April 20, 2026
By Lasharn Rodriguez, Inspired Teaching Fellow
Listen to this week’s Hooray For Monday podcast for Lasharn’s conversation with Jenna Fournel. They dive into the power of community as we’re growing up, and how the community Lasharn experienced as a child influences the work she does in the classroom at Burroughs Elementary School in Washington, DC, today.
Inspired Teaching Fellow Lasharn Rodriguez
When I think about the power of connection and community, my mind always goes back to growing up in the Bronx. Summers meant block parties that seemed to stretch across entire weekends, laughter traveling from stoop to stoop, good food bringing everyone outside, and the spray of water from open fire hydrants keeping us cool. Neighbors weren’t just people who lived next door; they were family. Those moments taught me something I still carry today: When people feel connected, they feel seen, safe, and supported. And that is exactly what our students need from us.
Now, as an ESL teacher, I see the importance of that connection on an even deeper level. Many of the students and families I serve are navigating a new language, a new school system, and often a new country. For some, there is added uncertainty and fear due to the political climate and concerns around immigration and documentation. In times like these, schools must be more than places of learning, they must be safe spaces. Places where families feel welcomed, valued, and protected. Places where children know they belong.
As educators, we talk a lot about curriculum, data, and outcomes, but the truth is none of it comes to life without relationships. Students thrive when they feel they belong. Families engage when they feel welcome. Classrooms flourish when trust, joy, and shared purpose are intentionally built.
A snapshot from a block party in the Bronx
The most successful moments I’ve experienced as a teacher didn’t come from a perfect lesson plan or a great assessment score. They came when students and families were truly connected with the classroom community. When parents felt comfortable asking questions. When students felt brave enough to take risks with language. When cultures were celebrated, voices were heard, and everyone knew they mattered. That intentional, inclusive connectedness transformed not just learning, but the entire classroom environment.
When I reflect on those Bronx summers, I realize what made them magical wasn’t the music or the food, it was the feeling that everyone mattered, and everyone belonged. That same spirit is what we have the power to create each day in our schools. Whether it’s a warm greeting at the door, a phone call celebrating a student’s progress, or reassuring a family during a difficult time, these everyday interactions shape our communities.
Connection is not extra. It is the work. If we want students to take risks, voice their thinking, and believe in their potential, we must first build relationships that make them feel safe enough to do so. If we want families to partner with us, we must show them they are valued members of our learning community, especially during times of uncertainty. And if we want to sustain ourselves as educators, we must cultivate the same sense of belonging among colleagues that many of us experienced in the neighborhoods that raised us.
The power of community stays with you for a lifetime. I felt it on my block as a child, and I feel it now in my classroom. When we prioritize connection, we don’t just teach, we transform.
Hooray For Monday is an award-winning weekly publication of Center for Inspired Teaching, a social change nonprofit organization that champions the power of curiosity and is dedicated to transforming the school experience from compliance-based to engagement-based. Inspired Teaching provides transformative, improvisation-based professional learning for teachers that is 100% engaging – intellectually, emotionally, and physically.
