(Re)Building Community
Challenge Kit
Everyone in a school community wants to feel like they belong. Whether you're looking to reconnect with your community or help build one, this Challenge Kit invites students to explore what it takes to create transformative learning communities with space for everyone. This resource was created in 2021.
“I-Think came into my life through the (Re)Building Community Challenge Kit... It started as a class assignment, but it didn't feel like one for long. It was the first time school asked me to not just identify a problem but actually sit with it, understand where it came from, and think seriously about what fixing it would look like. That mindset stayed with me after the assignment ended. Honestly, it changed how I move through problems in general, not just school ones.”
- Jihan, Student & RJS Scholarship Recipient
(Re)Building a Meaningful Learning Community
We designed this Challenge Kit during the pandemic. In conversation with school leaders and teachers, along with our Leadership Advisors, everyone was pointing out just how much the pandemic was pulling school communities apart. Students were in cohorts, classes were 3 hours long in high school and everyone was feeling the pressure of business-not-as-usual.
Teachers and schools were asking us for a resource to engage the school community and infuse new energy and “ah ha” moments into the school team by leading the way with student voice, brilliance, and creativity. This kit is our response.
We’re focusing on well-being and building community because they are foundational to learning. This Challenge Kit has stood the test of time asking How might we help our school (re)build community?
See an example from a grade 5 class at Gernoble Public School →
Access this Challenge Kit
This Challenge Kit includes:
Facilitator Notebook
Letter to Students
Teacher Slide Deck
Capture Your Thinking Handout
And inquiry-based activities to ignite curiosity
There are 3 sets of resources with this Kit. Mix and match the resources to engage students in deep thinking and problem solving.
1. Inquiry-Based Activities (in Zip file)
This series of activities includes collecting and analyzing data, interviewing people in the community and art, as vehicles to naming what community means to them and understanding the needs of their community.
Activity 1: What is community?
Activity 2: What does a good community look like, sound like and feel like?
Activity 3: What data says about community at our school
Activity 4 & 5: Interviews with students and community members
2. Interviews for Students →
This Challenge Kit brings together voices of people leading work within communities on well-being, offering their experiences, insights, and questions to help students learn about well-being concepts, strategies and tools.
Adil Dhalla: Director of Community, Reset
Andrea Thompson: Marketing and Communication Manager, FoodShare Toronto
Hafiz Printer: Education Specialist, Aga Khan Museum
Ruth Silver: Principal, Groundswell
Zoe Barnes: Restorative Justice Program Coordinator, Peacebuilders Canada
3. Videos for Educators →
This video series is for educators, covering topics on well-being. Educators have shared this with each other, and used them in staff meetings. The series features:
Emotions, Learning and Our Well-Being with Dr. Jean Clinton
Being trauma informed with Suzanne Methot, author of Legacy: Trauma, Story, and Indigenous Healing
Systems of Oppression Impact Well-being with Ryan Fuentes, community educator and social worker
Co-Developing Social Emotional Learning (SEL) for Well-Being - with Kristen Cairney, Program Director at Wyndham House and a Social Worker, and Tracy Hunter, school board Experiential Learning Lead
Finding Joy In Movement for Holistic Well-Being with Dr. Leigh Vanderloo, Knowledge Translation Manager at ParticipACTION
Building Community Statement
For this Challenge Kit we embarked on an inquiry asking: What is community? Our answer can be found in our Building Community statement that begins with: Building community are acts of love, action and joy. We build community because we believe in our collective future. Building community is essential for transformational learning. It is how we develop a critical consciousness that will frame how we understand problems, influence the insights we come to and ensure that innovation is rooted in human rights and dignity for all.
