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How To Create A Classroom Climate That Will Help Your Students Become Successful Learners
Creating a successful classroom climate is one of the most important classroom management strategies teachers need to get right.
If your classroom climate is to be successful it has to be positive and motivate your students to want to be successful. As with many aspects of classroom management, the most important factor in creating a positive classroom environment is the teacher, and this is where the process must start.
The climate in the classroom is of course more than the physical classroom environment. It is a process that builds the psychological framework for all activitiy that happens in the classroom. The classroom climate is not just about motivation and student well being, it is a major ingredient of the context for successful learning. Real learning cannot take place in a negative classroom climate, in the same way that plants will not grow if the soil is not right.
If, however, the teacher gets the classroom climate right, the evidence suggests that students do learn more effectively and their achievement does increase, partly because they respond better to their classroom environment and in particular they respond better to their teacher.
How can teachers create a positive classroom climate?
It seems that three particular features are present in all successful classrooms. The first key factor is the quality of the relationships, in other words how much everyone helps and supports each other. The relationship between teacher and students is clearly important but relationships between students is equally important in ensuring a successful classroom climate.
The second key feature is the personal development of students, and how easy we make it for them to grow as learners and fulfil their potential.
The third key factor is the smooth running of the classroom, characterised by an orderly environment where teacher expectations and standards of personal behaviour and achievement are high and clearly understood by everyone.
Over the years I have been privileged to observe dozens of my colleagues in their classrooms, and what has often struck me is the interdependence of all the factors that make up a successful classroom climate. The three broad pillars mentioned above are solidly present in successful classrooms but the components of good relationships, student personal development and the smooth running of the classroom are not discrete entities, but rather fluid elements skilfully managed by good teachers and brought together to make a warm, positive and successful classroom environment.
I also believe that, although some teachers have a personality type that makes it easier for them than for other teachers to establish a successful classroom climate, all teachers can learn the skills and classroom management strategies they need to build the right climate in their classroom.
What are the common strategies that successful teachers use to build a positive classroom climate?
1. They create a warm classroom environment
Research studies seem to suggest that students respond best to teachers who are at the warm end of the spectrum in terms of how they relate to their students. In other words, teachers who are approachable, friendly, helpful and supportive and who can control the class and impose themselves without appearing too strict or overbearing.
The opposite side of this coin is that students seem to respond less well to teachers who are inconsistent, uncertain and who tend to criticise students frequently and draw attention to students' shortcomings. The key finding here is not just how well or badly students relate to their teachers' relative warmth or lack of it, but that the quality of learning outcomes is affected by how warm and approachable students perceive their teachers to be.
When teachers make it clear to students that they are concerned about their students' emotional needs, as well as their curriculum and learning needs, students seem to participate better in class, and in particular seem more prepared to ask for help when they are in difficulty. Research shows that it's often the least able students, who have the most need of help, who feel least able to ask for help, if they sense that their teacher is unaware of their emotional needs. The result is their need goes unanswered.
The steps teachers can take to create a warm supportive classroom climate include:
· show understanding and openness so students feel confident to speak openly about their needs and to talk about problems, in an atmosphere that is not confrontational
· be friendly and let students see the teacher sees them as people and values them as individuals - students need to feel they can trust the teacher before they'll open up about difficulties they may have, either personal problems or problems with understanding the learning
· help students by making it clear that it's acceptable to make mistakes when learning, in fact making mistakes is important for true learning to take place. One of the posters in my classroom that I refer to often with students says 'The only dumb question is the one you don't ask'
· be principled by making sure you treat students fairly and justly, that you can tell the difference between the person and the behaviour they may display, and that you impose classroom discipline appropriately, not just because you can
2. They are enthusiastic
Another classroom management strategy that promotes a positive classroom climate is enthusiasm on the part of the teacher. The research shows that teachers who consistently send positive messages about the subject being studied do have an influence on how students respond, by motivating students more than teachers who are less enthusiastic. Students never get inspired by teachers who are not enthusiastic.
Of course, in real life, it's not possible to be enthusiastic all day every day, but at the very least we can avoid sending obvious messages to our students that we are unenthusiastic, and, in particular, we should avoid telling our students that we're only covering a topic because it's on the syllabus, especially if we also send the message, however subtly, that we think the topic is too difficult for the students. Instead we can try to focus on a particular angle that will show our students how they can gain a particular learning benefit from the topic in question.
Enthusiastic teachers often come across as confident specialists who really enjoy teaching their subject and can 'wrap up' the learning in many different ways to make it interesting and accessible to all learners.
3. They have high expectations
One of the most consistent research findings is the effect on student performance of teacher expectations. In short, students do better when they believe their teachers expect them to do well. By contrast, students who think their teacher does not have high expectations of them, are caught in a self fulfilling prophecy and tend do less well.
Teachers often communicate their own perceptions in subtle ways, and perhaps unintentionally. It is easy, for example, to believe we are praising students, but actually be undermining them by saying things such as: 'Well done, I was surprised how good your answer was.' The subliminal message picked up by students here is that the teacher perception actually is that these students are of low ability .
Sometimes there are other, possibly unintentional, behaviours that students interpret as negative perceptions. For example, it's easy for a teacher to ask more questions to students they perceive as being more able, and in so doing create fewer opportunities for students who are seen as not so able.
In the same way, low teacher expectations may result in some students being asked only to answer low order questions, which do not take learning forward in a meaningful way.
The real danger of basing teacher expectations on mistaken perceptions is that students realise what's going on and start to internalise these perceptions, with the result that everyone in the class starts to behave in ways the teacher expects them to behave. This can lead to a very positive cycle for those 'high expectation' students, who may become high achievers. The opposite is also true for the 'low expectation' students who sink further and further down their negative cycle. As principled educators we can't accept this kind of 'collateral damage'.
Teachers with high expecatations of students seem to have these things in common:
· they pay very close attention to the progress their students are making, and check against objective data that their perceptions or 'gut feelings' about students are backed up by facts, and so avoid acting on mistaken perceptions of students' abilities
· they take great care not to communicate low expectations: students may have limited abilities, but teachers need to communicate their faith that students will do the best they can within the limits of their abilities
· make sure students get useful feedback on their progress, feedback that is honest but constructive and focused on continuous improvement, it's the 'I wan't you to show me how well you can do' approach, not the 'This is what you've shown me you can't do' approach
· take great care about how they ask questions in class - they ask high order questions, usually involving open questions [What/Where/When/ Why/How [particularly How], that encourage deep rather than superficial answers. These questions are sometimes called 'fat questions', and teachers need to allow students enough time to construct well thought out answers
· they emphasise good presentation of student work as much as the content, and, crucially, expect all students to meet these high presentation demands, because they expect all students will take a real pride in their work
Good teachers know how important it is to build and maintain a classroom climate that is positive and supportive, and are proactive in their aproach because they want to take as much responsibility as they can for creating a classroom environment that:
1. promotes good quality of life for learners and teachers
2. helps to deliver a curriculum that promotes social and emotional learning as well as academic learning
3. helps teachers to be effective with a wide range of students
4. stimulates intrinsic motivation for teaching and learning
source : classroom-management-success.org
Penjelasan antara artikel dengan matakuliah SBM:
Dari artikel yang berjudul “How To Create A Classroom Climate That Will Help Your Students Become Successful Learners”, ditemukan banyak hal yang berkaitan dengan pemahaman matakuliah Strategi Belajar Mengajar yang dapat membantu mahasiswa untuk menjadi calon guru efektif.
Pokok pembahasan dalam artikel tersebut adalah arti penting membangun kelas dengan suasana yang baik sehingga mampu mendukung kesuksesan kegiatan belajar-mengajar. Kalimat pertama tertulis “Creating a successful classroom climate is one of the most important classroom management strategies teachers need to get right”, menciptakan iklim kelas yang sempurna merupakan salah satu hak guru yang terpenting dalam strategi belajar-mengajar.
Matakuliah Strategi Belajar memiliki fungsi laten, yaitu melahirkan seorang guru efektif yang mampu membangun suasana kelas kondusif dan melakukan pengajaran secara efektif sehingga anak didiknya mendapat hasil belajar yang baik. Oleh sebab itu, artikel tersebut sangat membantu dalam proses belajar menjadi guru efektif yang pintar dalam menyesuaikan diri, mampu memperkenalkan hal baru dan dapat mengubah lingkungan kelas supaya kelas yang ia diami menjadi hangat dan nyaman.
Guru adalah kunci utama dalam menciptakan suasana ke arah positif maupun negatif. Iklim kelas yang baik akan membantu proses belajar-mengajar menjadi lancar atau sebaliknya. Guru diharapkan mampu memberikan rangsangan positif dan menciptakan iklim yang mendukung anak didik mendapatkan hasil belajar memuaskan. Faktor utama bagi guru dalam membangun iklim kelas yang baik, adalah Relationships (hubungan), personal development (perkembangan individu) dan smooth running (kelancaran). Hubungan yang baik antara guru dengan anak didik sangat perlu dibangun. Guru yang ramah akan mengundang antusiasme dari murid untuk mengikuti pelajarannya sehingga mereka memiliki kesempatan mengikuti pelajaran dengan nyaman dan menyenangkan. Selain itu, penting adanya personal development pada anak didik, karena kesuksesan kelas juga ditentukan oleh kualitas masing-masing siswa. Oleh sebab itu, hal ini juga harus diperhatikan oleh seorang guru efektif. Kelancaran kelas terlihat dari kondusif/tidaknya dan teratur/tidaknya kegiatan belajar-mengajar sehingga peran guru sangat besar dalam mewujudkan faktor ini, yaitu menegakkan peraturan dan pendekatan yang tepat dalam mengatur situasi kondisi kelas.
Sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa menciptakan iklim yang baik merupakan salah satu materi penting dalam strategi belajar mengajar karena memiliki banyak manfaat. Terciptanya iklim kelas yang baik akan merangsang hubungan yang baik oleh siswa dan guru. Hal ini memudahkan guru untuk menyampaikan materi, ilmu pengetahuan dan wawasan yang diperlukan oleh siswa. Hubungan yang baik dan materi yang mudah tertanam menyebabkan anak didik mencintai pelajaran yang dibawakan oleh guru tersebut. Jika perhatian dan rasa ingin tahu anak didik mampu diambil oleh seorang guru, maka kelas pun akan kondusif sehingga proses belajar mengajar lancar. Semua itu akan merujuk pada keberhasilan anak didik mendapatkan hasil belajar yang maksimal, yaitu keberhasilan siswa dari aspek kognitif, psikomotorik dan afektif.
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