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

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.