Supporting a Community of Learners
As a foundation for teaching, my primary goal is in fostering a supportive and safe learning environment. I believe this prevents classroom management issues by cultivating a community of learners by developing positive relationships. To optimize my teaching efficacy, I work on creating a vibrant learning environment with high quality instruction where students are engaged in meaningful learning (Lieber, 2009). Through continually fine-tuning interpersonal skills I have been able to develop caring relationships with and among students that ultimately support learning. My goal is to prevent classroom management issues by creating a positive learning. A proactive approach includes building Social Emotional Learning (SEL) skills that support a safe environment, positive relationships, as well as prevent problems. As well as, generally creating a caring environment where students and teachers are able to communicate effectively, such as through practices that encourage dialogue. If problems do arise, the restitution approach is a pro-active way for solving problems while learning from the process. Overall, guiding my teaching philosophy and praxis are the basic psychological needs of belonging, empowerment, freedom and creativity (Gossen, 2007).
Beyond Classroom Management
Why go beyond classroom management and toward developing positive classroom environments? One major reason is that many teachers who leave the profession cite classroom discipline as their primary reason to leave (Lieber, 2009). Fostering social-emotional learning (SEL) to enhance caring, responsibility, belonging and knowledge is recognized by many educators as a keystone to effective education (Elias, Zins & Weissberg, 1997). There is evidence that teachers who invest time in developing SEL in their classroom end up needing less overt classroom management techniques and can focus more time on academic pursuits (Elias et. al., 1997). Cultivating a community of learners in a positive classroom environment is a win-win situation for students and teachers.
Participatory Learning Environment
To develop a safe and supportive learning environment my approach will be to foster a community of learners where norms are set in a participatory manner and the roles of teacher and student are discussed. This means having students participate in making classroom decisions on issues, such as what constitutes a positive learning environment. I plan to make time for students to work in small groups to design how they envision a positive learning environment, and report back to the whole class. The next activity will lead into setting what Gossen (2007) calls the bottom line. This means establishing behaviours that are not acceptable and have consequences if they arise. Examples could be verbal or physical aggression. The ideas will be summarized on a large sheet of paper titled something like “Our Classroom Agreement”. Having group agreement or beliefs fosters a feeling of belonging, and this motivates children to be contributing members of a group while developing their own skills (Adler, 1930).
Preventing Problems
Establishing and maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment where emphasis is on building positive relationships and honing social emotional learning skills and awareness all contribute toward preventing potential problems in the classroom. As mentioned above, I aim to set clear boundaries and create classroom norms with the students. Students will also be involved in choosing consequences that are related and fair, instead of being punished. Logical consequences may take the form of restitution, restoration, restriction, and/or reflection (Gootman, ). Moreover, prevention is imbedded in fostering a learning community where dignity and respect are practiced. Based on my pedagogy that is strongly connected with students learning through having clear learning targets in an engaged and active learning environment where interaction is a daily affair, I feel that this approach fosters human’s basic psychological needs of freedom, empowerment, belonging and creativity. And through meeting students, basic psychological needs problems will be prevented in the classroom.
Building Relationships
As a teacher being able to foster caring and supportive relationships is fundamental for having a positive learning environment and can literally be a life-line for student’s at risk (Hamm & Faircloth, 2005). Choice theory proposes that relationships must be based on respect and dignity (Glasser, 2001). This can be cultivated by practicing what Choice Theorist call the seven caring habits of supporting, encouraging, listening, accepting, trusting, respecting, and negotiating. Conversely, it is important to recognize counter-productive behaviour, such as the “seven deadly habits” such as criticizing, blaming, complaining, nagging, threatening, punishing, and bribing. I am a natural communicator and hope to use this skill to create an environment where dialogue is fostered. Activities that I plan to use include check-in circles where students can speak their minds in a supportive environment, cooperative and collaborative learning activities, and methods where students can share their feelings while staying anonymous. An example of the latter is an activity where students write their feelings about an issue on paper and then put the paper in an envelope, where they will be shared anonymously with each other. This can help to normalize worries or positive feelings. Dialogue can be used to build positive relationships, as well as prevent and address problems that may arise.