Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate

Space

Teachers have a responsibility to create a space in which their students feel safe and cared for. The way a teacher sets up and maintains the physical learning space can either communicate concern for students or neglect. If, for example, a teacher allows students to mark desks or leave trash on the floor, the teacher is communicating that they do not value the space and therefore do not value their students. If on the other hand the teacher invites students to work with the teacher to maintain classroom cleanliness and orderliness, students feel they are teamed up with the teacher in caring for their shared space. Teachers can also decorate their classrooms with the help of their students to communicate and promote acceptance of each individual. One example of this would be a History teacher who does not only have posters of old white men with their quotations. The teacher might instead ask students, "who are your heroes that you've learned about from the past?" In this case, students walk in and see someone like them and think, I can leave my mark on the world too." When I was in high school, my teachers did a good job with this. I was able to grow up with heroes who looked like me and who didn't. We had posters of Frida Kahlo, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, Sojourner Truth, Corrie Ten Boom, and so many more.

Time

Teachers also have a responsibility to devote time to celebrating diversity. Teachers who try to pretend that each student is basically the same; that aspects of our identity like, ethnicity, gender, culture, worldview, etc. are not essential facts of who we are, miss the beauty of a diverse community of people learning from each other because of these differences and not in spite of them. A teacher who allows their students to express themselves and share what makes them proud of their culture, gives the chance to celebrate diversity. A teacher can set apart time for students to choose an aspect of their identity or experience and to teach their peers so that each student learns to respect and appreciate their classmates.

Presence

A teacher is a model citizen in the classroom. Students watch their teacher carefully to see the example being set. A teacher needs to model the behaviors they expect and set clear and firm requirements about what is and is not acceptable. Teachers reveal their prejudices and biases based on their behaviors before their words. If a male teacher only calls on boys to answer questions, he is communicating to the girls that their voice is not as important as the boys. Or if a white teacher shows more patience towards his white students than towards his students of other races, he is communicating that he only cares about the students who share his same skin color. This is important because it leaves a section of students feeling undervalued and would inevitably affect their levels of motivation. It leaves them thinking, it doesn't matter what effort I put forward, I'll be behind because the teacher has this or that prejudice, so why even try so hard.

Positive Relationship

Bullying is a concern for every teacher and student. Establishing positive relationships with students allows teachers to fight bullying because students learn to trust teachers and talk to them about their issues. Teachers can build positive relationships in a number of ways. Making eye contact with students, smiling, praising their effort and progress, and taking an interest in their identity, interests and experience through the occasional private conversation after class all help to build positive relationships with students. Even though students trust their teacher and have that positive relationship, sometimes they still do not speak up, so it is good if the teacher allows students to express their troubles in a way that feels safe to them. Sometimes this means the ability to make anonymous comment, or the chance to move to a safe space.