Classroom culture promotes academic resiliency

The recipe: A classroom culture safe for exploring and experimenting; mix in collaboration skills; add “just right” challenges; bake in academic resiliency.

When we hear the words “classroom management,” certain things come to mind: room arrangement, routines, procedures, reinforcement systems. Rarely do we associate resiliency with classroom management, but the two go hand-in-hand. Classroom culture results from the combination of educational philosophy and the ability to manage the classroom. Classroom culture directly affects the teacher’s ability to develop resiliency in students.

Resilient students succeed in spite of adverse conditions. These students tend to be optimistic and aren’t easily discouraged by failure when they begin to learn a new skill. In fact, they seem to understand intuitively that the process of learning requires a certain degree of failure before mastering a new skill. In addition, they tend to have positive self-esteem, a thick skin, and a sense of humor. These are not necessarily attributes that one can teach as much as they are personality traits, but resiliency can be developed in the right environment.

Resiliency is defined in two ways:

1. The power or ability to return to the original form, position, etc. after being bent, compressed, or stretched; or
2. The ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like.

Generally speaking, teachers do their best to create environments where these adverse conditions do not exist so they can protect students from failure. However, this may not be in our best interest in the long run. The process of learning a new concept or skill isn’t easy, and most of us begin by making several mistakes. Thomas Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb before he found a design that worked and would in time revolutionize the way American homes were lit. Students who can learn to accept mistakes as part of the process and learn from them without getting discouraged are far more likely to be successful in school as well as in life. They need to remain objective problem solvers in order to assess the situation and find a solution. So, how can we provide a seemingly paradoxical classroom in which students feel safe to take risks, but also are required to grapple with challenging curriculum and a reasonable amount of failure?

While there are many factors that we can’t control, the classroom environment is one that we certainly can control.

Climate control

Classroom climate is essential for developing resiliency. While there are many factors that we can’t control, the classroom environment is one that we certainly can control. Educators should consider several important factors when designing a classroom that promotes resiliency development. These factors include having students develop trusting relationships with one another and adults, building competence, building confidence, creating opportunities for risk taking, and creating engaging learning experiences that challenge students to think and problem solve. Sounds easy enough, but it requires a high degree of planning and forethought on the part of the professional.

One of the most important ways to develop a safe climate is to help students develop trusting relationships with each other. In order to feel comfortable taking risks, students need to know that if they’re wrong or their attempts at problem solving are met with failure, their peers won’t criticize them. In order to achieve this, educators must teach certain social skills and give students time to practice them in groups or with partners. Begin building a culture of collaboration and trust by having students get to know each other. Students should learn each other’s names and be required to use them when working in teams. Very basic. There are several “name games” for various grade levels on the Internet that can be employed to accomplish this. One site that I find helpful is www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/getting-know-you-classroom-activities-starting-school-year.

Then, students need to learn about each other. Human nature is predictable. We’re less likely to be hurtful to people we know and view as friends than people with whom we are only vaguely acquainted. Activities such as a “people search” and “friend bingo” are easy ways for students to begin to get to know each other. (People search is an activity where a teacher lists characteristics such as “has a brother … a pet … has been to another country … likes chocolate ice cream,” and so on, and students walk around the room, introducing themselves to one another, and talk about the things on the list and where that person may be able to put their name. The goal is for every student to connect with every other student and to match each person with one of the descriptions on the paper.  In friend bingo, the goal is to help students learn each other’s names. Older students can conduct interviews and ask each other questions about likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies, families, etc. Teachers may believe that this is a waste of precious teaching time, but taking time to develop these relationships is essential to creating an environment where students are comfortable working together, taking risks, and engaging in challenging learning experiences.

Once students are familiar with each other, they need to learn the basic skills necessary to work cooperatively. These include listening skills, speaking skills, and skills to lead and encourage each other. One would think that these skills develop naturally and that students would have a level of proficiency with them by the 4th or 5th grade. Unfortunately, experience has taught us that this is not the case. Students rarely acquire the skills necessary to work in teams and truly need to be taught explicitly what those skills look like, sound like, and feel like when being used effectively in group or partner work situations.

Set a timer

Active listening is one of the first skills younger students need to learn. One way to teach this is to have students partner up, assign a topic for discussion (perhaps what they did over the summer break) and have them do everything in their power to NOT listen to one another. Set a timer for two minutes. When the time is up, have students switch roles; the talker now does not listen, and the other student takes a turn talking. When two minutes time is up, make a three-column chart that lists what “NOT listening” looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Repeat the activity, but this time, require students to actively listen to each other. When four minutes are up, complete a second chart listing what active listening looks like, sounds like, and feels like. Post that chart with the established criteria for future reference and have students rate themselves as active listeners often. Students must learn to evaluate themselves and not always rely on adults to provide feedback. At the onset, though, adult feedback is very important. Adult feedback should be specific to behaviors identified on the chart: “I like the way Andy used eye contact when he was listening to Susan. I like the way Jen had a quiet body and quiet hands when Peter was speaking. That shows good listening.” Concrete examples and specific praise will help reinforce expected behaviors.

Similarly, students need to be taught how to speak to one another. Again, this seems like an area in which we could assume a certain degree of competence by 4th or 5th grade, but there rarely is. Students need to be directly taught how to engage each other in the learning process and learn what language to use, such as: I agree because . . . , I disagree because. . . , What do you think? I think you said. . . , Let me see if I understand your idea. . . , etc. It is a good idea to write these scripts or starters on a large piece of chart paper and post it for students to reference during group work times. The teacher needs to circulate during these work times and listen for these phrases being used. It is beneficial to record specific examples in order to provide specific feedback to groups as students acquire this new skill. Encouraging one another fits in this category as well. Students are much more comfortable sharing insults than sharing compliments, and whenever I have done this with elementary students, it is very forced and unnatural at first. As with anything else, consistent practice will help it become a natural part of their vernacular. Having students help create a chart with encouraging phrases on it — Good job! Good idea! What do you think? I like that idea! Thank you for sharing! — is important. We would always post the chart and reference it when students were working in groups. Again, it takes practice, and it is necessary for students to evaluate themselves as well as to get specific feedback from the teacher in order for it to become part of the normal routine in the classroom. Teachers can train middle and high school students in the Socratic Seminar (www.socraticseminars.com).

Leading a group also takes practice. Some students are natural leaders and take to the role easily. Most, however, won’t be comfortable or confident leading a group of peers. Define what a leader is responsible for. These might include staying on topic, making sure all ideas are heard, making sure the group adheres to agreed-upon norms, and ensuring that deadlines and group assignments are met in the allotted time. Teaching these skills with nonacademic demands is best, for example, when completing a puzzle or riddle and then moving into more academic activities when students are more confident in the role. Make sure the role of leader is equally distributed throughout the day and throughout the school year so all students have an opportunity to develop confidence and competence in the role.

Building competence and confidence

When we talk about building competence, we also need to talk about assessing student needs and differentiating instruction to meet those individual needs. When teachers don’t know the levels of students before beginning a unit of study, they may unwittingly be placing them in material that far exceeds their ability to have even small successes. If students begin at a level of frustration, they usually can’t be encouraged to forge ahead, nor should they be. Finding the appropriate point of entry is essential when planning instruction. This requires using a preassessment and possibly a tool such as a K-W-L chart (what a student Knows, Wants to know, or has Learned) or think-pair-share word web to identify students’ prior knowledge. Teachers also should uncover and address any misconceptions before beginning the unit. If the lesson is appropriate for students, they should be challenged “just right.” Our brains naturally thrive in situations where they are challenged, but tend to shut down if there is too little (resulting in boredom) or too much (resulting in frustration or defeat). The educator’s task is to create lessons that challenge students, but also result in enough success to motivate them to continue. This balance results in students feeling competent, which fuels resilience.

Make sure the role of leader is equally distributed throughout the day and throughout the school year so all students have an opportunity to develop confidence and competence in the role.

Another important factor when considering classroom climate is engagement. After ensuring that the classroom is a safe and comfortable place for students to work together and take risks, we then need to provide opportunities for students working together engaging in learning activities. Teachers must provide learning opportunities that create cooperation and interdependence and encourage problem solving.

A simple example of this is one of my 4th-grade science lessons regarding building circuits that evolved over the years. I went from giving students materials to create a closed circuit and a diagram showing how to do it, to just giving them a basket of materials and telling them to work with a partner and make the bulb light. Once the bulb was lit, they were to draw a picture of what they did to get it to work. If they were successful with one bulb, I asked them to add another bulb and find two ways to get the bulbs to light. Again, students were asked to draw a picture of what they did that worked. Only after the experience of figuring it out on their own did I introduce the vocabulary and talk about the scientific theories behind what they had done. This required a degree of trust in their partners and in me. I didn’t give clues, only asked questions that encouraged them to shift their thinking and forge ahead.

Eventually everyone was successful, and they were comfortable with not getting the bulb to light on the first try or the second or even the third. Because they had figured it out in their own way, they didn’t forget what they had done five minutes after we had finished the lesson. This shift required that I do in two lessons what I used to do in one, but the benefits far outweighed the time loss.

Racing to resilience

Another example of this would be a science lesson that I used as a culminating activity for a unit on potential and kinetic energy. I gave students a variety of materials and asked them to work in teams of four to design and build a milk box race car that used some form of potential energy and could travel at least three meters. Students had access to several materials including doweling and wooden wheels. The student designs were fairly similar, and most students figured out quickly that the wheels needed to be placed on the dowels. The problem that I purposefully created was to make the wheels fit snugly on the dowels so that they didn’t turn. Sandpaper was available, but students needed to work together and figure out how to solve the problem to make the wheels turn. This required using problem solving as well as communication skills. As educators, we must continually evaluate our curriculum to find opportunities for students to engage in problem solving and the practical application of their learning. They may not be successful on the first try, but that’s the point.

Although resiliency make seem like a trait that students are predisposed to, teachers can also teach students to become resilient in the correct environment.

We need to be conscientious about creating a classroom environment where students can safely take risks and more importantly safely fail. This requires a challenging curriculum, differentiated instruction, cooperation, planned interdependence, and the direct teaching of listening, leading, and speaking skills. Never underestimate the power of classroom culture in our efforts to create resilient students.

CITATION: DiTullio, G. (2014). Classroom culture promotes academic resiliency. Phi Delta Kappan, 96 (2), 37-40.