What: Class Climate is essentially the way a classroom feels. It is the mood, attitude, standards and tone exuded by the teacher, students and artifacts in a classroom. Class Climate is effected by a wide variety of factors including management structures, relationship building activities, the teacher’s affect and the artifacts present in the room. Many teachers build a positive class climate by keeping close ties with students’ families, and creating an environment where students are challenged, encouraged and feel safe enough to risk failure. Rooms with positive class climates ultimately encourage students to reach their full potential.
Who: Creating and maintaining a positive Class Climate should be a consideration of teachers at every grade level in every content area.
Why: Research shows that a positive class climate helps students to thrive. They are more engaged, work harder and are more willing to take academic risks.
When: Teachers need to begin building a positive Class Climate immediately. Setting the tone on the first day of class (or even before) with clear rules and norms, allowing for practice of peer interactions and establishing caring relationships between teachers and students. Once a positive Class Climate is established, teachers need to continue to monitor and support the environment by surveying students, doing regular check-ins and re-establishing and reinforcing class norms.
How: Send home an introduction letter at the beginning of the school year. Introduce yourself and your course (or grade level) to your students and their parents. Ask students about themselves and their learning styles. Call home in the first two weeks to introduce yourself and share specific, positive praise about the student or (if your building allows it) plan and complete a home visit. Share a little about yourself with your students, stay professional, but let them see some of your passions. Explicitly teach students how to interact positively in the classroom and with each other. Model and practice partner and group routines as well as basic management routines such as entering and leaving the classroom, collecting student work, and protocols for working independently.
Where: Class Climate is not only observable and important within the classroom. It should be taught, practiced and reinforced in every environment where the students work.