This paper discusses the importance of defining the teacher's role in building a classroom community; demonstrates the absence of research on the subject; and determines the potential effects of community on student perceptions of schooling, self-concept, and relationships with peers and teachers. It describes problems in defining teacher role in classroom communities and reviews research on the subject. Finally, it discusses future research, which will describe a conceptual model to define the teacher's role in building a classroom community. The study will also fill gaps in the literature and provide educational practitioners with insight into the importance of developing a sense of classroom community, illustrating which type of teacher behaviors are most beneficial in building and maintaining working classroom communities. The study will examine classrooms in at least four elementary schools and will include teachers with a range of experience. It will assess teacher perceptions of their role in building classroom community. Researchers will observe and document teacher-student and student-student relationships; collect classroom artifacts such as newsletters and student work; and survey and interview students and teachers. An appendix presents a time line for data collection and analysis. (Contains 34 references.) (SM)