Creating Harmony in the Classroom

A quick reference guide created by Enrollment Management and Student Success

Creating Harmony in the Classroom: Addressing Student Behavior

Today’s classroom environment has become increasingly challenging to manage. Our students are entering the classroom with greater responsibilities and life stressors that weigh heavily on their mental and emotional psyches. These life stressors often spill out into the classroom environment resulting in disruptive behavior that influences classroom dynamics, and has a negative impact on the overall student academic experience. As classroom instructors, faculty have the challenging role of setting a classroom tone that creates the necessary “space” for a safe and compassionate place of learning and development. To that end, this guide has been developed to provide some strategies on creating a harmonious classroom environment, and pointing out ways to recognize and address disruptive student behavior.

Chapters

• Understanding the Differences Between Disruptive and Dangerous Behavior
• Strategies on How to Create and Maintain A Harmonious Classroom Environment
• Understanding and Effectively Using Campus Resources
• Resource List

Information for this guide has been obtained in part from "Addressing Disruptive and Dangerous Behavior”, The NABITA 2017 Whitepaper, and "Helping Students in Distress: A Faculty and Staff Guide for Assisting Students in Distress," Southern Connecticut State University, 2015.

Supplemental Guide

Creating Harmony in the Virtual Classroom: Addressing Student Behavior

Within the higher educational system, college students have been and will continue to transition to online education.

We know that this (and more) creates stress, but we also know that stress is a normal and even necessary part of life. As we all make this journey through life now impacted by COVID-19, this supplemental guide has been created as a helpful resource.