Lindsay Lyons
 
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog/Podcast
  • Professional Learning
    • Curriculum Boot Camp
    • EduBoost
    • Investigating History
    • Multi-Year Support
    • More
  • Contact

10/29/2019

What are the values in a positive classroom culture?

0 Comments

Read Now
 
What are the values of a positive classroom culture? Use research-based character strengths to lesson plan do now or bellringer activities, manage behavior, teach character building and self-assessment. Scroll to the bottom to get free printable posters which make great classroom wall decor.  Check out the blog post by Lindsay Lyons for Time for Teachership. Sign up for more weekly tips at bit.ly/letterfromlindsay

​I am incredibly excited for today’s post and the related freebie I’m giving to you! Today, I’m sharing more about building a thriving classroom culture and what tools, language, and activities you can use to do so. 

As I mentioned in last week’s blog post, “5 secrets to ‘Classroom Management’: Part 1,” I highly recommend using the amazing Values in Action website to help you foster a positive culture in your classroom. Here’s why…
​
  1. It provides concrete language. Sometimes it can be hard to have students (or even teachers) generate a list of core values for the class. These research-based values give students a chance to learn a wide range of values beyond the basics they typically share (i.e., respect). 
  2. It includes character building activities. For each value, the website shares ways to practice the value and offers questions for reflection! 
  3. It’s strengths-focused, not deficit-focused. The site is developed from positive psychology research, so the emphasis is on the positive characteristics and values students can exemplify, rather than the things they need to stop doing.
  4. It helps students self-assess and build their understanding of themselves. The site has a “survey,” which helps students identify their greatest character strengths. The results are framed positively, all as a list of strengths, with the ones at the top being strongest at the moment, and the ones towards the bottom not being fully realized yet.  
  5. The values make awesome wall decor. The freebie I created uses the images from the old version of the website (which is more colorful) and the text (the values) is color-coded based on the categories in which the values are organized. It’s a great reference point for students as you practice and talk about the values, but also if a student is zoning out, having them see the value posters and daydream about those is better than daydreaming about something else. 
​
What are the values of a positive classroom culture? Use research-based character strengths to lesson plan do now or bellringer activities, manage behavior, teach character building and self-assessment. Scroll to the bottom to get free printable posters which make great classroom wall decor.  Check out the blog post by Lindsay Lyons for Time for Teachership. Sign up for more weekly tips at bit.ly/letterfromlindsay

So, at the start of the year, I posted the values on my wall and asked students to take the survey to identify their strongest character strengths. I also used the activities from the site (or made my own) to do a 5 minute Do Now or bellringer activity to start class. This was a way to make sure we didn’t just leave the values on the wall and forget about them the rest of the year. We would also have class appreciation activities in which we would each verbally or in writing share something we appreciated about others in the class, and these values were a great tool to help students concretely identify strengths in their peers.
​
What are the values of a positive classroom culture? Use research-based character strengths to lesson plan do now or bellringer activities, manage behavior, teach character building and self-assessment. Scroll to the bottom to get free printable posters which make great classroom wall decor.  Check out the blog post by Lindsay Lyons for Time for Teachership. Sign up for more weekly tips at bit.ly/letterfromlindsay

Definitely take some time to go to the Values in Action site, and check out what they offer. In the meantime, I want to give you a freebie that I used as wall decor. It helped my class foster a positive culture for learning and it helped me remember this work of character and culture building is just as important as the content I taught. 

Click the button below to download the freebie now! 
​
Get the Value Posters Freebie!

​If you know of other teachers who may use this, send them the link to this blog post. Several of my colleagues and I used the same posters in each of our rooms, and it was helpful for multiple grades and subject areas in the school to be familiar with the same strengths-based values language. 

What are the values of a positive classroom culture? Use research-based character strengths to lesson plan do now or bellringer activities, manage behavior, teach character building and self-assessment. Scroll to the bottom to get free printable posters which make great classroom wall decor.  Check out the blog post by Lindsay Lyons for Time for Teachership. Sign up for more weekly tips at bit.ly/letterfromlindsay
The values in my (& my amazing colleague Kholood's) classroom!

Keep building that positive classroom climate! You and your students will thrive. Don’t forget to think big, act brave, and be your best self. 
​

What are the values of a positive classroom culture? Use research-based character strengths to lesson plan do now or bellringer activities, manage behavior, teach character building and self-assessment. Scroll to the bottom to get free printable posters which make great classroom wall decor.  Check out the blog post by Lindsay Lyons for Time for Teachership. Sign up for more weekly tips at bit.ly/letterfromlindsay

Share

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

Details
    For transcripts of episodes (and the option to search for terms in transcripts), click here! 

    Time for Teachership is now a proud member of the...

    Picture

    Author

    Lindsay Lyons (she/her) is an educational justice coach who works with teachers and school leaders to inspire educational innovation for racial and gender justice, design curricula grounded in student voice, and build capacity for shared leadership. Lindsay taught in NYC public schools, holds a PhD in Leadership and Change, and is the founder of the educational blog and podcast, Time for Teachership. ​

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Support

Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer 
© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog/Podcast
  • Professional Learning
    • Curriculum Boot Camp
    • EduBoost
    • Investigating History
    • Multi-Year Support
    • More
  • Contact