Title: How to Get Classroom Culture Right | Getting Smart
Headings: How to Get Classroom Culture Right
How to Get Classroom Culture Right
Make Sure Every Voice is Heard
Create a Clear Communication Line With Parents
Integrate Social and Emotional Learning Programs
Offer Authentic Learning Experiences
Facilitate Successful Collaboration

Content: Seventeen-year veteran teacher Stacey Ryan acknowledges the connection between hearing every voice and assessing student abilities in her piece, “3 Tech Tools that Inspire Collaboration.” She writes, “By capturing students’ learning in a small-group setting and without the teacher at their side, I am able to hear my students think aloud and readily verbalize what they know.” Stacey uses small au dio devices offered by Lightspeed, which allow her to listen in on students’ small-group discussions. Effective communication is a theme in my next point, too: Create a Clear Communication Line With Parents
It’s easy to fall into the day-to-day rhythm of the school year and forget that students have lives outside of the hours we spend with them each week. Opening up a solid line of communication with parents allows teachers to see a fuller picture of students’ personalities and behavior in the classroom. It can help to prevent issues before they ever arise, and it can help teachers feel more comfortable bringing other stakeholders, like counselors and administrators, into conversations when more help is needed. The idea of opening up lines of communication with parents probably brings to mind the dreaded “phone call home” that teachers make when a student is misbehaving or under-performing. Of course, teachers still need to address students’ challenges with parents, but now there are many options available to encourage a more positive cycle of conversation between parents and teachers. Many schools are adopting tools like Bloomz to help facilitate rich dialogue between schools and home.