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Week 2: Classroom Climate and Culture - Coggle Diagram
Week 2: Classroom Climate and Culture
Classroom Climate
Definition
Dimensions
Academic Goals
Academic Focus
Students are driven to achieve their best with intellectual challenge
Quality Teaching
Students are interested, motivated and actively engaged in their work
Order and Control
Classroom Culture
Students know the rules or procedures and consequences
Organisation
Classroom is well organised and the physical environment is pleasant
Relationships
Peer Support
Students offer support to each other and work well together
Teacher Respect
Teacher shows and models respectfulness to students
Teacher Support
Teacher offers genuine academic and socio-emotional support
Peer Respect
Students are generally respectful to each other
Tan et. al. Reading
Professional commitment, job satisfaction, teacher-student interaction, validation
Social intelligence, social competence, social skills, interpersonal competence, interpersonal competence, interpersonal sensitivity, political skills
Dimensions include social cues identification, social insight, social initiation, social support, social proximity, social flexibility, conflict resolution and interpersonal influence
Classroom Culture
Classroom culture is the way the classroom 'works'. It is a set of values and beliefs shared by the group.
Key Elements
Praxis
Rules
A set of guidelines describing appropriate behaviour that reflects values, expectations and the classroom ethos
Rituals
Actions associated with ethos and rules that reflect an important aspect of class
Classroom Ethos
Commonly shared beliefs about learning, behaviour and other aspects of life
Operational
Routines
Step-by-step ways of doing things that are specified by the teacher- sometimes with student input- and which allow a class to run smoothly
Procedures
Routines or sets of routines that guide students and teachers, and which have become established classroom practice
Theoretic
Beliefs
Students and teachers' convictions about what classrooms should be like
Expectations
How teachers want students to behave
How students want teachers to operate the classroom
Values
Ideals and state of being that teachers and students deem important to life in the classroom
How to Develop
Three Perspectives
Rights, responsibilities and due process perspective
Code of conduct perspective
Rules and consequences perspective
Preventative
Strong teacher-student relationships
Clarity and structure in instruction
High expectations
Active learning
Behaviour standards
Guides behaviour clearly and positively, sets clear boundaries, and scaffolds for effective classroom rules
Generally contextualised, according to the three perspectives
Should be established early and should rely on the use of positive reinforcement
Responsive
Encouragement and praise
Consistent corrections and consequences
Values Based Approaches
NSW DoE
Cooperation: Working together to achieve common goals, providing support to others and engaging in peaceful resolution of conflict
Participation: Being a proactive and productive individual and group member, having pride in and contributing to the social and economic wealth of the community and the nation
Respect: Having regard for yourself and others, lawful and just authority and diversity within Australian society and accepting the right of others to hold different or opposing views
Care: Concern for the wellbeing of yourself and others, demonstrating empathy and acting with compassion
Excellence: Striving for the highest personal achievement in all aspects of schooling and individual and community action, work and life-long learning
Fairness: Being committed to the principles of social justice and opposing prejudice, dishonesty and injustice
Integrity: Being consistently honest and trustworthy
Democracy: Accepting and promoting the rights, freedoms and responsibilities of being an Australian citizen
Communication
Non-Verbal
Non-verbal communication is less likely to be controlled and can tell us what the speaker really thinks. Much of what we say can be ambiguous, so we look to non-verbal cues to clarify
Between 55-70% of our communication is non-verbal. It's almost impossible to avoid communicating something non-verbally. Non-verbal communication can convey attitudes and values
Facial expression and eye-contact, gesture, posture and positioning, proximity and touch
We don't often speak in well-formed sentences, so body language helps us convey our message. We often believe non-verbal rather than verbal communication
Questioning
Open-ended questions are particularly beneficial to enabling a wide scoping of the topic. Questions beginning with 'how', 'what', 'when' or 'where' are more open
Questions beginning with 'did', 'is', or 'will' are closed, because they can be answered with a 'yes' or 'no'
Different questioning techniques offer opportunity for different level responses
Verbal
Negotiating
Identify outcomes for each solution
Delete unacceptable options
Identify possible options
Apply the agreed solution
Identify the problem
Identify a time for review
Negotiating requires an atmosphere of mutual respect and the removal of communicative interference. The steps are as follows:
I-Messages
They focus communication on the speaker's needs and avoid the accusatory use of 'you'
Speakers use a calm, matter-of-fact tone. This technique encourages cooperative problem solving in the classroom
Used to assert your position through describing a problem, stating how you feel, and explaining why you feel a certain way
I-Messages follow an expressive formula, e.g. "When I... I'll feel... because..."
Active Listening
It is important for effective teaching and establishes empathy between teacher and student
It can have an impact on authoritative communication and is effective in dealing with problem behaviours and for negotiating solutions
Being more conscious of the act of listening
It is characterised by both verbal and non-verbal responses, including open body language, general eye contact, attentive facial expression and clarifying feedback (paraphrasing)
Different Questioning Techniques
Open-ended questions. See 'Questioning' branch
References
Bennet, Maria (2021). Lecture 2: Classroom Climate [PowerPoint Slides], Interact2
https://csu.ap.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=9c4618bf-1f47-4c1c-8259-accb0076e4f6
Tan, Y., Quek, C., & Fulmer, G. (2019). Validation of Classroom Teacher Interaction Skills Scale. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 28, 429-446
De Nobile, Lyons & Arthur-Kelly. Chapter 2: Classroom Climate (pp. 49-77)
De Nobile, Lyons & Arthur-Kelly. Chapter 3: Classroom Culture (pp. 84-104)