1. Lesson 2
The aim of this lesson is to support the students in creating a good class culture.
As a teacher, you will set the framework for the creation of a good culture. The students will be in charge of the content – among other things by formulating ideals for their class.
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2. Class culture I Contents Class culture– a common responsibility
Discussion in partnerships
Formulation of the classroom ideals
2 min.
Go over the program.
Remember a break – this will be a lesson of 90 minutes.
‘Class culture – a common responsibility’ will include what class culture is, why it is important to have, and how formulating some ideals can help support a good culture.
‘Discussion in partnerships’ will include the students, with a starting point in some cases, having to discuss and identify some ideals for a good class.
During ‘Formulation of the classroom ideals,’ the students will have to formulate a set of common ideals that the whole class must agree on.

3. Class culture Class culture is a common responsibility
What is class culture?
Social conventions
Unwritten rules
Good class culture is important
Makes for a good teaching environment
Helps everyone thrive
Promotes community
Formulating ideals
To focus our energy on that which we want to grow
13 min.
Class culture is a common responsibility:
That does not mean that everyone must be best friends, but that we take a common responsibility for everyone feeling that it is nice to be part of our class, and that no one feels excluded or overlooked. It also means that there is room to participate in both the academic and the social – also in periods where one perhaps is not completely feeling great.
Class culture is among other things:
Social conventions – how do we speak to and about each other? How should one act towards each other in class and towards others? Do we treat each other with respect in class? Do we treat other classes with respect – and do we treat teachers with respect? How do we handle conflicts or disagreements?
Culture is typically something that goes unsaid. Something that just happens. It is unwritten rules for behavior. For example: that we are quiet when others are speaking, that we do not interrupt discussions in class, that we do not laugh at others if they answer a question incorrectly.
How is a culture expressed? The way we speak – also through body language – are you welcoming or rejecting?
Why is it important to have a good culture?
A good teaching environment – students are here to learn something. Both teachers and students perform better when there is a good teaching environment, where the students feel free to express themselves, and dare to have an opinion during group work. It raises the academic level for everyone.
Helps everyone thrive – it creates safety. One is not afraid to make mistakes or to let someone else answer.
Promotes community – when everyone feels like a part of the class, it is nicer for everyone to be there. A good community can help students who would otherwise be likely to drop out. It makes it easier to focus on the academic when students do not have to spend their energy navegating insecurity in the social environment.
Formulating ideals:
Makes it easier to be concrete when we talk about good class culture.
Makes it easier to remember what we have agreed upon.
Makes us accountable moreso than with oral agreements/the unwritten rules.
Gives us the opportunity to hear what the others think about the unwritten rules – there is not always agreement on how they should be understood.
It is important that the ideals are formulated as something we want to achieve. When one focuses their energy on something, it will typically grow. This is inspired by Appreciative Inquiry (A.I.), an acknowledging approach.

4. Cases Get together with your partner.
You must now work with five cases dealing with good culture.
Get together with your partner.
Read the cases through one at a time.
After each read-through, answer the appropriate questions.
20 min.
The students get together with their partners and must discuss, taking a point of departure in the cases. The discussions must later lead to some suggestions for ideals for the class that relate to class culture.
The students have 20 minutes – which means 4 minutes per case, so the intention is not that they have long discussions.
The students must answer questions based on the case – among other things, they must form some suggestions for ideals for a good class. Make them aware that they must be as concrete as possible.
After the exercise, there is a break. After the break, you will all spend 15 minutes summarizing the students’ discussions in the partnerships. Make sure that they have covered the different themes within the culture that the case sets the stage for – attention to each other, conflict resolution, how to handle differences, classroom language, and being considerate of the learning environment.

5. The class ideals
Based on your answers, you must now all together form the class ideals.
Why are the ideals important?
They create a safe environment in class, where everyone feels welcome
They create a good foundation for academics
They remind us why it is important to have good guidelines
Elements you can choose to include in the ideals
How would we like to behave towards each other?
Guidelines for good group work
Social life outside of class
30 min.
Begin with a brainstorm session. Based on the cases the students have worked with, they must now provide concrete suggestions for ideals for the classroom. Write everything up on the board. Afterwards, you can sort through the suggestions and group them. Try to have ideally a maximum of five groups (ideals) with a maximum of three supporting points (examples of how the ideal can be achieved) for each one.
It is important that the ideals are as concrete as possible. If a student, for example, suggests that ”we should respect each other,” it is your job to challenge it, so it can become more concrete. What does it mean to respect each other, and how is it expressed in ones actions?
Remember that some students may view it as a childish exercise. They might think back to the anti-bullying rules they made in primary school. Instead, pull examples from other situations where one might create ideals for behavior – the values of a company, a committee or board’s rules of procedure – they will meet this moving forward in their professional life.
Let a student be the secretary, so the decided-upon ideals are written immediately and sent to you. Save the ideals and put them up on the intranet, so the students and the class’s other teachers can access them.