Creating a Classroom Culture for Learning: We Make the Weather

We Make the Weather

I wake up and the house is freezing again.  No hot water for a shower, I quickly wash my face and brush my teeth.  I grab the muesli and open the fridge...no milk.  I don’t have time to make some toast so I grab my bag and walk to the bus stop.  The bus is completely full when it arrives, and the bus driver is refusing to let me on.  I have to walk to school and it's raining.  

Hungry and wet my mood can only get better, right? - wrong!  Despite running to school to ensure I am on time, I am greeted by my miserable Language and Literature teacher Mr Mark.  He looks annoyed and he simply tells me to sit down and quickly get my book out.  What a …………….!  I don’t feel like learning.  What a miserable day.

Rewind

Hungry and wet my mood can only get better, right? - right!  I have Mr Mark period 1.  He smiles at me as I approach the class, and asks me if I am OK.  I can’t help but smile back and say Yes, because I am starting to feel better, the smile remains on my face as I unpack my bag and get ready to start learning.  The day is suddenly starting to brighten up.

The Weather-Makers

A teacher has the ability to create the weather within his/her classroom. Each classroom is capable of having its own ecosystem similar to that of a biosphere.  The climate is controlled by the teacher through her/his interactions with the students.  

One of the simplest strategies you can do as a teacher to improve the chance of good weather is to meet and greet students at the classroom door with a smile; as students cross the threshold into your classroom, you have the ability to influence their mood and potentially their mindset for learning.

If we accept that smiling is infectious, or what is scientifically referred to as mood contagion, then by simply getting students to smile, whether the responsive smile is fake or not, can positively influence their mood according to research.1  This is sometimes called the feedback loop.  When we smile there is a positive feedback to the brain giving us a feeling of joy.

But why stop with just a smile...below are some strategies to try when meeting and greeting students along with your best smile:

Mark, Smile, Whisper

When marking books, identify some parts of students work to remark upon as they enter the class. This is especially powerful in giving confidence, and building a positive mindset towards learning for those students who rarely expect to receive such comments.  Something as simple as whispering: “Ramla, I really liked the headline you created for your newspaper article, well done”, can make the world of difference to a student’s attitude to learning.

Open Door, Open Minds

Get students thinking immediately on entry by placing thinking material in their hand.  This also helps to ensure students are settled and working from the start; minimising opportunities for disruption. Strategies such as:

i)  Giving students a  newspaper headline and asking them to think what the story might be about.  

ii) Asking students to think about questions they would like to ask the photographer of an image you have given them.  

iii) Giving students a debatable/controversial question to think about:

“Teachers have lost our respect due to their inability to become learners.  How can it be that students are the greater authority on technology than teachers”.  Discuss.

Smile, Welcome, Read

Some schools English departments enforce quiet reading for the first 10 minutes of every English lesson with a remit to deviate from this approach now again for something exciting.  Students can read any book of their own choice.   

Maintaining the Climate

The meet and greet strategy is also an opportunity to identify bad weather fronts that could come in at a moments notice.  You may notice that Signe is quieter than usual on entry, or that Eric has his angry look going on, or that you hear Devine and Alice talking negatively about another student in the class on the corridor before entering the classroom..  All these pieces of information are indicators of potential bad weather.  Knowing about these hazards often means we can avoid them.  No teachers enjoys a thunder storm occurring in the middle of a lesson.   Observing the students on entry and their reactions to you, can often tell you something about how they are feeling.  This will often allow you to adapt your interactions to ensure the good weather is maintained.  

Spread the Good Weather

Smile and say goodbye to students, they may just take this positive outlook to their next lesson.

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1. Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman. Grin and Bear It: The Influence of Manipulated Positive Facial Expression on the Stress Response. Psychological Science, 2012 (in press)