Have you ever noticed that each teacher’s classroom has its own unique vibe? The learning environment you create significantly impacts student achievement. Developing your classroom culture as a new educator should be a conscious, mindful process with your pupils’ best interests at the forefront.

However, creating a positive learning atmosphere is easier said than done. It requires you to develop the right soft skills to relate to a wide range of students and engage them effectively. It also means understanding your teaching style, recognizing your inherent strengths and honoring your values. It entails focusing on kids, not only the subject matter. Here’s how to rock it as a new teacher.

What Is Classroom Culture?

Classroom culture refers to the shared values and norms within the educational environment and significantly impacts student behavior and achievement. It may entail elements such as the following:

• Treating fellow students and faculty with respect and refraining from offensive language and behaviors that disrupt the learning environment.

• Providing positive reinforcement for desired behaviors, such as participating in group discussions and collaborating with other students.

• Maintaining an open-door policy that welcomes parent visitors and collaborates with community resources to enhance the educational experience.

• Conserving shared resources and maintaining a safe, tidy and hygienic learning space.

A positive classroom culture retains plenty of room for exercising creativity. For example, one might be noisier and more active with lots of movement, while another is quieter and subdued. However, learners who feel safe participating in both environments may have comparable learning outcomes.

Why Classroom Culture Matters

Classroom culture matters because students must, first and foremost, feel safe for learning to occur. For example, they must feel secure offering possible answers to questions and contributing to discussions without fear of ridicule. Children who feel insecure in the school environment often tune out and become disengaged, doing the bare minimum to get by and pass the course.

Furthermore, a positive classroom culture lends value to the subject matter. How many times have teachers heard, “Why do I have to learn this? When am I ever going to use it, anyway?” Educators who effectively convey the significance excite students and increase engagement, giving them a reason why their learning matters beyond a grade on their report card.

Finally, a positive classroom culture teaches students the soft skills they need to succeed in the workforce. Not all kids see qualities like empathy, proactive communication and conflict resolution modeled in healthy ways at home. Observing and participating in class shows them a different way of doing things, one that will help them get along better with future colleagues and employers.

---

---

5 Tips for Developing Classroom Culture

A positive classroom culture rarely arises spontaneously. It takes a concerted effort as a teacher to model the behaviors you wish to see, establish guidelines for students to follow and convey them in a manner that helps them recognize their value and buy-in.

The process begins with self-evaluation. What are your values as an educator? How would your ideal classroom run? What are your strengths, and what areas could use improvement? Once you assess the areas you need to develop, hone the following five skills, focusing first on the ones where you feel less confident.

1. Amass Your Resources

As an educator, it’s OK to say you don’t know something. Admitting to this can help build a positive classroom culture by providing a chance to model how to find the right answers. However, students are human and will lose patience and become distracted if they have to wait while you fumble awkwardly.

Fortunately, technology makes finding the right answer speedier than ever — but don’t hide your search from your students. Instead, use a projector and talk them through how and why you use the process you do. Let them contribute. For example, they might offer different search phrases or indicate whether or not they think a source is reliable and why.

Remember that many students are highly tech-savvy, especially after the pandemic ushered in different online learning platforms. Part of developing your classroom culture should include mastering these tools so you can use them seamlessly in instruction instead of letting kids grow distracted while you figure out how to share your screen.

2. Collaborate With Colleagues

One of the most effective things you can do as a new educator is to spend time in your colleagues’ classrooms, observing their culture and picking up valuable tips you can use to hone yours. Some districts offer official mentorship programs, but if not, you can take the reins. Ask your colleagues for permission to observe a class or two and identify someone whose classroom culture you admire.

Set up a time to chat with this colleague. Tell them how much you admire what they’ve done and ask if they’d be willing to let you learn from them. If they agree, collaborate on specific techniques you can use to develop your classroom culture. Establish periodic check-ins to share your progress and get fresh pointers and answers to lingering questions.

3. Discover Your Leadership Style

Understanding your leadership style can help you develop your classroom culture. For example, learning that you lean toward a coercive style enables you to take a step back and tone down your firmness when dealing with students who may have a trauma history and may feel triggered by such methods.

Discovering your leadership style is fun. You can take an online quiz to find yours. Then, dig into Daniel Goleman’s books on leadership, such as “The New Leaders,” “Primal Leadership” and “The Emotionally Intelligent Reader,” to expand your repertoire and discover alternatives to your typical way of doing things. Knowing your options helps you make more mindful decisions about which techniques to use in specific situations.

4. Hone Your Emotional Intelligence

Students with emotional intelligence tend to perform better academically than their peers. While you can teach skills like emotional regulation, not all children witness examples of this in action at home. You can fill in the gap and provide a healthy model, but first, you must address your own demons.

What are your triggers? For example, some educators misinterpret honest, if somewhat playful, student inquiries as a challenge to their authority. Becoming reactive and displaying visible irritation when a student asks a question teaches a silent lesson — accept what you hear without complaint or examination. Is that truly the message you want to send?

Examine your unconscious biases. For example, it’s easy to assume a student with body odor doesn’t care about hygiene. However, the real answer may be that they never learned. If it’s distracting to the learning environment, speaking to them privately and helping them find resources — while keeping your reactions in check — is far more effective than ignoring the issue. If you notice it, their peers do, too, and the teasing they endure affects their ability to learn and their attitude toward school in general.

5. Master Effective Conflict Resolution

Conflicts invariably arise whenever groups of people come together. Your students look to you as a model for solving such issues, which means honing your resolution skills.

Effective conflict resolution requires active listening, assertive communication and firm boundaries. Students should first and foremost know the expectations, which requires you to post classroom guidelines and review them with your class. Should an issue arise, take the following steps:

• Let each party explain their side.

• Discover the common goal — what does each person hope to accomplish? It's typically a safe and conducive learning environment, but may vary.

• Establish safety by clearly explaining what behaviors are and aren’t OK and the consequences for crossing boundaries.

• Take accountability for your role in the conflict and demonstrate empathy, encouraging the other parties to do the same if the matter involves more than one student.

• Review options and decide on a win-win solution.

Modeling conflict resolution that demonstrates mutual respect and requires no yelling or harsh discipline teaches students a crucial skill. Furthermore, it contributes to a positive classroom culture, as students know you will take their concerns seriously and work actively with them to come to a mutually agreeable solution.

Developing Classroom Culture as a New Educator

Classroom culture matters. A positive learning environment improves outcomes and increases student engagement, and developing it as a new educator is an active process. Take time to hone your skills and make your classroom a place where students want to learn.

---