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seconds before moving to the next student will make the students feel that the teacher
is still available for help and will also create calmness and a good classroom climate.

For reflection:
• How can applying The Wall and The Happy Spot change the attention given
during the beginning of a lesson?
• To develop the teaching in a school, teachers can visit each other’s classrooms
and pay attention to how the colleague moves in the classroom. How does the
classroom climate change when the teacher who is being watched consciously
changes the pace?

Eye Contact
According to the research fields related to “teacher immediacy” and “teacher
enthusiasm” (Babad, 2008), a successful teacher is someone who uses good eye
contact. Teachers who seldom meet the eyes of students are perceived as being
insecure. A guideline is to make sure one has eye contact with all students at some
time during a lesson—and preferably the same
amount of eye contact with each student.
...Eye contact is an effective tool kindness, and empathy, but the eyes can also
With the eyes, one can communicate curiosity,
for creating opportunities for indicate the direction in which the teacher wants

good learning outcomes. the students to focus (Steinberg, 2020). Eye
contact is a powerful tool; therefore, one must be
cautious with how to use it. Frowning and staring
at students will diminish the students’ trust, and
it can be embarrassing for a student to have eye
contact when dealing with certain topics in school. A shy student may have a hard
time with eye contact, and it may be counterproductive for some students with
neuropsychiatric diagnoses. It is also important to be aware of cultural differences
concerning eye contact. In some cultures, a student giving eye contact to a teacher
can be considered rude. Still, eye contact is an effective tool for creating opportunities
for good learning outcomes.
With good eye contact, one manifests a commitment to teaching students and
one will be perceived as friendly, confident, and open to communication. One
who avoids eye contact, on the other hand, may risk being perceived as insecure,
indifferent, disinterested, and even cold (Backlund, 2006). It is also important that
the teacher’s eye contact and facial expression reflect what is being said in order to
avoid sending mixed messages.

Breathing
An essential and often forgotten aspect of leadership in the classroom is the
teacher’s breathing. Deep, slow, and even breathing signals confidence; shallow
and fast breathing patterns signal insecurity and nervousness. In front of a restless
class, a skilled teacher will intuitively slow down the breathing and the speed of
speaking to calm down the class. This is an example of how a skilled teacher creates
a calm learning environment without, seemingly, doing anything. Fast and shallow
breathing will, on the other hand, risk increasing the restlessness of the class. Being
aware of one’s breathing and having a good breathing technique are therefore good
leadership tools.

12 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators