Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate

                                         

Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate

For all the years of being a student, a few of the most memorable days to me were always the first day of the school. I can always remember the tension in the air when I walked into a brand new room with a brand new group of classmates. Usually, this air was cast away soon by the new teacher’s presence and the introduction he or she made. Not long after that, the vibe of the class was set and the nervous feeling was gone, like the sunshine shining through the mist. How important it is to create a caring and positive classroom climate. It is really in a safe and caring environment that students grow and bloom. In this blog post, I am going to review topics that are related to establishing a positive classroom climate and to building a caring and safe learning environment for students.

A little background to start with, I am now living in the Middle East country of Qatar. I will be working in an international school here for which the population of the students is a mix of 88 different countries plus locals. The cultural backgrounds and religious beliefs are reflected in the diversity of the student body. Learning about how to establish a positive classroom with care and concern is an important lesson that I need to master.

Creating Positive Relationships with Students

I believe a positive teacher-student relationship is the key for nurturing students’ sense of school belonging, and it is also a safety net for students when they encounter challenges. Students build confidence to experiment and to try. Teachers and students have mutual respect and trust. Marzano (2003) says students resist complying with expectations when there is no relationship with the teacher. In a teacher-student positive relationship, teachers have more possibilities to motivate the students to set goals and to encourage them to meet the expectations. Through my research, I have found several ways to build a positive relationship with students.

1.Learn your students’ names- It is going to be challenging to me the first time to call all the names right as the student backgrounds are very diverse. One strategy I will use is to let them know ahead that I might make mistakes and please correct me right away so we (me and the rest of students) can all learn.

2. Chat with students as they arrive to class- Talk about their weekend, recent exciting events...etc. Small talk is not so small. It will bring up students’ personalities and let us get to know them outside of school.

3. Share some of your life with the students.- Tell them about the family, pets, interests..etc. This might help students feel closer to us with a sense of reality, instead of imagining we all live in a teacher’s land and do teacher’s things.

4. Allow time in class for students to share things about their interests.- For a culturally mixed student body, this is a good chance for the students and also teachers to learn from each other. I would like them to know that we are all lifelong learners. We can all learn about each other or different things any time.

5.Check in with students who are struggling emotionally or academically. - To foster a caring environment, it is very important to reach out to the students as much as possible. As teachers, we have great power to shape young minds. A student might not remember your name in several years, but they might remember you cared for them in a time of need.

There are many ways to build a positive student relationship. Overall, I think demonstrating integrity with compassion, caring and all that good humanity essence from our heart will help naturally reach to students. This is why it is so important to remember that when it comes to student behavior, it is far more often the relationship students have with you than it is the rules themselves that encourage students to follow those expectations.

Anti-Bullying

In a diverse cultural environment like this, It is very important that we as teachers built strong preventing strategies and defending lines for students toward bullying. First, we should teach and demonstrate respect for different cultural values and beliefs. We can build lessons with diverse cultural elements. It is aso helpful to teach them to recognize disrespectful behaviors and be mindful with their actions. Teachers should build a caring environment that encourages students to be upstanders in the contrast of bystanders. If we build a caring classroom climate, students more than likely will be willing to turn to us when they encounter bullying. We must be vigilant in listening and observing as well so we can detect any signs of bullying early.

Anti-Bias Education

This topic is an essential element of creating a positive classroom. I cannot stress more how important it is in a diverse cultural environment like our school in Qatar. I think to build a thoughtful classroom setting and navigate students to be open to different points of views about culture, politics, religious practices is important. Things like supporting students with different cultural or social identities helps to build mutual respect. Teachers could conduct collective learning experiences by leading students in a dialogue to exchange different points of view. In this way, the openness and the respective attitude help create an including and caring environment that we aim for.

We often don’t remember the lesson content we learned from school, but we all remember the one teacher that influenced us and shaped us to be who we are today. I hope one day I can be an effective teacher who builds a caring and positive classroom climate for my students.  

*References:

1.Anti-Bullying Strategies, By Grade. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2017, from http://www.teachhub.com/anti-bullying-strategies-grade

2.Meador, D. (n.d.). 10 Ways for Teachers to Build Positive Relationships with Students. Retrieved November 14, 2017, from https://www.thoughtco.com/develop-positive-relationships-with-students-3194339

3.How To Build Positive Relationships With Students. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2017, from http://thehighlyeffectiveteacher.com/how-to-build-positive-relationships-with-students/

4.Http://ljournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/a-2017-023.pdf. (2017). doi:10.18411/a-2017-023

5.Chapter 5 Trends in attitudes and teacher-student relations. (n.d.). doi:10.1787/888932360024