While we recognize that safe spaces provide a significant role in student development, safe spaces can imply the physical space but also a feeling that students have. Safe learning environments are those in which students can learn in a comfortable environment and thrive. Creating a safe space that you can enjoy as well and have your students see that you enjoy will go a long way. We have students from all life experiences so it is critical that students feel comfortable and are surrounded by those students and adults who are allies.
There are other considerations to think about when building a safe environment:
- How is my pacing? Am I moving to quickly from one lesson to another? Or too slowly?
- Are my students fully engaged?
- Are there topics which I know could be upsetting or emotionally challenging for some students?
- Are most of my students comfortable working on their own or are they more comfortable working in small groups?
It wasn’t until I heard author Monique Gray-Smith talk about trauma informed practice and students who had experienced trauma that I thought about these additional considerations. I had not honestly thought about the impact of moving desks around over the weekend and reminding students on Fridays that come Monday they would have a new seating arrangement. To my understanding many of my students were quite excited to see who they might sit with come Monday, but I had not considered the discomfort that could create for some.
I think part of creating a safe environment means that you are creating an example and modelling what the expected behavior should look like about how you treat others, and how your respect both yourself and those around you. If you show your students the importance of kindness by taking opportunities to model the way, they will follow. In saying this I also think that being human is making mistakes and it is also healthy to show your students that you make mistakes as well and learn from them. Risk taking is something that can take along time to build up, so providing opportunities again to model the way and provide honest insight when you are unclear or are willing to take a risk to try something new, only makes you more human to your students, regardless of their misconceptions. (I remember vividly running into students at both the swimming pool and grocery store and the look and shock on their face that I could be anywhere other than at school was somewhat entertaining).
The proof is in your students…
One of the great benefits of creating a safe learning environment is when you know students take pride in their surroundings and the work around them. Providing students with the space to feel proud of their work and their accomplishments further helps to cultivate a safe learning environment. In addition, safe spaces for students create opportunities for them to share their ideas, thoughts, opinions and beliefs without judgement.
The website Wabisabi Learning notes that there are several things to consider when building a safe environment and has created a checklist.
- Keep a clean and orderly classroom
- Allow students to be expressive and encouraging to others
- Celebrate students work in different ways
- Create a list of guidelines (laws or rules such as no name calling etc.)
- Stay calm and in control always
- Practice useful failure and turn mistakes into learning opportunities
- Model kindness every chance you get
- Move around and interact with students and create a connection
- Be patient and smile
- Feel free to laugh with your students and be vulnerable
- Give kids choice around how they do assignments
https://wabisabilearning.com/blogs/inquiry/create-safe-learning-environments
In thinking more on ways to create safe spaces for students, our district has used the White Hatter as a way to teach students and parents about online safety and cyber bullying. This is definitely a great resource to check out if you haven’t already.
https://www.thewhitehatter.ca/
These additional sites are great resources when exploring options around teaching and learning about online safety, cyberbullying and authenticating digital literacy.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/erase
https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/digital-issues/authenticating-information
Discussions around privacy and personal security as well as the ethics and morals connected to using technology both inside and outside of the classroom is something that often gets missed. We spend a lot of time scaffolding and pre-teaching the use of technology but often miss opportunities to explore and learn about the safety concerns that exist around using the internet and technology appropriately. This is a very important aspect of ensuring that we are creating safe learning environments for our students both in our classroom and on the world wide web.
Regan, P., & Jesse, J. (2019). Ethical challenges of edtech, big data and personalized learning: Twenty-first century student sorting and tracking. Ethics and Information Technology, 21 (3), 167-179. DOI:10.1007/s10676-018-9492-2
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