Tips on Maintaining a Safe Classroom Environment

Modern trends in education often describe a "safe classroom" as one in which a child feels safe to share his or her thoughts without being ridiculed. While that type of "safe" is important, teachers are also responsible for students' physical safety. Over the years I have experimented with various seating arrangements and have received advice from principals through evaluations. This article attempts to share with other teachers tips on how to create a physically safe environment in a secondary education level classroom.

Beware of Hand Sanitizer
With the fear of flu epidemics spreading throughout school districts, many classrooms now house large containers of hand sanitizer. Be careful with this! Not only have youngsters lapped up hand sanitizer and died from alcohol poisoning, but hand sanitizer is extremely flammable. My scientist husband put the flammability notion to the test. He squirted a couple drops of hand sanitizer into our stainless steel sink and lit it. It burned hot with a clear, deep purple flame for over ten minutes. Keep track of the classroom's hand sanitizer, because while it kills germs it could be a very serious hazard if used incorrectly.

Avoid Tripping Hazards
Students' minds typically are more focused on social interactions or test questions than what lies in the aisle in front of them. As such, a teacher should take an active role in tripping prevention. The easiest way to prevent tripping is to have students keep their backpacks, bags, and binders out of the classroom's aisles or walkways. Ideally, students would keep these in a locker, but under a student's chair is okay. Try to avoid backpack placement on top of desks, however, due to today's teenagers love for text messaging behind it.

Choose Emergency Seating Arrangements
As trends of group seating charts or pods transition away from rows of desks, make sure a seating chart continues to facilitate a safe classroom. A teacher never knows what emergency could occur, such as a student having a seizure, an earthquake hitting, or a fire alarm sounding. Students should have a seat where they can be reached directly without being boxed in with tables or other students in the way. In addition, students should be able to reach the door directly via more than one route.

Engaging in these safety techniques should help a teacher improve the physical safety level in the secondary level classroom. Of course, in younger grades, teachers would also be concerned with children eating crayons, bringing peanut butter snacks (allergies), etc.

What do you think about these classroom tips on creating a physically safe environment? Have you had any experiences with hand sanitizer, tripping, or a need to exit a room quickly? Please comment below!