Classroom climate refers to the mood, attitudes, standards and tone you and your students

feel while in your classroom. Negative classroom climates tend to be hostile, chaotic, and out of

control. Whereas, positive climates tend to feel safe/comfortable, respectful, welcoming and

supportive or student learning. The climate in a classroom doesn’t just randomly appear- it’s

created. Ways to create a positive classroom climate could be to make learning relevant, creating

a classroom code of conduct and reinforcing those rules, teaching positive actions, instilling

intrinsic motivation, reinforcing positive behaviors, engaging positive rold models, always being

positive, building positive peer relationships, and nurturing positive relationships will all of your

students.

By making learning relevant, you are taking your students’ talents, learning styles and

interests and basing how you teach- by adjusting teaching methods and strategies- that class to

those students so they are better able to learn in your classroom. When giving students a say in

how the lessons are taught to them, they gain a sense of ownership in their education process.

Creating a classroom code of conduct, teachers and students create a set of classroom

rules that both the students and teacher believe will help dictate the behaviors that are classroom

appropriate and how to behave in your classroom specifically. The set of classroom rules your

students help put together should support safe and respectful behaviors. Classroom rules help

create a predictable, safe learning environment for students and rules give students clear

boundaries and opportunities to practice self-regulation to make good choices.

Teachers need to teach studetns positive behaviors in a thorough, consistent, systematic

way and they can’t just assume a student knows them. Teaching positive actions could include:

positive actions for a healthy body (nutrition, exercise, sleep), for intellect (thinking,

decision-making, problem-solving skills), for self-management (managing time, emotions,

energy), getting along with others (treating others fairly, kindly, respectfully), being honest with

yourself and others (taking responsibility, admitting mistakes, not blaming others), and

continucally improving yourself (setting and achieving goals). By instilling intrinsic motivation,

you’re helping students understand that people are likely to feel good about themselves when

they engage in positive actions. Students learn that when they have a negative thought, they can

change it to a positive one that’ll lead to positive actions and a positive feeling about themselves.

This is achieved by using a three-step process; step one is where we have the thought, step two is

how we act consistently with the thought, step three is when we experience the feeling about

ourselves based on our action. Reinforcing positive behaviors strengthens intrinsic motivation by

recognizing and positively reinforcing their positive actions when they see them. Recognition

activities- tokens, stickers, certificates- can be effective. When students makes connections

between their performance and feeling good about themselves, intrinsic motivation is enhanced

and those positive behaviors continue.

Educators can integrate positive role models into many classrooms and/or school

activities such as curriculum activities, assemblies, committees, after-school events, and/or

homeowrk. And the most important strategy to creating a positive classroom climate, yet often

the most difficult, is to be positive. Whether it’s in the classroom or on the playground,Pro

during or after school- there is always a positive response to a situation.

When promoting positive peer relationships in our classroom, you should notice and

reinforce positive casual interactions between studetns daily. You can plan relationship-building

activities and games that encourage these positive interactions- it could be with long-term group

projects or short games that require small groups. Always pay attention to the social dynamics in

the classsroom; do some students have trouble making friends? Troublee getting along with
others? Who has lots of friends? Who has few friends? This gives helpful information for you to

use when it coems to forming seating arrangements, guides grouping/paining decisions, and

assists in helping students form new friendships with those in their class.

Build a positive relationship with all of your students. Your students should know you

care about them as both a human being, but also for their progress in the classroom. Some ways

to do this are to greet your students by name with they enter your classroom; use warm, inclusive

behaviors with your face, body, and words- “how are you feeling?”- look at your students, notice

and reinforce their positive behaviors with encouraging words. Get to know your students’ lives

outside of school by asking more personal questions like asking about their basketball game or

tournament, what they did over the weekend, etc. Notice changes in students’ emotional and

physical behaviors- they can indicate a student need additional emotional support. Spend and

keep track on the individual time with each student over a set durations; for example, each

month.

https://www.cfchildren.org/blog/2012/08/key-factors-in-creating-a-positive-classroom-climate/