Classroom Management

Part of my Teaching Practice Portfolio...

Classroom management is a constant interaction between the students and the teacher. It is very important for teachers since it helps them plan the lesson and prevent undesirable situations. Therefore, they avoid applying self-defeating methods later on during the lesson. Classroom management is equally important to the students as it makes time spent inside the classroom more productive and facilitates their interaction.

At Anatolia College, as I witnessed, the beginning of the lesson is typically delayed due to the transfer of the students from their regular classroom to each English teacher’s individual classroom. The lesson starts and the teacher makes sure that the time available is distributed to the various tasks as defined by the lesson plan. The teacher always makes sure that the necessary time for the completion of each activity is provided. In her attempt to satisfy all the students’ needs and styles, the teacher also allows some wait time for learners to formulate their answers without losing track of the time. Most of the learners engage happily in the various tasks the instructor assigns, while the students that do not participate deliberately are encouraged to do so. The teacher should be informed about the students’ interests and special needs, in order to be able to function efficiently. Furthermore, the teacher always estimated the time required for each task and she always made sure that every student followed along and corrected their answers.

The seating arrangement is conducive to language learning since seating arrangements have the potential to contribute to the prevention of problematic behaviors that impede effective learning. There are several types of seating arrangements for a classroom, but the teacher mainly preferred the traditional pair arrangement during the school year. During the project-based learning week, we also created larger groups by combining three desks. Though this seating arrangement was very distracting for the students, so we went back to the usual pairs. The teacher’s classroom management skills seem excellent. She is not only properly qualified and very experienced, but she also knows her students very well. Becoming aware of the students’ individual needs and interests is a key factor the teacher always stressed.

Classroom management is the key to successful teaching and learning. It refers to the process by which the instructor supports and ensures the appropriate behavior of the learners according to the learning requirements. A skillful teacher is aware of the correct ways of handling discipline problems that may occur during the lesson and knowing the students he or she is working with facilitates his or her teaching.

Regarding the troublemakers of each class, they are known to the cooperating teacher, who is aware of their special needs. She knows exactly how to handle discipline problems and each student individually. She deliberately moves closer to the undisciplined student either looking them in the eyes until they stop misbehaving or confronting them verbally. Furthermore, she uses a team reward system. In this way, the students in fear of their team losing behave appropriately to win stars that the teacher notes on the board. This system works wonders, especially with younger learners. Another common preventive strategy she uses is asking a student to move seats and sit alone to calm down. Sometimes discipline problems occur due to a load of work having to be completed during a period accordingly to the lesson plan. In such cases, on-the-spot decision-making may be needed to make sure that the lesson is carried out appropriately. Therefore, some of the students might be asked to go meet the principal during the break or discuss with their teacher about their behavior.

Regarding the classroom rules, they were set at the beginning of the school year and are displayed on the wall ever since. The introduction of rules is part of classroom management, and it is necessary. Classroom rules must be stated in positive language, and they must be reviewed occasionally. Rules like “Respect others” or “Raise your hand” concern the learners’ behavior and they must be precise and limited in number.

The pattern the teacher follows when it comes to assigning homework is to write homework down on the whiteboard for the students to copy at the begging of the lesson. Her teaching practice is characterized by various other patterns, like the one dealing with troublemakers mentioned above. Regarding discipline and drawing the learners’ attention, the teacher also proceeds to play “Miss says…” when the learners are absent-minded or acting out. Another technique she makes good use of is playing “Clap, clap, clap”. The teacher claps her hand in a particular rhythm (e.g. she claps rapidly two times and one last time after a second or so to create a beat) that the students must copy. The learners recreate the sounds the teacher makes with her hands a couple of times before returning to their lesson.