Masaryk University

Faculty of Education

Department of English Language and Literature

Reflective Teaching and its Influence on Classroom Climate

Diploma thesis

Written by Svtlana Merglov

Supervisor Dr. Rita Chalmers Collins, Ed. D.

Brno 2008

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Declaration:

I declare that I have worked on this thesis on my own and that I have only used

the sources listed in the bibliography.

Svtlana Merglov

13 April 2008

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Acknowledgement:

I would like to thank Dr. Rita Chalmers Collins, Ed. D. for her kind help,

constructive advice and professional approach she has rendered me in the course of the

production of this thesis.

Svtlana Merglov

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Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 5

Theoretical Part ............................................................................................................................. 6

1.0 What is reflective teaching? ............................................................................................. 6

1.1 Teaching journal .......................................................................................................... 8

1.2 A reflective teacher .................................................................................................... 10

1.2.1 Values and identity. .......................................................................................... 12

1.2.2 Teachers perceptions of pupils ........................................................................ 12

2.0 Childrens perceptions ................................................................................................... 13

2.1 Childrens views of themselves ................................................................................. 13

2.2 Influences on childrens attitudes .............................................................................. 14

2.3 Childrens perceptions of teachers ............................................................................ 14

2.4 Childrens views of one another ................................................................................ 16

2.5 Piagets theory of cognitive development ................................................................. 17

3.0 Classroom Climate ......................................................................................................... 18

3.1 Rules of creating a warm classroom climate ............................................................. 20

3.2 Communication ......................................................................................................... 22

4.0 Action research .............................................................................................................. 23

4.1 Questionnaires ........................................................................................................... 24

4.2 Sociometry ................................................................................................................. 24

4.3 Activities .................................................................................................................... 25

Practical part ............................................................................................................................... 25

5.0 Description ..................................................................................................................... 25

5.1 Research .................................................................................................................... 27

5.1.1 Teaching journal ............................................................................................... 28

5.1.2 Activities and Questionnaire ............................................................................. 31

5.2 Results ....................................................................................................................... 32

5.2.1 Results of the questionnaires ............................................................................ 32

5.2.2 Results of sociometry ........................................................................................ 34

5.2.3 Results of activities from Reflective Teaching .................................................. 34

5.3 Discussion .................................................................................................................. 36

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 41

References ................................................................................................................................... 42

Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 44

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Introduction

The aim of this diploma thesis is to see whether reflective teaching can influence

me as a teacher, my students and the classroom climate. I have chosen this topic

because I expect that reflective teaching will help me in my teaching, students learning

and hopefully also in the classroom atmosphere, which I think is so essential for

teaching and learning.

Action research will be a part of this thesis therefore I decided to perform the

research with a group of 15 students at the age of 16-17 because their relationships

seemed not to be the best ones at the end of last school year. The book about reflective

teaching by Pollard et al. and other books and articles have shown me a way how my

teaching could be more professional, effective and interesting.

As I have said already teaching is easier when the classroom atmosphere and the

relationships among students and the teacher are positive. Therefore I want to find out if

different reflective activities, various teaching strategies and activities that are focused

on relationships can improve the classroom atmosphere in the class. A questionnaire,

feedback from the students and my teaching journal should bring the answers.

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Theoretical Part

1.0 What is reflective teaching?

Reflection is an important human activity in which people

recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate

it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning.

(Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1985, qtd. in Introduction to

Developing Reflective Practice 1)

Whenever the word reflection is mentioned a connection with a mirror may

come to peoples minds. Throughout our lives we reflect or should reflect on all the

experience to learn from them. Therefore not only ordinary events but also our approach

to the world should be reflected so that we can develop. Due to the importance of the

profession of a teacher in our society reflective teaching is one of the most significant

activity.

Foundations and characteristics of reflective practice are described in Teaching

Practice in Adult ESL Setting as followed:

Reflective practice is an evolving concept. In the 1930s, John

Dewey defined reflection as a proactive, ongoing examination of

beliefs and practices, their origins, and their impacts. Since then,

reflective practice has been influenced by various philosophical and

pedagogical theories. One influence is constructivism, which views

learning as an active process where learners reflect upon their

current and past knowledge and experiences to generate new ideas

and concepts. A humanistic element of reflective practice is its

concern with personal growth and its goal of liberation from values

that can limit growth. Critical pedagogy, espousing examination of

underlying power bases and struggles, and American pragmatism,

emphasizing active implementation, testing, and refining of ideas

through experience, also shape the concepts of reflective practice,

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particularly in the United States. (Stanley, 1998; Kullman, 1998;

and Brookfield, 1995, qtd. in Florez 2)

Deweys view on routine action in comparison with reflective action is

mentioned in Reflective Teaching by Pollard et al., where routine action is influenced by

tradition, habit and authority, i.e. it is relatively static. Reflective action, on the other

hand, involves a willingness to engage in constant development. Among other things, it

implies flexibility, analysis and social awareness. They find it both challenging and

exciting (15).

Cruickshank claims that reflective teaching is the teachers thinking about what

happens in classroom lessons, and thinking about alternative means of achieving goals

or aims and again the major purpose is to create good habits of thought and to enable

teachers to develop their pedagogical habits and skills necessary for self-directed

growth (qtd. in Salmani-Nodoushan 132).

Jack C. Richards in his article Towards Reflective Teaching also says that in

reflection experience is recalled, considered and evaluated and this will be a basis for

planning an action therefore for further development (1).

A very important idea in Julie Tices opinion in her article Reflective Teaching:

Exploring Our Own Classroom Practice arises. For her reflective teaching means not

only looking at what you do in the classroom, but also thinking about why you do it,

and thinking about if it works. It is a process of self-observation and self-evaluation

(1). She agrees that many teachers already think about their teaching and talk to

colleagues about it too, nevertheless she points out the systematic process of collecting,

recording and analyzing our thoughts and observations, as well as those of our students

(1).

Moreover reflective teaching is a cyclical process. Florez suggests the following

steps to be taken: collect descriptive data, analyze them, consider how the activity

could be different and create a plan that incorporates new insights. When the plan is

brought into an existence further observation and analyses are performed again (2-3).

What can be the major concern in reflective teaching? Carolin Kreber and Patricia

A.Cranton in Exploring the Scholarship of Teaching from The Journal of Higher

Education introduce Mezirows kinds of reflections that provided three levels of

reflections (478).

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Content reflection focuses on teaching (e.g. planning courses, using different

teaching methods or evaluation students). The authors call the knowledge about

teaching instructional knowledge (Kreber and Cranton, 1997). This reflection will not

be the subject of the theses (479).

Whereas process reflection which deals with understanding of learning style,

cognitive style, and group dynamics will be partly the main issue of the research. This

pedagogical knowledge (Kreber and Cranton, 1997) is also concerned with how to teach

discipline and how to help students in solving the learning tasks. They compare it with

another term diagnostic knowledge, which includes general knowledge about learners

of given age ranges, their ability levels and learning difficulties, as well as knowledge

about the particular strengths and weaknesses of the entire class and of individual

students (479-480).

In premise reflection which Kreber and Cranton (1997) call curricular knowledge

questions about the goals of the teaching arise. Teachers may ask why they teach the

way they teach and thereby engage in critical reflection on their practice (481).

From all these descriptions it is clear enough that reflective teaching includes

knowledge of self, knowledge of content, knowledge of teaching and learning,

knowledge of pupils, and knowledge of context within schools and society, which was

presented in an article The Reflective Teaching Model (1).

Therefore chapter 1.2 and its subchapters will deal with these issues.

1.1 Teaching journal

All the authors mentioned in the previous chapter agreed on the first step of the

reflective process, which is gathering information. This could be provided by recording

lessons, self-observation, peer observation, student feedback but mainly by writing a

teacher diary often called a journal. (see Appendix A )

Tice defines it as the easiest way to begin a process of reflection since it is purely

personal. She suggests that after each lesson a teacher should write down what

happened, he/she can also describe their own reactions and feelings and those of the

students. Obviously diary writing requires a certain discipline in taking the time to do it

on a regular basis (2).

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Richards highlights Powells (1985) and Baileys (1990) goals of journal writing.

It should mainly creative interaction between the participant and the self-development

process and between the participant and other participants (4).

However, Pollard et al. claim that teachers data should be collected regularly,

otherwise they are often incomplete and subjective. Then they are only based on

previous experience therefore it might be difficult to break out of old habits and to

develop. On the other hand a very personal diary can provide a vivid reflection of

teachers ideas and feelings. They cite Tharp and Gallimore (1988) who point out that

such a diary may help teachers to enter into a conversation with oneself, which gives

them the opportunity to learn something about themselves (47). Later Pollard et al.

provide other significant reasons why to keep a diary. It is also the fact that it can be re-

visited in later days, weeks or years to consider both specific issues and the process of

continuing professional development.

Josh Boyd and Steve Boyd in their article Reflect and Improve: Instructional

Development through a Teaching Journal describe three dimensions of reflection

suggested by Jay and Johnson (2002): descriptive, comparative, and critical.

Descriptive dimension deals with what happens in a class. The authors cite

Sparks-Langer et al. (1990) who found the most basic kind of reflective practice to be

concerned with practical and technical aspects of teaching (such as planning lectures,

creating exams, and managing students (111).

Comparative dimension provides a way to compare the current practices with

alternatives: other pedagogical approaches, theories or new ideas for teaching. The

reason again is to improve teaching in the future (112).

Critical dimension. There are two different ways in which reflective teaching can

be critical: in the sense of considering broader implications and deeper meaning of

classroom instructions (Jay and Johnson, 2002), and in the sense of self-critique and

continuous learning and improvement (113).

At the end of the article the importance of keeping a teaching journal is

summarized:

Keeping a journal and, more important, reading that journal, create

more accountability and preserve observations and ideas about

teaching so they can benefit future students. It is not just about

reflection, but about reflection that leads to action, and action that

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creates improvement. It also provides motivation reading

about past successes and lessons increases our energy level, it helps

us get back into the context of the class and renews our

enthusiasm for the students and the course The teaching journal

is one of the simplest yet most productive methods of self-

education and continued instructional improvement. (Boyd and

Boyd 113-114)

In all these articles the importance of a teaching journal is emphasized. Definitely

without keeping a record the problems would be forgotten, no analyses could be done

and no further steps could be taken.

1.2 A reflective teacher

Reflective practice is important to the development of all

professionals because it enables us to learn from experience.

Although we all learn from experience, more and more experience

does not guarantee more and more learning. Twenty years of

teaching may not equate to 20 years of learning about teaching but

may be only one year repeated 20 times. There are many times

when our normal reactions to events are insufficient themselves to

encourage reflection. We should not rely solely on our natural

process of reflecting on experience, but actively seek ways to

ensure that reflection itself becomes a habit, ensuring our

continuing development as a professional teacher. (Beaty, 1997,

qtd. in Introduction to Developing Reflective Practice 5)

In the previous chapter Pollard et al. warned against subjectivity. Richards also

points to the danger that without real reflection a teacher only repeats his/her learnt way

of teaching. Later, it may become his/ her teaching style and a teacher will not be

reflective any more because his/her actions may become routine. Then professional

growth will not be possible (1).

What is the definition of a reflective teacher then? How can we become a

reflective teacher?

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A reflective teacher (also called a researcher of teaching) is a

person who transcends the technicalities of teaching and thinks

beyond the need to improve his instructional techniques. Being

reflective draws on the need for asking what and why

questions. In reflecting on what and why questions, we begin to

exercise control and open up the possibility of transforming our

everyday classroom life. The process of control is called critical

reflective teaching. By being critical, a teacher will have the ability

to see his actions in relation to the historical, social, and cultural

context in which his teaching is actually embedded. Such a teacher

will develop himself both individually and collectively (in relation

to society). (Salmani - Nodoushan 133)

Later, ten principles that guide the process by which teachers can become

reflective are introduced:

1. Teachers must reflect upon issues in the social context where

teaching occurs.

2. Teachers must be interested in the problem to be resolved.

3. Issues must be derived from the teachers own experience.

4. Reflection on the issues involves problem solving.

5. Ownership of the identified issue and its solution is vested in the

teacher.

6. Systematic procedures are necessary.

7. Teachers experience of teaching should provide information

about the issue.

8. Teachers ideas must be tested through the practice of teaching.

9. Tested ideas about teaching must lead to some course of action.

10. New understandings and redefined practice in teaching should

result. (Salmani - Nodoushan 134)

In the chapters about reflective teaching itself, about reflective teachers and about

a teaching journal the main idea is emphasized: if there is no willingness to develop, to

change, if there are no doubts about yourself and your teaching style or if there is no

search for perfection, neither development in teaching nor in personality can be found.

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That would cause dissatisfaction of the students and of the teachers themselves and of

course failure in teaching and learning process. As it was mentioned above first the

knowledge of oneself can lead to the knowledge of others, which is so important for

creating warm classroom atmosphere. Therefore the next chapter is devoted to teachers

identity and their values.

1.2.1 Values and identity.

This chapter will centre on an important issue: Who am I? Do I know myself?

Without the answers a teacher cannot become reflective. He/she must realize the

starting point and try to develop. Without knowing him/herself he/she cannot

understand others. The question is how sincere is the teacher to himself.

Pollard et al. quote Hall and Hall (1988) where each individual is seen as having

a self-image which is based on a personal understanding of the characteristics which

he or she possesses and on an awareness of how others see his or her self (94). They

also claim that people may have a sense of ideal-self, i.e. some characteristics which

they want to develop. Without this ideal-self no changes can be taken. They point out

significant social responsibility of teachers profession because teachers have an

important influence on their pupils (94).

Easen (1985) distinguishes between our public display, our blind spots, our

dreamer spots, our untapped reservoir and our unknown potential (qtd. in Pollard et al.

95). Therefore if teachers want to develop their self-knowledge they should know the

answers to these aspects. (see reflective activity 5.1 in Chapter 5.3.3 and in Appendix

C) The authors admit that gaining self-knowledge is not an easy task. It is a never-

ending process that may be sometimes painful. Nevertheless they think that self-growth

is worth taking risks (Pollard et al. 97).

1.2.2 Teachers perceptions of pupils

While in the previous chapter teachers perceptions of themselves were discussed,

in this chapter teachers perceptions of pupils will be examined. It is certain that

teachers must have a concrete idea of what to expect of their pupils. Teachers

experience and their observation should be of a significant help. However, the danger of

teachers preconceptions and prejudices about what children should be like as pupils

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should be considered (Pollard et al. 100). They cite Brophy and Good (1974) who warn

of labeling or stereotyping which can lead to a phenomenon known as a self-fulfilling

prophecy and could result in considerable social injustices (100), i.e. children who

were believed to be bright would do well but, when there were negative expectations,

then children would not achieve good results.

To create a warm classroom atmosphere, teachers should empathize with their

pupils and help weaker students to feel successful. More will be presented in the chapter

on classroom climate.

2.0 Childrens perceptions

In following chapters, childrens perception will be discussed. Classroom

interaction depends not only on teachers but on the pupils as well. Therefore their view

of themselves, of their teachers and of one another will be the main issues.

2.1 Childrens views of themselves

Everybody will definitely agree with Claxton (1999) and Katz (1995) that the

way that children think of themselves in school will directly influence their approach to

learning, their learning disposition (qtd. in Pollard et al 101). Some children may

feel over-confident, some may undervalue themselves but some may be very well aware

of their own strengths and weaknesses (Pollard et al 101).

It is clear enough that if teachers want their students to have positive approach to

learning, positive self-concepts should be developed among children. Teachers should

provide opportunities where childrens qualities can be appreciated, where children are

encouraged to identify and to improve these qualities (Pollard et al. 103).

Therefore again, creating a warm climate by becoming a reflective warm-hearted

teacher who passes over his/her positive energy to children and who wants to develop

too could be the way. Nevertheless the influence of various factors may stand out of

teachers reach. In the next chapter these will be presented.

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2.2 Influences on childrens attitudes

Nobody will doubt the importance of a family or an environment on childrens

points of view. Pollard et al. describe factors that influence childrens attitudes:

The family. Parents and their ideas and actions are obviously the first examples

for young children. Though they do not understand parents behavior they tend to copy

it so that they could gain parents love and appreciation. However, the behavior and

values of the family may also run counter to those supported in schools.

Peers at school. They have an enormous influence especially on teenagers who

start rejecting everything their parents and teachers say. They create groups that reflect

the influence of gender, ethnicity, social class, age and physical abilities.

The school. Hopefully, the school also influences childrens perspectives. The

information, values and attitudes are of great importance. The personality of a teacher

should not be forgotten here.

The media and new technologies. Although books used to be the most significant

carriers of culture, they have been replaced by television and computers. Children spend

long hours in cyberspace, which may influence their views (e.g. computer games and

theirs violence, sexist or racist views). However, the possibility to get the latest

information should be highlighted here too.

The community. Each child is a member of wider communities therefore he/she

belongs to a racial group, social groups or they may follow a specific religion. All these

communities help to shape an individuals values, behavior and sense of self. (358-360)

Inborn qualities such as introversion or extraversion influence childrens

perceptions of the world in general. This can be an important factor for their attitude

towards teachers and one another, which could cause problems with communication and

creating relationships in a class. However this would be a question for psychologists

and this thesis will not deal with it.

2.3 Childrens perceptions of teachers

In previous chapters childrens views of themselves and the various factors were

focused on. Whenever positive classroom climate is to be established, childrens

attitudes towards teachers are of great importance as well.

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Pollard et al. offer a considerable amount of evidence collected. This evidence

suggests that children like teachers who make them learn and who provide interesting

activities, but also those who are prepared to be flexible, to respond to the different

interests of the individual and those who provide some scope for pupil choice, so those

who are firm, flexible fair and fun (108).

Luke Prodromou in the book Teacher Development: Making the Right Moves

offers the lists of a good and bad teachers qualities from his survey; here are some

examples:

Good teacher - is friendly, explains things, gives good notes, lets

the students do it by themselves, gives group work, lets the students

do the lesson together, elicits things known, talks about his/her life,

talks about problems of the school, talks about other subjects, plays

games, tells jokes, is one of the students, does not push weak

students, asks students opinions, is like an actor, is forceful, but

not strict, is educated, knows psychology, uses movement to make

meaning clear, makes sure everyone understood, is funny, reads in

tone that makes meaning clear, gets close to students, has a

personality of his/her own, is experienced, makes grammar clear,

tries to communicate, gives advice, talks about personal problems,

uses questions a lot, talks about the lesson, believes in students,

makes them believe in themselves... (19)

Bad teacher - is very strict, does not let students speak, gives marks

all the time, is fixed in a chair, is dominant, shouts, gives a lot of

tests, forces the students to do things, does not prepare them for the

tests, makes too difficult tests, does not smile, starts the lesson

immediately, does not discuss other problems, only shows

grammar rules, believes the students are all the same, shouts when

they make mistakes, speaks flat, is very nervous, is like a machine,

is not prepared, treats kids like objects, is rigid, is sarcastic and

ironic, does not discuss other things, avoids answering questions,

students cannot laugh or speak... (20)

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Though these are not the only positive and negative qualities of teachers in

childrens eyes, i.e. other surveys may provide us with different results in the practical

part the results from Bad/good teacher activity will be compared with the qualities

mentioned above. As it was said earlier the views and values of family and especially

those of their peers influence childrens attitude towards teachers too.

2.4 Childrens views of one another

When the factors that influence childrens attitudes were discussed, peers were the

second significant ones on the list. So this chapter devotes attention to childrens

perception of one another. People are social beings therefore even the children tend to

form pairs or groups. Their relations in class are very important because this can affect

their learning. They usually look for their friends subconsciously, i.e. they look for

somebody who is very similar to them. Nevertheless it is also a common case when

children form groups with others who are either stronger or weaker than they are. In

a way they copy the family patterns.

Childrens play is, therefore, an important means by which they can

identify with each other, establish themselves as members of a

group, try out different roles and begin to develop independence

and responsibility. When peer groups begin to form, each member

may be expected to contribute and conform to the norms which are

shared by the group: for example, liking similar games, toys and

TV programs; supporting the same football team or pop group;

liking the same fashions. Group members will also be expected to

be loyal to each other, stand up for their mates, play together and

share things. (Pollard et al 109)

Reflective teaching includes all the aspects of childrens perceptions: views of

themselves, of one another and of their teachers as well as of the world. These aspects

are interrelated with one another. As later Pollard et al claim the relationships to peers

and to teachers affect childrens self-image (110).

As soon as teachers want to create a warm classroom atmosphere they must

consider the relationships among children. Sociometric analysis (see Chapter 4.2 and

Chapter 5.2.2) or observations can help teachers to realize the grouping and relations.

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2.5 Piagets theory of cognitive development

In this chapter Piagets theory of cognitive development will be briefly discussed.

The way of thinking of teenagers is a complicated one and this thesis will not study this

psychological issue. The reason why Piaget is mentioned here is to show that

adolescents think in a different way and that this might influence their behavior,

relations and classroom atmosphere.

An author from Valdosta State University cites Huitt and Hummel (2003) and

their Educational Psychology interactive and describes Jean Piaget as one of the most

significant researchers in developmental psychology who was interested in how

children think. Piaget noticed that younger ones answered questions differently because

they thought differently. He believed that infants are born with schemes operating at

birth that he called reflexes. In other animals, these reflexes control behavior

throughout life. However, in human beings as the infant uses these reflexes to adapt to

the environment, these reflexes are quickly replaced with constructed schemes (1).

According to the author Piaget described two processes used by the individual in

its attempt to adapt: assimilation and accommodation:

Assimilation is the process of using or transforming the

environment so that it can be placed in preexisting cognitive

structures. Accommodation is the process of changing cognitive

structures in order to accept something from the environment. Both

processes are used simultaneously and alternately throughout life.

(1)

Four Stages of Cognitive Development are further (2) presented:

1. Sensorimotor stage (Infancy).

2. Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early Childhood).

3. Concrete operational stage (Elementary and early adolescence). In this stage,

intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols

related to concrete objects. Operational thinking develops and egocentric thought

diminishes (2).

4. Formal operational stage (Adolescence and adulthood). In this stage, intelligence is

demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. Early in

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the period there is a return to egocentric thought. Only 35% of high school graduates in

industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally

during adulthood (2).

The author adds advice how to teach students who start to use formal operations

(adolescence). He adapted materials from Woolfolk & McCune-Nicolich (1984) in their

Educational Psychology for Teachers:

- Use visual aids such as charts and illustrations, as well a simple

but somewhat more sophisticated graphs and diagrams.

- Use well-organized materials that offer step by step explanations

- Provide students opportunities to discuss social issues.

- Provide consideration of hypothetical other worlds.

- Encourage students to explain how they solve problems.

- Make sure that at least some of the tests you give ask for more

than rote memory or one final answer; essay questions, for

example, might ask students to justify two different positions on an

issue.

- Whenever possible, teach broad concepts, not just facts, using

materials and ideas relevant to the students.

- Use lyrics from popular music to teach poetic devices, to reflect

on social problems, and so on. (1)

Throughout the six months of the research all these pieces of advice were taken

into account. As the students are 16-17 years old, their cognitive development has not

reached Formal operational stage. Hopefully by discussing social issues that are

relevant to their interests classroom atmosphere could be improved. In next chapters the

attention will be paid to classroom climate. As it was pointed out in the chapter about

reflective teaching, the positive classroom atmosphere is an essential condition for

successful teaching and learning.

3.0 Classroom Climate

Classroom climate is quite a wide-ranging concept encompassing

the mood or atmosphere that is created in the teachers classroom

through the rules set out, the way the teacher interacts with pupils,

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and the way the physical environment is set out. (Freiberg & Stein,

1999 and Creemers & Reezigt, 1999, qtd. in Module Two

Classroom Climate 2)

Rogers suggests that three basic qualities are required if a warm, person-

centered relationship is to be established acceptance, genuineness and empathy

(Pollard et al. 120). Later Pollard et al. explain what these qualities mean in the

conditions of school: Acceptance involves acknowledging and receiving children as

they are; genuineness implies that such acceptance is real and heart-felt; whilst

empathy suggests that a teacher is able to appreciate what classroom events feel like to

children(121). Rogers claims that good relationships are founded on understanding

and on giving (qtd. in Pollard et al. 121). The qualities described above are not the

only important ones in creating a warm atmosphere because additional factors are

involved as well:

In the first place teachers are constrained by their responsibility for ensuring that

the children learn adequately and appropriately, second, the fact that teachers are likely

to be responsible for relatively large numbers of children means that the challenges of

the class management and discipline must always condition our actions and third, the

fact that teachers themselves have feelings, concerns and interests in the classroom

means that they, too, need to feel the benefit of a degree of acceptance, genuineness and

empathy if they are to give of their best. (Pollard et al. 122) Woods argues that good

relationships in classrooms must then be based on each teacher having earned the

respect of the children by demonstrating empathy and understanding and by

establishing a framework of order and authority (qtd. in Pollard et al. 123).

In Model Two Classroom Climate an anonymous author shows Borichs

(1996) three types of classroom climate. They differ in the extent to which the

classroom is pupil or more teacher-centered. Most classrooms contain elements of all of

these, but usually one model dominates:

The Competitive Classroom which is teacher-centered, where pupils compete

with one another to give answers. It can motivate pupils and teacher provides

scaffolding for pupils learning, but it may bring damage to self-concept of less able

pupils and the pupils are not taught to work co-operatively (3)

The Co-operative Classroom where pupils are engaged in dialogue, monitored

by teacher, i.e. they bring up and discuss own ideas, but teacher intervenes to clarify and

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scaffold their thinking. It develops pupils social and co-operative skills. However one

or two dominant pupils can start to dominate, with others allowing them to do all the

work (4).

The Individualistic Classroom where pupils work independently, at their own

level, there are no right or wrong answers, teacher takes a back seat in pupil learning.

It encourages development of independent learning skills, but pupils will not develop

co-operative skills and less able pupils will not make sufficient progress without

teachers scaffolding (4).

It is clear that all three types have their advantages and disadvantages. The class

where the research was done will be classified according to all the signs mentioned

above in the practical part. To create a positive classroom atmosphere is not an easy

task. Words such as acceptance, genuineness, empathy, understanding and giving as

well as a certain kind of order, discipline and authority are of great importance. Many

similar words to those in the chapter about reflective teachers will be found in the next

chapter where rules of creating a warm classroom climate will be provided.

3.1 Rules of creating a warm classroom climate

The author of Model two Classroom Climate introduced above writes that the

most important aspect of classroom climate - as it has been mentioned more times

already - is the relationship between teacher and pupils. Therefore a warm, supportive

environment increases teachers effectiveness and pupils achievement. (4)

In the same article the author describes what a teacher should be like to be able to

achieve a warm classroom climate:

understanding with no sarcastic comments, helpful - not ignoring

pupils, friendly - everyone is valued as an individual, genuine - has

the same attitude away from the pupils, enthusiastic and he/she

should: lead without being overbearing, enjoy teaching, motivate,

have high expectations - all pupils can learn, make sure pupils

respect one another, encourage discussions - to clear up any

misconceptions and clarify pupils thinking, give consistent,

considered and constructive feedback, value pupils work - praises

and displays it and create an inviting and cheerful classroom -

21

bright and colorful with displays of pupils work or posters on the

walls. (5-9)

Some other rules to reach an effective and warm classroom climate are suggested

in Effective Class Management: Teachers should not forget to be polite to students and

should expect the same from them, should not show favoritism towards particular

students, should include all student during lessons and should not let one or two

students monopolize the class and they should be consistent (Underwood 35).

Though all these rules seem to be well known other pieces of advice that teachers

should have in mind are provided in Classroom Atmosphere:

use humor, teach social skills, show students how to build on

strengths and compensate for weaknesses, how to accept and learn

from mistakes, emphasize improvement rather than perfection and

involve students in creating and establishing guidelines for

acceptable behavior (Hanson and Corbett from Development

Team 1).

Whenever students speak out of turn, use inappropriate language or otherwise

disturb classroom activities, without any discipline no creative or positive classroom

climate can be achieved. Therefore some additional rules are given:

Teachers should speak to the student privately to reinforce

expectations and consequences, use proximity or eye contact to

engage the student, use timeouts as a time for self-reflection,

draw attention to the positive aspects the student's behavior or

work first, use a problem solving approach rather than a blaming

approach, avoid overreacting, provide the student with choices so

that they accept some responsibility for the solution to the problem

or place student in an area of the classroom where there is a

minimum of distractions (Hanson and Corbett from Development

Team 2).

Other interesting ideas which can help to build an effective learning atmosphere

and which can indicate our interest in students were presented in A Guide to Teaching

& Learning Practices, Chapter 5 - Managing Students and the Classroom Climate such

22

as: be tolerant of students viewpoints, move around the room, use body language, get

on the students level and share learning, select varied office hours, obtain early

feedback from your students about your teaching (6).

Involving all students as it was advised above can be reached by organizing

students in three basic ways: individual work, pair work, group work and class work.

Nowadays, pair work or group work is very often used. Advantages and disadvantages

are described in Reflective Teaching: These types of work are significant especially in

developing social and language skills; pupils can help one another they learn to co-

operate, which is mainly important for less confident or quiet learners who need to feel

secure, and which creates supporting and challenging atmosphere (Pollard et al. 239).

However, very often pupils misuse the groups for talking, the monitoring of group

work or the forming of group itself can cause problems, some pupils do not contribute

to the work (e.g. they either do not have the confidence or the will) or the groups stop

working whenever the teacher leaves them for another one (Pollard et al. 240).

Most of these rules will be dealt with in the practical part. A reflective teacher,

who wants to create a warm classroom atmosphere, must be sincere and needs to think

about him/herself, students, the relations among them and between them and him/her,

about the appropriate organization of work, about maintaining discipline so that

learning can be achieved and many other things.

3.2 Communication

There is no doubt that no relationships can be achieved without communication. It

is the reason why this chapter will be devoted to it.

Though language skills are fundamental but, since communication

involves people, it requires social skills as well. Nor can we forget

the attitudes of the participants, the relationship between them, and

the context itself, for these add another layer of meaning to the

encounter. (Pollard et al. 272)

Para-verbal and non-verbal features i.e. looks, gestures or movements as well as

the way how things are said i.e. tone of voice, pace, pitch, volume etc. are pointed out.

Not to be confused it is essential that all participants know how to communicate

(Pollard et al. 273).

23

Though all participants can talk not all of them can listen, some of them want to

talk all the time or others do not want to speak at all. An important task of a reflective

teacher is to realize who speaks and how often and to help all the pupils to learn

speaking, listening, taking turn and respecting other pupils opinions.

Barnes has developed a hypothesis about the relationship between styles of

communication and views of learning and knowledge. He argues that if a teacher sees

knowledge as content that pupils must learn, he calls it school knowledge, there is no

interaction, pupils only repeat what they had learned; they forget it quickly and it does

not help them in their lives. However, if the teacher sees knowledge as existing in the

learners ability to interpret, then communication will be interactive, and there will be

negotiation between the teachers knowledge and the pupils knowledge (qtd. in

Pollard 274).

This hypothesis suggests the idea that everyone has something to say and that

teachers should provide pupils with possibilities to do so, e.g. by involving pair work.

By talking and listening, this is what communication means, children develop their

perceptions of themselves and the others. Classroom atmosphere must be positive and

reflective teachers must be sensitive to many factors that support it.

4.0 Action research

Action research will be a part of this thesis. The steps of action research are

similar to steps of reflective teaching; Strickland offers: identify an issue, seek

knowledge, plan an action, implement the action, observe the action, reflect on your

observations and revise the plan (qtd. in Gebhard 38-39).

The reasons why teachers should do action research are clear both teachers and

their students can get valuable information about certain issues and the process itself

may help to create a warm classroom atmosphere.

Other reasons were provided in Action Research, e.g. it can help teachers to

notice what they and their students really do, rather than what they think they do, to

change their teaching according to students needs or to increase their knowledge of

learning and teaching (Verster 1).

24

4.1 Questionnaires

There are many techniques of enquiry and other than the teaching journal a

questionnaire will be used in this research. A questionnaire is defined as a useful means

of collecting factual information as well as opinions. It can be closed (asking for

specific data or yes/no responses) or open, which encourages relatively free answers

about pupils thought and opinions(Pollard et al. 58).

In Waddingtons Types of Survey Questions many types of questionnaires were

shown. In this thesis likert-scale was used because students feelings and attitudes

towards classroom atmosphere were investigated. However, at the end of the

questionnaire some open-ended questions were presented so that students could add

their ideas. (see Chapter 5.2.1 and Appendix B)

4.2 Sociometry

As this thesis mainly deals with relationships among students, sociometry will be

a part of the research. It is described as a technique which has been developed to help

children and teachers gain insights into friendship patterns (Pollard et al. 59) To

receive a sociogram children are usually asked to write one to three names of their peers

with whom they would like to work or play. (Pollard et al. 60)

In A Guide To Teaching Practice the importance of teachers understanding of the

relationships that exists among the children in the class is also highlighted because the

results might give the teacher valuable information (Cohen and Manion 146-147). Out

of Morenos sociometric test following categories can usually be found:

- stars: those selected by several members of the group

- mutual pairs: where two children choose each other in their first

two or three choices

- cliques: where three, four or more individuals include each other

in their choice

- chains: where A chooses B, B chooses C, C chooses D and so on

- isolates: those no one in the group chooses

- rejectees: those with whom other children express a definite wish

not to be associated(qtd. in Cohen and Manion 146)

25

Results of sociometry can be found in Chapter 5.2.2.

4.3 Activities

Activities play a very significant role in this research and in practical part more

will be explained. There will be two types of activities: reflective activities that should

help teacher to develop and activities focused on relationships in a playful way. In

Classroom Dynamics, where some activities were taken from, the significance of a

positive group atmosphere that can have a beneficial effect on the morale, motivation,

and self-image of its members, and thus significantly affect their learning, by

developing in them a positive attitude to the learning process, and to themselves as

learners is pointed out (Hadfield 10). Therefore the author offers suggestions for

practical things a teacher can do to improve relations and atmosphere within a group by

performing some activities. However, later she admits that forming and maintaining

groups should not replace content teaching (Hadfield 13).

Practical part

5.0 Description

As it was said in the introduction, this diploma thesis deals with the influence of

reflective teaching on classroom climate. The research was held at the Private

Secondary School of Art at Psek. About one hundred and thirty students attend this

school altogether. Most of the students come from urban areas and are from lower or

middle class. There are 17 teachers, both women and men, where five of them are

Academic painters. Unfortunately, some artists feel superior to academic teachers,

which breaks the team. Nevertheless the relations among the rest of the teachers are

very friendly and there is no doubt that the headmistress supports all the teachers to

develop professionally. Every year students and their teachers have a chance to go either

to France or Italy to see many outstanding works of art. When our students leave this

school, they can either continue studying at various universities or they can start

working as graphic or fashion designers. To pass entrance examinations at Art faculties

is very difficult even for our students therefore many of them study Faculty of

Education to become Art teachers.

26

The school has two parts: a renovated private house of our headmistress where

some of the classrooms are specially designed for teaching practical subjects like

drawing, sewing and designing and a rented part of an old school about five minutes

away where a language classroom, two classrooms with data projectors and an

interactive board and two ordinary classroom can be found. The school does not have a

gym, so the students have to go to another school for their Physical training lessons.

Though the school has no own school canteen, there are two school canteens that belong

to different schools where our students can have their lunch. One of them is located in

the building of the old school and the other one is about ten minutes away.

Fifteen second year students at the age of 16-17 were chosen to be part of the

research. The reasons why these students were selected are following: first, they have

known each other already (it is not a newly formed class where no relations have been

created yet), second, this is not a homogenous group (there are students of completely

different interests and characters; the differences influence the relations very much),

which is interesting for the research, third, there are five boys (quite unusual at this

school where mostly girls are studying), fourth, there is a highest number of students in

a group in comparison with other groups at this school land fifth, at the end of the

previous school year a boy from this class told me that the relationships in the class

were not very good, which was a challenge for me to try to make them better.

The students have three lessons twice a week two on Monday (90 minutes) and

one on Wednesday (45 minutes) after their lunch break. Monday lessons seem to be too

long for them because they look forward to the lunch whereas the students on

Wednesday are either sleepy or too excited after their lunch break. Except for Friday

their school days are quite long; their classes finish at 15.40 because not only subjects

like Czech, English, History of Art, Civics, Mathematics, Physics, Biology and

Technology are taught, but the students have also practical lessons where they draw,

sew, work with computers or have their design lessons.

Classes on Monday are held in a language classroom where desks create a circle

together with the teachers desk because of the wires to the headphones. Unfortunately

the room is quite narrow therefore it is almost impossible to move round. The

communication with students is worse then; pair work and group work can be checked

with difficulties. Though the circle is said to be the best shape how to arrange the desks,

this one faces the whiteboard with the narrow part. It means that the students actually sit

in two rows and they have to turn their heads to be able to look at the board.

27

Nevertheless the classroom is very bright (there are four windows), full of colors, there

are maps of English speaking countries and boards with pictures. Videos and DVD

about English speaking countries or films in English can be played on a recorder.

The classroom used on Wednesdays has the traditional setting of the desks, it is

quite big, other subjects are taught there too, but the pictures from different projects in

English and some plants make it really comfortable and pleasant.

The students are allowed to sit next to their friends, only two very weak pupils

who cannot concentrate on the work all the time sit in the front next to more advanced

students who should tell them what to do. All the pupils except for one who has joined

the class from another school this year are considered advanced because they had been

studying English at least six years before they came to this school. Nevertheless their

knowledge of English is of various levels from a beginner to advanced. More details

about students can be found in Reflective activity 5.3. in Appendix C.

Since September the students have been studying English from a new course book

New Headway Pre-Intermediate, 3rd edition, OUP - that was designed to prepare

students for the new school leaving exam. It took them quite a long time to get used to

the book, but now all the students agree that the book is up-to-date, with many

interesting pictures and articles that motivate students to study and to think about our

multicultural world. This course book brings pair work or group work activities, a lot of

listening exercises and interesting topics for discussions.

I have been teaching for seven years and this school was actually my first one. In

addition to the work at this school I had a part-time job at two other schools in the last

three years - at grammar school (one school year with a group of 11-year-old children)

and at secondary school of commerce (two school years with two groups of students at

the age of 15-17).

5.1 Research

The first step of action research is to identify a problem. The problem identified

was the classroom atmosphere in relation to reflective teaching. The next step is to seek

the knowledge, so to be able to carry out the research. I have read about reflective

teaching and classroom climate in Pollard et al. (2005), where various reflective

activities were suggested (see 5.2.3 or Appendix C) and many articles on the Internet.

Describing the existing classroom atmosphere was the next step. In September the

28

students were given a questionnaire concerning the relationships in the class and I

compared some theory with the practice to see what kind of classroom the specific class

is. After that, planning special strategies where relationships and the atmosphere could

be influenced was performed. Implementation and observation was done during

September to February. Some activities dealt with relations and feelings and others were

meant to release the atmosphere. Students were involved in some projects and in

revising grammar from previous school year. Every lesson is described in my teaching

journal (see Appendix A). At the end of February students were given the same

questionnaire to complete, so that I could find if my reflective teaching had influenced

the classroom climate.

5.1.1 Teaching journal

In all theories about reflective teaching, a teacher journal is of a crucial

importance. Writing this journal was my reflection on my teaching, to students

reactions and their behavior. I decided to write a personal diary because my feelings

create the classroom atmosphere as well. The whole process of writing it was very

interesting; to put down ones thought is more demanding and obligatory. Whenever I

had a feeling that the lesson was not successful I tried to be self-critical and I revised the

plan. This is the most important step, otherwise there would be no reflection and no

progress. At the same time I made some reflective activities that helped me to realize

my state of view but also other alternatives. To be honest, sometimes I had hardly any

time to write down my notes, so it happened that I was delayed in regular writing.

My teaching journal includes all three dimensions described in Chapter 1.1: first,

descriptive dimension because I focused on managing students. Second, comparative

dimension as I tried to introduce new ideas for my teaching e.g. students were to explain

grammar from the last year or they revised vocabulary in a playful way. And third,

critical dimension because I concentrated on self-critique and my continuous learning

and improvement.

Some examples of my teaching journal will be presented here; books about

reflection and classroom climate helped me to understand what should be changed next

time.

To create a warm supported atmosphere does not mean to let students do what

they want. Discipline, as it was mentioned in the theoretical part is crucial issue. The

29

students are at the critical age, many of them have totally different interests than school.

After their lunch break they are either very sleepy or very active. Veronika H. does not

like school and she feels bored, even during the activities or pair work, though she is not

the only one in this class who disturbs. I let my students sit next to their fiends but in

this class it is not always possible. To create working conditions for everybody I had to

think about the sitting order; I had to minimize distraction.

12.9. Wed. Veronika H. was disturbing the class. I will create a

sitting order to avoid disturbing. It is hard because of Monday

classroom where everybody has two neighbors and because I do

not want to punish the good pupils by forcing them to sit with

somebody else

It was really very difficult to decide who will sit next to whom. Many students,

those who are eager to learn something, wanted to sit in the front but I needed the weak

and problematic students (Michal and Erik) to sit near me and moreover to sit with

somebody who could help them with their work. From my observation, and the

sociometric analysis confirmed it later, these boys are not liked by others. I asked the

class about my new ideas and Dan and Jakub agreed to sit with the boys. Two sitting

orders had to be prepared for Mondays and for Wednesdays.

17.9. Mon. The new sitting order was useful.

This sitting order exists till now and the students seem to be satisfied. Teaching is

much easier now. After the research I am more aware of the sitting order in other

classes as well.

Not only sitting order but also certain rules are important to maintain discipline,

so important for learning. Another good piece of advice that I found in the theoretical

part (see Chapter 3.1) was about involving students in creating these rules for acceptable

behavior.

19.9. Wed. Next time I will ask the students to suggest some

classroom rules and punishments because I was inspired in the

Checklist 11.3 and Checklist 11.4

30

24.9. Mon .At the end of the lesson I wanted three groups to

discuss the rules and punishments. What a mistake I have made! I

forgot about the rule of grouping (Reflective activity 6.6) and I let

them chose the group and all five weak students sat together. There

was no outcome; they made fun of it. Therefore I must be more

careful next time. The other groups had some suggestions

concerning the rules. We will discuss them on Wednesday.

I appreciated the effort of the students; some of them take the responsibility for

their behavior; they feel that they are the partners and that the rules are not here to

punish them but to help them. Very important is my awareness of grouping students.

This cannot be done spontaneously, but consciously: students ability and their

communicative skills must be taken into account.

Though I know how significant involving all students in the lesson is and that I

should not let one or two students monopolise the class (Underwood 35), I thought

that calling on everybody would be sufficient. The result was that mostly two or three

students were communicating, the rest was just sitting and listening or feeling bored.

The reason why pair work and group work should be part of the language lesson is clear

now.

1.10. Mon Pair work, now I must agree with all the books that it

is the easiest way how to involve all the students. There is a risk

that the pairs who I am not next to talk in Czech but as I can guess

the students start getting used to speaking English.

However, Dan wanted to monopolize the talking during the lessons though we

had made arrangement that he would not speak without my asking. English is the only

subject he is good at and this is the reason why I do not want to de-motivate him.

However, others should have the chance to speak too. At the end of the research period

he seemed to understand what I wanted from him. He started to raise his hand instead of

shouting the correct answer.

Various activities were introduced during the research to release the atmosphere

and to have fun. Most of them were found in a book Classroom Dynamics, which was

designed for teachers who want to have better relations among and with their students. I

was very surprised that One Big Family-Family tree turned to be the most successful

31

one. Students, even those who do not like some of their schoolmates, created a family;

they accepted one another in a way.

7.1. Mon. First lesson in the New year. Pair work - talking about

Christmas presents. An activity from Classroom Dynamics

Family tree. Similar one to Changing identity but with

relations to the classmates. A real success.

5.1.2 Activities and Questionnaire

There were two types of activities I used during the research period: activities

focused on relations and creating a warm atmosphere and reflective activities, check

lists and the questionnaire. The former were presented to students to influence their

relationships and the classroom atmosphere in general. As it was mentioned above, they

were taken from Classroom Dynamics (see Appendix D) and my comments on them are

in the journal (see Appendix A). The latter were meant for me the teacher to identify the

problems, to realize my points of view, to plan the actions, to observe and finally to

reflect and revise the plans. Most of the reflective activities were suggested in Reflective

Teaching (see Results and Appendix C). All the activities were chosen because they

were connected with the topics, either with reflective teaching or with classroom

climate. There is no doubt that other activities could have been performed, but I

consider these ones very useful.

In this thesis, a likert-scale questionnaire was used. The first eleven questions

were asked at the beginning and at the end of the research, so that I could compare the

answers. Out of fifteen students three were new, they did not fill the questionnaire in

September and three were absent, therefore only nine students could be compared.

Other questiones were added so that I could see what the students wanted to change in

their English lessons during this school year. In February they were replaced by

questions concerning the research (see Chapter 5.2.1 and Appendix B).

32

5.2 Results

5.2.1 Results of the questionnaires

The answers from September and from February were compared and here the

results of only the most important questions and answers will be provided. The whole

questionnaire with its results can be found in Appendix B.

2. Most of my schoolmates in the English class are my friends.

0

1

2

3

yes rather yes sometimes rather no no

September 2007

February 2008

New students

Two students changed their answer to worse, one to better and two new students

expressed their rather positive relations.

3. I can cooperate with anybody in this class.

0

1

2

3

4

yes rather yes sometimes rather no no

September 2007

February 2008

New students

One student changed the answer to worse, two to better. This was a positive

change, which could have been effected by reflective teaching.

33

9. The relationships in this class are very good

0

1

2

3

yes rather yes sometimes rather no no

September 2007

February 2008

New students

Three students changed the answer to worse, one to better. It is the worst result of

the questionnaire that contradicts the question 12 from Questionnaire II. in February.

In September, students were asked to suggest what could be changed during the

English lessons (question 14). Answers pointed to the needs of student, i.e. more

practice, more discussions, more individual work, more difficult tasks, everything,

nothing or to change weak students with better ones from the other group. The last

comment may be very significant in students relationships.

In February last open questions in Questionnaire II were focused on activities.

12. Do you think that some games and activities we were doing have improved

the classroom relationships?

0

1

2

3

4

5

yes rather yes sometimes rather no no

February 2008

New students

Eight students - out of eleven - ticked positive answers: sometimes, rather yes and

yes. They liked especially co-operation; it was fun; there was a nice atmosphere, but

also a mess or they could learn something new or exchange their opinions (question 13).

However somebody defined them as a waste of time or boring; badly organized;

somebody complained that he/she had had to think, to work with people who he/she

could not stand or that the peers had not co-operated (question 14).

The most popular activities can be seen in Appendix B.

34

5.2.2 Results of sociometry

The students were asked to write the names of one to three other students with

whom they would like to work or make a project. By sociometric analysis I wanted to

ensure myself about the relationships in the class because my opinions do not have to be

objective enough.

The person on the first place got 3 points, on the second 2 points and on the third

one point.

Dan 15 points, Veronika N. 15, Jiina 7, Pavel 6, Ka 5, Jakub 4,

Zuzana 3, Aneta K. 3, Trang 3, Markta 3, Veronika H. 3, Aneta B. 2, Bra

0, Erik 0, Michal 0

When a sociogram was drawn, according to Cohen and Manion (146), stars (Dan,

Pavel, Veronika N.), mutual pairs (Aneta K. and Trang, Markta and Veronika H., Dan

and Kuba, Veronika N. and Jiina), clusters of friends or cliques (Veronika N., Pavel,

Jiina, Zuzana) and isolates (Bra, Erik, Michal) can be seen.

The results will be analyzed in Discussion

5.2.3 Results of activities from Reflective Teaching

In this chapter results of only some activities will be given.

Reflective activity 5.1 (96) (see Appendix C) analyzes dimension of my self.

Important are my dreamer spots, i.e. aspects I would like to be there: I would like to

be more self-confident, to be more interesting, to have more courage and not to fear

failure, the new, and feeling of not being accepted.

Reflective activity 5.2 (99) (see Appendix C) identifies general aims that I hold

for my pupils learning. I claim that my students should learn to understand that without

knowing themselves and their values, without accepting themselves and therefore

accepting others their lives will not be rich; that there is always a chance to change

either the conditions or themselves (or their attitude) and that responsibility is the sign

of being a grown up and finally that they should speak as often as possible, they should

be able to express their feelings and at the same time to listen to others.

Reflective activity 5.6 Good / bad teacher. First the students were to write good

and bad qualities of teachers in general (see Appendix C). Out of that a list of qualities

was prepared and then fourteen students ticked the qualities that in their opinion were

35

concerning me. This activity was selected because a reflective teacher needs some

feedback from his/her students, otherwise he/she cannot develop professionally. Here

only the bad qualities will be mentioned (numbers of students with the same opinion are

put in brackets):

I - give unexpected tests (7), enforce my opinion (6), use foreign

words (4), leave the topic (3), have my favorite students (3), am

conservative (2), am boring (2), do not tolerate weaker students (2),

bring my problems bad mood - to class (1), am moody (1) and

dictate too quickly. No other bad qualities were ticked.

The whole activity can be found in Appendix C and the results of this activity and

of the following comparison will be investigated in Discussion.

When these qualities are compared with those of a teacher in children s

perception in chapter 2.3 and with those that help to create a warm classroom

atmosphere in chapter 3.1 following results can be presented:

The students agree that I am: friendly, understanding, enthusiastic,

tolerant, educated and that I enjoy teaching, explain things, talk

about my life, about problems of the school and about other

subjects, play games, encourage discussions, involve all students,

talk in tone that makes meaning clear, have humor and plan the

lesson.

Reflective activity 6.6 (134) (see Appendix C) looks for the answers if each child

can identify with class activities and feel secure there. I have found that I should help

my students to learn to respect each other, that I should emphasize learning efforts more

than the achievement, that I should be aware of grouping students according to their

abilities as well as according to their relations, but they should have a chance to work

with other students too, that I should display their products, that I should value the effort

and a progress of each child more than knowledge and activity and that I should find at

least one thing the child is good at.

Checklist 11.4 (265-266) (see Appendix C) dealt with classroom management

and discipline using the Elton Reports principles. The answers that brought new

insights: I should think about sitting order, I should involve students in establishing

36

rules, I should be consistent all the time, I am mostly thrown by unexpected events, so

more consciousness and experience will certainly help me, I should be aware of my

behavior all the time, I should use private reprimands.

Reflective activity 12.1 (276) (see Appendix C) investigated who speaks and how

much. Though a lot of speaking is there in the class most of it I do. Only four students

react whenever I am asking a question; more pair work and group work for the quiet

should be involved.

5.3 Discussion

This thesis deals with reflective teaching and its influence on classroom

atmosphere. The theoretical part describes what reflective teaching means. It is a

cyclical process that consists of steps such as describing, observing, planning, acting,

observing and again planning etc. As it was explained in Chapter 4.0 rules for action

research, which was a part of this thesis, were very similar to rules of reflective

teaching: plan, teach, observe and reflect. Though it might seem to be very easy,

warning against subjectivity and a certain routine in chapter 1.2 highlighted the danger

of reflective teaching. Without any effort it is very difficult to break old habits. Reading

about reflective teaching was actually reading about common things because each

teacher thinks about his/her teaching but the idea about systematic reflection was new.

Therefore I definitely agree with Salmani-Nodoushans principles (see chapter 1.2)

because I was interested in the investigation of classroom atmosphere, therefore I tried

to involve my own experience as a teacher but as a student as well and I tried to be

systematic, i.e. I read about the topic, thought about it, I brought the new ideas into

action and according to the results a new understanding of many issues came out.

To teach in a reflective way a teacher must become reflective i.e. he/she should

keep his/her teaching journal and write in it regularly. In this journal all interesting facts

should be kept, especially those that are connected with the problematic issues. While

writing it during the research period I have realized many things about myself, my

students, the atmosphere in the class and my teaching methods. I decided to keep a

personal journal because it corresponds to my inner feelings, though lack of

professional approach may be found in it. Nevertheless keeping a teaching journal

would not be sufficient; the most crucial is the connection to books and articles about

37

reflective teaching and classroom climate and many reflective activities that helped me

to see things from another point of view.

A reflective teacher should be open-minded and should have other qualities as

well as he/she should be aware of his/her values and identity. Therefore I have started

with myself. The reflective activity 5.1 pointed out perceptions of myself: I do not feel

confident enough and I am afraid of failure. These features are especially visible

whenever I have to decide about things or when more consistency is expected.

Sometimes the students even complain that I am not strict enough. After filling

Checklist 11.4 I realized that I should pay more attention to my behavior and that this

consciousness would help me to act in unexpected events. Involving students into

creating classroom rules and thinking about seating more consciously brought

improvement. I try to minimize distraction and I think about how mutual likeness

between students could be taken advantage of, especially in forming groups and pairs,

which I did not use to do before.

When studying the students results of the activity Good/bad teacher and reading

about qualities a teacher who creates warm classroom atmosphere should have I was

surprised that students results were very positive. I think that feedbacks from my

students are of great importance. The questionnaire was anonymous and adolescents are

usually very critical, especially towards their teachers. I would never get such sincere

opinions from my colleagues. Even my own perceptions about myself could be wrong.

The way a teacher presents him/herself is in the teaching process significant. I must

agree with some students who wrote that I enforced my opinions (I was not aware of the

fact before, on the other hand I was convinced that I was very tolerant), that I had some

favorite students and I did not tolerate weaker students. Every teacher may have his/her

favorite students and after reflective activity 5.3 I realized that I preferred those who

were nice, friendly, active, communicative and those who wanted to learn and to share

their opinions and those who did not disturb the lesson. When I learnt that, I focused on

my behavior more and I addressed the two problematic boys in a friendly way too (I

am not sure if I was natural; in the discussion about results of Good / bad teachers, even

the students admitted that nobody can be liked by everybody). Without students

feedback I would not see all these vices. This activity has certainly helped the classroom

atmosphere; students understood my willingness to change, to develop and they saw

that I was able to admit my faults. I teach them to be polite by being polite. The main

aim of the whole action research was to become a better teacher therefore I appreciate

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the feedback from my students very much though I know that other factors such as

observation, studying materials about teaching, consulting problems with experienced

teachers and various reflective activities as well as teaching journal are considered more

significant.

I definitely put all my energy into teaching and I have high expectations I still

believe that even weak students can learn. If I were to describe the type of our

classroom climate, it would be competitive, because it is teacher-centered, though real

competition does not take place there and co-operative as well, because students work

together in pair work or in group work. The danger that some students dominate in these

types of work is clear enough. Fortunately, the student who used to dominate the whole

class has finally understood that other students should have a chance to express

themselves. Individualistic type of a class would not implement the main goal of

teaching language, i.e. to learn to communicate.

My problem in teaching could be emphasizing achievement more, so now I know

that effort should be considered as well. I want my students to learn from mistakes but

sometimes I blame them for not preparing enough and I prefer perfection to

improvement. I am aware of self-fulfilling prophecy and I try to treat all the students

equally.

Communication plays the most important role in classroom climate; looks,

gestures, movements, tone, pace, pitch and volume of voice are additional but essential

parts of communication, so I use body language or keep eye contact spontaneously and I

act like an actor. Students are expected to learn how to communicate in English.

However, very often they cannot do it in their mother tongue. Communication means

not only talking but also listening to others. To respect somebody means also to listen to

him/her. I think teachers should respect their students otherwise the students will not

respect them.

Unfortunately, I did most of the speaking during the lessons and only some

students took part in discussions, so I have changed my mind about pair work and group

work because for shy or introvert students these are the only chance to express

themselves and communicate. However, results from the questionnaire show that some

people prefer individual work.

It is very difficult to write here about childrens view of themselves because we

cannot enter their minds. Only from observation, based on a certain experience, the

teacher might guess who feels over-confident or who undervalues him/herself. I try hard

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to encourage students to find themselves by pointing out that we all are different but the

same as well. For this reason some activities from Classroom Dynamics were performed

during the whole period of the research (see Appendix D). From the results following

can be said: students liked all activities except for Shaking hands. There were two

reasons why this activity was not successful: the furniture layout (desks in the language

classroom cannot be moved and there was no space to go around) and their age. Most of

them are not mature enough; they were laughing all the time though one step of this

activity was to close ones eyes and to feel others. The most successful were: One

Big Family=Family tree because it was fun to create a family out of all pupils including

me, imagining we were somebody else and I am you where students wrote about their

partners; they were surprised what they already know or what they can guess about their

partners. They realized how similar they are to each other.

From the ways the students talk to one another, the way they sit together or the

ways they look at one another certain conclusions can be deduced about their view of

one another. To confirm them a sociometric analysis was made: the students were asked

to write down names of their peers with whom they would like to work or make a

project. The reason why this activity was included into this research was to see the real

relations among students and to use the results for social or educational purposes. It

brought important results: my opinions about two problematic boys showed to be very

alike to their peers opinions. They turned to be isolates, i.e. nobody would like to work

with them. However, the reason why the boys were rejected may have been their bad

knowledge of English and their rating. As well as Dan may have become a star because

of his excellent English. Another interesting fact was learning about two mutual pairs

where no other names were mentioned. After seeing the sociogram I started to observe

the students with a new insight. I do not force the girls to work with anybody else

now. When the results were discussed in the class, certainly I talked only about the

positive aspects of the sociometry; the isolates were not mentioned at all.

Influence on childrens attitudes that was described in theoretical part must be

definitely taken into account too. There is no doubt that family, peers, media and new

technologies, community and hopefully school and teachers influence pupils opinions.

I meet my students twice a week and I cannot say that I know much about them or about

their background, but it may be an advantage because I have no expectations or

prejudices; they start at this school like tabula rasa. At this age their peers are the most

influential anyway. Nevertheless I still hope that my task at school except for teaching

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English is to help them to grow in psychological sense: to learn to express their

feelings, to learn to be responsible for their behavior and actions and to learn about

themselves and to accept themselves, which leads to acceptance of others. It is not an

easy task. Piaget in his theory of children development explains that at both Concrete

operational stage and Formal operational stage children use different way of thinking.

He even adds that not all adults can reach the Formal operational stage. Therefore if I

want my students to learn and understand something I should follow the advice how to

teach adolescence: I should use more visual aids (while I rely on students imagination),

I should go step by step in explaining new grammar (I used to provide them with the

whole concept) or the students should be involved in discussions more, so that they

could learn to accept other peers ideas. At the end of my research I can admit that these

pieces of advice were very helpful.

All the factors mentioned above are crucial for reflecting teaching as well as for

creating a warm classroom atmosphere. Rogers emphasized person-centered approach

in teaching, i.e. acceptance, genuineness and empathy, which I definitely agree with,

though I am aware of the arguments of Pollard et al. that school should provide children

with some knowledge in the first place. Te