Coaching Classroom Climate

Climate is the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area. Although weather changes hour-to-hour-, day-to-day and month-to-month, it’s the region’s weather patterns, tracked over time, that are considered its climate.

Similarly, classroom elements change hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and month-to-month, but there are patterns that make up a classroom’s climate or culture. Some of these patterns are clear routines; others are subtle ways of being. All influence learning, and all can be coached.
 
Establishing a safe learning environment is an important goal that can be embedded in coaching work. No matter what instructional practice is the coaching focus, the teacher you are working with can simultaneously consider teaching dispositions and the ways in which a safe environment is created.
 
Creating Safe Spaces
Classrooms that have a psychologically safe environment foster humanity, encourage resilience, and support learning, Let’s consider how these safe spaces are created and then turn attention to how to coach them.
 
Trust
Teacher-student relationships of trust create safe spaces for students. Trust is built through consistency; it increases when the teacher follows through with what she says. Teachers should “say what they mean and mean what they say.” Sometimes this means biting your tongue, holding back on threats you might not follow through with. By staying calm when things get hectic or stressful, the teacher de-escalates the situation and builds students’ sense of security.  Trust is also built with smiles and offers of reassurance.
 
Trust is a two-way street. Teachers create relationships of trust when they give students responsibilities, make sure they have the tools to complete them, and then offer time and patience while students figure out how to fulfill their responsibilities. Whether it is a class job or planning an upcoming field trip, students who have a sense of ownership feel safety and belonging. Trust is also engendered when teachers take the time to get to know their students and create a culture of belonging.
 
Belonging
Classrooms with a culture of belonging feel safe for all students. Safety is created when students’ unique needs are acknowledged. Equity does not mean treating everyone the same, but it does mean treating everyone fairly.
 
Ensuring Representation.  A culture of belonging is created when the diversity of students in the classroom is represented. Representation should be reflected in instructional materials. What types of authors, families, neighborhoods, religions, cultures, and classes are represented in the materials routinely used in the classroom? Beyond the materials, we can consider representation in classroom instruction. Is history interrogated? Is representation critically discussed? Could teachers’ own knowledge of students’ backgrounds be increased?
 
Establishing Social Expectations.  Children do not automatically know how to interact appropriately with one another and with the teachers. These expectations can be modeled and taught. Establishing communication protocols helps students learn norms and build healthy relationships, in and out of the classroom. Opportunities for partner and group work are a chance to practice these expectations; these experiences support social-emotional learning that is embedded throughout the day. Such authentic opportunities are more effective than 10 minutes set aside specifically for SEL.
 
Even when relationship expectations are taught and modeled by the teacher and opportunities for supported practice are provided, student interactions will need to be monitored. A classroom environment is a safe space when the teacher attends to how students treat one another.  Students need to see that disrespectful interactions are not acceptable in their classroom.
 
Accentuating Assets.  Another way to create belonging is through an asset-based teaching approach. Asset-oriented teachers view their students as capable learners. They recognize differences as attributes to be celebrated. Connecting learning to experiences students have had and what students already know is an asset-based approach that builds belonging. Teachers can also look for opportunities to connect new learning to students’ out-of-school experiences. How can they apply these new concepts in their homes and communities?
 
Asset-oriented teachers build on students’ strengths. Teachers who provide feedback through an asset-based lens leverage what students already know and can do in order to move the learning forward. They look for budding understandings and skills and help them to bloom.
 
Judgment
Teachers create psychologically-safe environments when they build on students’ strengths and celebrate big and small accomplishments rather than emphasizing what’s missing or needs work. Teachers create safe spaces when they affirm and praise more than they correct and pointing out errors. Their approach reflects an attitude of growth rather than working to “fill in the gaps” and address weaknesses.
 
Reducing negative judgements helps students take risks and recognize that mistakes are part of learning. We grow by struggling and changing our course.  Making mistakes can lead to gentleness and self-compassion when students are encouraged to figure out what went wrong, be patient, and keep going.  Students learn it’s okay not to be perfect. When students have a need for perfection, they may not try, and avoidance doesn’t set students up for success in the long run. Expecting perfection actually sets us up for failure. Mistakes make us stronger and more resilient. Teachers should frame mistakes as learning opportunities. They need to say out loud that perfection is not realistic and that we should all learn through mistakes.
 
Coaching the Climate
So, how do coaches help teachers build a safe classroom climate that includes trust and belonging and reduces judgment? As always, that depends on the teacher’s needs. The five moves in the GIR model can be a guide to think it through.
 
Model
As coaches, are we modeling asset-based thinking? Our own language is a cue for how teachers think about their students. Are we emphasizing strengths or gaps?
 
In our work with teachers, are we modeling a growth approach in our expectations for the teachers themselves? Are we modeling reassurance in our interactions with them? Are we celebrating gains big and small?  Are we modeling calm self-regulation when things get stressful?
 
If we are invited to model a lesson, we can model the type of consistency in classroom expectations that builds trust. We can be clear, during the lesson, about expectations for partner talk or group work. We can model how to draw on students’ strengths to support belonging. We can model how to acknowledge mistakes in ways that build resilience.
 
Recommend
To help teachers build trust with students, we might recommend that teachers consider classroom responsibilities that students are ready for. We could offer some examples, like having a student whose job is to turn on and calibrate Smartboard each morning, or to check that all Chromebooks are plugged in at the end of the day. We could nudge teachers to give students a voice and a role in planning that upcoming class party.
 
If teachers recognize a need to expand their classroom libraries, we could recommend favorite titles that represent the diversity of their classrooms. We could offer resources to build teachers understanding of the culture of a student in their class that they may be unfamiliar with.
 
Ask Questions
During planning and reflective conversations, the questions we ask can support teachers’ efforts to create a safer classroom environment. To encourage an asset-based approach that builds on students’ culture, knowledge, and experiences, we can ask about individual students’ and what they bring to the class. This connection goes both ways – what students bring into the classroom and what they take back into their communities. So when planning with a teacher, we could ask questions like, “How could students apply these skills at home? How could we encourage that? What would be a meaningful connection?”
 
To encourage critical conversation, after a class discussion that we didn’t observe, we might ask, “What different perspectives did students share?” If there was a disrespectful exchange among students, we could help teachers unpack it by asking questions about triggers and expectations.
 
Affirm & Praise
If teachers’ classroom libraries include representations of diversity, we can point these out and offer praise. If we observe a lesson and notice a teacher conferring with a student and point out what that student has done well, we can applaud! We can praise them for praising. 😊
 
When teachers adroitly turn an incorrect answer into an opportunity for learning, that is a time to affirm. If a teacher acknowledges her own error and says, “That’s okay, we all make mistakes – teachers, too!” we can affirm her stance.
 
Embedded Work
Coaches help teachers create a safe environment where learning can thrive. Creating environments of trust, belonging and reduced judgment happens alongside the development of skills and content knowledge. Just like the SEL experiences for students, this work can be embedded in our support, no matter the coaching-cycle focus.

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SPECIAL ACCOUNCEMENT:
This Tuesday, Feb. 7, I’m launching an online book group for my book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education. Each week, I’ll post a video and discussion prompts on Facebook here:

facebook.com/mycoachescouch

and you can post anytime. I’m hoping for a healthy discussion! The book study goes through March 24. You can participate in the discussion without officially joining, but if you’d like a reminder whenever a new video and discussion are available, please sign up here.

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This week, you might want to take a look at:
 
Using classroom video as a coaching tool:
 
https://www.insightadvance.com/blog/3-ways-for-teachers-to-improve-their-practice-using-video
 
 
Responding to childhood trauma with dignity and kindness:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/trauma-and-literacy/
 
 
Organizational drawings boost understanding:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/video/sketchnotes-concept-map-comprehension
 
 
This short video about how to create timelines in Google Sheets:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqdjTMit4tU
 
 
This podcast about getting small businesses involved in education:
 
https://www.teachingchannel.com/blog/podcast-65
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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Hooray!!! My book, Differentiated Mentoring & Coaching in Education: From Preservice Teacher to Expert Practitioner is available from Teachers College Press!  I’m so excited to share it with you! You can use the code: FEB2023 for 15% off plus FREE SHIPPING. Click  here  and I’ll email you the free Book Group Study Guide that includes questions, prompts, and activities you can use as you share the book with colleagues.  Or join our free online book group (described above). I hope you’ll love this book as much as I loved making it for you!
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