Positive classroom climate and student outcomes

Positive Classroom Environment

One of the most important jobs facing a teacher is the job of creating a classroom with a positive climate. It can be a challenging task, but children learn best when they feel safe and secure in their school environment (Brownell & Walther-Thomas, 2001).

Experts recommend a variety of approaches. One of the things that affects a classroom negatively is punishment for infractions of behavior. Teachers often have an arsenal of options for punishment including time out, removing privileges, or suspension (Brownell & Walther-Thomas, 2001). However, although punishment reacts to behavior problems, by itself it cannot teach the student a better way to act. Because of this, educational experts recommend taking steps to prevent behavior problems so they don't have to be dealt with (Brownell & Walther-Thomas, 2001).

Suggestions for behavior management include taking a wider view of discipline than simply a rule of rules and consequences. Along the way, the students must be to learn to make good choices and to take responsibility for the choices they make (Pastor, 2002).

Pastor (2002) recommends a specific approach to creating classroom rules. She argues that rules should be made with the process. When that happens the students help establish the behavioral expectations. As a result of the discussion, all the students understand both the rules and the need for them. She recommends that the students actually define the rules so it is very clear that they understand what the rules mean.

Other experts have looked at choices teachers can make to head off behavioral problems. They recommend such things as ignoring minor behaviors and suggest instead that the teacher use positive means to refocus the child. Redirecting rather than reprimanding has a positive effect on classroom atmosphere (Brownell & Walther-Thomas, 2001). In addition, this author suggests giving students choices regarding how to meet instructional goals (Brownell & Walther-Thomas, 2001). This process will involve the student in the instructional process just as they have been involved in the rule-making process.

Others suggest building character education into the curriculum. For example, when learning about historical figures such as Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln, a discussion of those people's character traits could be included. In one school, when name-calling became a problem, the classes responded by considering what character trait has been overlooked when name-calling happens as well as what other choices a student might make (Pastor, 2002). In a school incorporating character education into its curriculum, they found that older students were gradually able to use problem solving rather than inappropriate behavior to try to solve problems (Pastor, 2002).

Related to name-calling is the issue of bullying, something that can occur in any classroom. The parents of one school district became concerned about the amount of bullying with the result that the school got a grant to develop a program for dealing with bullying. Students learned techniques such as HA HA SO for dealing with bullying: "Help, Assert, Humor, Avoid, Self-Talk, and Own It" (Berkley et. al., 2001). Another approach was aimed specifically at children who tended to be victimized -- CARE (" Creative Problem Solving, Adult Help, Relate and Join, and Empathy") (Berkley et. al., 2001). The school staff enthusiastically got behind both the goals of the programs and the techniques taught and used, and teachers reported that students, especially the older ones, were actively using the techniques they had been taught (Berkley et. al., 2001).