Classrooms - Maintaining a Positive Learning Environment

A positive classroom environment comes from thehas an opportunity to share those pieces of their lives
interaction of faculty and students in the curriculum.outside the classroom that they find important. It helps
Here are some tips that can help you maintain theus appreciate who they are and it brings a rich human
positive energy that is so helpful for creating andimension to the classroom environment that will pay
effective learning climate.off and everything else that we do.
Model the positive enthusiasm as a teacher that youSimilarly, we want to end each class with a check out
hope your students will demonstrate when they cometo give everyone a chance to acknowledge what it is
to your class. You've got to lead the way when itthat was most meaningful for them or perhaps even
comes to establishing a positive energy. You've got totheir biggest unanswered questions.
communicate your excitement in the topic and theAnother technique is to solicit those biggest
feeling that this is the best place that we can be forunanswered questions at the end of our class in order
the next two hours.for you to do some follow-up research that you will
Keep in mind the connection of this particular class toget back to them in writing within 48 hours. In this way
be positive goal at the end of the course or thethere is a sense of a continuing adventure into
semester or the school year were the degreeknowledge associated with your class that makes
program. We've got to see how each of thesethem want to come back for more.
lessons contributes to the greater whole. In that wayFinally, make sure you are encouraging rich participation
we can tap into the positive energy associated withof the students. You can do this by asking them to do
the ultimate goal.some outside reading and bring in one new fact or
We've got to remember that we are social animalsresource not contained in the syllabus in order to
involved in a collaborative learning process in theintroduce an element of surprise to our discussions. It's
classroom. As such, we've got to acknowledge ouramazing how valuable these outside contributions can
human need for connection and authenticity. Trybe.
starting each class with a check in in which everyoneGood luck and keep up the flow!