ABSTRACT
Teaching, learning, and subject matter are all important, but so too is the environment in which these activities occur. The notion of classroom environment or climate can be fuzzy; this chapter highlights three dimensions: discourse, classroom organization, and dispositions. Discourse refers to the kind of classroom talk that occurs between teachers and students. Classroom organization refers to the ways that teachers organize students for classroom activities. And dispositions are those values and attitudes that teachers hope to foster in class. To ground these ideas, the chapter draws a contrast between a traditional classroom environment and the notion of a genuine classroom community. In this view, traditional classrooms reflect a factory model of schooling where the norms of quiet, efficient, individual work are valued. Genuine classrooms, by contrast, focus on ideas, inquiry, and active participation. As the students who sit in classrooms become increasingly diverse, the need for a more powerful view of the classroom environment becomes even more important. The chapter ends with a discussion of how teachers can negotiate the construction of a genuine community in their classrooms.
