About a month ago I switched in-district teaching positions.  I left a classroom of fabulous 6th graders in elementary for 7th-grade math on a cart. As I observed the various classes I was to inherit, one thing was evident; students didn’t have a stable learning environment.  I witnessed displays of behavior not conducive to learning, students disengaged while the teacher instructed, and frustrated student faces.

During these days of observation, I kept asking myself two things. 

1. Why did I leave my 6th graders?  

2. How do I begin to create a stable and safe environment of learning for my new students? 

I previously wrote a blog that discusses how I discover what my students deal with in their lives outside of school and how I use that data to shape lessons and academic practice.  However, here it was the tail end of October and students were deep in their current math unit. I felt I was going to have to begin teaching with a triage approach.  

I had to be extremely mindful of every word I used, the tone of my voice, and physical movements during each class session while I taught.  During my teaching, I observed how my students reacted to one another and myself. This was the only way I could gather data on each student and keep pace with the other 7th-grade math teachers until I figured out how to carve out time to build classroom culture.  

According to, Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, by Zaretta Hammond, the brain interconnects the two prime directives of minimizing threats to maximize well-being.  Humans are hardwired to connect with others. Relationships must first be established, routines taught, practiced, and implemented.  Once this occurs, students can uninterruptedly begin to learn.  

For my students, this was a dramatic change, and the safety and familiarity they felt were turned upside down not for a few days, but for weeks. The relationships they had established with their previous teachers and peers had abruptly ended.  The 120 students were randomly selected from overcrowded classes. The selection process was never shared with the students. This bred “Why me?” thoughts in the mind of students who already had marginalized sentiments. The inconsistency in their daily structure was compacted over many weeks.  Students’ well-being had received the maximum threat to their daily education.  

Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain highlights six principles that impact culturally responsive teaching.

1. The brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximizes opportunities to connect with others.  
2. Positive relationships keep our safety threat detection system from engaging.
3. Culture guides how we process information.
4. Attention drives learning.
5. All new information is partnered with prior knowledge to learn effectively.
6. The brain physically grows through challenges and expands its ability to do complex thinking and learning.

Focused on Hammond’s #1 and #2 principles, I had to create an environment that the students’ brains would perceive as safe and nurturing so they can mentally relax and let go of stressors and begin to learn. I intentionally began all class sessions with the topic of respect.  How, as their new teacher, I respected them and this was not something they needed to earn. I explained respect would be practiced towards themselves, each other, and me. 

When a student would display respect I would highlight by saying, “Thank you for respectfully…,” followed by confirming what was being answered mathematically.  When a student displayed disrespect I would kindly remind students of the importance of preserving the learning environment.  

If the student still needed redirection, I would immediately give the class a problem to work on in groups.  Once the students began working, I would walk over to the student displaying the behavior and calmly ask him/her if I could speak to them at a location safely away from other students.  

I begin by letting the students know they are not in trouble. This helps minimize the feeling or threat of stress.  Next, I ask if they are doing okay. I do this to understand if they are mentally dealing with issues that occurred in a previous class, peer conflicts, or stressors from home.  I don’t automatically assume the behavior is a malicious, intentional act towards me. This is followed by a conversation using non-threatening phrases discussing the behavior witnessed and politely asking the student if they can work on modifying their behavior.  

In doing this with students it preserves their privacy and displays that I respect them.  Students are able to recognize their actions and begin to modify and/or change their behavior.  The result is the student returns to the learning environment better prepared to mentally learn and preserving the learning environment for all.

In understanding the relationship between the emotional brain and learning, I was able to design instruction specific to the needs of my new students.  The students I have now are not the same students I observed four weeks ago. They have built relationships based on mutual respect with myself and each other.  Students now can learn and feel safe in a stress-free classroom.