Classroom Climate

# Classroom Climate

## Teaching Excellence · Domain 4

.spirit-text.small-font[Mike Lally · Mohammed Amira · Fernando Alvear]

???

**Timing plan (5:00 total).** Hook 1:00 · Why 1:15 · What 1:15 · Us 1:00 · Close 0:30.

Say nothing here beyond the title. Go straight to the QR.

---

.pull-left.w55[
.kicker[Before we start]

# One scenario, 30 seconds

Scan, read a short scenario, answer honestly.

.pull-right.w40[
<div class="qr-box">
  <img src="assets/climate/survey-qr.svg" alt="QR code for survey.alvear.cl/climate"/>
  <div class="qr-url">survey.alvear.cl/climate</div>
</div>
<div class="live-count"><span class="live-dot"></span><span class="live-n">0</span> responses</div>
]

???

**HOOK (0:00–0:30).** "Take out your phone. One scenario, three quick questions. Be honest: go with your gut."

While they answer, stay quiet. Let it breathe for ~30 seconds.

*Survey design:* a between-subjects experiment. Half the room randomly gets version A, half
gets version B. Nobody knows there are two versions.

**A (only what you can see):**

> Third period. A junior walks in just after the bell and drops into his seat. When you ask
> him to take out his notebook, he says "I'm good" without looking up, and puts his head down.

**B (the same text, then what you don't see, in a shaded box labelled "What you don't know"):**

> Last night his parents sat him and his sister down and told them his
> mom has cancer. She starts chemo next week. He slept about three hours.

**Follow-up (A only):** after submitting, A sees the same box ("What you didn't know") and
answers the three questions again. That adds about 15 seconds for half the room. B goes
straight to the thank-you screen.

- **DV 1:** "How much is this behavior a choice?" (1 = not at all, 7 = completely)
- **DV 2:** "How much is this about him disrespecting you?" (1 = not at all, 7 = completely)
- **DV 3:** "What's your first move?" (warn him or give a consequence · give him a demerit ·
  leave him alone · quiet check-in after the task starts · email his counselor). Reported
  as the share choosing a consequence first (warn or demerit).

Survey: survey.alvear.cl/climate (wording lives in `survey/climate/config.php`).

Why this case: a parent's serious illness is common, and no one can dismiss it as rare or
blame the family. Souers & Hall add "terminal or chronic illness of a family member" to the
original ACE list (ch. 1). A is kept bare and a little curt ("I'm good") so it
reads as attitude. B is concrete and recent (last night, this morning, three hours), which keeps
the contrast strong without an extreme event. Adapted from the "Julie scenario," Souers & Hall,
ch. 2.

---

# Five domains of teaching excellence

<div class="domains">
<div><span class="dn">Domain 1</span><h3>Collective Teacher Efficacy</h3><p>We believe we can move every student.</p></div>
<div><span class="dn">Domain 2</span><h3>Teacher Clarity</h3><p>What we're learning, why, and how we'll know.</p></div>
<div><span class="dn">Domain 3</span><h3>Active Cognitive Engagement</h3><p>Students keep thinking and drive their learning.</p></div>
<div class="on"><span class="dn">Domain 4</span><h3>Classroom Climate</h3><p>Safe enough to take risks, make mistakes, and learn.</p></div>
<div><span class="dn">Domain 5</span><h3>Monitoring Learning</h3><p>Evidence that shapes the next step.</p></div>
</div>

<div class="qr-mini"><img src="assets/climate/survey-qr.svg" alt="QR code for survey.alvear.cl/climate"/><span>survey.alvear.cl/climate</span></div>

???

**CONTEXT (about 15 seconds).** "Quick reminder of where we are. Our Philosophy of Teaching
names five domains. This morning is about one of them: classroom climate."

From the document: collective efficacy is "the big umbrella," clarity is the signature practice
that unlocks the others, active cognitive engagement and climate are "the environments we seek
to create," and monitoring is how we keep an eye on how students and we are doing.

Don't explain the other four. Point at Domain 4 and move on.

---

<div class="definition">The Classroom Climate domain refers to the intentional cultivation of a learning environment in which <b>clear, high expectations</b> and <b>authentic, trust-based relationships</b> combine to <em>foster belonging, reduce anxiety</em> and make it <em>safe for students to take intellectual risks, to grow through their mistakes, and navigate adverse emotional experiences.</em></div>

<div class="qr-mini"><img src="assets/climate/survey-qr.svg" alt="QR code for survey.alvear.cl/climate"/><span>survey.alvear.cl/climate</span></div>

???

**DEFINITION (about 20 seconds).** Don't read it aloud word for word. Let them read, then
point to the two highlighted ingredients:

"Two ingredients, *clear, high expectations* and *authentic, trust-based relationships*.
Everything after that is what they produce. Notice that the last thing on the list is
'navigate adverse emotional experiences.' That's where the book comes in."

---

# Same student. Same behavior.

<div class="live-results">
  <div class="lr-row lr-head">
    <div></div>
    <div><b>Version A</b><span>only what you can see</span></div>
    <div><b>Version B</b><span>+ what you don't see</span></div>
    <div></div>
  </div>
  <div class="lr-body"><div class="lr-wait">Waiting for responses…</div></div>
  <div class="lr-foot"><span class="live-dot"></span>n = <span class="live-n">0</span> <span class="live-split"></span> · collected at the PD session, Oct 1, 2026 · <a class="results-link" href="../results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results →</a></div>
</div>

<div class="callout"><b>In real life, we almost never see version B.</b></div>

???

**HOOK REVEAL (0:30–1:00).** Show the live results side by side: mean "choice" rating and
the most common first move for A vs. B.

Expected pattern: B rates the behavior as much less of a choice and moves toward the
check-in; A moves toward a warning or consequence.

"Three sentences changed how this room reads the same kid. And notice: nothing exotic
happened. A parent got sick, which happens in our students' families every year. In real life, we almost never get those sentences. The book's advice is to teach *as if*
every student might be version B, because statistically, a lot of them are."

If someone says "that's not a SLUH problem": serious illness in the family is on the book's
expanded ACE list, and 45% of students in Blodgett's study had at least one ACE (next slides).

Results update live every 2 seconds from survey.alvear.cl. Each row is one DV; the right
column is the A vs. B contrast (Welch *t* with Cohen's *d* for the ratings, chi-square for the
share choosing a consequence first: warn or demerit). The dot is gray (it was green
while the survey was live on Oct 1, 2026; the survey is now closed). The numbers stay on screen.

---

# Same student. Same behavior.

<div class="lb-legend"><span><i style="background:#9E9B94"></i>A · only what you can see</span><span><i style="background:#005588"></i>B · + what you don't see</span></div>
<div class="lb-chart"><div class="lr-wait">Waiting for responses…</div></div>
<div class="lb-foot"><span class="live-dot"></span>n = <span class="live-n">0</span> <span class="live-split"></span> · PD session, Oct 1, 2026 · error bars: 95% CI · <i>d</i>: Cohen's <i>d</i> · <i>p</i>: Welch <i>t</i> (ratings), χ² (warn or demerit) · <a class="results-link" href="../results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results →</a></div>

???

**ALTERNATIVE VIEW of the previous slide (poster-style bars).** Same live data, same tests:
Welch *t* for the two ratings, chi-square for the share choosing a consequence first. Keep
whichever of the two slides reads better from the back of the room and delete the other.

---

# Same people. Three more sentences.

<div class="lb-legend"><span><i style="background:#9E9B94"></i>First answer (version A)</span><span><i style="background:#005588"></i>After learning what they didn't know</span></div>
<div class="fu-chart"><div class="lr-wait">Waiting for follow-up answers…</div></div>
<div class="lb-foot"><span class="live-dot"></span>n = <span class="fu-n">0</span> version-A phones that answered both times · PD session, Oct 1, 2026 · error bars: 95% CI · <i>d<sub>z</sub></i>: paired effect size · <i>p</i>: paired <i>t</i> (ratings), exact McNemar (warn or demerit) · <a class="results-link" href="../results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results →</a></div>

???

**FOLLOW-UP REVEAL (optional, about 15 seconds).** Version A people answered once, then saw
the backstory and answered again. Same phones, before and after.

"Half of you already answered twice. Here's what three sentences did to *your own* answers."
Let the bars sit a beat.

If someone says "obviously I changed, you told me": "Exactly. And in real life nobody tells
us. That's the whole point: we have to teach as if the sentences are there."

Only phones that answered both times count here. Stats: paired *t* with *d*<sub>z</sub> (mean
change divided by the SD of the changes) for the ratings; exact McNemar test for the share
choosing warn or demerit.

---

# Same student. Same behavior.

<div class="lb-legend"><span><i style="background:#9E9B94"></i>A · only what you can see</span><span><i style="background:#005588"></i>B · + what you don't see</span></div>
<div class="lb-static"><script type="application/json">{"n":40,"n_by_cond":{"A":20,"B":20},"dvs":[{"type":"rating","label":"Is it a choice?","n":{"A":20,"B":20},"mean":{"A":4.45,"B":3.2},"sd":{"A":1.191,"B":1.1965},"ci":{"A":[3.8926,5.0074],"B":[2.64,3.76]},"t":3.3113,"df":37.9992,"p":0.002,"d":1.0471,"F":10.9649,"min":1,"max":7},{"type":"rating","label":"Is it disrespect toward you?","n":{"A":20,"B":20},"mean":{"A":2.6,"B":1.7},"sd":{"A":1.3139,"B":0.8645},"ci":{"A":[1.9851,3.2149],"B":[1.2954,2.1046]},"t":2.5591,"df":32.8545,"p":0.0153,"d":0.8093,"F":6.5489,"min":1,"max":7},{"type":"choice","label":"First move: warn or demerit","n":{"A":20,"B":20},"k":{"A":6,"B":2},"pct":{"A":0.3,"B":0.1},"ci":{"A":[0.1455,0.519],"B":[0.0279,0.301]},"chi2":2.5,"p":0.1138,"diff":0.2}]}</script></div>
<div class="lb-foot"><b>Simulated, not this room:</b> 20 AI teacher personas, each answered both versions · error bars: 95% CI · <i>d</i>: Cohen's <i>d</i> · <i>p</i>: Welch <i>t</i> (ratings), χ² (warn or demerit)</div>

???

**FIXED COMPARISON SLIDE (backup, not for the talk as is).** These numbers do not come from
the room. They come from a reasoning-based simulation run on 2026-10-01: 20 written personas
(a 30-year Latin teacher, a football coach, an anxious first-year teacher, a cynic, a former
assistant dean, ...). Each persona answered version A in one AI run and version B in a
separate run. No run saw the other version or was told there was an experiment. The raw
answers and each persona's one-line reason are in `survey/persona-simulation.csv` (this slide
shows run 2; run 1 agreed: choice 4.5 → 2.85, disrespect 2.6 → 1.65, warn or demerit 35% → 10%).

What it predicts: "choice" drops clearly (*d* ≈ 1.0–1.4); "disrespect" drops but starts low,
because few teachers in a climate talk take A personally; warn or demerit falls from about a
third to a tenth, which 20 per arm can't confirm statistically. Use it to compare against the
live slide, or as a fallback if the survey goes down (say plainly that it is simulated).

A louder iPad-slam version of A was also simulated and dropped: it weakened B, because a public
disruption reads as a classroom-management problem whatever the reason
(`survey/persona-simulation-ipad.csv`).

---

.pull-left.w30[
<img class="cover" src="assets/climate/souers-hall-cover.jpg" alt="Fostering Resilient Learners, by Kristin Souers with Pete Hall"/>
]

.pull-right.w65[
.kicker[Why it matters]

<br>

.headline.navy-text[
.large-font["Stressed brains can't teach, and stressed brains can't learn."]
]

???

**WHY, part 1 (1:00–1:30).** "This summer our domain team read *Fostering Resilient
Learners*, by a trauma therapist and a principal. Their central claim is one sentence."

Backup from Hattie, if anyone pushes back that this is "soft": in MetaX, anxiety has an effect
of −0.41 on achievement (811 studies, 300,000 students) and depression −0.37. Stress in the room
costs learning. Programs that reduce anxiety about a subject: +0.81.

Key point: **classroom climate is an academic goal, not only a human or social one.**
A student in survival mode (the "downstairs brain," in Dan Siegel's terms) doesn't have
access to the part of the brain we're trying to teach: reasoning, memory, flexibility.
Souers calls the alternative the "learning mode." If we want high levels of learning,
safety comes first.

---

# More adversity, harder school

.pull-left.w30[
.stat[<span class="num">45%</span><span class="lbl">of students had at least one adverse childhood experience</span>]

.pull-right.w65.chart[
<svg viewBox="0 0 900 550" role="img" aria-label="Likelihood of serious behavior problems relative to students with no known ACEs: no known ACEs 1.0 times, 1 ACE 2.4 times, 2 ACEs 4.3 times, 3 or more ACEs 6.1 times.">
<path d="M97,440 V382 Q97,378 101,378 H223 Q227,378 227,382 V440 Z" fill="#CCCCBB"/>
<path d="M302,440 V295 Q302,291 306,291 H428 Q432,291 432,295 V440 Z" fill="#005588"/>
<path d="M507,440 V177 Q507,173 511,173 H633 Q637,173 637,177 V440 Z" fill="#005588"/>
<path d="M712,440 V66 Q712,62 716,62 H838 Q842,62 842,66 V440 Z" fill="#003366"/>
<line x1="60" y1="440.5" x2="880" y2="440.5" stroke="#777777" stroke-width="1"/>
<text x="162" y="364" font-size="34" text-anchor="middle" fill="#777777">1.0×</text>
<text x="367" y="277" font-size="34" text-anchor="middle" fill="#003366">2.4×</text>
<text x="572" y="159" font-size="34" text-anchor="middle" fill="#003366">4.3×</text>
<text x="777" y="48" font-size="40" font-weight="800" text-anchor="middle" fill="#003366">6.1×</text>
<text x="162" y="482" font-size="28" text-anchor="middle" fill="#777777">No known ACEs</text>
<text x="367" y="482" font-size="28" text-anchor="middle" fill="#003366">1 ACE</text>
<text x="572" y="482" font-size="28" text-anchor="middle" fill="#003366">2 ACEs</text>
<text x="777" y="482" font-size="28" text-anchor="middle" fill="#003366">3+ ACEs</text>
<text x="470" y="540" font-size="26" text-anchor="middle" fill="#777777">Odds of serious behavior problems, relative to no known ACEs</text>
</svg>
]

.footnote[Blodgett (2012), Spokane County, WA, students ages 5–11; in Souers & Hall, ch. 1. The original CDC–Kaiser ACE Study (17,000+ adults): more than half had at least one ACE.]

???

**WHY, part 2 (1:30–2:15).** Keep it to the two numbers and the shape of the chart.

- ACEs = adverse childhood experiences: abuse or neglect, violence at home, substance abuse
  or mental illness at home, a death in the family, an incarcerated parent. (Souers adds
  serious illness of a family member, bullying, homelessness, deployment, disaster.)
- Trauma does not discriminate: "poverty itself is not considered an ACE." It shows up at
  every income level, including ours.
- The "dose effect": each added ACE raises the odds of trouble with the ABCs:
  **A**ttendance (1 ACE 2.2×, 3+ 4.9×), **B**ehavior (shown), **C**oursework (3+ 2.9×).
- Backup facts if asked: ~35 million U.S. children have had at least one type of trauma
  (NSCH 2011/12); 75–80% of kids with a serious emotional disturbance get no specialty
  services, and school is where most who do get help receive it.
- Hopeful counterpoint (from the intro): about 70% of trauma-affected youth go on to lead
  successful, productive lives. The goal is 100%.

---

# Survival mode

.cols3[
<div>
<h3>Flight</h3>
<p>Daydreaming</p>
<p>"Sleeping"</p>
<p>Skipping class</p>
<p>Disengaging</p>
</div>
<div>
<h3>Fight</h3>
<p>Arguing</p>
<p>Defiance</p>
<p>Acting silly</p>
<p>Acting out</p>
</div>
<div>
<h3>Freeze</h3>
<p>Blank look</p>
<p>Refusing to answer</p>
<p>Not asking for help</p>
<p>Shutting down</p>
</div>
]

<br>

<div class="callout">Not "Why won't he?" but "What does he need right now?"</div>

???

**WHY, part 3 (2:15–2:30).** Quick. Let them recognize their own students.

"Most of what we call misbehavior or laziness is on this chart." Souers: these are often
"normal reactions to not-OK things." Behavior is information: look past the behavior to
the motive. Ross Greene, quoted at the head of ch. 2: "Kids do well if they can."

This does **not** excuse unsafe behavior (ch. 8). It changes our first move.

---

# What makes a classroom safe?

.pillars[
<div>Clear, high expectations</div>
<div class="plus">+</div>
<div>Authentic, trust-based relationships</div>
]

<div class="pull-quote">"Clarity is the antidote to anxiety."</div>

<div class="es-row">
<div><span class="es">0.53</span>teacher expectations</div>
<div><span class="es">0.58</span>teacher–student relationships</div>
<div><span class="es">0.45</span>belonging</div>
<div><span class="es">0.66</span>classroom cohesion</div>
<div><span class="es">0.85</span>teacher clarity</div>
</div>

.footnote[Effect sizes on achievement, Hattie's Visible Learning MetaX (average influence = 0.40). Hattie, Fisher, Frey & Almarode, _The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning_.]

???

**WHAT (2:30–3:15).** Our domain definition in one picture. The two pillars reinforce
each other: structure without relationship feels like surveillance, and relationship
without structure feels like chaos. Souers calls this balancing *availability* and
*accountability*: "we needn't choose one or the other."

Look-fors we wrote this summer (pick one or two to mention):

- Predictable routines and rituals (a greeting, a check-in, a way class always starts)
- Trust, humor, and rituals lower anxiety *without lowering standards*
- Mistakes and dysregulation treated as part of learning, not challenges to authority
- More than one way to contribute and be assessed
- The physical space supports learning

The quote came from faculty feedback on our poster on June 25.

**Hattie (secondary source, our other summer book).** Point at the row of numbers, say one
sentence: "Hattie's data says the same thing: every piece of this is above the 0.40 average."

- Effect sizes (Visible Learning MetaX, 2026): teacher expectations 0.53, teacher–student
  relationships 0.58 (789 studies, 7 million+ students), belonging 0.45, strong classroom
  cohesion 0.66, teacher clarity 0.85. The average influence is 0.40, Hattie's "hinge point."
- Clarity (0.85) is one of the strongest influences in the database, which backs up "clarity is
  the antidote to anxiety." It's also our Visible Learning signature practice.
- Hattie & Zierer's Mindframe 9 (our poster's mindframe): "I build relationships and trust so
  that learning can occur in a place where it is safe to make mistakes and learn from others."
- A line from the Visible Learning authors (Corwin, 2024) about climate, cohesion, belonging and
  well-being: "If these are absent from your school or classroom, the effect sizes linked to
  teaching and learning strategies will never come to fruition."

---

# It is not…

.pull-left.w50[
.myths[
- Coddling, or "Soft SLUH"
- Lowering standards
- A chaotic classroom
- Being an extrovert
- Becoming someone you're not
- A rare problem
- Permanent damage
]
]

.pull-right.w45[
.callout[
### Forever changed, not forever damaged.

.gray-text.small-font[Souers & Hall, ch. 11]
]

.gray-text.small-font[Stay true to who you are ("cement shoes," ch. 3)]
]
]

???

**MISCONCEPTIONS (3:15–3:45).** These came from our summer work and the June feedback.
Read the list fast; don't argue each one.

- High expectations are *part* of climate, not its opposite. Compliance is not the same as
  meaningful learning.
- There's no single personality for this. A quiet, dry, structured teacher can build as much
  trust as a loud, funny one. What students read is authenticity. Souers's image: wear
  "cement shoes," stay grounded in who you are, so the waves don't knock you over.
- "Forever changed, not forever damaged": pity lowers expectations. Pete Hall's story of
  Alicia (ch. 11): one teacher felt sorry for her and let her off the hook; another gave her
  responsibility and leadership. She flourished in the second class.

---

# "A dysregulated person cannot regulate others."

.right-panel[
<div class="stat-row">
<div class="stat"><span class="num">½</span><span class="lbl">the discipline referrals</span></div>
<div class="stat"><span class="num">−65%</span><span class="lbl">suspensions</span></div>
</div>

.small-font.gray-text[Pete Hall's middle school, three years after staff training on trauma **and adult self-care** (Souers & Hall, ch. 2)]

<div class="callout">Our own well-being is part of teaching excellence, not only a private matter.</div>
]

???

**US (3:45–4:30).** This is the part people skip.

- Our Philosophy of Teaching already says it: a proficient teacher "attends to their own
  regulation and well-being." It's in the proficiency description, next to expectations.
- Hall's school: 600 students, more than 4,000 office referrals and 700+ suspensions the
  year before. The training included adult self-care as "a crucial step." Three years
  later: referrals cut in half, suspensions down 65%, academic growth up 250%.
- "It's not about you" (ch. 6): a student's dysregulation is rarely about us. We can only
  not take it personally if we have some reserve left.
- Souers's self-care challenge (ch. 16) has four parts: health, love, competence, gratitude.
  She burned out herself in 2003 and left the field for nine months.
- Hattie backup: teacher credibility, meaning students see us as competent, trustworthy and
  caring, has an effect of 1.20. Collective teacher efficacy, our shared belief that we can make
  a difference, is 1.34, one of the largest in the database. Both are states *of the teacher*.
  (Hattie has no direct measure of teacher well-being, so don't claim one.)
- Pete Hall: "You've got to take care of number 1 if you're going to be of any value to
  numbers 2, 3, and 617."

---

<div class="steps">
<div><span class="n">1</span><span>Treat climate as an <b>academic</b> goal.</span></div>
<div><span class="n">2</span><span>Build it <b>your own way</b>: expectations + relationships.</span></div>
<div><span class="n">3</span><span>Take <b>your own</b> mental space seriously. It's part of the job.</span></div>
</div>

???

**CLOSE (4:30–5:00).** Read the three lines slowly. Then:

"Think of one student who looked like version A this week. What would you do tomorrow if
you assumed version B?"

Stop there.

---

# Thank you

falvear@sluh.org

???

References:

- Souers, K., with Hall, P. (2016). *Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a
  Trauma-Sensitive Classroom.* ASCD.
- Hattie, J., Fisher, D., Frey, N., & Almarode, J. *The Illustrated Guide to Visible Learning.*
  Corwin.
- Visible Learning MetaX, visiblelearningmetax.com (effect sizes as of 2026).