McNeese blog-Word Press
Establishing a positive classroom climate for me starts with self-assessment. I need to know how I feel about my students and how I feel about myself. I should look at my interactions with my students. Are there students that rub me the wrong way? Do I have cultural biases? And if so, why? I am an African-American, woman. And even that title kinda irks me. I’m from the era when I was a black-woman and I tend to like this title, but I digress. Whatever the reason for any biases or stereotypical thinking, my priority is to correct that thinking if it is negative or false. Correcting the situation may include acting the part initially. I may have to grit and bear it when dealing with some students until my feelings match my actions.
I am sure we have all run across a student that we had to “tolerate” until we were better able to understand them. Just last year I had a student that used to bug me because he was always walking around and making noise. Then I read an article and learned that he is just a kinesthetic learner. Duh? I watched him and he thinks by moving, tapping, talking, etc. All the stuff I wanted him to stop. So I made changes, I now let him help me in the class. He passes out material, explains things, erases the board, helps others, etc. What is so valuable about this lesson is that I can now see how very bright this young man is and let him grow as a leader that paces around the board room as he explains a deal, or the doctor performing brain surgery or the game designer he says he wants to someday be.
The point is that every student has a right to quality teaching and a quality education and it is my job to make sure this happens. I need to keep track of my behavior and feelings. I need to ensure that I am upbeat and that I don’t bring my outside life into the classroom. Keeping myself healthy and fit goes a long way toward creating a positive atmosphere in my classroom. I like that my students know I value my health and well-being as much as I value theirs.
If I find I am struggling with relationships with certain groups of students I must seek help. Approaching other teachers, deans, and/or principals is a good place to start. Build professional relationships with sources and resources both in and outside of the school. Teachers should build networks of allies that have common goals for an equitable education for all students. ELL teachers are a great resource for teachers of ELL students who want to learn about student culture. Teachers can participate in events, groups or committees in the communities of their students. And teachers should continue the conversation about equitable educations for all students outside of the school and with friends, family and other contacts. We have to be the spokespeople for these issues.
And finally, professional development is a good option. We are required to take continuing education classes so taking classes that increase awareness of groups we are not familiar with is a good investment. Most schools have connections to training for both teachers and students that help teachers become familiar with diverse student types. Teachers can also do their own research about groups they are interested in by reading journals, books, reading blogs, and following Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. And Teachers can simply ask students about themselves and their families. The main thing is that teachers be open to learn about their students and interested in what interest them.
Creating a positive classroom climate doesn’t have to be difficult. Many of the strategies are intuitive. Smiling, appropriate touch, encouraging speech (both by students and teachers), humor and enthusiasm are strategies that are without doubt both effective and doable for most teachers. However, sometimes we don’t think of tools and strategies that, while very practical, are often ignored by teachers when setting up their classrooms. Even veteran teachers sometimes ignore classroom setup.
Teachers should: consider the movement and physical layout of the classrooms and set-up the room to create an easy flow throughout, place materials that will be used daily in places where it makes sense and decide exactly which materials and/or equipment will be left out for students to access and which materials/equipment will be controlled by the teacher and/or a student monitor. Knowing where everything is helps student feel at ease and in control. Everything in its place also helps students understand organization and neatness. In addition, when considering the physical layout of the room the teacher has to decide where the “front” of the class is and how best to arrange desks so that every student can see the board and teacher.
To create a positive classroom climate teachers should also consider the roles and responsibilities of the students (Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education, 2014). Consider student jobs, how they will be assigned, what the job entails and of course students will need to practice these jobs. Assigning jobs can be an opportunity for Problem Based Learning (Project Based Learning in the Blended Learning Classroom, 2014) using real world applications. For example, for older students you assign a job, the teacher could tell them the goal of a process or procedure and let the students design the process or procedure (with younger students teachers can add constraints to help students design a process or procedure).
Teachers’ number one goal should be to provide safe environments for students to learn. This should be evident. No one can learn or flourish if they don’t feel safe. Safety includes both physical safety, social safety and emotional safety (Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education, 2014). Teachers should do all to prevent bias, discrimination, bullying and negativity in the classroom. Teachers can participate in anti-bullying campaigns, hang posters that are relevant and build awareness of areas which affect feelings of safety by students.
Once we know some strategies that allow us to create a climate of anti-bias in the classroom and school, we need to implement these strategies and assess for effectiveness. Ongoing reflection and learning (Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education, 2014) should be a continued practice for the classroom teachers. Journaling, teacher meetings (both informal and formal), and further training should become a staple of tools for active teachers. Any self-reflection tools the teachers is comfortable with and that are valuable for self-assessment can be used. In addition, these same tools can be effective tools and strategies for the students own self-reflection of their learning, learning processes, and personal growth.
But, Why? Why do we care if we have a positive classroom climate? “I am not here to be their friend, right? Yes and no. Developing a positive classroom climate is the most important thing a teacher can do to create a learning environment that actually helps students learn to the best of their ability and according to their learning styles and modalities. Creating a positive classroom climate helps students feel comfortable to “explore issues of personal and social identity” (Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education, 2014, p. 8). Creating a positive classroom climate is a model for student interactions in the future.
Students will learn how to cooperate and how to work with others, learning community building skills (Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education, 2014). Students will learn concepts of fairness, equity, and respect for others. In a positive classroom climate students will learn it is ok to fail at something and try again. And students will learn how to support each other, how to search and find appropriate solutions for problems they encounter and how to create their own positive climate wherever they have a need.
Sounds easy huh? NO. Start small. Find a goal for your classroom, choose a few simple strategies to implement, and monitor their effectiveness. Every teacher can start with the classroom layout. Configure your room to make it easy for you and your students to move around the room. You need to be able to see and get close to every student in your room and from any area in the classroom. You can use one of many free software programs that will allow you to create a blueprint (map) of your room. Next think about roles and jobs for your students and how they will be performed. Write up a quick job description and revise as you reflect on whether the description works or not. Then try out the strategies you decided to implement. You can then steadily add strategies to your rotation and remove strategies as you choose.
The key element is reflection and monitoring. Know what is working and what is not. Eventually you will have an arsenal of tools to use that have become second nature to both you and your students.
References
Critical Practices for Anti-bias Education. (2014). Teaching Tolerance: A project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Project Based Learning in the Blended Learning Classroom. (2014, Sep 19). http://www.youtube.com. Retrieved Dec 13, 2015, from https://youtu.be/9ydndLS-O3Q
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