Establishing a Strong Classroom Community

Teachers in today’s world are doing more than just teaching. They are nurses, judges, social workers, parents, and models to the students they serve. In each role, the fundamental goal is to help students become educated world citizens. This endeavor begins in your classroom by building a positive classroom community. Teachers can build their classroom community by creating a safe, learning-intensive environment where students are respected, nurtured, and provided with opportunities to grow.

Creating a Safe, Happy, Inviting Place for Students

Your classroom is the first impression students have of what they can expect during their time with you. Students should be able to walk into your classroom and immediately sense that they are active partners in learning. A classroom that feels safe, happy, and inviting helps build a positive climate, and a strong positive climate is essential for character development.

Classrooms should instill a feeling of calmness. How your classroom looks sets the tone for all of the work you will do with your students going forward. Your classroom should be organized, prepared, and open. It should encourage students to work collaboratively and cooperatively with each other. The classroom needs to be clutter-free, look neat and warm, and set up in a way that assures students they will enjoy their semester/year and that you will be a great teacher. It should be a place where all students are supported so that true learning can occur.

Consider using student-made decorations whenever possible, posting examples of excellent work, and asking students to help you write and illustrate content-related learning posters and charts rather than buying them ready-made. This helps students feel connected to the class. In addition, by highlighting student-made teaching materials, you communicate to all who enter your classroom that your focus is student-centered rather than teacher-centered.

“Brand” Your Class

The concept of “branding” has been around the business world for years but has only recently made its way into education circles. Branding refers to the practice of developing a unique identity for your product.

Engineering a classroom brand is no easy task but is well worth the effort. When trying to brand a classroom, teachers must remember that it may take some work; it requires time and consistency to establish a unique classroom identity. Below are some strategies to help you create your classroom brand.

Create a classroom sentence. Your classroom sentence should be simple and should have a sense of purpose for example: “Be the reason someone smiles today” or Everything you don’t know is something you can learn.”
Design a logo. Every good brand needs a logo. It can be either an icon or a word, but in any case, visual recognition is imperative to your classroom brand.
Add a hashtag. Let’s face it — social media is everywhere, and chances are that most of your students are already very familiar with the concept of a hashtag. Adding a meaningful classroom hashtag helps teachers relate to their students.
Create a classroom motto. While this may at first appear to be the same as your classroom sentence, it is indeed different. This motto is something students can remember and recite to others about your classroom brand (e.g., “We work hard to learn”).
Ensure that your classroom brand is omnipresent. Students should be able to see it everywhere — on assignments, homework, and assessments. The classroom culture should embrace the language of “we;” it is not about teachers vs. students, but rather all of us working together to achieve a common goal.
Be sure to check in with students periodically to see how your brand is doing. These feedback opportunities should be risk-free so that students feel compelled to share their ideas to make the classroom even better.

Positive Phone Calls or Texts

Positive phone calls home may be the best tool teachers have for building relationships with their students, their students’ families, and the community as a whole. These relationships can be the foundation of a strong classroom community. Once you have something specific and positive to share, start by calling the families of students who may have had phone calls home in the past for doing something wrong. Make sure you tell the students when you call or text their parents. You may be surprised to learn how much it means, to even your seemingly toughest kids, to learn that you care enough to call.

If you are uncomfortable speaking on the phone, try using text messages to communicate. Many busy parents don’t always have the opportunity to answer the phone, so text communications are becoming the norm for an increasingly large segment of the American population. E-mails are also a good option.

Additional Strategies to Promote a Positive Classroom Climate

Changing your classroom design, branding your class, and increasing positive communications are all important. There are, however, even simpler ways to promote a positive classroom climate.

Reinforce positive behaviors. This can be as simple as a shout-out in front of the class, a private conversation, or a quick phone call home. Or, it can be based on a token economy of tickets, fake money, points, or any other system you can think of.
Model a positive attitude. There is no way to overestimate the power of positivity. In a Forbes article (2016), Bradberry shares research which shows that not only are positive people healthier and happier, but their work productivity is higher as well. Teaching is among the hardest jobs, and staying positive can help make it easier, improve classroom climate, and ultimately increase student success. As Allred (2008) puts it, “There is always a positive way to respond to a situation. A positive attitude is the change agent that will create positive classrooms and schools that produce happy and successful students.”
Celebrate successes. Celebration is critical! Celebrations, no matter how simple, add an element of fun! Anytime a class success is met with a celebration, no matter how small, it helps to build a positive classroom climate. Below is a list of possibilities.

Talk time—let students chat with their friends!
Give out a homework pass.
Have lunch in the classroom. Or better yet, outside!
Announce success over the loudspeaker.
Institute a pajama day, hat day, or any other dress up day.
Perform a scavenger hunt.
Have a bubble party (a quick party where the teacher just blows bubbles and lets students pop them!).
Initiate a two-minute dance party.
Give extra free-choice time.
Allow an additional recess.
Give out stickers.
Put on music while students work.
Allow students free choice in terms of where they want to sit.
Provide free admission to a school dance.
Provide free admission to a school sporting event.
Provide free admission to a field trip.
Give students some time to enjoy an afternoon movie.
Allow students to be the class DJ (students choose which school-appropriate music to play during class).
Provide a pass for an out of uniform day.
Provide a pass for a few extra minutes of passing time between periods.
Allow students to skip an in-class assignment.
Give a special parking pass for a week.
Challenge students to a lip sync battle, either with a friend or the teacher.

Greet and meet students every day. Greet your students individually every day/period and make a concerted effort to meet and confer with them frequently. Conferences can be academic or social, or a mix of both. The idea behind this tool is that the more information teachers are armed with about their students, the more positive the classroom climate.
Laugh! This sounds simple because it is! Tell jokes, smile, and laugh. It matters a great deal in terms of classroom climate. In talking about the impact of laughter and joy in the classroom, educational psychologist, Rae Pica (2015) writes, “Humor, laughter, and play are pleasurable experiences that attract and engage students, making it easier to teach.”

The time and effort invested in establishing a strong classroom community will have lasting benefits for both teacher and students. By creating an environment where students are valued and respected, they will be more inclined to take risks, actively engage in learning, and work collaboratively.

Every interaction with students is the opportunity to model good character. Creating a positive learning environment where students are supported and feel connected will help them grow academically and personally and is a key factor in character development.

The lessons learned in the classroom will stay with students on their education journey and into the wider community outside of the classroom.

Are you curious? Want to take a deep dive on this topic?

To learn more about establishing a strong classroom community, visit the Professional Development Institute (PDI) website or our Character Education for the 21st Century course.

For over 27 years, PDI has provided high-quality and affordable online professional development courses to K-12 teachers worldwide. Our online courses are designed to offer practical strategies that can be implemented in classrooms immediately. All our courses are instructor-led and conducted entirely online. Graduate-level university credit for every PDI online course for teachers is available through the University of California San Diego Division of Extended Studies. PDI offers an extensive catalog of online courses that cover the most critical topics in today's classrooms.

References:

Allred, C. (2008). “Seven Strategies for Building Positive Classrooms.” Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept08/vol66/num01/Seven-Strategies-for-Building-Positive-Classrooms.aspx

Bradberry, T. (2016). “3 Powerful Ways To Stay Positive.” Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2016/08/23/3-powerful-ways-to-stay-positive/#7f22786119c9

Pica, R. (2015). What if Everybody Understood Child Development? Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.