New Teacher Tips: Be on the “Ball” of Classroom Management!
July 30, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
Teachers are actors and actresses who are always watched by many eyes at a time.
Students watch closely and inspect the ways in which you deal with discipline problems and other classroom situations.
Teachers have to keep in mind that they always need to be “on the ball” no matter how they feel.
In the classroom, every element and emotion is legitimate: anger, joy, irony, humor, seriousness which are appropriate in a given situation. Teachers can even exaggerate their reactions to make them clearer to the students, not forgetting to ignore things which they think are better to ignore at that stage.
In time, students should know exactly which reaction they are likely to cause if they didn’t do their homework or make noise in class.
They should also know the consequences for such behavior and what they also need to do to get recognized for their good behavior.
Once they get used to your classroom management ways, you can start working on spontaneity and creativity and “surprise” them from time to time.
Keep the emphasis on managing whole class behavior rather than individual students. Later, you can shift your attention to individual students and start building personal relationships with them.
When you reach this stage, you can safely say that you know your class from inside out.
So continue to be on the “ball” and soon you’ll achieve success.
Who says that classroom teaching and management need be only work and no fun?
Guidelines for Teaching Rules and Procedures
July 7, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
Effective classroom management begins when a teacher knows the particular types of disruptive behavior s/he wants to curb and the types of positive behavior s/he wants to promote.
This decision has important implications for new and in-service teachers in particular. Deciding on effective rules and procedures is important in establishing teacher credibility.
Students challenge teacher authority when they are simply told the rules. Rules need to be thoughtfully planned so that a teacher can easily and practically enforce them and they will be taken seriously.
Rule teaching and enforcement goes hand in hand with positive reinforcement and feedback. There are cases however when these two elements do not effectively operate together and will not generate a positive classroom environment for learning.
What is a rule? What is a procedure?
Rules refer to general expectations or standards for classroom behavior. The purpose is to create a strong expectation what is or is not acceptable. Some examples are:
* Bring materials to class
* come to class on time
* Listen to students when they are talking
Ideally, you should start teaching your rules on the first day of school and continue reviewing them throughout the year putting a special emphasis on the first month.
Procedures refer to a specific activity and methods for accomplishing daily routines.
Some examples are:
* policy for handing in late assignments
* policy for coming in late
* policy for working in groups
How should you go about teaching rules?
* Say the rule clearly.
* Discuss why the rule is important
* Provide both positive and negative examples of the rule
* Don't overdo this one, but discuss the consequences
* You should have a few rules (3-4 should be enough)
Teaching Procedures
* Explain the procedure and the reason for it.
* Demonstrate or describe it.
* Provide ample opportunities to practice
* Give feedback whenever necessary
Remember the three R's: review, repeat, reinforce. Your staff is a viable place to bring up the objectives and rules that you wish to bring into your class.
Building a Classroom Management Plan That Speaks to Students
July 7, 2009 by admin
Filed under Classroom Management and Organization
After introducing a few rules during the first week of school, plan on reinforcing them for the next few months to come. Stick to the 90% reviewing classroom procedures and rules and 10% amount of teaching. By procedures, I am referring to also study skills such as how to present and keep their work, pair and group work and test procedures. I also keep in mind the pace of particular classes with special needs and some classes need more review on reinforcing the rules than others.
What is a Rule?
In the beginning, I was in a rush to teach and happily talked about my rules as if they were a theoretical treatise. A rule is an expectation that also has a consequence. Reconsider your rules and their consequences because your students need to be held accountable.
Still Have the Personal Touch
At the beginning of my teaching career, I was too preoccupied with my rules and wanted to quickly begin teaching. But you as teacher need to quickly build your teaching style to read your students and their social, emotional and cognitive needs. Greeting them, talking to them and guiding them is part of our many roles beyond the simple 'disciplinarian'.
Lastly, consider your Teaching Style
With every teaching style, there is a separate classroom management system of procedures. Most seasoned teachers will tell you to get a hold of your class before you give group tasks. While there is no real 'right' time to start introducing them, you might want to start out by experimenting with these types of classroom interaction. See which ones fit where you are now in terms of classroom management and of course, your own personality.
Individual Work. The teacher gives a task or set of tasks, the students work on them independently; the teacher walks around monitoring and assisting where necessary.
Fluid Pairs. Each student exchanges information briefly with a partner, then moves on to exchange with another.
Teacher talk. This may involve some kind of silent student response, such as writing from dictation; but there is no initiation.
Self-access. Students choose their own learning tasks, and work autonomously.
Open ended teacher questioning. There are a number of possible 'right' answers, so that more students answer each cue.
Collaboration. Students do the same sort of tasks as in 'individual work,' but work together, usually in pairs, to try to achieve the best result they can. The teacher may or may not intervene. (Note that this is different from Group work, where the task itself necessitates interaction.)
The one type not mentioned is group work, which involves a lot more student autonomy and much less teacher intervention.
FREE Teacher Interview Questions
July 1, 2009 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
If you are in need of teacher interview questions, please take a look at the FREE teaching resources section of this blog.
Click here to access the page. You'll also find a sample teacher resume.
