When you think about your school days, what are your fond memories? Maybe the teacher who taught so well; the teacher who connected deeply making you love the subject that you did not even think of; those study halls; those fun club activities; and of course, your school friends! But, did you ever think how do the teachers make this all happen? How was this teaching and learning possible, given the array of subjects you learn at school, the variety of topics you cover in each subject, and the need to teach diverse students with different learning abilities and needs?  How did the teachers make their teaching effective?

Many of you will agree that if you are to teach effectively and for students to learn, you may need to have a plan to deliver your class. But keep in mind that you may have the best content-wise lesson plan for your class and you may even have the best resources to deliver your instruction, however, if you want to be a successful teacher, you need to also create the atmosphere for teaching and learning. Hence, in order to create an atmosphere for learning, classroom management plan serves as a prerequisite for effective teaching and learning (Allen, 1996).

In the example above, you can see how some traditional approaches to behavior management–including card-flipping systems and silent lunch–don’t get to the root of the problem and actually can cause more harm, making them ineffective practices. In this chapter, we will investigate and reflect on the elements of the classroom environment, how trauma impacts classroom environments, critical community stakeholders in classroom environments, and strategies for building a positive classroom environment.

5.1 Elements of classroom environment

In this section, we will differentiate between classroom management and efforts to create an equitable classroom community for all students

In order for students to be successful at school, we must first carefully craft a supportive, learning-centered classroom environment. There are many aspects to consider when designing your classroom environment. Some are within your direct control as an educator, and even though others might appear out of reach, when you develop strong relationships with your students, you can do the imaginable.

Let’s focus on three specific things you can control as you craft your own classroom environment: physical set-up, overall atmosphere, and student behavior and attitudes towards learning. Together, you may hear these elements referred to as “classroom management.” The idea behind this term is that you have certain systems in your classroom that need to be “managed,” or organized, in order to scaffold your students’ success. However, this term has had a lot of criticism lately as the word “management” holds a power dynamic that we want to avoid in our classrooms. Instead, we want to create a welcoming environment that focuses on enhancing the strengths of students.

• Physical set-up: One component of classroom management is the physical arrangement of the room. Where will students keep their personal belongings? How will students access instructional materials throughout the day? A clear organizational system within the physical arrangement of the room is necessary. How are desks and tables arranged? Can all students easily see the teacher, classmates and the board? Are there spaces for students to participate in whole-group, small-group and individual learning?
  

  

   Are learning materials (including math manipulatives, paper, pencils, science notebooks, and books for reading) easily accessible and organized? Are students with disabilities able to access the materials and move around the classroom easily? Can emergent bilinguals understand where to access the materials?

• Overall atmosphere: Does the classroom feel structured, warm, and welcoming, or does it feel cold, sterile, and depersonalized? Do students see themselves in the environment? Does it reflect their cultures, values and traditions? Does the teacher interact with students in positive ways that build their trust, or does the teacher yell at students and talk down to them? Do students feel like this is a “home” for them and their learning, or do they count down the hours each day until they can leave?
• Agreements: Has the teacher created community agreements with students? Are there clear expectations of how students should learn in the classroom? Are the systems in place for students to respect their own learning and the learning of others? Is the teacher acknowledging the work that all of the students are doing individually and as a group? Are the agreements for all of the students, or are some students in certain groups offered more attention and maybe more rewards or more consequences compared with similar behaviors in their peers? Is there a communication system in place so educators, students, and families know these agreements and how the performance of their specific student measures up?

These elements are essential for new teachers to have at the forefront as this will ensure a proactive and warm approach to creating a classroom environment. According to Canter, an assertive teacher “clearly and firmly expresses their needs. They have positive expectations of students, and this is reflected in their words and actions. Because they say what they mean and mean what they say, students know the limits in the classroom. When they must respond to inappropriate behavior, they are consistent and fair. Because students are not required to play guessing games with the teacher, and because they consider the teacher as fair, the teacher is respected and the teacher’s expectations are met.” (Canter, 2010)

We talked about some elements that might be beyond the teacher’s control in the classroom, such as trauma that students may have experienced previously, or what resources families or communities have access to or lack. However, as stated before, when teachers develop strong relationships with students and their families, guiding them through the system and how to find support systems will be within your reach as an educator.

Another example that may seem out of reach is that cultural differences manifest themselves as apparent “misbehavior.” For example, if an educator comes from a culture where young people should look their elders in the eyes to show respect, they may accidentally label “misbehavior” in students who come from cultures where avoiding eye contact is actually a sign of respect. Zaretta Hammond, in her book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, states that we must use culture as a trust builder. In order for educators to understand about culture and its impact on student-teacher relationship, she has created a visual called the Culture Tree.

Video 5.1

Watch the above video to understand the various levels of Hammond’s Cultural Tree.

Hammond’s “cultural tree” identifies three levels of culture:

1. Surface level (the leaves): This level is made up of cultural aspects you can see, like food, dress, etc.
2. Shallow culture (the trunk): This level includes cultural aspects that are less explicit, like concepts of time, personal space, and eye contact.
3. Deep culture (the roots): This level is the collective unconscious, the beliefs and norms that provide the foundation for culture. Examples include concepts of fairness, concepts of self, and spirituality.

Therefore, the job of educators and teachers is to learn about different cultures and acknowledge those differences in the classroom as well as share their own culture and experiences with students. This will allow students to feel welcome and appreciated as well as develop a strong sense of belonging.

Trauma, resources, and culture, sometimes are not considered as part of “creating a welcoming classroom environment”. However, these aspects have a big impact on the overall classroom environment, and therefore are important to be aware of. For this reason, we intentionally refer to “classroom environment” throughout this chapter because we feel it is more inclusive of the many contexts and systems that impact your students’ learning success.

5.2 Trauma in the Educational Setting

In chapter 4, we explained in detail what it means for students to have trauma and its impact in the classroom as well as the difficulty that students experience with regulating their emotions. Therefore, when thinking of a classroom environment, teachers need to make sure they are creating a warm and welcoming environment where all students can thrive.

On the other hand, we need to focus on the trauma our students of color experience just for being students of color. In her book Cultivating Genius, Gholdy Muhamad (2022), talks about racial trauma. She states that educators talk a lot about emotional trauma or trauma from childhood but educators talk less about the effects of racial trauma in schools for students. What happens when teachers think less about other people who share the same race or identity of their students? Do teachers think this type of thinking never manifests or makes its way into classrooms? We don’t leave our racism, biases, political agendas, or ideologies at home when we enter classroom spaces. When deficit thinking leads to trauma, our students may be affected for the rest of their lives. Our young people may feel like they don’t belong; they may feel worthless or that they are not good enough. Their academics and engagement are negatively affected as a result. This can follow them throughout their lives and disrupt their joy.

Therefore, teachers need to self reflect on their own biases. They need to name them and work towards disrupting this kind of thinking so that we can dismantle the systems of oppression that permeate our institutions.

Adverse Childhood Settings

Our students, like Joey, come to school each day wearing an invisible backpack, filled with all of the experiences they have had in life. Some of these invisible backpacks are light because our students’ experiences thus far have been loving, safe, and predictable. Unfortunately, too many of our students wear heavy backpacks full of experiences that have been frightening, unpredictable, and unsafe. These experiences can be characterized as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Childhood exposure to abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction may lead to increased social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties as well as decreased academic performance in the educational environment. Additionally, traditional means of interventions and support may not be successful in modifying behaviors for the long-term. Meeting the needs of our students impacted by adverse childhood experiences requires a shift in the educational setting to focus on the consistent development of healthy relationships between students and staff including the implementation of trauma-informed classrooms and interventions.

Learn more about ACEs according to Nadine Burke Harris in the following TedTalk:

Video 5.2

ACES in the Classroom

Our students’ invisible backpacks can be filled with experiences that weigh them down and impact their ability to function successfully in the educational environment. These can be single-episode experiences, such as a house fire or car accident, or the more complex experience of developmental traumas. Developmental traumas can include ongoing physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, physical and emotional neglect, and household dysfunction. Abuse is defined by a caregiver’s action, or failure to act, resulting in death, significant physical or emotional harm, or the exploitation of a child under the age of 18 (Child Welfare Information Gateway, n.d.). Physical neglect can include failure to consistently meet basic needs such as food and shelter, as well as failure to provide a safe, clean environment. Failure to provide adequate medical and dental care are also forms of neglect, though families without resources are subject to these issues and, as a result, children experience a lack of adequate care, beyond their families’ control. Emotional neglect involves the failure to meet or recognize a child’s emotional needs. Household dysfunction is the most common adverse childhood experience in childhood as many of the characteristics are often co-occurring. This category includes a variety of factors impacting caregivers such as divorce or separation, alcohol and/or substance abuse, mental health issues, domestic violence, and incarceration (Felitti et al., 1998).

Bullying in the Classroom

While ACEs occur outside of the classroom setting, another element of trauma for students in school can be bullying. In 2017, about 20 percent of students ages 12–18 reported being bullied at school during the school year (U.S. Department of Justice, 2017). In order for behavior to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:

1. An imbalance of power. Students who bully use their power–such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity–to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
2. Repetition of behavior. Bullying behaviors happen more than once and establish a pattern of behavior. One stand-alone hurtful comment or action is not the same as bullying.

There are generally three types of bullying: verbal bullying, social bullying, and physical bullying. Verbal bullying is saying mean things and includes behaviors such as teasing, name calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting and threatening to cause harm. Social bullying, sometimes referred to as relational bullying, involves hurting someone’s reputation or relationships. Social bullying includes leaving someone out on purpose, telling other children not to be friends with someone, spreading rumors about someone, and/or embarrassing someone in public. Physical bullying involves hurting a person’s body or possessions. Physical bullying includes behaviors such as kicking or hitting, spitting, tripping or pushing, taking or breaking someone’s things, and/or making rude or mean hand gestures. In 2017, about 42 percent of students who reported being bullied at school indicated that the bullying was related to at least one of the following characteristics: physical appearance (30%), race (10%), gender (8%), disability (7%), ethnicity (7%), religion (5%), and sexual orientation (4%) (U.S. Department of Justice, 2017).

Video 5.3

Cyberbullying, also referred to as electronic bullying, is bullying that takes place using electronic technology.  Examples of cyberbullying include mean text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing pictures, videos, websites, or fake profiles.

Unlike traditional bullying, cyberbullying can happen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and reach a student even when they are alone. It can happen any time of day or night. Cyberbullying messages can be posted anonymously and distributed quickly to a wide audience. It can be difficult and sometimes impossible to trace the source. Deleting inappropriate or harassing messages, texts, and pictures can be extremely difficult after they have been posted or sent.

In our increasingly technological world, instances of cyberbullying are becoming more common. Cyberbullying is particularly hard to control because it can happen anytime, anywhere, and evidence of the original creator of hurtful content can be deleted or obscured.Bullying and cyberbullying have significant implications when it comes to trauma and our students’ school and life experiences. Children who are cyberbullied or bullied in school are more likely to use drugs and alcohol, skip school, be unwilling to attend school, receive poor grades, have lower self-esteem and more health problems. There can also be the most devastating of consequences: a child committing suicide.

As an educator, you are in a position to prevent bullying or intervene when it happens. Later in this chapter, we will discuss how to create a positive classroom environment for students in order to mitigate the chances of bullying in school and beyond.

5.3 Families and the Community

This statement in the box above is one you may have already heard from teachers talking about their students’ families, or is one you will likely hear sometime during your teaching career. This statement conveys a deficit view of families by positioning families as “uncaring,” while the reality is likely quite different. Families might be unable to attend a conference due to various challenges with scheduling, transportation, childcare, or their own negative experiences in school. This statement also reveals misunderstandings of the differences between family involvement versus family engagement, two terms that are often used interchangeably but actually are distinct concepts.

Family Involvement vs. Family Engagement

Family involvement tends to be more school-oriented, whereas family engagement tends to be more family-oriented. Ferlazzo (2011) described family involvement as the school holding the expectations for family participation and telling families what they need to do. In other words, the school does things “to” or “for” families and families respond. For example, consider when it is time for teacher conferences: the school sends out a schedule, and the expectation is that families will come to school at the appointed time. The goal for these meetings is often a one-sided transition of information, where the teacher reports back to the family how the student is performing in class, while expecting the family to be somewhat passive acceptors of this information.

Family engagement, on the other hand, indicates working “with” families: sharing responsibility and working together to support children’s learning. In this case, when it is time for teacher conferences, the teachers are encouraged to work with families and find ways to communicate with all of them. While some families will come to school at the scheduled time, some might schedule a phone call when they are on break from work, while others might prefer to do FaceTime because they want to see the teacher. Teachers will also engage family members as contributors, asking them what they have seen at home, or what their celebrations, goals, or concerns are for their child’s learning.

Schools cannot exist without families, and therefore there is a great need for partnerships between schools and families. Families can contribute to school communities in a variety of ways, even well beyond volunteering in classrooms or contributing to required fundraisers. Families can use their firsthand knowledge of the local community to help connect teachers with community agencies or experts for a field trip or classroom visits. All students bring a wealth of background experiences–often built with their families–to the classroom each day, which can help students connect to and understand learning goals and the world around them. Remember that while there are some more visible, traditional forms of support (like volunteering or joining the PTA), families partner with educators in limitless ways to support a common goal: their child’s learning and growth.

Building strong partnerships between schools and families also requires a reconfiguration of the traditional view of “family.” Be careful not to assume that a student’s family consists of a mother and father. Families might consist of same-sex parents, single parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, step-parents, adopted parents, foster parents, older siblings, and more. For this reason, using the word “family” instead of “parents” can be more inclusive. In addition, we need to view communities as part of families, and schools can engage with their community “families” in creative ways. For example, some schools have “grandmas.” These community grandmas come into the classroom a few days a week to tell stories about their lives and listen to students share their own stories. This partnership demonstrates a beautiful way to build meaningful relationships between the school and community.

5.4 Interrupting Bias and Stereotypes in School/Family Partnerships

Chimamanda Adichie (2009) warns us about stereotypes in her TED Talk, The Danger of a Single Story (video 5.4) as we previously studied in our final activity in chapter 3. The issue with stereotypes, she states, is that they are partial and provide one lens: “they make one story the only story.” Viewing children and families through one lens, a deficit lens, is harmful and imposes limits on what they can accomplish. This “single story” is especially likely to harm children and families of color.

Sometimes, single stories about our families–especially families and communities of color–can lead to stereotypes and assumptions that hurt our families and weaken school/family partnerships. Let’s look at two fairly common stereotypes.

One common stereotype is that families do not come to school because they do not care. In reality, there are many possible reasons why families do not come to school. Edwards (2016) offers that families of color may have had unpleasant experiences in schools themselves and are not willing to succumb to the “ghosts” of school again. As children they were not welcome or well-treated in school and cannot bring themselves to enter the buildings again; schools were traumatic places.

Another common stereotype is that families have nothing to offer their children or school. In reality, families are their children’s first teachers. Deficit views of families negate the fact that prior to coming to school, children have learned their family’s language and culture by being immersed in them. Children learn their families’ and communities’ ways of knowing and being by interacting and engaging with community members and families.

To build stronger school/family partnerships schools can reframe the traditional reliance upon family involvement instead of family engagement. The norm for involving families is that the school dictates the needs and reaches out to families, telling them the needs. Instead, reframing this partnership to one of family engagement invites collaboration and shifts from a deficit orientation to a strengths-based perspective. Families have a lot to offer in an educator’s work toward building positive classroom environments, and schools need to take note of the resources available in their community and extend invitations for meaningful work.

Video 5.4

5.5 Communication with Students

“Yet only through communication can human life hold meaning.” (Friere, 1970, p. 77). To teach is to communicate.  One cannot be an excellent educator if they do not possess strong communication skills.

According to Silver (2018), teaching is all about communication – listening, speaking, reading, presenting and writing. Teachers who hone their communication skills are prepared to instruct, advise, and mentor students entrusted in their care. Additionally, teachers must communicate well to effectively collaborate with colleagues and update administrators on student progress. Frequently, parents call, visit or email, so teachers must be adept at answering questions verbally and in writing.

Teachers are engaged in communication with many different people. While much of a teacher’s day is spent with their students, they must also interact with other teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators, parents, and community members. Many first-year teachers are surprised by how many different forms of communication they must engage in each day. Because of this, it is good to have an understanding of how to effectively communicate with all stakeholders.

Classroom events are often so complex that in order for teachers to have effective communication with their students, they need to start with building trusting relationships. Trusting relationships will ensure that students feel a sense of belonging and are eager to communicate their thinking, their learning and their needs. According to Aguilar (2017), building trust is difficult. “Whether in a conversation or during a class, whoever intends to build trust (the teacher, coach or principal) needs to have five positive or neutral interactions with another person; that is what it takes to build and maintain trust. Therefore, teachers need to understand the power of trusting relationships and the power of positive interactions with their students.

Being respectful, friendly, diplomatic, a good listener and to be able to build a rapport all require good communication skills. Therefore, teachers also need to be culturally sensitive and learn about their students to understand their communication styles. For example,  some students will use nonverbal communication and express themselves through their actions. Others are more verbal and can express their needs using their words. One way to manage these different styles of communication, and become comfortable with the key features of communication that are characteristic of classrooms, teachers need to learn about the functions or purposes of communication, especially the balance among talk related to content, to procedures, and to controlling behavior. Another feature has to do with the nature of nonverbal communication—how it supplements and sometimes even contradicts what is said verbally. A third feature has to do with the unwritten expectations held by students and teachers about how to participate in particular kinds of class activities—what we will later call the structure of participation.

Communicating with Families and Caregivers

Teachers are responsible for keeping parents informed and involved to whatever extent is practical. Virtually all parents and caregivers understand and assume that schools are generally intended for learning, but communication can enrich their understanding of how this purpose is realized in their particular child’s classroom, and it can show them more precisely what their particular child is doing there. Such understanding in turn allows families and caregivers to support their child’s learning more confidently and in this sense contributes, at least indirectly, to a positive learning environment in their child’s class.

5.6 Strategies for Building a Positive Classroom Environment

The development of a strong sense of community and belonging in the classroom is essential to building relationships that may serve as protective factors for our students. Implementation of practices and approaches built around empathy, the ability to recognize and feel the emotions of others, has the ability to positively impact all students, but is critical to the success of students who have experienced adversity.

At times, it is difficult to separate our empathy with students from our sympathy for students. Some of our students experience such difficult lives and our sympathy leads us to expect less of them. Interacting with students from a place of sympathy does not build our connections with them and does not let them know we believe in them.  The following table shows differences in statements focused on empathy versus sympathy.

Statements Focused on Empathy vs. Sympathy

The following table provides an overview of some management practices to avoid and strategies to create a welcoming environment, though you will get much more in-depth information on how to create that positive culture as you continue in your pathway as a preservice teacher.

Creating a welcoming classroom environment – Here is a table of practices that work and practices that should be avoided

Do’s and Don’ts

The practices listed above can trigger a student’s automatic fear response. A student in a fight, flight, or freeze state struggles to learn and is no longer thinking through their choices. As educators, we need to minimize the use of these practices and replace them with those that build our students’ emotional intelligence.

Restorative Justice, Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving

Step 1: Clarify and identify the problem: Classrooms can be emotional places even when its primary purpose is to promote “thinking” rather than the expression of feelings as such. The emotional quality can be quite desirable: it can give teachers and students “passion” for learning and respect or even good feelings for each other. But it can also cause trouble if students misbehave: at those moments negative feelings—annoyance, anger, discomfort—can interfere with understanding exactly what went wrong and how to set things right again.  Allow all involved to calm down and then let each individual state their view of the problem.  If the issue is between two students, let each share their side of the story.  If the issue involves you and a student, let the student state his view, and then you share yours.

Step 2: Active and empathetic listening: Diagnosing accurately the conflict is necessary in order to resolve it.  We need to use “Active Listening”—attending carefully to all aspects of what a student says and attempting to understand or empathize with it as fully as possible, even if you do not agree with what is being said (Cooper & Simonds, 2003). Active Listening involves asking a lot of questions in order continually to check your understanding. It also involves encouraging the student to elaborate or expand on his or her remarks, and paraphrasing and summarizing what the student has said in order to check your perceptions of what is being said. It is important not to move too fast toward “solving” the problem with advice, instructions, or scolding, even if these are responses that you might, as a teacher, feel responsible for making. Responding too soon in these ways can shut down communication prematurely, and leave you with an inaccurate impression of the source of the problem.

Depending on the issue, you may want to use Step 3 or skip this and use Step 4.  For most conflicts that involve two students, we will use Step 4.

Step 3: Assertive discipline and “I” messages: Once you have listened well enough to understand the student’s point of view, it helps to frame your responses and comments in terms of how the student’s behavior affects you as a teacher. The comments should have several features:

• They should be assertive—neither passive and apologetic, nor unnecessarily hostile or aggressive. State what the problem is, as matter-of-factly as possible: “Joe, you are talking while I’m explaining something,” instead of either “Joe, do you think you could be quiet now?” or “Joe, be quiet!”

• The comments should emphasize I-messages, which are comments that focus on how the problem behavior is affecting the teacher’s ability to teach, as well as how the behavior makes the teacher feel. They are distinct from you-messages, which focus on evaluating the mistake or problem which the student has created. An I-message might be, “Your talking is making it hard for me to remember what I’m trying to say.” A you-message might be, “Your talking is rude.”

• The comments should encourage the student to think about the effects of his or her actions on others—a strategy that in effect encourages the student to consider the ethical implications of the actions (Gibbs, 2003). Instead of simply saying, “When you cut in line ahead of the other kids, that was not fair to them,” you can try saying, “How do you think the other kids feel when you cut in line ahead of them?”

Step 4: Negotiating a solution: The steps so far describe ways of interacting that are desirable, but also fairly specific in scope and limited in duration. In themselves, they may not be enough when conflict persists over time and develops a number of complications or confusing features. A student may persist, for example, in being late for class, in spite of diverse efforts by the teacher to modify this behavior. Two students may persist in speaking rudely to each other, even though the teacher has mediated this conflict in the past. Or a student may fail to complete homework, time after time. Because these problems develop over time, and because they may involve repeated disagreements between teacher and student, they can eventually become stressful for the teacher, for the student, and for any classmates who may be affected. Their persistence can tempt a teacher simply to announce or dictate a resolution—a decision that may simply leave everyone feeling defeated, including the teacher.

Often in these situations, it is better to negotiate a solution, which means systematically discussing options and compromising on one if possible. Negotiation always requires time and effort, though usually not as much as continuing to cope with the original problem, and the results can be beneficial to everyone. A number of experts on conflict resolution have suggested strategies for negotiating with students about persistent problems (Davidson & Wood, 2004). The suggestions vary in detail but usually include some combination of the steps we have already discussed above, along with a few others.

• Decide as accurately as possible what the problem is—Usually this step involves a lot of the active listening described above.

• Brainstorm possible solutions, and then consider their effectiveness—Remember to include students in this step; otherwise, you are simply imposing a solution on others, which is not what negotiation is supposed to achieve.

• Choose a solution, if possible by consensus—Complete agreement on the choice may not be possible, but strive for it as best you can. Remember that taking a vote may be a democratic, acceptable way to settle differences in many situations. If feelings are running high, however, voting has an ironic by-product: it simply allows individuals to “announce” their differences to each other and therefore maintain the conflict.

Pay attention later to how well the solution works—For many reasons, things may not work out the way you or the students hope or expect, and you may need to renegotiate the solution at a later time.

Conclusion

Before students can learn, they must first feel safe, supported, and valued. Creating empathy-driven classroom environments involves intentional decisions about specific elements under the educator’s control, such as an accessible physical arrangement of the classroom, an affirming atmosphere, and using humanizing management strategies while intentionally avoiding those that cause humiliation or shame. Additionally, educators can partner with critical community stakeholders, such as school social workers and family or community members, to access additional resources to support students’ success.

Creating empathy-driven classroom environments also involves awareness of elements that are not under the educator’s control. Adverse childhood experiences are common within our classrooms, with varying degrees of impact on the social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive functioning of our students. Understanding the unique histories of each of our students is important, but so is uncovering who they are as individuals including what makes them resilient. A history of adverse experiences does not mean our students cannot learn and grow and develop healthy relationships. It means they have experiences that may change the path that gets them there and will need the positive adult connection we can provide as their teacher even more.

To create an empathy-focused classroom environment, there are certain elements to include–such as routines, morning meetings, and developing individual relationships with students–and elements to avoid, such as clip charts or card-flipping systems, group punishment, and public humiliation. Building and implementing a trauma-informed classroom with empathy at the core is a practice that supports all students and will increase a sense of community and belonging for all.

Building and modeling empathy fosters a reciprocal relationship in which students can feel educators’ genuine care and concern for their best interests. We lay the foundation for our students’ success by intentionally creating a humanizing classroom environment in which they can learn and grow.

References

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Images

5.1 – “Amsterdam Graffiti” by Michael Drummond, Public Domain Pictures is in the Public Domain

5.2 – “Classroom School Library” by Nedpix is in the Public Domain, CC0

5.3 “Cyber Bullying” by Mohammed Hassan, Pixabay is in the Public Domain, CC0

5.4 “Mexican Family” by pxfuel, pxfuel is in the Public Domain, CC0

5.5 “Chimamanda Adiche” by Flickr-Hoco Library, Howard County Library System is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

5.6 “Virginia Sea Grant” by Virginia Sea Grant 2012, Sea Grant Virginia is in the Public Domain, CC0

Videos

5.1-“Culture Tree Video” by Kanoe Bunney, youtube is licensed under CC BY 4.0

5.2-“How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Throughout a Lifetime” by Nadine Burke Harris, TED Talk is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0“

5.3 “Be Someone’s Hero”, Center for Disease Control-Injury Prevention and Control is licensed under CC BY 4.0

5.4 – “The danger of a single story “ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, YouTube is licensed under CC BY 4.0

5.5 “Brene Brown-Empathy” by Brene Brown, Brene Brown, LLC is in the Public Domain, CC0