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The school I currently work at has many examples and evidence of a positive culture. One of these is an anonymous school climate and culture survey given to students and staff. My school routinely scores high in all areas. Some of the areas surveyed are the school and workplace environments. The praise for my school is always high in every area. My principal works diligently to ensure her staff and students have a positive experience at school. She has initiated programs that continuously reward and recognize staff and students for their efforts. When she gives praise, it is specific and heartfelt. She works consistently to connect with her students and staff, which fosters a positive school environment. I am looking forward to hopefully moving from an IA position to a teaching one at the school where I work because I love the culture there and believe in what they are accomplishing with their student body.

I had a negative experience with the culture at my high school during my junior and senior years. The all-male math department teachers also coached many school sports, particularly girls' track, basketball, and volleyball. Everyone knew that the sports girls would receive an automatic "A" with minimal effort and rarely had to come to class. When they were in class, all they would have to do was flirt a little with one of the teachers, and they would get a pass to get out of class. I was in high school over 36 years ago, so this sort of thing was somewhat commonplace, and I would like to think it would not occur in most of today's schools. This negative culture was allowed to happen and continue, and for those of us who were not sports-minded-minded, this behavior left us disillusioned and frustrated. I still remember it all these years later, unfortunately.

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1. Last year, I was observing this class at Rich Pond Elementary school and the atmosphere was just great. The teacher I observed never showed any favoritism always payed attention to every student that needed help and always had a smile on her face while doing it. When a problem did arise in a student, she calmly disciplined that student and explained why they shouldn't do what their behavior did. I think that's the type of positive culture that us, future educators or teachers, should strive for our future students in creating a welcoming and positive culture for every student that is diverse or not.

2. In my Junior year in High School, there was this one certain teacher that always played favorites and played to the athletes more then anyone. This was in PE and the PE teacher was a coach who just cared for the athletes and popular kids. Now, I was an athlete at the time, but didn't feel right with getting the PE's teacher attention more then the other kids in the class. At my school, if you're last name was big in the county with the school, you're considered "popular" and known. My last name was considered that but I still did not feel right about it. The teachers at my school basically played favorites except for one teacher. The behavior of other teachers made the environment feel weird to me and tense from the resentment from the other kids. It did not sit well with me at all and that's why I strive to be better then my past teachers and become better for my future students.

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1. Last year was my first year in the Chinese Flagship program here at WKU. While the program is highly intensive, I did not realize the lengths the professors, tutors, and older students would go to, to make sure that all students feel supported. They provide many resources for those who are struggling and plan lots of events to build community rapport. Some of my best friends were made from my time in this program. They always encouraged us to strive to grow and fulfill our language learning potential. It encouraged the students to work hard and not be afraid to mess up. It gave the teachers a closer relationship with the students, allowing for better communication and understanding of the student's level of fluency.

2. In my time in high school, I became a part of my school's theatre program. The overall culture was one of competition: build yourself up by pushing others down. Only those with the best skills and the lead roles could be in the positions of "prestige". Even when I worked hard to get the two lead roles that I did, I was bullied by people who thought they deserved those roles over me. This happened often to all sorts of people. The teachers encouraged this competition mentality with the methods they used in auditions and rehearsals. Overall, it often made casts of students resentful and unkind to each other. It was not an emotionally healthy environment for anyone involved.

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1. During my senior year of high school, we started a club called Renaissance. This group was created for the purpose of creating a positive culture in the school. This group would make many kind gestures and do activities around the school. One big activity they did was on the first of every month they would start the school day by putting clips on people's backpacks with positive stays. This boosted many people's confidence and created a less stressful first day of school. This positive impact made school seem more fun and welcoming instead of dreadful and unwelcoming.

2. While I was observing last year I was in a kindergarten class with a teacher that had an interesting way with class management. She would be very strict on the kids. For example, she made one kid sit out of the Halloween party because she kept talking before raising her hand. This created a toxic environment because it caused the kids to be scared to participate. The kids seemed almost terrified to ask questions or take part in activities.

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#1 - During my senior year of high school, we started a mental health program for all students and staff. This program had such positive reviews overall, the program showed me that the school does genuinely care about how we are inside and outside of school. As the school made an effort the students and staff were able to have an outlet, this allowed for a more welcoming environment all around the school.

#2 - Last semester I was observing at a school in my old county that is known for having challenging administration, the admin knew I would be coming to observe their agriculture program. When I arrived at the classroom, I met the teachers and the admin but to my surprise the admin did not leave the classroom after the lesson had begun. The admin staying in the classroom made for a very tense environment for not only me but the teacher and students as well.

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1- When I was a student at Owensboro High School, our principal at the time provided the best school culture. He made it a point to learn as many students as he could. He stood at the school entrance every morning and gave each student a fist bump. He was at every game, meeting, and school trip. Mr. Delacey doing this made the atmosphere so positive. Students and staff were excited to be at school, and we all felt comfortable going to him if there was an issue. I graduated in 2021 and have still gotten a birthday wish every year. He is overall a great person and is the kind of person who belongs in the education field.

2- For my previous education class, I was fortunate enough to earn some observation hours. So, I completed them at a local elementary school in a 2nd grade class. There was a student who was having a hard time sitting in his spot. The teacher corrected him, and he reacted by not moving or talking. The teacher began talking poorly about him to a teaching assistant. This was done in front of him and other students. Sadly, the other students had no reaction. So, it made me think they were used to it in a way. The teaching assistant also joined in on the conversation.

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#1 - I have been an instructional assistant for going on 4 years. During the past two years and counting, I have worked at New Highland Elementary School. I can say with full confidence that NHES is the most positive school I have encountered. The principal, who was the same principal I had when I attended NHES as a student, goes above and beyond to create a positive culture in the school. She is the most caring and accepting person I have ever worked with. She sets the tone for a positive environment throughout the school. Due to her expectations of respect for all and putting students first, our school is very close-knit. The staff treat each other with a high level of respect and truly feel like a second family to me. In addition, the staff treat students with that same level of respect and care. The students are held to high standards but are encouraged and motivated through their teachers and peers to strive for success in everything they do. Positivity, respect, care for one another, encouragement for each other, and true love radiate through the school while excelling in educating our students.

#2 - Unfortunately, I have been an Instructional Assistant for a school that I feel had a negative culture. One of the things that made this school feel negative was feeling like I did not fit in. There seemed to be cliques in this school, and I felt like there was nowhere that I felt accepted. I would hear staff talking negatively about other staff members or whole grade-level teams. The school did not feel like a family at all. In addition, I felt like my every move was being examined and that I could not meet any expectations. While I do think it is important to set high expectations for staff, I would constantly be pulled into the office and told I was not doing my job correctly. When asked what I could do to improve, I would never get a response from the principals or teachers that I worked with. It was very confusing and stressful for me. I adored the students there, but the staff made me feel very unwelcome and unaccepted. I felt looked down upon and felt like the school as a whole thought they were better than everyone else. I ended up being told not to come back the next year. When I asked why or what I did wrong, I was looked at like I was crazy and told to leave the office. To this day, I am not sure what I did wrong and I am still hurt by the negativity of this school. In addition, the negative culture did show through to the students. There would be plenty of days when our students would come in unhappy and unmotivated to learn. The teacher I worked with would allow them to throw tantrums and not do their work, causing a negative learning environment for others. Some days, I stayed inside during recess to help students with schoolwork while the teacher and other students went outside.

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Shelley Anglin

#1 - During last semester's teaching clinical, I observed a positive cultural environment. I had several diverse students but that did not change the positive culture, it made it more interesting. All of the staff members and students were wonderful. The staff offered an inviting atmosphere and the students were always ready to learn. My mentor teacher was by far one of the best teachers that I have observed. All of the students loved her.

#2 - A negative culture that I have experienced was in one of my high school classes. This teacher was one of those teacher who always picked the jocks and cheerleaders over all the other students. She would allow them to come to her desk and talk, which would interrupt our class time, but she did not care. Our assignments were mostly copying from our textbook and doing presentations. I felt as if I was wasting my time in that class. There were students in this class that wanted to learn, but it always felt like a carnival in that classroom. Let's just say that the teacher is no longer employed at that school.

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#1- While observing at Bush Elementary, I got to experience an amazing positive culture within the school. The staff worked together like a family to create a warming and welcoming environment for all students. They worked together to meet the needs of every student, no matter the issue, to be sure that each student succeed academically and socially. This made an incredible impact on both the students and staff because it made everyone feel welcome and respected. The teachers had great relationships with their students and were able to expand that beyond the classroom walls!

#2- In middle school, I had a teacher that provided a very negative culture to her students. Not only did she yell, scream, and throw things at students, but she told many that they would never amount to anything. Many times this teacher threatened to throw materials at students for asking "too many" questions or not having access to complete online homework at home. Many students were scared of this teacher. This teacher created an unhealthy learning environment where students were scared to expand their knowledge or even ask for help. It was also often that this teacher would talk badly about students to the other teachers in the hallway where students in the hallway could hear, as if it were intentional. This behavior made it very hard to learn in the class and left many scaring memories for many students.

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1#- During my time at Father Ryan High School, I was fortunate to have teachers who not only held themselves to a high standard but also held the students to a high standard. They cared deeply about us as a whole and as individuals, and were always available to listen to us. The teachers were very good at creating and maintaining a classroom environment that was conducive to learning and to the individual needs of students. They were always willing to help students who were struggling, and they made sure that everyone was on track to succeed. They were always respectful of the students, and they made sure that the students were respectful of each other. This positive learning environment contributed to the student's mental health, as well as the mental health of the faculty and staff as well as personal and group achievements!

2#- At WKU, I had a professor who made the course incredibly challenging for everyone, especially one autistic student in our class. Her syllabus stated that getting an A was nearly impossible and that she wouldn't reteach any missed classes or give missed notes. She had a long list of strict rules, including a ban on recording or taking pictures of the lessons. On the first day, she went over these rules, and a boy sitting next to me, who was on the spectrum (autistic), asked if he could record the lessons because it was how he learned effectively. She told him no. Despite trying his best to follow her rules, he struggled. He even brought a doctor’s note for her, explaining his needs, but she still did not make any accommodations. The class was required for his major, and he barely managed to pass, thanks to the help of other students. This experience highlighted a lack of empathy and flexibility from the professor, creating a stressful and unsupportive environment that made learning much harder than it needed to be and a non-productive environment.

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#1 When I was a student at Meade County High School my Spanish teacher always made her classroom a safe place and made all of her students feel welcome. She would talk to the students and would always encourage us to believe in ourselves. She is the teacher that everyone can remember and always has something nice to say about her.

#2 During my senior year of High School my teacher who was teaching us about education made the classroom negative. She made it clear from day one that she prioritized the Library over teaching the students. A lot of my classmates who originally wanted to become teachers changed their minds because of this teacher. We even went to the principal together to tell them what was going on. We told her that Although we believe that our teacher is a good person we don't believe that she should be teaching this class because it isn't her priority. She is a librarian and that comes first, as future teachers there should be a teacher who pays attention to the students and makes sure that they can help guide them when they need help, not be with them for 20 minutes and take off.

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1. This spring I had the opportunity to observe at Rockfield Elementary with Mrs. Ashley Buchanon and her 6th-grade class. While observing I noticed many different positive aspects to the culture this school has created. This school is a community and they very much act like it! On one of my last couple days observing many teachers had to miss work that day, but it was not a problem for Rockfield. Teachers were moved around to help with these holes, but no one complained. Everyone just knew that the students needed to come first. That is another thing, this school puts their kids first. They came up with the "Golden Lunch Tray" that helps students be better humans to the workers in the lunchroom. They say please, thank you, excuse me, etc. They also clean up after themselves very well. This is a part of the initiative to get that golden lunch tray for the week.

2. While I attended a community college in Florida, I was a part of my campus' student activities organization. Due to Covid, our campus was a little down on numbers so my group only had one other person besides me and my advisor. There was also another group (the ambassadors) that had a few more members. Therefore, our groups combined to make it easier for our advisor. Everything was going well until the spring semester when one of the ambassadors was trying to take over my job and do tasks I was supposed to do. Eventually, things became tense and hostile in the environment and we were told we needed to work out our issues. We talked things through and I was going to be more lenient and allow help from others and she was going to back off a little. This lasted for a week maybe, then we put my other member in the middle of our fight. I would tell him things that were aggravating me about the situation and he would tell the other person, who would turn around and do the same thing. It came to a point that our advisor had completely canceled our end-of- year trip because we could not get along well enough. I got over my aggravation and apologized for not asking for help and utilizing my team. The other person also apologized but also told me that they believed they could do my job better than I could. I let it go and told our advisor that we had made up and that we were disappointed in ourselves for how we acted. This tiff caused major tensions within the office space where we worked. I noticed that the advisors began to close their doors more and were not asking me as many questions as they used to. It made me realize what we were doing to our environment that I had once taken pride in.

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1. While working as an assistant in first and second grade classrooms, one of the biggest positive cultural ideas I observed is building relationship. Especially speaking on the students that seem to "act out" and/or seem to "hate" being in school. Those students that you find a little more difficult to break the ice with are the ones who seem to struggle the most in a classroom setting; not because they hate your guts and want to be disruptive, but they crave some sort of positive attention that they are not receiving at home. These students want to feel safe and heard and so, I have learned that building relationships with students is very crucial in the academic world. Students become more engaged when feeling respected and valued, which in turn reduces disruptive behavior when they feel that connection with their teachers because they don't want to disappoint. Building that students/teacher relationship can have a lasting impact going beyond the classroom even; not only helping students thrive academically, but also personally too.

2. A huge negative cultural impact I have seen as an assistant which could be controversial is administration who are on a power trip. As an assistant in an elementary school, I have seen firsthand administration that love each and every one of their staff and students that walk their halls and in the same school there is an administrator who lives off the drama, speaking down to the children who have behavior issues due to lack of a good home life and who pick favorites and talk about others behind their back. These kinds of behaviors set the tone for everyone when that administrator walks into the room. When administrators fail to build a relationship with staff it automatically creates a toxic environment, and it becomes more toxic when admin poorly manages disciplinary issues with students. It is crucial, I have learned, to have a healthy school environment. The lack of trust between admin and staff leads to poor communication and collaboration. I have also learned that when disciplinary issues are taking far beyond and handled incorrectly students struggle socially, emotionally and academically regardless of the relationship built between the student and teacher. Bad admin can drive away good teachers and effect more than just the mental health of those working there. Administrator's actions influence the overall quality of education and or the lack thereof. It holds a lot of power to be an admin and those who aren't cut for the job but are in that position can do more harm than good.

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#1- While observing, one of the biggest positive culture ideas was observed almost instantly. Building relationships. I observed a special education classroom and the students knew how to work with their teachers and vice versa. The teachers knew everything about their homelife and their parents and how each student learns, because you must build rapport and relationship bonds with your students for there to be any kind of positive learning environment. The students could take breaks when overstimulated and could get help, which resulted in good responses from the students and good engagement.

#2- I think respect is a big negative culture most students have to face when it comes to teachers. I have had multiple encounters with teachers who just do not care what is going on in your personal life that may be affecting you, like getting angry at you for lack of sleep or grades dropping. I also think some believe that students are just there to listen to everything they say and are not allowed an outlet to express their opinions on the way some things are taught. I am a hands-on learner and, like most of my friends, I was not happy with my grades because the one teacher I had last semester just talked throughout the entire semester. I was frustrated and angry and so was everyone else in the classroom. And, when addressed to the teacher, she still did not try and engage with us in another way. My friends had Fs and Ds when they usually are on the honor roll or have straight As. So, respect is one thing I think is a negative culture that should be talked about more and taught to teachers.

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#1 - While observing a 1st-grade class, the students and teacher worked together to create a positive learning environment. The teacher was always willing to help and make learning fun and engaging. The students - who worked in groups, supported each other and collaborated easily on group assignments. This was such a positive culture because of the sense of community and belonging. Everyone felt supported and heard.

#2 - In school, we had a permanent substitute for the year - she really didn't seem to care about the students unless they were male athletes and that is who she gave 90% of her attention to. She socialized with these students on social media, including Snapchat. We really didn't learn anything in the class and felt very unsupported throughout the year.

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Answer the following questions below in ONE post:

#1 - Describe an example of a positive culture that you have experienced as a student or as a member of a school. What were the aspects of the culture that made positive impacts on students and staff?

#2 - Conversely, describe an example of a toxic/negative culture that you have either experienced as a student or witnessed as a school member. What were the aspects of the culture that made negative impacts on students and staff?