12 Ways to Create a Positive Classroom Environment
A classroom is a place where we spend a lot of time, so we want to ensure that it is a place we actually want to spend time in. That goes for students too!
A classroom environment encompasses how we feel in a space, and affects our attitudes, our moods, and our physical comfort.
We want to aim to create a space where we can feel safe, respected and supported.
Creating a positive space is the first step to have better learning and for everyone to feel like they have a place they belong.
1. Address student physical and emotional needs
Abraham Maslow described the hierarchy of needs. Essentially, physical needs must come first, then safety, love and belonging, esteem and finally self-actualization. While we may not be so worried about self-actualization on a day to day basis, those first ones are of the utmost importance.
Think about your student’s home lives, and how that may be affecting their school lives. A student who does not feel safe cannot learn. A student who is hungry cannot learn. A student who comes to school in improper clothing on a cold day cannot learn.
Your school likely has programs to help with these needs, especially if you are in a lower socio-economic area. At my school we have breakfast and lunch programs, food bags for the weekend, and extra clothing from donations made.
If you have a student who is missing basic needs, this is a good opportunity to speak with your admin team, school counsellor, child care worker or others who support student needs.
2. Create clear routines, expectations
We know that routine and structure can be incredibly beneficial. Whether you have a student who struggles with anxiety or not, knowing what to expect can help alleviate feelings of uncertainty. Knowing what’s coming in the day can help to understand time management and avoid the unexpected. I post the daily schedule on the board so it is always accessible to students. It’s also important for them to understand that changes to the typical schedule can change and it’s not a terrible thing. Change is hard, but things are constantly changing during the school day and luckily, many of these are small changes!
Within your routines, expectations are important. Expectations don’t mean you need to control everything and micromanage with strict rules, but they mean there is a level of expectation that must be followed. You’ll likely have expectations around work, material use and how we treat people. Establish these early so that there are no surprises because it is much harder to go back and start having expectations mid year. It is much easier to let go of some things later on than to try to go backwards and establish expectations once students have become accustomed to a relaxed environment. Essentially, be a toughie at first, then ease off!
Remember that as much as we have expectations of students, they have expectations of us as teachers too and we need to act accordingly. It may be worth a conversation with your students around what they expect of you.
3. Greet students
When students enter the classroom in the morning, a simple greeting at the door can have a big impact on their day.
Use their names, say hello or address them in another way. Make eye contact with them and show them that you’re happy that they’re there.
If your students feel like they’re wanted there, that sets them up for a better day!
This is easier said than done and can’t always be the case, but it helps to start fresh with a clean slate each morning. Had a bad day with a student yesterday, start new today.
4. Let your students get to know you
We spend a lot of time getting to know our students but it’s also important to let them get to know you.
Have your boundaries, of course, you don’t need to share all your personal details but tell them about what you did on the weekend, what you like making for dinner, who you live with, which pets you have, or what your favourite colour is.
This is part of building a relationship, you have to be willing to give some of yourself if you want to get to know someone else.
5. Build relationships and trust with students AND their adults
We all know how important building relationships is, especially early on in the school year. It doesn’t mean you have to like everyone and it doesn’t mean that they have to like you either, but some respect and trust is important. Not only to we need to build relationships with our students, but also with their adults. If there is a relationship with a caregiver, it not only makes the hard conversations easier, but it also makes the day to day smoother. Depending on the adult’s job situation, you might not ever see them at school. If the child goes to child care before or after school, it may be that you never get to actually see their adults until conferences, or you see them once in a blue moon. There may be others whose work situation allows for drop off, and/or pick up so it will be easier to establish a relationship that way.
Trust is so key. You students need to trust you, and so do their adults. Follow through with what you say you’ll do, be clear with WHY you’re doing things. Now, sometimes it’s a because I said so, or the principal said we have to do X, but giving them a reason to trust you will go a long ways. You’ll probably notice this especially in students who are hesitant to let you in, or who struggle with anxiety. When the routine changes and it causes a feeling of panic, trusting you to make a change that will be safe for them will help. For the adults, trusting you to be a positive role model for their child, trusting your professional judgement
6. Give choice
Choice can be had even in the most structured classrooms. It doesn’t mean that you let students do whatever they want, but giving limited choices gives students some control over their learning and their day. The choices you give don’t have to be big either.
Simple things like:
Should we read this book or that book?
You can choose any book to read with your buddy
You can use pencil crayons, markers pastels, paint or crayons to colour your art project
When you’re finished your work, here are 6 choices of activity
We’ll go outside for a break, would you rather we go before the activity or after?
We know that sitting in one spot for too long isn’t good for anyone. We get fidgety and irritable. I like to give my students choice as to where they sit during work time. To have this choice, they must show me that they can make positive choices. Whether they want to sit with someone or alone, I like to give them the opportunity to make
Allow your students to make choices and see what happens.
7. Give leadership opportunities
Leadership will look different depending on the grade you teach and for each student. You can still offer opportunity for students to step up and be a leader.
They can be leaders within the classroom by supporting their peers in an area they excel in, they can be leaders in behaviour, they can be leaders in participation or leading activities, songs or poems. Have student jobs or responsibilities so that they are involved in the upkeep and running of their classroom. They can even be leaders within the school. Depending on age, they can be leaders to support younger students with getting ready for recess, being a lunch monitor in a younger class, doing announcements, planning school events etc.
Feeling like they have a purpose and someone needs them helps a lot of students, so give them a chance!
8. Be inclusive and diverse
Depending where in the world you are, you may have more or less diversity in your class. Even if it doesn’t “look” like you have much diversity in your class, you’d probably be surprised to find out that there is so much.
Last year I had an incredibly ethnically diverse classroom and I was surprised at how many countries were represented by the students in my class. My students taught me, and their peers about so much of their cultures. Sometimes they’d share stories or make comments during a discussion. Sometimes they brought in books or objects that they shared with the class.
Being inclusive doesn’t mean saying “today we will learn about diversity” or doing a few lessons. It means taking teachable moments, allowing for sharing and celebrating differences.
In addition, think about the representation in your class materials. Books, dolls, pencil crayons or markers, posters, resources…try to allow for representation so that all students can relate to what they see, read or hear in class. Seeing someone who looks like them, or getting to share about a holiday they celebrate can be a very powerful thing.
Speaking of holidays, branch out! See who is in your class and ask or do research about what holidays and traditions they have. In my experience, students are very receptive to learning about other cultures, families, abilities and languages but you have to give them the opportunity.
9. Create a calm physical space
We all have different classroom “themes”, or not! Some people like bright colours, some people like neutrals, some people like blue and some people like polka dots, and some people just have a mix of everything! Creating a calm space doesn’t mean you have to make it spa-like in there. You can still have bright colours but maintain a calm environment.
Some things you can do to affect the mood in your classroom:
Use music - I frequently use instrumental, lo-fi or nature sounds
Change the lighting - dim the lights
Use chimes to signal transitions
Go out into nature
Keep a tidy space and reduce clutter
Keep visual distractions down - we all have things on the wall, but remember to make it useful to students and not overwhelming or over-stimulating to look at
Incorporate breathing into your daily routine
Think about your seating plan and plan accordingly
10. Promote Social-Emotional Learning
SEL is a HUGE topic and cannot be covered in a paragraph here. There are so many ways to promote SEL in the classroom including:
Using read alouds to address various topics and use the teaching moments in them
Doing check-ins and greetings
Hold class meetings to discuss what’s going on, share personal stories, make decisions and solve problems
Working on peaceful problem solving
Give strategies to work through emotions
Give students responsibility in their classroom and school community
Incorporate movement, breathing and other mindfulness practices
Give opportunity for teamwork, especially through games
Encourage kindness
11. Be silly, have time for fun, laugh at yourself
We can worry so much about getting through the math curriculum that we forget to have fun. I find that the most fun moments happen when you don’t mean for them. Those are authentic moments that aid in developing the relationship between you and your students.
No one wants to be serious 100% of the time, so laugh at your mistakes, laugh with your students, join your students in the dance break, read in funny voices and laugh at how horribly you drew the cow while you were trying to model a journal entry.
Laughing through the day is going to get you through the busy and crazy days that we deal with.
When students know it’s okay to have fun, to laugh and make mistakes, they’ll try a lot harder for you, so roll with it and enjoy the silly moments.
12. Model respect, care, kindness and understanding
Students watch us constantly. Whether the realize it or not, they are looking for examples of behaviour so ensure that you are modelling the behaviour that you expect of them. Yes, we’re trying to teach them to add and to write in complete sentences but we can’t forget that we are teaching them to be good human beings.
It costs you nothing to be respectful and kind, and I want my students to go out into the world showing these qualities to everyone they meet.
When students see how you treat others (students, staff and parents) with kindness, respect and understanding, they are more likely to pick up on those things and show them too. A classroom full of kind people is what we strive for, so don’t underestimate it!