{"id":30,"date":"2015-02-05T02:11:51","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T08:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/?p=30"},"modified":"2019-10-04T12:00:50","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T18:00:50","slug":"sip-1-3-classroom-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/sip-1-3-classroom-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"SIP 1.3: Classroom Climate"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Thirsty for a Strong Instructional Practice?<\/h3>\n<p>Sometimes classroom climate can be a powerful predictor of student success.\u00a0 When students feel safe and supported in the classroom, success becomes more likely.\u00a0 The problem:\u00a0 how do we break the ice and create community in our classrooms?<\/p>\n<h3><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2015\/05\/8241936275_f48597f08a_c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-202 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2015\/05\/8241936275_f48597f08a_c-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"8241936275_f48597f08a_c\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2015\/05\/8241936275_f48597f08a_c-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2015\/05\/8241936275_f48597f08a_c.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/strong>Take a SIP of this: Classroom Climate<\/h3>\n<p>Sometime at the beginning of the semester (it doesn\u2019t have to be the first day), have your students \u201ctell the story of their names.\u201d\u00a0 Have students pair up;\u00a0 then, the first student speaks for one minute and shares whatever she wants to about her name.\u00a0 It could be the name\u2019s family history, something about her maiden name and her married name, how her name identifies her or makes her feel\u2014it is completely up to the individual student to share what he or she wants to share.\u00a0 The student\u2019s partner must listen, silently, without saying a word.\u00a0 At the end of the minute, the partners switch and the second student tells his or her story.<\/p>\n<p>As simple as it sounds, this is a great ice-breaking exercise because students get to know each other and start to build community through low-stakes personal sharing.\u00a0 Have each student present his or her partner to the class by telling the story of the partner\u2019s name, and this will start the small- and large-group bonding.\u00a0 You can ask students what it felt like to listen for one minute without commenting\u2014what did they hear by holding their tongues?\u00a0 You can ask what it felt like to speak for one minute without interruptions\u2014did they feel respected or important?\u00a0 By facilitating an honest conversation following the speaking and listening exercise, you can set a tone for productive, forthright and respectful dialog in your classroom space.<\/p>\n<p>Note:\u00a0 This exercise would work equally well in an online course format.\u00a0 Just set up pairs in Blackboard and have them practice \u201cspeaking\u201d and \u201clistening\u201d via the discussion boards by setting parameters around their conversation for this exercise.<\/p>\n<h2>Still thirsty? Take another SIP of Classroom Climate<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>40 Icebreakers for Small Groups\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/insight.typepad.co.uk\/40_icebreakers_for_small_groups.pdf\">http:\/\/insight.typepad.co.uk\/40_icebreakers_for_small_groups.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Classroom Icebreakers (geared toward P-12 but can be adapted for higher ed)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.educationworld.com\/back_to_school\/#first_day\">http:\/\/www.educationworld.com\/back_to_school\/#first_day<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Group Games\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.group-games.com\/category\/ice-breakers\">http:\/\/www.group-games.com\/category\/ice-breakers<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thirsty for a Strong Instructional Practice? Sometimes classroom climate can be a powerful predictor of student success.\u00a0 When students feel safe and supported in the classroom, success becomes more likely.\u00a0 The problem:\u00a0 how do we break the ice and create community in our classrooms? Take a SIP of this: Classroom Climate Sometime at the beginning &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link btn\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/sip-1-3-classroom-climate\/\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[8,202,9,14],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sip-post","tag-classroom-climate","tag-participation","tag-peer-relationships","tag-student-engagement","item-wrap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.msudenver.edu\/sips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}