ESTABLISHING A POSITIVE CLASSROOM CLIMATE

What is Classroom Climate?

In order to establish a positive classroom climate, we need to first understand what classroom climate means. Classroom climate refers to the prevailing mood, attitudes, standards, and tone that you and your students feel when they are in the classroom (Gulbrandson, 2012). This includes students' perceptions of the rigor of the class, their interactions with their instructor and class peers, and their involvement in the class (Barr, 2016). So, what is our classroom climate like? Is it positive or negative? According to Gulbrandson, a negative classroom climate can feel hostile, chaotic, and out of control. A positive classroom climate feels safe, respectful, welcoming, and supportive of student learning. Obviously, we all want the latter, but how can we establish a positive classroom climate and why is it important to create a positive, safe, and welcoming classroom climate? 

Why is it important to establish a positive classroom climate?

When the classroom environment climate is positive, students are more motivated and feel a sense of connectedness to the school, which encourages students to learn. According to the Wingspread Declaration, students have more likelihood of success when they feel connected to the school. When students feel that adults in the school care about them as people as well as their learning, they are more likely to feel connected. When students are connected academic performance improves, violent and destructive incidents reduce, school attendance improves and more students complete their schooling. There is strong scientific evidence to show that feeling connected to school is a protective factor for students against disruptive and violent behavior, mental health issues, disengagement from school, drug use and early sexual experiences (Amaro, n.d.). 

One of our teachers from this cohort shared about her experience with bullying and cyberbullying. A boy she knew from her class had committed suicide. She didn't know him too well but did find out that the boy grew up with an absentee father and a mother who was an alcoholic. He often would feud with the teacher and even was assigned to sit in the back of the class by himself. She didn't know whether that was by mistake, but it did eventually cause him to drop out of the class.  The story kept going with the school splitting up and him constantly dealing with some form of cyberbullying which eventually lead him to commit suicide.

This is only my opinion, but if the boy was in a classroom that provided a safe, respectful, welcoming, and supportive learning environment, would he have been so disruptive or have dropped out of the class? He didn't feel connected to the school, which lead him to feel less motivated to perform and learn, rather turn to disruptive and violent behavior. 

Her story about the boy from her class only affirms how important it is to establish a positive classroom climate. Here are some ways to establish a positive classroom climate.

How to establish a positive classroom climate

1. Focus on building a positive relationship

A great way to building relationships with your students is to first let them know who you are. Letting students know more on a personal level can open up the students to also share with you about themselves. According to Barr, a way for instructors to develop rapport and communicate interest and concern to students is by talking openly about themselves in class, using appropriate self-disclosure, which increases students' perception of a comfortable classroom climate (2016).  We also need to let them know that we not only care about their progress in the classroom but also care about them as human beings. Some way we can do this is by:

• Greet your students by name every time they walk in the door. This lets them know that you notice and care that they are there.
• Use warm, inclusive behaviors with your face, body, and words each day. Smile! Ask, “How are you feeling?” Look at your students. Notice and reinforce their positive behaviors with encouraging words.
• Ask your students personal questions that will help you get to know them and what’s happening in their lives outside of school. “How was your soccer game last night?” “Is your grandma feeling better?”
• Notice changes in students’ physical and emotional behaviors. Changes may indicate a student is in need of additional emotional support. Provide or find support for that student as needed.
• Spend and keep track of individual time with each one of your students over a set duration (Gulbrandson, 2012).

2. Encourage positive relationship between students

You want to create an environment where students are not only building positive relationships with the teacher, but also with their peers. A connected classroom climate is perceived by students as a compassionate and supportive student-to-student environment. Student-to-student connectedness is built on a collection of behaviors--including praise, smiling, or sharing personal stories or experiences that have positive effects on educational processes and outcome (Barr, 2016).

It can be so helpful to have a classroom environment like this especially if you have a large classroom filled with middle school students like I do. I have time to time seen students have an argument, but most of the time, I have seen them be supportive of one another. For some reason, the school had put all the 6th-grade students into the same English class. With most of the students being ELL students with huge gaps in each of the students' English proficiencies, it has made the class very difficult. In order to support the lower level ELL students, I had assigned the seating arrangement, so that each of them was seated with a student that had a higher English proficiency level. This definitely worked as the students with higher English level helped those that were having difficulty in the class. This example also illustrated how I was able to create an inclusive classroom environment which I will be addressing next. But before I do, here are some other ways to promote positive peer relationships.

• Notice and reinforce casual positive interactions between students on a daily basis.
• Deliberately plan relationship-building activities and games that encourage positive interactions. These can be long-term projects, or short and simple games designed for students to get to know each other better.
• Pay attention to the social dynamics of your classroom. Do some students have trouble making friends? Do some students have trouble getting along with others? Who has a lot of friends? Who has few friends? Interviewing your students one-on-one can help you identify students that have stronger or weaker social connections. This can inform your seating arrangements, guide your grouping and pairing decisions, and assist you in helping students form new networks of friends.
• Have class meetings. Class meetings provide a safe environment in which students can discuss with you and each other topics that are important to them. You and your students can get to know each other better and build relationships through open discussions on subjects like; Following Rules, How to Get Help, Including Others at Recess, Solving Playground Problems, etc. This helps create a positive classroom climate built on trust and respect (Gulbrandson, 2012).

3. Create an inclusive classroom environment

As I briefly illustrated the issues I had with the lower level students, I had to adjust the physical classroom environment in order create an inclusive classroom. In addition, I used various learning techniques, such as cooperative learning. Under this system, the teacher provides clearly structured small-group activities that encourage everyone to participate. These techniques incorporate varied learning preferences and styles of participation and help create learning environments accessible to all students ("Teaching a Diverse", n.d.). I had to carefully form the groups and make sure it was working by closely monitoring the groups I had set up. The important thing is, whichever methods we choose to make our classrooms more inclusive, know that remaining sensitive to and flexible about the ways diverse populations communicate, behave and think, will help create a supportive learning environment for all students ("Teaching a Diverse", n.d.)

Overall, as a teacher, I have always had grave concerns about ways to create a positive learning environment for my students. Was I creating an environment where students felt safe, motivated, and supported their learning? After taking the time to read and research on many ways on creating a positive classroom climate, I feel that I can implement many of the strategies I have mentioned in my own classroom.

REFERENCES

Amaro, M. (n.d.). Creating a Positive Classroom Culture. Retrieved from https://thehighlyeffectiveteacher.com/6-ways-to-build-a-positive-classroom-culture/ 

Barr, J. J..(2016, October). Developing a Positive Classroom Climate. The Idea Center. Retrieved from https://www.ideaedu.org/Portals/0/Uploads/Documents/IDEA%20Papers/IDEA%20Papers/PaperIDEA_61.pdf 

Gulbrandson, K. (2012, August 12). Retrieved from http://www.cfchildren.org/blog/2012/08/key-factors-in-creating-a-positive-classroom-climate/ 

Teaching a Diverse Student Body. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://cte.virginia.edu/resources/teaching-a-diverse-student-body-practical-strategies-for-enhancing-our-students-learning/teaching-a-diverse-student-body-2/creating-an-inclusive-classroom-environment/