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EDU 5046: CLASSROOM INTERACTION Lecture 4: Classroom Climate

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this lesson, students are able to:

1. describe the positive and negative classroom climate, 2. discuss the factors that contribute to classroom climate, and 3. suggest ways to create positive classroom climate.

CLASSROOM CLIMATE

The classroom is not a static place. It is where the teaching and learning processes come to life through elements such as communications and interactions.

The physical structure and the organization of a classroom create an atmosphere that is known as classroom climate.

THE IMPORTANCE OF POSITIVE CLASSROOM CLIMATE:

There is a relationship between classroom environment and students achievements and promotes fuller development of a students positive self-image and enhances self-concept.

Classroom climate can expand or limit students learning processes (McDermott, 1990).

Example: classroom interaction and relationships in the class affects time allocation and students understanding over the given tasks. When there is a trust in the classroom relationships or trust relation, students will channel their time and energy for the learning process. If not teachers time is wasted for managing students behavior, hence students learning processes are affected.

A positive classroom climate will help to promote a positive outlook over the subjects, teachers and the school.

THE TYPES OF CLASSROOM CLIMATE:

Positive climate (supportive) Negative climate (defensive).

SUPPORTIVE CLASSROOM CLIMATE is characterized by:

Openness rather than defensiveness Confidence rather than fear Acceptance rather than rejection Trust rather than suspicion Belonging rather than alienation Order rather than chaos Control rather than frustration

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High expectations rather than low expectations Note: please read, Cooper P. J., & Simonds, C. (1999). Communication for the classroom teacher

(6th ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon, p. 17-18

FACTORS AFFECTING CLASSROOM CLIMATE

1. First dimension: Classroom interaction/relationship (a) Teacher:

Involves teachers attitudes, beliefs, and values.

Attitude and belief towards students:

Is she/he being a motivator to students?

Are all students given equal treatment? (Example: gender biasness). If not, how? And why?

Teachers expectations on students.

Are students given the freedom to make decision on their own learning? According to the conflict theory, teachers try to use power (authority) to control the class

(b) Student:

Students beliefs and attitudes towards the teacher.

example: perceptions based on teachers gender (boys interact more with male teachers as compared to girls)

Students perceptions towards teachers gender (Nadler & Nadler,1990):

i. Male Teacher o More dominants o Teaching is more structured o Emphasis is on the content o Learning is more difficult o Students feel more efficient

ii. Female Teacher

o More supportive o More activities o Emphasis on activity o Likes to exercise favoritism o Student feels theyre less efficient & heres frequent misunderstanding with

the teacher

Students belief about themselves such as their capabilities (self-efficacy) and self-confident in a particular subject.

This is influenced by teachers expectations that are manifested through the way they treat the students. As a result, self-fulfilling prophecy takes place.

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2. Second dimension: Schools and classroom environment

This involves the systematic layout of the classroom (easy to see the blackboard, interact with classmates, clean and tidy environment, cheerful atmosphere)

Location of the class

3. Third dimension: Maintenance of the system and classroom control

Extraordinary activities: eating and drinking in classroom (example: in Japan, teachers and students eat in the class).

Conflicts between teacher and student (there are 4 types):

Procedural conflict (disagreement over T & L strategies activities, and assignments) Goal conflict (differences in values and purpose) Conceptual conflict (differences in terms of ideas, knowledge, theory & opinion) Interpersonal conflict (individual styles and needs)

FACTOR THAT CONTRIBUTE TO NEGATIVE/DEFENSIVE CLASSROOM CLIMATE (Pamela Cooper, pg 12):

Negative feelings like fear, anger, anxiety, depression, humiliation, and boredom encourage a defensive classroom climate.

Also aversive stimuli include the following:

Failure to understand and resolve problems with regard to self-esteem/self-worth

Physical discomfort (sitting too long, etc.)

Frustration from not being able to obtain feedback

Having to stop work in the middle of an interesting activity

Request for help go unmet by teacher

Having to sit through a dull and boring teaching session, and teaching approach that does not address students diversity in terms of ability (lesson too easy or too difficult).

FACTOR THAT CONTRIBUTE TO POSITIVE/SUPPORTIVE CLASSROOM CLIMATE:

Any pleasant event that exists during the time the student is in the presence of the subject matter, creating higher self-concept and motivation to learn.

Positive stimuli include the following

Acknowledging students responses, whether correct or incorrect, as attempt to learn (give constructive comments)

Providing instruction in increments that will allow success most of the time

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Providing statements of instructional objectives and contents which allow students to expect what they are going to learn.

Teaching according to students abilities.

Treating students as a person, not just units in the class.

Giving the students freedom to select and sequencing learning activities.

CLASSROOM PROBLEMS CAUSED BY LACK OF TEACHER AWARENESS AND INFIRMATION

(Jere E. Brophy pg 25)

Teacher domination of classroom communication

Adam & Biddle (1970): teachers are the principal actors in 84% of classroom communication episodes Example: too much of teacher talk (asking questions)

Lack of emphasis on meaning

Teachers talking is more to quantity than quality

Durkin: Teacher gives less comprehensive instruction, students are expected to learn by reading, but not being taught how to do so

Some teachers use instructional time for other purposes.

Recent studies emphasize the importance of focusing on students meaningful conceptualization.

Few attempts to motivate students

Brophy & Kher (1986): from the observed 100 hours (6 classrooms), only 1/3 of the teachers task introduction statements included comments judged likely to enhance student motivation, and there were only 9 attempts to explain to students why it was important to learn the material, and none to explain how students could derive personal satisfaction from learning relevant skills or knowledge.

Not cognizant-of effects of seat location

Seating arrangement influences opportunities for participation

Babad & Ezer (1993): seating location and type of were correlated, e.g; teachers pets and flatterers were seated closer to the teacher, and rejected students tended to be seated on the sides of the classroom.

Teachers often group students by ability in order to reduce the range of individual differences within each group. E.g.: some teachers segregate low-and high-ability students by seating them apart (e.g.: the top readers sit at the same table, the next best group sits together). Such seating patterns may create status differences and engender an attitude of inferiority in low achievers that removes them from the mainstream of classroom life (Is the teacher being fair to these students?).

Overreliance on repetitive seatwork

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Many students spend considerable time doing seatwork while the teacher other students. Students in this instance may engage in off-task behaviour that escapes teacher attention.

Anderson et al. (1985) examined in depth what students do during seatwork times and how they attempt to understand and complete their assignments. Results: 32 students (1st grade classes) spent from 30% to 60% of the time allocated to reading instruction doing some type of seatwork.

50% of seatwork assignments involved commercial products (work books, dittos, and reading material that often of questionable value (e.g: copying sentences with blanks & choosing the correct word from several options)

Teachers seldom explained about what would be learned or how the assignment was related to things that students had learned. They typically monitored students task engagement but not their understanding of what they are doing.

Other researchers found that teachers gave poor quality of seatwork assignments, especially for low-ability students (Allington, 1991; Wells et al., 1995)

WHY TEACHERS ARE UNAWARE OF THE EFFECT OF THEIR BEHAVIOUR? (Goods & Brophy, pg35)

Classroom behaviours happen so rapidly that it is impossible for the teacher to be aware of everything that happens (need training and practices).

Teacher education program may have failed to equip teachers with specific techniques or skills for labeling and analyzing classroom behaviour.

Teachers past experience may contribute to prejudice or perceptions that they have towards students and classroom issues.

Lack of training in specific teaching techniques or with skills for labeling (conceptual labeling of own behaviour) and analyzing classroom behaviour but rather giving global advice to teachers without linking it to specific behaviour). Teacher education programs need to help teachers to enhance their capacity for self-awareness (conceptual label: e.g.: teachers who gave up on low-achieving students who had difficulty responding to questions said that they were eager to keep the discussion moving or they were embarrassed by the silence).

There is no system in place for providing teachers with information about what to do. Teachers are most likely to change when provided with information that shows a discrepancy between what they want to do and what they are doing. Hence, exchanging information between teachers and supervisors/principals (after conduction classroom observations) is one way to address the issue.