students experiences around peer
support. Most of the notes suggested that peer support interactions were taking place during a range of
appropriate activities. As the following example notes demonstrate, students helped each other with
academic activities within the classroom as well as extracurricular pursuits on the playground.

Figure 14: Thank-You Note Samples


Apple
Sabrina
Olivia
Stefanie
Ulrich
Jonny
Lauren
Jackie
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There were times, however, when students used thank-you notes in unintended ways. Although the
sentence frame included the word helping, implying that an instance of peer support had occurred,
some students wrote more general thank-you notes. Three students expressed their appreciation for
others being their friend, while one student thanked another for forgiving her. Reflecting on these
notes, I found it fascinating that these students interpreted friendship as a form of support and used the
thank-you box to mediate their relationships. Since these notes were not related to learning per se, I
chose not to include them in the data set nor did I read them aloud to the class. Another unintended
outcome was the composition of thank-you notes for students outside the class. On three occasions,
students thanked other first-grade students for their support on the playground. Although these
students were not part of our community of helpers, our practices extended beyond the classroom and
our community members wanted to recognize them.

































Community Moments: Reaching Out to Help

A special moment! Right in front of my eyes, I witnessed one student reach out to another. PJ wore a
befuddled expression, as he skimmed through a packet of math problems. Whats up, PJ? I asked.
I dont get it, he replied. Suddenly, his tablemate, Student l, launched into action. I can help you,
he declared, shuffling around to PJ. Do you need some help? Although our first guideline for
helping states that students should request support, it is not a strict rule. Peter was not bothering PJ;
he was responding to a genuine need. His offer of support was in keeping with spirit of our
community. Unfortunately, this moment occurred just before a transition, so these students could
not play out their roles. As he began to put his materials away, Peter added, Maybe next time? PJ
nodded. Helping was happening in our classroom, and today I had a front row seat.

The Thank-You Box