CREATE

Create respectful, supportive, and inclusive learning environments

Thinking back on my own educational journey through elementary school, high school and even university, there are some teachers that stand out among them all! Who had an ability to captivate us, move us, reach us. Then there were those who seemed to struggle just to get through a single block – furious and frustrated amongst the chaos of their own classroom. What was the difference? What was it about those great teachers that allowed them to reach even the “un-reachables?” In 2016, this question carried me into my PDP with purpose, vision, and a hunger to find whatever golden ticket to teaching that those teachers seemed to conceal in their back pocket.

During my PDP I based my inquiry on the essential question “What are some strategies that teachers can use to create and maintain a safe and respectful learning environment in the classroom?” Not surprisingly, one theme continued to surface out of every resource I scoured. Can you take a guess what it was? RELATIONSHIPS. The importance of establishing, maintaining, and valuing relationships with students was at the heart of every single paper I read, every blog I visited, every single textbook I held in my hands. In short, I learned that relationships are the foundation of everything. The simplicity of this fact stunned me and then became so blatantly obvious and true that I was almost embarrassed that I had to read so much to come to this realization. But I know it now, and I obviously knew it back in high school because looking back I know that the set the good teachers and the bad teachers apart, was the relationship I had with them. I loved Mrs. Gibson, Mrs. Davies, Mrs. Curtis – because they loved me too!

Now, as a teacher, I don’t let this truth escape me. Especially as a resource teacher, making headway with my students depends so heavily on the relationship I have with them, and I can’t take that for granted. Sometimes that is easier said than done. Some of the simple things I do to foster the growth my relationships with my students are:

• Always greet them, and check in with them first, before getting to the school work
• Share about myself, and be honest
• Get to know their friends and families
• Have fun, not every single minute of every day has to be spent working

With healthy functioning relationships as a foundation, creating respectful, supportive, and inclusive learning environments becomes almost inherent. Having created a community in the classroom through relationship building, not only have I learned enough about each of them to know what they need to feel safe and included, but students are at ease to get to know eachother! The resource classroom is special in that it has an environment that allows for more student choice. Students learn to understand their own learning needs and feel empowered to direct their learning and learn to become comfortable learning differently than others. The resource classroom is not necessarily a more “diverse” bunch than any other classroom, we just talk acknowledge our diversity more openly and explicitly. Although the stigma around being in a resource classroom still exists, the students in them learn to accept their differences and are so grateful to have a place where “doing it differently” way is encouraged!