Critical Insight

The birth of an educational belief

The idea of fostering civility in the classroom was brought into my personal approach to teaching through my Clinical Teaching experience and through the article “Calm, Cool, & Consistent: Keeping Civility in the Classroom” by Laurie McLaughlin and the discussion of this article that took place in my Principles of Elementary Education class.

​

In this article, the author discusses the importance of creating a classroom environment focused on civility and respect. Before reading this article, I cannot recall ever hearing about “civility” specifically as a focus in the classroom. The teacher’s use of a “quiet corner” where students can go to resolve problems or to have a space to calm down if needed was an effective classroom management strategy. The teacher specifically instructed the students who were having a conflict to decide on a concrete “action plan as to how they are going to go about changing their behavior” and avoiding such a conflict in the future. In this way, the students are able to come up with solutions that are effective, concrete, and realistic, and they are given the chance to talk about the effects of their actions on others, why they acted that way, and how they can change their behavior to act with more civility, respect, and kindness towards each other, especially in the classroom. The teacher also emphasizes the importance of citizenship within the classroom, being calm when enforcing good behavior, and immediately working to solve issues so they do not fester and become more problematic.

All of these emphases are, in my opinion, very important things for teachers to keep in mind, and this new understanding of the importance of implementing civility and emphasizing citizenship in the classroom will go on to do great things, especially in how it has encouraged me to implement these new focuses into my own classroom management strategies.