Proactive teachers do not simply react to student behavior but use their thorough understanding of classroom communication to shape the pattern of class interaction. Proactive teachers are characterized by their recognition of the mutual influence of teachers and students in the learning process, their participation in social perspective taking, and their efforts to positively structure the affective climate of their classrooms. The value of their behavior is suggested by research indicating that (1) students also contribute to classroom input, a unidirectional model of teacher-to-student influence is inadequate in characterizing classroom interaction; (2) people with complex construct systems (serving as lenses for construing the nature of social events) are more flexible and adaptive and thus more successful in their communication; and (3) that teachers who are more accepting of students are evaluated more positively in the interpersonal domain. These proposed characterizations of proactive teachers have theoretical as well as practical utility, suggesting directions in future research and providing a model of successful classroom communication. (MM)