Classroom environment and its impact on education

Creating a safe, positive classroom environment is a key to effective teaching and learning. A class room is an enclosed world, an atmosphere that provides and aids the social, psychological and intellectual development of a student.

A large amount of the child's time is spent in a school classroom. This is the place that takes them to achieve success in the global society. With the classroom being such an important place, it is important to understand the ways in which to manipulate the environment in order to receive maximum effectiveness in instruction.

An ideal classroom should possess positive vibes where a child can work cordially with his peers towards certain goals specific for the all-round development of his or her life. Here the student is trained by the teacher to be out going, positive, organised, confident, understanding, compassionate and face the world uninhibited and be a responsible citizen of the country.

A teacher is a compass that activates the magnets of curiosity, knowledge and wisdom in the pupils.

To achieve these goals the responsibility lies on the 'strong' shoulders of the teacher. The teacher has to set the tone for a conducive and lively atmosphere of the limited space. Mastery over the subject matter is very important for the teacher irrespective of the grades he or she teaches. It's important for the teacher to behave every time as if the topic was being dealt for the first time in spite of the lesson being repeated year after year.

Though the teacher is hard pressed for time and has a hectic schedule of syllabus, let not the traces of anxiety be shown on the face. If the teacher starts the day with anxiety, tension and unpreparedness the students take advantage of the situation and smartly turn the day in their favour.

Never forget that your face mirrors the anxiety and let it not bleed over into the class room. Always begin a lesson assuming that the student is intelligent and understands every bit of it. Under-estimating the intelligence and alertness of a student is a grave mistake.

If there is curiosity and questioning connected to the subject take it cheerfully but never postpone it to the next day. Most of the children are internet buffs from the age of 5 and are very much aware of what is happening around them. So, considering them inferior to your intelligence is a blunder.

The students need breathing time to absorb and assimilate what had been taught in the class. So do not drag your class till the bell rings or overlap it on to the next period.

Remember even a machine gets heated up if run for more than 30 minutes. After all the students are young and have delicate brains that cannot take in beyond a certain saturation point.

My students always wanted some time to relax in between two classes and I readily obliged them. They need space to relax with their friends free from tension. That is student life.

The teacher should always keep in mind that it's the quality time that's more important than the quantity time. Actually, according to me the teacher should know the class room management techniques than class room teaching methods. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings.