Module 4, Unit 1

 Activity 4: Reflection on Classroom Climate

I’ve learned that the key to creating a positive classroom begins on the very first day of class. Whatever rules that we set, the expectations that we convey to the students, and how we respond to our students and interact with them lays the foundation for how the students will behave for the rest of the term.

I know that when I first started teaching, I was a bit lax with my students and just wanted them to like me on the first day. Huge mistake. It’s easier to be strict in the beginning and generally become more lax than to go the other direction. When you start out lax and then try to become stricter later on, the students become confused and frustrated since you’re changing the world as they knew it. According to cfchildren.org, “Having classroom rules helps you create a predictable, safe learning environment for your students. Rules give your students clear boundaries and opportunities to practice self-regulation and make good choices” (Key Factors, 2014).

Another thing that I have learned and that I have become very strict about is making sure that students respect one another and treat each other kindly.  As cfchildren.org notes (Key Factors, 2014), we need to promote positive peer relationships by responding when the students exhibit positive behavior among themselves, and also carefully keeping track of which students get along, which ones seem to be getting pushed to the edge of the class, and which ones seem to fight the most. And then it’s up to us to discretely patch up the relationships, point out positive things about certain students, encourage leaders of the class to work with less-popular students, etc.

An article from Edutopia also makes a good point about how we should never say the word “wrong” to our students (Building, 2014). We can ask them, “Maybe. Why do you think that is true?” (whether they give us the wrong or correct answer). We can say, “Let’s look at your work/this word/this problem again and go through the steps. There may have been a mistake somewhere.” But when a student raises their hand and bravely volunteers and answer, if we just say, “Wrong/Nope!” and move on to the next student, there’s a good chance that that student, and other students in the classroom, will feel less comfortable volunteering answers in the future if they’re cut off like that and their idea/opinion/answer isn’t appreciated.

I also agree with cehd.umn.edu when they state that making positive statements is very important, as is joining in with students when they play games (Positive Classroom, 2014). I think we sometimes forget how children see us – as teachers – and we don’t realize how important our opinion is of them. 

A positive remark or comment, either given quietly and personally, or announced in front of the entire class, can make a student feel like they did something really well, and that their teacher actually cares about them. 

Another way of showing this is by joining in activities with your students. I love playing ball games with my students and they always seem to have so much more fun when I’m playing as well. Even when we are writing stories and passing them around in a circle, my students are more engage and seem happier when I’m sitting in the circle with them and writing stories as well. They look up to us and love spending time with us – if we build the right rapport with them – and we can use that influence to help guide them into becoming better, nicer people….if we would only take the time to think about how each comment that we make and each look that we give affects our students, and then try to improve every day in how we treat them as well.

References:

Building a Positive, Trusting Classroom Environment. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2014, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/building-positive-trusting-classroom-jose-vilson.

Key Factors in Creating a Positive Classroom Climate Committee for Children. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2014, from http://www.cfchildren.org/advocacy/about-us/e-newsletter/articletype/articleview/articleid/7934/key-factors-in-creating-a-positive-classroom-climate.aspx.

Positive Classroom Environment and Student- Teacher Rapport... preventing challenging behavior in the classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2014, from http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/publications/tipsheets/preschoolbehavior/posclass.pdf.