The importance of the community that a teacher facilitates in their classroom is paramount. Classroom management comes down to structure, and respect; this applies to the teacher ten times more than it does to the students. A teacher must be organized and provide students with a class that is structured in both time and space. A teacher must also respect every student that comes into the door for who he or she is. A successful teacher has students that feel safe and welcome in the classroom. If a student knows that they are safe and that you care about them and want them to succeed, they will produce their best work, absorb the most information and simply enjoy their time with you.
This is probably one of the hardest things to achieve as a teacher, but the gains are powerful. A class in which students feel safe to be themselves, and that follows a routine and has set classroom procedures, will simply have more time to get things done—you will not find lost minutes woven between each activity. Though, even if it takes more time, a teacher should not do for a student what they can do for themselves. This includes sweeping the classroom, keeping their possessions organized, or handing out materials. Any responsibility that you pass on to them will benefit them. Even if it takes longer, the minutes are well spent.
I believe that the ability to seek out new experiences, perspectives and ideas is one that is innately within us. If children are given materials that they can engage with in an authentic way that is fuelled by curiosity, then the most meaningful and long-lasting learning can happen. The teacher should provide materials in the class that cater to a wide variety of interests so that every child is more likely to discover something that does spark this genuine interest in them. Once students become acquainted with this curiosity, I believe the teacher should allow them to pursue it as independently as they want/ are able to. Not everything that we teach children will register with them in a deep or moving way, but if we help each student find at least one thing that they feel motivated to learn about, and we allow them to go down that path of discovery, then they will learn to become lifelong learners.