One of the most important
facilitators of learning for any class is the classroom climate. This
includes student attitudes (and teacher attitude), relationships between
students and other students and between students and the teacher,
acceptance and appreciation, respect for the rules, respect for other
people, a sense of optimism, and a collective willingness work hard.
To
have all of these things at once could be a challenge, so it is a
culture that needs to be built piece by piece. The foundation of a
positive culture is the relationships between the students and the
teachers. In order to foster strong relationships, you need mutual
respect, trust, and interest. Hopefully you also have mutual
appreciation. It's important to start on a positive note for all of
these area. People are not always 100% trustworthy, but it's better to
start from a place of trust. Later, that may need to be modified, but
it's always important to give as much trust as possible. For example, if
someone cheats on my test, I will punish them on that grade, but I will
also tell them that I believe in them and I still think they are a good
student. As a teacher, we sometimes forget the pressure that some
students have from the parents or other sources, so we may forget to be
empathetic even for students that do something wrong.
The
respect component is also extremely important. I'm not always the best
at this, especially if I feel that a student has a bad attitude about
learning or being in my class. Nevertheless, I'm trying to improve my
consistency in respecting all students. The basic premise is that every
student is a person and should not be treated as a product or a vessel
for filling with knowledge. I show my respect by listening to my
students feedback about my class, by sometimes allowing them to sit
where they want even if they don't want to, and by always trying to
speak respectfully to everyone. One time my students told me that I was
giving them too much homework. I listened to them and I realized that
they had a good point, considering how many classes they had and how
much homework they could reasonably be expected to do in one day. So I
told them I would modify my homework policy to make sure they didn't get
too much in one day from me.
Mutual interest is also important and it's another area where I have to say that I haven't always been that great. In the book
The Art and Science of Teaching
by Robert Marzano, he suggests that you try to take a few minutes to
talk with at least one student every day (p. 155-156). I don't
necessarily agree with his method of randomly trying to run into
different students, because it seems unreliable, but I like the idea of
taking some time to talk to one student every day. Perhaps I will try to
schedule time where I can talk to students and then have different
students come to talk to me during that time. It's something to
experiment with. I find that students are naturally interested in me, so
I want to reciprocate by also being interested in them.
When
it comes to relationships between students, in general the students in
one class will like each other, but they will often dislike students in
other classes. This is my observation at least. I believe this comes
from the tendency to develop affinity for whatever group you are in and a
dislike for other groups. Teachers can encourage students liking other
students in their class by giving students opportunities to collaborate
productively and by not pitting students against each other (for grades,
for example). Teachers will have a harder time encouraging respect for
other groups, but I believe it starts with modeling respect for all
people. Schools in general can also foster a school spirit by having
group activities or having projects that are done by mixed groups of
students.
Unfortunately, even within classes, sometimes
there will still be outcasts. This could take the form of bullying,
shunning, ignoring, or some combination of the three. This can be very
hard to combat. Bullying an evolutionary adaptive behavior practiced by
many species. Most of the time bullies actually benefit from bullying
(Volk et al,
abstract), so tackling it is an uphill battle.
Nevertheless, it can be productively addressed. Teachers can contribute
to this effect by modeling empathy and respect. It will be more
effective, however, if the issue is addressed in a school-wide effort.
One
of the most effective ways to address bullying is to teach victims and
potential victims (or everyone) how to be resilient (Kalman, 2014). The
victims have control over their responses, especially if the bullying is
subtle. This can also help them develop skills that will be useful for
their whole life.
If the class if diverse, with
students of different races, backgrounds, disabilities, or sexualities
present, there is more of a potential for conflict or bullying. Teachers
can proactively try to head this off by honoring people of diverse
backgrounds, including historical figures, cultural figures, and people
in the class or school. Teachers should also initiate a culture of
shared inquiry, which can show that everyone in the class is valued
(Teaching Tolerance, p. 10). Taking active steps to build a community of
respect can also prevent many problems. Teachers can work with students
to develop class rules, which students will then be more motivated to
follow, because they feel invested in them. Incorporating material about
respect, tolerance, inclusion, and diversity into the curriculum will
also help students to develop a mind-set of respect for all (Teaching
Tolerance, p. 11).
In general, a positive classroom
climate begins with respect and trust. When that foundation is laid, the
teacher can use that trust and respect to continue to improve the
classroom climate. As long as it lasts, continuous improvement is
possible.
----------------
References:
Marzano, R. J. (2010).
The art and science of teaching: A comprehensive framework for effective instruction. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Volk, A. A., Dane, A. V., Marini, Z. A., & Vaillancourt, T.
(2015). Adolescent Bullying, Dating, and Mating. Evolutionary
Psychology, 13(4), 147470491561390. doi:10.1177/1474704915613909
Kalman, I. (2014, May 30). Why Telling on Bullies Backfires. Retrieved April 08, 2018, from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/resilience-bullying/201405/why-telling-bullies-backfires
Teaching Tolerance (2016). Critical Practices for4 Anti-bias Education. tolerance.org
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