Creating A Positive Emotional Climate In An Elementary School Classroom

All teachers create an environment in their classrooms that sets an emotional tone for students. Teachers may find it hard to choose the right classroom management strategies to create a positive classroom climate for their students. As a result, teachers have expressed an interest in this topic for over 40 years. The purpose of this research is to identify aspects of successful classroom management systems in order to assist teachers in creating a successful learning environment and a positive emotional climate for learning. The research literature revealed that classroom management is instrumental in establishing a climate for learning that is positive for children. A negative learning environment is detrimental to students learning needs in the classroom. The present study is qualitative in design using interview protocol. Participants include elementary teachers at a school in the greater San Francisco Bay area. They form a sample of convenience. Results identified common strategies teachers could use to create a positive climate in their classroom.

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

Selected as a "Favorite Book for Educators in 2018" by Greater Good. From the author of Mindfulness for Teachers, a guide to supporting trauma-exposed students. Fully half the students in U.S. schools have experienced trauma, violence, or chronic stress. In the face of this epidemic, it falls increasingly to teachers to provide the adult support these students need to function in school. But most educators have received little training to prepare them for this role. In her new book, Tish Jennings—an internationally recognized leader in the field of social and emotional learning—shares research and experiential knowledge about the practices that support students' healing, build their resilience, and foster compassion in the classroom. In Part I, Jennings describes the effects of trauma on body and mind, and how to recognize them in students' behavior. In Part II, she introduces the trauma-sensitive practices she has implemented in her work with schools. And in Part III, she connects the dots between mindfulness, compassion, and resilience. Each chapter contains easy-to-use, practical activities to hone the skills needed to create a compassionate learning environment.

Creating Positive Elementary Classrooms: Preventing Behavior Challenges to Promote Learning includes straightforward, feasible, and evidenced-based strategies designed to prevent behavior problems in K-5 classrooms. With an exclusive classroom focus, this practitioner-friendly book encourages teachers to be proactive in classroom management and guides them through the process of setting up their classrooms to maximize learning while focusing on prevention of behavior challenges. Its emphasis on catching behavior problems before they occur enables teachers to run their classrooms more efficiently and experience less frustration, while also increasing student learning. A well-organized, systematic, and predictable teaching environment helps to prevent challenging behaviors, and this book presents ways to achieve this type of classroom environment. Using real-life classroom scenarios, this guide equips teachers with management techniques that break the common cycle of frustration, aggression, rejection, and hostility, so they can create positive elementary classrooms.

Madeline Levine has been a practicing psychologist for twenty-five years, but it was only recently that she began to observe a new breed of unhappy teenager. When a bright, personable fifteen-year-old girl, from a loving and financially comfortable family, came into her office with the word empty carved into her left forearm, Levine was startled. This girl and her message seemed to embody a disturbing pattern Levine had been observing. Her teenage patients were bright, socially skilled, and loved by their affluent parents. But behind a veneer of achievement and charm, many of these teens suffered severe emotional problems. What was going on? Conversations with educators and clinicians across the country as well as meticulous research confirmed Levine's suspicions that something was terribly amiss. Numerous studies show that privileged adolescents are experiencing epidemic rates of depression, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse -- rates that are higher than those of any other socioeconomic group of young people in this country. The various elements of a perfect storm -- materialism, pressure to achieve, perfectionism, disconnection -- are combining to create a crisis in America's culture of affluence. This culture is as unmanageable for parents -- mothers in particular -- as it is for their children. While many privileged kids project confidence and know how to make a good impression, alarming numbers lack the basic foundation of psychological development: an authentic sense of self. Even parents often miss the signs of significant emotional problems in their "star" children. In this controversial look at privileged families, Levine offers thoughtful, practical advice as she explodes one child-rearing myth after another. With empathy and candor, she identifies parenting practices that are toxic to healthy self-development and that have contributed to epidemic levels of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse in the most unlikely place -- the affluent family.

What are the secrets to unlocking student success? And what can teachers do to get better at helping students develop deep understanding of content, attain higher-order thinking skills, and become secure, confident, and capable learners? In this book, teacher and professor Jeff Marshall showcases how teaching with intentionality answers these questions. Specifically, he introduces the Teacher Intentionality Practice Scale (TIPS), a framework for both supporting and measuring effective teaching. Taken together, the framework’s seven TIPs provide a research-based, classroom-tested guide to help teachers * create coherent, connected lessons; * use strategies and resources, including technology, that truly enhance learning; * organize a safe, respectful learning environment; * develop challenging and rigorous learning experiences; * promote interactive, thoughtful learning; * nurture a creative, problem-solving classroom culture; and * deliver feedback and formative assessment that inform teaching and learning. Marshall’s needs-assessment instrument can help teachers, working independently or in a cohort, determine the best starting point for improving their practice. Practical, straightforward rubrics for each TIP describe the various levels of teacher proficiency. Based on his own teaching experience and observations in hundreds of classrooms, Marshall also offers action tips for each framework component and a list of resources for further study. Written for teachers and leaders at all levels and in all content areas, The Highly Effective Teacher is a guidebook for thoughtful, intentional teaching with one goal: success for all students, in every classroom.

This book outlines a comprehensive, collaborative approach to teaching students living with trauma, violence, and chronic stress that focuses on students' strengths and resiliency.

Inspiring and practical guide to create a safe and positive learning environment and help students master critical social and emotional skills. The SEL Solution provides everything teachers need to create a safe and positive learning environment. With dozens of fun and easy-to-do lessons and activities, educators have a clear path to integrate SEL lessons into social studies and language arts curriculum as well as throughout the school day. Additional sections for SEL directors and school leaders offer a blueprint for building a school-wide community that: helps students and staff master critical social and emotional skills, like self-awareness, the ability to focus, self-control, self-regulation, the ability to empathize, active listening, and cooperation engages everyone—kids and adults—in effective, compassionate behavior management strategies increases student success For use by teachers, counselors, coaches, principals, and other educators, the strategies in The SEL Solution provide a plan for engaging the whole school community in identifying, celebrating, and sustaining its positive values.Digital content includescustomizable forms from the book and a PDF presentation for professional development.

Use the neuroscience of emotional learning to transform your teaching. How can the latest breakthroughs in the neuroscience of emotional learning transform the classroom? How can teachers use the principles and practices of positive psychology to ensure optimal 21st-century learning experiences for all children? Patty O’Grady answers those questions. Positive Psychology in the Elementary School Classroom presents the basics of positive psychology to educators and provides interactive resources to enrich teachers’ proficiency when using positive psychology in the classroom. O’Grady underlines the importance of teaching the whole child: encouraging social awareness and positive relationships, fostering self-motivation, and emphasizing social and emotional learning. Through the use of positive psychology in the classroom, children can learn to be more emotionally aware of their own and others’ feelings, use their strengths to engage academically and socially, pursue meaningful lives, and accomplish their personal goals. The book begins with Martin Seligman’s positive psychology principles, and continues into an overview of affective learning, including its philosophical and psychological roots, from finding the “golden mean” of emotional regulation to finding a child’s potencies and “golden self.” O’Grady connects the core concepts of educational neuroscience to the principles of positive psychology, explaining how feelings permeate the brain, affecting children’s thoughts and actions; how insular neurons make us feel empathy and help us learn by observation; and how the frontal cortex is the hall monitor of the brain. The book is full of practical examples and interactive resources that invite every educator to create a positive psychology classroom, where children can flourish and reach their full potential.