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: Make Sure Every Voice is Heard
Classroom culture is largely about the way that teachers and students communicate and the way that students communicate with each other. In both cases, culture cannot be optimized until all students are participating in discussions and sharing their voices. If some students feel silenced, then they will not contribute and miss out on valuable learning experiences. When certain students feel uncomfortable speaking, class can become stale and boring, since teachers and students know that only a few voices will do all the talking. When all students’ voices are consistently heard in the classroom, then teachers have the chance to push students in their speaking abilities, even using tools like cold calling to maximize participation and formatively assess the class. 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.