Classroom environment is one of the most important factors affecting student learning. Students learn better when they view the learning environment as positive and supportive. A positive environment is one in which students feel like they belong, can trust others, and feel encouraged to tackle challenges, take risks, and ask questions. This can be powerful in problem-solving based challenges and hands-on science experiments, where something not working doesn’t equate to failure. Building a sense of community in the classroom is necessary to foster healthy attitudes towards learning.

Imagine a negative environment where students feel anxious, and disrespected by their teacher and peers. The environment could become very competitive. Imagine trying to employ learning methods where collaborative learning and support is necessary, such as in project-based activities in STEM. The negative environment would fight against the collaborative efforts and the students would be less intrinsically motivated.

Here are some of our favourite ways that superstar teachers are encouraging a positive learning environment in their classrooms.

The “secret mission” method

Tom Savagar recently tweeted about giving his class a secret mission every week, where if other members of staff mentioned the class doing something then the whole class gains steps towards a class reward. What a great way to encourage positive behaviours in the classroom that can spread throughout the school.

A thing I’ve started doing with my class is giving them a ‘secret mission’, where they have to do something and if another staff member tells me about it the whole class moves up my rewards chart. Last week was holding doors for people, this week is asking people about their day.

— Tom Savagar (@TomSavagar) October 6, 2018

Starting the day on the right foot

Starting the day off the right way can make all the difference to the mentality students have in the classroom. We love these two classes ways of getting the day started in a super positive way.

First up we’ve got this teacher from the USA, who has a personalised handshake for each of his students as they come into the class in the morning.

Second is this preschool class. A designated student is a greeter for the week, and the other students get to choose between a high five, handshake, fist bump or a hug as their greeting coming into class in the morning. As Smart Parent Advice notes, encouragement and praise is important for toddlers too!

Fuzzy Rewards

We love this list from We are Teachers – especially number 4 which is all about rewards for kindness and good behaviour in the classroom. Whenever a student does something kind, he or she is rewarded with a fuzzy pom-pom (from another student or the teacher). When a child’s bucket is filled up to the top the class applauds and the student gets to dump it into the class bucket (a plastic beach bucket). When the beach bucket is full the whole class gets a reward.

What are your favourite ways to embrace positive learning environments in the classroom? We’ve got some great other ways to enhance your classroom on our podcasts. Check them out!

Author: Kate O’Sullivan