Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate

Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate

In my 15+ years of teaching I have never really had too much trouble with my classroom.  With that has always come the question from fellow teachers, administrators and even parents & students: how do you do it?  What is your strategy?  Quite frankly, I had no idea, I just did what I thought was right and how I thought I would like my classroom to be if I were the student.  The problem with that, I know notice is that it comes with the assumption that all students are like me and that cultural differences do not exist.  While my classroom management style was working and there appeared to be a positive classroom climate to me and perhaps the majority of my students, it was not sure for all.

Where I teach, South Korea, most if not all of my students are from a cultural background different than me.  I have a large group of Korean students, a few American students, and one from each of the Ukraine, China, and Taiwan.  The first thing that I need to do in order to establish a positive classroom climate for this class is recognize that my cultural ways are not always the right way and that there is a beauty in the diversity that is my classroom.  I need to learn about the students and their culture to see what it is they care about.  How to they learn and what it and is not acceptable in classroom relationships.  I like to tell jokes in class, often at my own expenses.  This, however, is not something that is seen as normal in the Ukraine, where my student would often stand like a solider to speak or respond to my questions.  For her the classroom was a serious place of learning and for a teacher not to be serious was very difficult for her.  I had to get rid of the cultural bias that many westerners have about Asian students and how incredibly smart and hard working they are.  While, yes, many of my Asian students are very hard working and very bright, not all are and some really do struggle in math.  Assumptions that the Asian kid does not need help in math is just down right wrong!  (I learned that within weeks of coming to Asia).  Another assumption that needs to be thwarted is that all students who attend private international school as wealthy and have no issues at home.  This assumption is common when students are acting up in class.  I have often heard teachers say things like, "Johnny should not be acting this way.  His family is very rich and he wants for nothing."  The problem here is that while Johnny might be from a rich family, his parents might work long hours and he has to cook and clean for himself, or he has a nanny that does everything for him, but he is lacking the affection of a parent.  And then there is the assumption that Johnny is rich only because he attends this school.  The fact is that many parents

Understanding every culture and situation in your classroom can be a daunting task.  There are, however, some simple things that a teacher can do to establish a positive classroom climate.  Those, as highlighted by Marzano (2007) as well as in an article on Teaching Tolerance (2014) are as follows:

• Greet your students, by name, as they come into the classroom;
• Arrange the desks in the classroom so that is fosters collaboration, but not so that the student(s) cannot see the front of the classroom;
• Decorate your classroom with authentic materials such as student work.  This ensures that all the decorations reflect the diversity of the classroom.
• Place identified students with needs in places where they can be support (i.e. not the back of the room);
• Establish an appropriate relationship with your students
• let them know some things about you;
• learn somethings about them (likes, dislikes, interests, family, etc)
• keep your cool while being firm about the classroom expectations;
• make the learning student centred;
• interact with students outside of the classroom (take in one of their games or activities);
• Use what you know about the students to you advantage in not only the teaching a learning, but in the classroom management techniques you use.

In addition to understanding my students as highlighted above and the simple classroom strategies, there is a need for a teacher to be willing to deal with bullying.  Bullying is real, it happens all the time, and in every class.  Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Centre estimates the in schools this year about 22% of students will be bullied.  With the risk including depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, poor school performance and even suicide, it is imperative that any classroom also be a place where the teacher confronts bullying head on.  First, the teacher needs to have clear guidelines that are in line with school policy (as applicable).  Additionally, and in line with much of what I have discussed above, there is a need for the teacher to be a person that a victim is comfortable coming to and speaking about the bullying situation.  There has to be a relationship built such that the teacher, when he/she notices or suspects someone is being bullied, is able to approach the student and talk about it.  If students have the trust in the teacher, as developed using much of the strategies above, then something can be done about.  The teacher must not ignore it because bullying is hard thing to deal with.  The teacher must not assume that it is not happening in his or her classroom because he or she do not see it.  Much of the bullying now happens online or outside of the school walls and cannot be easily detected unless you know the signs.  For that reason the teacher must learn the signs that someone is being bullied.

Building positive relationships can go a long way in creating a positive classroom environment.  It does not mean that you cannot create and enforce rules or that you need to be nice all the time.  It simply means that you must be firm and consistent with the rules while understanding and respecting all the characteristics of your students.  A teacher needs to be caring, understanding, respectful, hard-working, consistent, etc in order to be effective.

References

Marzano, Robert.  (2007).  The Art and Science of Teaching.  ASCD. USA

Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Centre. (2015).  Bullying Statistics.  Retrieved [October 30, 2015] from http://www.pacer.org/bullying/about/media-kit/stats.asp

Teaching Tolerance (2014). Critical Practices for Anti-Biased Education.  Teaching Prespectives.org