A central part of classroom management is the social environment. The social environment of a classroom is truly guided by the teacher’s attitude in how they introduce materials, opinions and structure instruction (Borich, 2011). A teacher can select a more strict or laid back teaching approach showing students where the power in the classroom lies, or they can choose to remain somewhere in the middle; creating a balanced classroom between teacher and students.
The social environment of a classroom is directly connected to the social climate. Borich (2011) introduces three social climates commonly seen in the educational classroom:
- Competitive: students compete to answer questions while the teacher stands as the final judge of right and wrong
- Cooperative: students work together to engage in discussion which is guided by the teacher where they can sharpen their understandings of instructional content
- Individualistic: students work individually under the supervision of the teacher
Maintaining variety in the social climate of your classroom will most likely be the most effective way to gain continuous student engagement. As I prepare to teach high school P.E. thoughts of classroom management become increasingly important as the basic physical structure of my “classroom” will be an empty gymnasium. The lack of innate order in such a classroom can act a potential troublesome classroom environment unless structural organization is provided and established in the beginning of the school year. Since my classroom will have no desks, no seats and no traditional classroom structure, it will become my responsibility to build a strong learning environment that supports open physical learning safely but also prevents from distraction.
Source: Borich, G. D. (2011). Instructor’s copy Effective teaching methods: research-based practice (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
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