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Abstract
This article features an elementary teacher who has worked with the authors for the past 10 years in research on building a classroom community and using cultural universals as the centerpiece for elementary social studies for all children. Cultural universels are basic human needs and social experiences found in all societies, past and present, and include food, shelter, clothing, transportation, communication, family living, money, childhood, government, and so on. Actions related to cultural universals are experienced by all children regardless of their cultures, socioeconomic backgrounds, achievement levels, or special needs, so teachers can connect to these experiences as bases for developing historical, geographic, political, economic, sociological, psychological, or anthropological understandings. The ultimate goal is connected knowledge about how the social system works, how and why it developed over time, how and why it varies across locations and cultures, and what all this might mean for personal, social, and civic decision making.
The setting described in this article for taking a close look at social studies using learning community and cultural universals at its core is a lower middle class suburban school of choice. We begin with a description of Barbara Knighton, a first-grade teacher who elected to have all first graders with special needs join her class and become active members of a learning community. Her classroom includes the special education first-grade students for the entire district. These students have a variety of learning problems, including learning disabilities (LD).
Establishing a Learning Community
Barbara describes the ways in which she creates a classroom community in which all students will feel welcome and valued:
Building a community in my classroom begins before I even know which children will be my students. All throughout the previous school year, I stop by the kindergarten classrooms at least once a week. I make sure the children see me, talk to me, hear my name, and begin to plan for their first-grade year. I toss out comments like "Wow, I'm so excited to see kindergartners that already know how to listen to the teacher!" and "I wonder which one of these terrific almost first graders I will get to have in my class? I can hardly wait!" These comments are designed to share my excitement about their upcoming...