5 Innovative Ways To Create A Healthy/Positive Classroom Culture

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Effective classroom learning is significant for the comprehensive development of any student. This is why classroom teaching should be able to influence, engage, and excite the student. Students should feel connected to their school and especially their classes.

Students need to feel that the teachers in the classroom care for them and support them in all their quests. A positive student-teacher relationship can lead to better performance, a decrease in class disruptions and absenteeism.

A positive classroom culture helps create emotional and physical assurances for the student, leading to a spurt in student-teacher engagement and a healthy learning environment.

Here are 5 innovative ways to create a positive classroom culture:

1. Set Up Positive Behavioural Management Protocols

To set up positive behavioral management protocols, you need to come to a consensus with your students.

For starters, you need to outline in no uncertain terms the type of class participation and behavior that you expect and make sure that the conditions are unanimously agreed upon.

Following this, you should give the students opportunities to carry out the expected behavior. Should they fail to comply with the expected behavior, then try to encourage them positively, without using any brute force.

This practice allows the students and teachers to develop a camaraderie based on mutual trust and respect, which in turn leads to a healthy culture in the classroom.

2. Nurture Positive Relationship With The Parents Of Students

The parents of your students are their first teachers. Right from birth, your students have looked up to their parents as role models and will continue to do so. Therefore, as a teacher, you need to encourage your students to develop a healthy relationship with their parents.

Once the parents begin to think of you and your fellow teachers in a positive light, it eventually rubs off on their wards.

According to a survey, 50% of mentors and teachers believe that teachers should correspond on a weekly basis with students’ parents.

It is also essential to involve parents and keep them in the loop when it comes to your teaching plans and methodology. Involving parents builds up a large amount of trust. And if the parents trust you, the chances of the student trusting you increases exponentially.

3. Set High Expectations

Setting high expectations from your students can go a long way in fostering the positive classroom culture you are looking to establish.

Students always seek validation. They are young, which means they must be encouraged at all times.

When you start to expect nothing but the best from the students, they begin to believe in themselves.

In an attempt to prove you right, get validated, and not let you down, they start working hard and try to achieve the goals you have earmarked for them.

You must render your support by continually reiterating the fact that you believe in them and are sure they will do well. This can work wonders for their self-confidence. Giving them ample opportunity to prove themselves will only undergird that statement, and the students may surprise you with their results. This will ultimately lead to a highly motivated environment in the classroom, which can provide the ideal atmosphere for the development of a healthy culture.

4. Introduce Your Students To AR And VR

The world is changing every day, and the future lies in digitalization and emerging technology like artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, and more.

It is thus a great idea to expose your students to augmented reality and virtual reality early on during their student days, and demonstrate the power of these tools.

Students often suffer from attention-deficiency or frequent lapses in concentration.

The following formula can calculate the average length of a student's span:

Age x 2-5 minutes = Average Attention Span

Going by this formula, here is a regular attention span chart:

As is discernible, students tend to have a shorter time span.

Many of them may get bored with physical textbooks, most of which rely on the imagination of students to explain complex processes like digestive system or function of the heart.

It is difficult for some students to imagine the African Savannah or the ice-packed Tundra, sitting in the cozy confines of a classroom.

Augmented reality can provide an extremely interesting alternative to this type of teaching. With AR, the student can get to see first-hand what it is like inside your respiratory system, how the inside of a shark looks like or how the Battle of Waterloo was fought.

Many institutions have begun to use such technological advances. It is, without a doubt, a great way to build a positive culture in the classroom.

It not only captures the imagination of your students but also re-ignites their desire to learn.

5. Encourage Positive Inter-Student relationship

In the classroom, emphasize on the necessity to treat fellow students with respect and dignity.

Focus on encouraging your students to use respectful language and care for each other’s views and needs.

Moreover, make sure to reward good behavior and at the same time, deal with a firm hand when it comes to negative behavior.

With more opportunities given to the students to practice a positive behavior in the classroom, more holistic development of students takes place.

Conclusion

In this era, it is critical to leverage technology in the classroom.

Exposing students to technology early on in life helps build essential skills like self-reliance, group and team-work, peer learning, interpersonal skills, and decisive decision making.

It is a technology-driven world out there, and the more familiar a student gets before stepping out there, the better it is for him or her.

At the same time, a positive classroom environment is supportive of the integrated development of the student. The opportunity that technology presents for building a healthy classroom culture is an added advantage that should be exploited.