Classroom Climate
Creating a positive classroom climate for learning
I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.
Haim Ginot, Professor of Psychology
If we were to recall a teacher who we felt had a positive influence on us during our student days, we are most likely to think of a teacher who had made us feel comfortable and through the teacher’s ability to make us feel comfortable, we are able to learn what we have been given to learn. Modern cognitive research also shows that the brain cells would shrink in the face of a hostile environment as for example when we feel fear or unsafe. On the other hand, the same brain cell would grow and develop if the environment is safe and comfortable. A teacher, therefore, ought to be aware that the classroom climate is the most important condition for learning to take place. The teacher must cultivate positive attitudes and perceptions about learning among the students.
The creation of safe, non-threatening and conducive environment to learning is a pre-requisite to good teaching. A teacher must make the effort to create such an environment. The teacher would have to ask several questions to achieve this goal. For example, the teacher must ask what makes the students feel accepted in the class. Acceptance here, refers to acceptance not only by all the teachers teaching that class but also the student’s peers.
The teacher must also ask what makes the student comfortable. Is there order in the class? Do students know where to look for things? Do they know the classroom procedures? Do they know what is expected of them when they come into the classroom and when tasks are given? A well-run classroom will give the student that feeling of stability and focus.
There are also many things that the teacher can do to make the classroom a less threatening and intimidating place. A classroom should be a safe place for learning. The student must be free from not only physical hurt but also, and perhaps, more importantly, hurt from the words of their peers and teachers. I believe all of us know that words can harm the confidence and motivational level of students more than perhaps physical threats. Unfortunately, threats and intimidation are quite often the norm in classrooms all over the world.
The teacher also must seriously attempt to make the learning as suitable as possible for the learner. Students like to see relevance. Teachers must make the extra effort to connect for the students what they are learning to their own lives. If the students’ perceptions of the learning is that it has little relevant to them, they are less likely to be interested or motivated to learn. Furthermore, as I have mentioned in a previous posting, making the connection for students is actually teaching for transfer.
The teacher must also ensure that the learning is not too difficult for the student. The teacher should stretch the student but the stretching must not be done at the expense of learning being done in progressive and logical steps. The teacher must make sure that bridges are made during lessons so that the student can understand easier the new content. Scaffolding becomes important in the teaching and learning. The student should feel that the learning is manageable and that it does not require a quantum leap in the mental processes.
Teachers who are mindful of their students’ perceptions and attitudes towards learning will find that their students will be more enthusiastic and motivated to do well in class. Teachers can make or break students. That is how pwerful a teacher can be. As insinuated by the quotation that I began this post with, that power demands greater responsibility on our part in how we treat our students.
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