Non-Threatening Environment

A co-worker brought up an interesting point during an in-service on multiple intelligences last week. She said it was important to build a non-threatening classroom environment. This environment would better facilitate learning. My first thought was that this made perfect sense. The more I think about it, the more I see its relationship to learning. Students feel comfortable physically and emotionally in a classroom and they will preform better than students who are afraid to ask questions or participate in class discussions. Taking this even further, if students feel comfortable and safe with an instructor, they may be more motivated to attend class and work harder on assignments....less likely to drop out or just not show up. I've always fostered the student-teacher relationship in my classroom....now, I know why it's so important (especially at the community college).