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| positive classroom atmosphere |
In our own lives, we are affected by the atmosphere in which we work and the way people behave towards us. If the atmosphere is tense or unfriendly, or if people are angry with us, rude or ignore us, this makes us feel insecure or unhappy. If the atmosphere is warm and relaxed, people around us are friendly and supportive and we sense that they value us, we feel more confident and secure. This can affect our desire to participate m events It is the same with classrooms. If there is a friendly atmosphere in the classroom and teacher and pupils get on well together, then they will both feel more secure and learning is more likely to be encouraged. In order to develop a positive classroom atmosphere, two things are very important.
- a sense of security
- a sense of self-esteem and confidence
This is true for teachers as well as for children
Sense of security
Classrooms usually contain an adult and a number of pupils who have to spend large amounts of time together. The potential for chaos and breakdown is very great, and yet in most classrooms, pupils and teachers find a way of managing their relationships. How do they do this?
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| classroom out off control |
It looks as if the teacher has lost control Perhaps the teacher was doing a group activity which involved a great deal of movement, and children became noisy and got out of hand. This can easily happen. Sometimes when you are new to teaching, children deliberately try to test you I vividly remember the anxious feeling I had every time I entered one particular class and the sleepless nights I experienced wondering how to control the class.
If this situation continues, it can create an uncertainty both for teacher and pupils. The teacher does not know how the pupils are going to react or respond to things he/she does, similarly the pupils cannot predict how the teacher will respond to them and what they do. This uncertainty is stressful and creates feelings of insecurity which are not supportive of teaching and learning. Uncertainty also makes it difficult for both teacher and pupils to develop confidence in themselves, because this needs a settled and secure classroom
situation where teacher and pupils feel able to take risks.
The classroom rules which are most important for you will depend partly on your situation and the type of learners you teach, and partly on your own beliefs about what is important. For example, if you teach younger learners, you will need rules to manage the way they work, move around in the classroom and relate to each other. Perhaps you think the most important aspect of teaching is the relationship between pupils and yourself. So your rules may relate to how to behave to each other. Or perhaps you think rules are unnecessary and that you can manage without them. However, even if you do not have formal rules, it is
likely that you have hidden rules, hidden until a pupil breaks one. For example, how would you feel about a pupil looking inside your bag or bullying another child?
Do you introduce pupils to the class rules in the first few days of class or do you allow them to emerge gradually as they are needed? Think of the advantages of each approach. If we introduce rules right at the beginning, then pupils know what to expect. If we do not state them openly, then pupils only know about the rules when they break them. This can cause unpleasant surprises and some uncertainty. Having rules does not mean becoming a harsh and uncaring teacher who likes to run their class like an army camp. It means being open about the way we want to work with pupils and helping them to understand the rules before
they begin, rather than when they accidentally break one.