Research Paper-

Classroom Dynamics

Terry Phebus

PSC-220

Chesapeake College

April 2, 2022
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Abstract for Research Paper- Classroom Dynamics

Classroom dynamics today are vastly affected by culture, privilege, and oppression. Today's

society and its population are challenged with culture, privilege, and oppression. How can teachers today,

faced with so many diverse students, create a positive, welcoming, and safe classroom for all students?

Culture is defined as customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation,

people, or social group. Privilege is defined as a special right, advantage, or immunity granted to a person

or group. Oppression is defined as a prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control. When I was writing

this paper I initially thought, what compares to a classroom? What besides society itself is a comparison

to a classroom? What has many different cultures, privileges, and oppression and is placed together. My

comparison in my mind throughout my research and logic was the show Survivor. In the show people

from all different races, ages, backgrounds etc. are forced to work and live together to survive and

essentially win. While this show is not an exact example of a classroom and there many different age

groups, I feel it helped me in my mind see the differences and issues faced in classrooms today.

My research explores culture and issues teachers face from parents, politics, and society. The

culture war is raging. Teachers are afraid and maybe not even allowed to teach about culture, race, and

current and historical events. I explore privilege. Does your social status affect you taking steps forward

or backward? Oppression is also explored. How does the color of your skin affect your education?

Teachers are also affected.

Finally, what can we do? Classroom management and what we as future educators can do to

manage the affects culture, privilege, and oppression have on the classroom. Teachers have a huge

responsibility to their students. It is our responsibility to decrease these effects. We need to make

classrooms and schools where everyone feels safe and welcome. My research includes managed
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classrooms with student engagement ideas for behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement. As

future educators we will be the change the classrooms need to see today and in the future.
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Research Paper - Classroom Dynamics

The year 2022, the setting is today’s school classrooms, the students are the children who will be

the future society of the world. Today’s classrooms are a mixture of diverse children and teachers who

have come from different backgrounds, cultures, values, and families. They are different sexes and races.

They have different beliefs. They celebrate different holidays and some celebrate no holidays. They are

different. Everyone is different. Yet in life we all want and need the same things. We want to feel

accepted, loved, appreciated, and cared for. We need food, water, clothing, shelter, and an education. As

teachers today in 2022 we have an important role and responsibility to our students. We must provide a

classroom full of educational learning while providing a safe, comfortable, inclusive, and diverse

classroom. It is a huge responsibility. Classroom dynamics today are vastly affected by culture, privilege,

and oppression. Through vast research we will look into what we as teachers today face in the challenge

of managing classroom dynamics and these effects.

Classroom dynamics is the involvement of and interactions between students and teachers in a

classroom community. This involves class interactions. Classroom dynamics is how students and teachers

talk and act. It is their opinions and feelings. It is their behavior as a group and classroom. Classroom

dynamics involves teachers and students behaviors, emotions, and imagination. As explored in the

introduction everyone is different and we all come from different lives. Placing everyone’s differences

into a classroom can be a challenge. At the start of a school year all of these differences are placed into a

small room where we are expected to work together and become educated. Teachers are tasked with

setting up a classroom environment that is positive and welcoming. Teachers have a responsibility to

make the students feel safe and comfortable. Students and teachers should feel comfortable

communicating with each other and their peers. How is this possible with all the differences and what

struggles stand in the way.

Lisa D. Martin (2021) described classrooms today as being full with culturally embedded norms,

assumptions, power structures, and road blocks. (p. 1) J. Berkshire (2021) describes the culture wars as

raging and upending school board races, they are reshaping local politics, and threatening public

education. Lawmakers in one state after another are introducing legislation aimed at keeping discussions

of social studies out of the classroom. Bills prohibiting the teaching of critical race theory and other

“diverse topics” have been passed in many states and are considered in others. (p.1) This is having a

chilling effect on teaching and the classroom. The deep divisions in society today are increasingly

affecting classrooms. J. Berkshire’s (2021) article Culture War revealed Arizona lawmakers approved a

ban on teaching controversial issues. The Unbiased Teaching Act prohibits teachers in states public and

charter schools from talking about racism or sexism in the classroom. Teachers can be fined for failure to

comply. (p.2) Piper is an 11th grade literature teacher who had her students read “How to Make a

Cardboard Box Disappear in 10 Steps.” This was about lives lost to police brutality and was a part of the

history lesson on racial violence. Parents complained. Society is filled with different cultures. How can

we take the differences and create a positive, safe, and welcoming environment for our students? How can

we have bills prohibiting teachings, acts prohibiting talking, and complaints around every corner? Where

is the happy medium? Is there a happy medium? Culture is not the only roadblock in classrooms today.

Privilege has an impact on classroom’s today. Instructors Guide to Understanding Privilege

(2021) says “Privilege is societally granted, unearned advantages accorded to some people and not

others.” (p.2) This can be advantages based on identity factors. Identity factors such as: race, gender, sex,

religion, nationality, disability, sexuality, class, and body type. The article Taking a Step Forward: The

Impact of Privilege in the Classroom by Stefanie Jones was eye opening to privilege in the classroom and

world today. In the article she describes an activity at the YMCA Camp Jewell called the “Privilege

Walk”. 100 students are then read statements on privilege. They all start on the field at the start line and
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are directed to take steps if the statements apply to them. The goal is to get to the other end where the

prize is. This year it is a giant chocolate bar. Statements read from the article: “If you have ever been

catcalled, whistled at, or sexually harassed, take a step backwards.” “If your school is closed during your

major religious holidays, take a step forward.” “If you can shop in a store and never have to worry about

being followed by an employee or security guard, take a step forward.” For about 20 minutes the students

move forward and back based on their life. Near the end some are so close to the finish line they can

almost reach out and some are so far back they are almost hidden. This activity completely opened my

eyes to privilege. Simply stated was the ending: some students are in the front and some are almost

completely hidden.

Today’s schools are intended to teach students to thrive and excel. Many challenges that schools

face can prevent this from happening. Many schools and teachers are unprepared for the failure to stay

relevant to the ever changing society we live in today. K. Schwartz (2019) quotes Brittany in his article

“The way that school is set up is oppressive, “ says Brittany Aronson, Miami University assistant

professor of educational leadership. “ A lot of the research around urban schools is that schools are

actually doing exactly as they intended to, sort, train, and assimilate. So when people say schools are

‘failing,’ and that’s the problem, they are doing exactly what they were intended to do.’ “I say this,” she

explains, “because we have the research to support effective teaching, yet as a society, we continue to

promote standards based accountability over culturally relevant ways of teaching and learning.” (p.1) It is

a cycle of oppression. Schools are oppressive and set up to fail. K. Schwartz’s (2019) article included this

study of urban schools where there is a growing cultural mismatch. According to a 2016 Department of

Education racial diversity report, 82% of teachers in public schools still identify as white, while students

of color are soon expected to comprise 54% of all students. (p.1) The article quotes Arson again stating

“Many white teachers are very unprepared to be in the spaces they are working in. So sending unprepared
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teachers in these spaces is a way of continuing to oppress students. And, then because they are

unprepared, it is also really hard to create connections with students. It is really hard to develop

relationships, which would be the number one thing to help maintain a productive learning environment.”

Racial profiling and harsh discipline still exisits in schools today. Students of color still feed into the

school to prison pipeline, as we have learned in class. Schools increasingly rely on suspensions,

expulsions, and law enforcement as punishment for students. This does not necessarily make schools

safer. Students of color are three times more likely to be suspended and students of Latino descent are one

and a half times more likely to be suspended versus their white peers. Oppression is a roadblock to school

successes as seen in the school to prison pipeline.

School discipline has risen to the forefront in the US. Schools across the nation have adopted a

zero tolerance policy for multitude of mundane violations. This has happened in an attempt to make

schools a safer place. Nathern Okilwa, Muhammad Khalifa, & Felecia Briscoe (2017) included in their

book “ At the height of implementation, 79% of US schools, in the 1996-1997 school year had

implemented zero tolerance policies. (p. 67) This resulted in a dramatic increase in school suspensions

and expulsions and left students with nowhere to obtain an education. Also alarming is the larger number

of black children that fall victim to this.

There is a need to dismantle the school to prison pipeline. US Attorney General Eric Holder

stated, “Ensuring that our educational system is a doorway to opportunity and not a point of entry to our

criminal justice system is a critical, and achievable goal.” We need a proactive system that can improve

the overall school environment. How do we break the cycle?

We need classrooms that support learners of various needs and backgrounds. We need to

reconceptualize classroom management. Classroom management is procedures and structures that

establish and reinforce a productive learning environment. L.D.Martin (2021) explores classroom

management in his article. Classroom management includes both preemptive and reactive elements.

Preemptive shapes students behaviors and attitudes and supports the various goals. Reactive elements are

the consequences, when expectations are not met. (pg. 1) Managed classrooms are needed with student

engagement in behavioral, emotional, and cognitive areas. Behavioral focuses on attention and

participation. Emotion focuses on enjoyment and motivation. Cognitive focuses on concentration, interest,

and investment in content. Teachers must recognize and acknowledge their own background and bias.

Martin’s (2021) article states “When teachers honestly examine their past experiences and biases,

they are “less likely to misinterpret the behaviors of culturally different students and treat them

inevitably.” Teachers must consider the confluence of these experiences to fully unpack the influence on

their perspectives.” (pg.1) Understanding different cultural backgrounds is a must. An example provided

in the article was that of a teacher that demanded eye contact from a student during a conversation about

the students behavior. The teacher later learned that in the students' culture it is seen as disrespectful to

maintain eye contact in an adult disciplinary situation. Are you patient with some students and not others?

Why? Finding the reason behind this will move toward equity in the classroom.

As teachers we need to consider students’ privileges. Oppositely we also need to consider ways

they may be marginalized and find ways to fix or manage this. According to Stefanie Jones (2017) we

need “cultural competence”. She says according to the National Education Association “cultural

competence” means “having an awareness of one’s own cultural identity and views about difference, and

the ability to learn and build on varying cultural and community norms of students and their families. It is
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the ability to understand the within-group differences that make each student unique, while celebrating the

between-group variations that make our country a tapestry.” (pg.1) This is an easy concept for some and

for others it needs to be learned and practiced. An example would be using the word “family” instead of

“Mom or Dad”. Also using “friends” to address students versus “guys or girls”. Teachers should do the

research and learn how to hold themselves accountable. Choose classroom activities that are inclusive. It

is important to listen to your students. Ask for the students perspective and appreciate and use it. Have a

classroom climate where students listen to other students and respect their perspectives as well. As a

teacher, be willing to admit to errors and work on being better if you make mistakes.

How do we stop the oppression cycle? Teachers typically are people who want to make a

difference. So, how do we do this? Arson (Oppression Article 2017) “If we continue doing school the

same way- and we have been doing school the same way- we are not going to create change. We can talk

all day long about teachers as ‘change agents’. But if they do not have the contextual understanding it is

hard to be a change agent.” (pg. 1) This is why social justice teaching is important. Teachers need more

than just content knowledge, they need to be introduced to sociocultural issues that impact schools. We

need to learn how to value differences and be able to have hard conversations. We have to do self-work in

ourselves to better the classrooms.

Historically, teachers receive little formal training in managing classroom social relationships.

Often aggressive behaviors in the classroom result from negative dynamics in the classroom. These

dynamics often involve social status and social networks. Braun, Miller, Zadzora and Gest (2019) suggest

in their article ways to manage network dynamic in the classroom. Promoting new friendships. As the

teacher you can move seats around and organize group work to manifest new friendships. Emphasize on

the importance of developing new friendships to the class as a whole. Take time to teach the class about

friendships. Stress the importance of being friendly and respectful to all classmates. Offer up the
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importance of new friends and what having a new friend can be worth. Have the class work in small

group projects. Again as the teacher you can rearrange the groups to manage the social relationships and

benefit the classroom dynamics. When efforts are made to manage social networks in the classroom it is

linked to positive changes in the students' sense of peer community.

Creating a classroom to empower and transform, these classroom practices will oppose racism

and oppression. Students should feel safe to express their thoughts and ideas. If they disagree with each

other it does not need to be an argument. We can agree to disagree. Teachers need to design and facilitate

activities that leave room for all ideas and perspectives. After hearing from some students, asking are

there any other ideas or perspectives? This gives all students a chance to respond and share. A good idea

to make sure everyone has a chance to share their own ideas is journaling or writing reflections. This can

also help students who are less vocal to still share what their thoughts are on the subject. Use backward

learning. This helps keep the end in mind. We all have a goal and something to refer back to if the lesson

or conversation gets overwhelming or if we get off track. Having an end in mind we can always refer

back to our goal and recenter where we were headed with the discussion. This can also help everything

stay organized. Lastly, as teachers we need support. Find a mentor or coworker. Listen and learn from

others. Have a support network for when things get tough.

Classroom’s are deeply complex. Maintaining a welcoming, safe, and unbiased learning

environment is challenging work. Classroom’s should be built on compassion, connection, and

communication. Teaching can be a rewarding and challenging job. We have seen through the research the

effects culture, privilege, and oppression can have on the classroom. These will not go away overnight.

The research has given us ideas and examples on ways to move forward and decrease if not to get to an

ultimate goal of deleting these effects on the classroom. Be honest with yourself. What are your biases?
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Make the effort to understand your students' backgrounds. Acknowledge barriers. Set the stage for

improved relationships and mutual regard. Be the teacher you wish you had. Be the mentor you wish you

had. Be the change you wish to see in the world. Together as future educators we can be the change we

need to see in the world to eliminate these effects on today's classrooms.

Works Cited/ References

An instructor’s guide to understanding privilege. (n.d.). from

Berkshire, J. (2021). Culture War in the K-12 Classroom. Nation, 312(13), 20–23.

Braun, S. S., Zadzora, K. M., Miller, A. M., & Gest, S. D. (2019). Predicting elementary teachers’ efforts
to manage social dynamics from classroom composition, teacher characteristics, and the early year peer
ecology. Social Psychology of Education, 22(4), 795–817.
https://doi-org.ccproxy.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s11218-019-09503-8

Jones, S. D. (2017, August 29). Taking a step forward: The impact of privilege in the classroom. Neag
School of Education. from
https://education.uconn.edu/2017/08/29/taking-a-step-forward-the-impact-of-privilege-in-the-classroom/#

Martin, L. D. (2021). Reconceptualizing Classroom Management in the Ensemble: Considering Culture,

Nathern Okilwa, Muhammad Khalifa, & Felecia Briscoe. (2017). The School to Prison Pipeline : The
Role of Culture and Discipline in School. Emerald Publishing Limited.

Oppression still persists in schools. but social justice teaching can help break the cycle. Oppression Still
Persists in Schools. But Social Justice Teaching Can Help Break the Cycle - Miami University. (n.d.).
from https://www.miamioh.edu/ehs/news/2017/12/social-justice-teaching.html

Schwartz, K. (2019, September 17). Teaching 6-year-olds about privilege and power. KQED. from
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/54150/teaching-6-year-olds-about-privilege-and-power

Shah, N., Ortiz, N., Christensen, J., Stroupe, D., & Reinholz, D. (2021). WHO PARTICIPATES?
Analyzing data with context can help educators detect inequities in classroom participation and reduce
implicit bias. Educational Leadership, 78(6), 41–46
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Tuula Lindholm, & Johanne Mednick Myles. (2019). Navigating the Intercultural Classroom. TESOL
Press.