Written by Michael Miller, assistant superintendent, Diocese of Charlotte Catholic Schools, mdmiller@rcdoc.org
You can never go wrong when you’re setting the example that Christ set for us. This simple statement could be the approach for the work of every teacher in creating their classroom culture, and it would have the largest impact on improving student learning, teacher fulfillment and parent satisfaction of any other school improvement initiative. At my former school, where I served as principal for eleven years, I often posed this reminder to my staff whenever they expressed frustration with a student, parent or colleague: “Grace and Mercy,” I would say. This reminder was my advice to them on how to treat the other person as God treats us every day, and how Christ showed us how we should treat others.
Culture Begins with Relationships
The core of a healthy classroom culture is the relationship the teacher has with their students. There is nothing more important than that relationship, and it is the one aspect of teaching that everything else should revolve around and relate to. Christ taught the ultimate “curriculum” on how to have healthy relationships by teaching and modeling how we should build those relationships through the way we treat one another. His curriculum should be the guide for every teacher, teaching assistant, bus driver, custodian, administrative assistant, counselor, nurse and school administrator on how to create a school culture that is most beneficial for students.
All school staff are responsible for the culture of the school. And while not one person, not even the principal, can build a culture completely on their own, one person can certainly tear it down. The only necessary actions to demolish the culture of a school is to stop treating people as Christ taught us. Each school employee has a “classroom” in which he or she is responsible for nurturing the culture. The classroom teacher sets the tone for her students by setting and communicating expectations for how members are to treat one another and modeling those expectations every day. The office staff is responsible for modeling the expectations for how visitors to the office are treated. The custodian is responsible for modeling how the facilities should be treated, and how people in the building are treated through her modeling.
What’s the foundation for this modeling? It’s simple. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This should be the starting point for every classroom culture, in that it is the basis for all relationships within. If every classroom, school bus and office within a school form a culture based on the greatest commandment, then the school culture will naturally have the same foundation. So how does one begin building such a culture? Start with the next person you see—yourself.
Start With Yourself
Ask yourself these questions: What is my personal culture? How do I treat myself? How do I treat others I encounter throughout the day? After I interact with other people, do they feel better or worse after having spoken with me? Does how I treat myself match how I treat other people?
Now, ask these questions in the context of your classroom. What is my classroom culture? How do I treat my students? How do I treat others whom I encounter at school every day? When my students leave my classroom for the day, do they feel better or worse after having been in my class? Does how I treat my students match how I treat myself?
You can take these questions a step further to analyze your actions to build your classroom culture. Dig deeper with questions like:
- Do I greet my students warmly and genuinely when they enter my classroom?
- When a student behaves in a way that falls short of expectations, do I seek to understand that student and his/her behavior, or do I seek to punish them?
- Do I recognize my students for meeting expectations?
- Do I try to let parents know when their child has met expectations?
- Do I offer the same grace and mercy to my students that I desire from others?
- And finally, do I model the same example that Christ modeled for us in the way that I treat my students?
All these questions, with honest answers, lead us to a better understanding of our classroom culture and why it is what it is. The good news is that even if we aren’t proud of our answers to these questions, we can change them. We carry our own weather in that we can choose to be sunlight to others or storm clouds. We can choose to let Christ’s light shine through us and let others feel the warmth of that light. It’s simple, really. The simple act of standing at your classroom door to greet your students and show them genuine love and care is important. Taking the time to sit down with a student and talk with them, getting to know them and helping them will make them feel safe and cared for in your classroom. And when students feel safe and cared for, learning increases dramatically. As I wrote at the beginning, of all the school improvement initiatives that are out there, the effort that has the single largest effect on the well-being of everyone in your school is to have a genuinely positive culture. The best news of all? It’s free!
It’s never too late to work on your classroom culture. In fact, you should never cease working to improve your classroom culture. It bears repeating that the only thing that needs to happen for your culture to suffer is for you to stop working on it. If your classroom, or even your school culture, isn’t what you want it to be, start working on it now. It will take time, but you will notice a change for the better immediately. After all, you’re simply invoking the love of Christ. And that’s ever present.
