A Safe Learning Environment

Yesterday was the type of day that makes you want to drown your sorrows at the local pub. In fact, the first thing I did when I got home was call a friend to meet out so I wouldn't be alone with my thoughts. Even today I can't stop thinking about everything from yesterday and worrying about Monday.

(Have I sufficiently built up my story yet?)

I don't understand how my students can sit in class and listen to me talk about the Pythagorean Theorem or squares and square roots of numbers when they have so much going on in the background. Yesterday I learned about the many troubles of several of my students. Without going into too many details, let me just say that the information I learned has made me re-evaluate what I want my classroom climate to be. I've always wanted a safe environment in which my students can learn, but prior to learning about the details of my students lives, I thought that meant that everyone should feel safe to ask questions and suggest answers without the possibility of being made fun of, etc. Now I'm thinking that a safe environment needs to begin with students understanding that they won't be physically or verbally attacked in my classroom.

One of the situations I "handled" yesterday was a screaming match between two of my female students. I didn't know the cause of the screaming, but my objective was to make the screaming stop, so I sent girl #1 out into the hall and kept girl #2 in the room. Talking with girl #1 we decided that she needed to go talk with guidance. Worried that girl #2 would run into girl #1 in the hall or the office, I decided to keep girl #2 in the room for the remainder of the class. I think this may have been the wrong choice. If I had it to do over again I would have sent for an administrator to come get girl #2 from class and escort her out.

I learned the cause of the fight later on, and it breaks my heart. How can students concentrate in class and see the point of learning anything in school when they're being attacked from all sides?

I'm worried about Monday. My goal is to use this incident to change my classroom for the better. Though I'm not entirely sure how. Maybe I'll begin class by having a discussion about what it means to be in a safe learning environment, and what actions I will take if I see or hear any thing that I perceive as creating an unsafe environment.