A Classroom Environment that Contributes to Psychosocial Development

            Establishing trust in a classroom community is vital and builds a firm foundation for other needs and stages to be met.  Feeling physically, psychologically and emotionally safe in a classroom and school in general will enable students to feel secure; as a result, they will be in the position to care for and trust their peers. Not only will students feel valued by their peers, but they will also feel that they belong to their classroom community. Establishing trust in a classroom community should be the first priority of the classroom teacher.  In order to build a trusting classroom and school community, teachers will need to help students to: realize that they are important; respect themselves, each other, and their community; care for and trust each other.

            One strategy that teachers can use to build trust in students is to hold classroom meetings. Classroom meetings provide a great opportunity to build friendships and to problem solve. In this physically and psychologically safe forum, students will be able to voice their feelings, solve problems, share their work and learn about each other. Students will learn to understand and value the perspectives of others thus becoming more tolerant and accepting of others.  Behavior theorists, Jane Nelsen, Lynn Lott, and Stephen Glenn point out that class meetings can help diminish behavior problems because students learn to accept each other, respect the view points and opinions of one another, learn to communicate effectively, and problem solve (Charles, 2005).  During class meetings, students can take a constructivist approach in problem solving while the teacher facilitates the process. Therefore, students will be able to learn that problems can have more than one effective solution. This communicating arena will also enable students to take risks while realizing that their ideas are safe.  Diffily and Sassman (2004) point out that when students are able to make decisions and problem solve together, they come to realize that they can cooperate and do all kinds of things together.

Charles,C.M. (2005. Building Classroom Discipline (eighth edition). Boston. Pearson             Education Inc.

Diffily & Sassman. (2005). Teaching Effective Classroom Routines. New York. Scholastic.