EDU3104 2012 Structure Paper

1. Managing a class full of students is one of the biggest challenges faced by a

teacher.
(a) Explain two goals that can be achieved if a classroom is managed effectively.
If a teacher is able to manage a classroom effectively, he/she will be able to maximize
students engaged time or even academic learning time. Time management for the
learning to occur and for the students to involve actively in the lesson are depends on
the classroom management. If teacher didnt allocate the time correctly and didnt
manage it well, the teacher might have problems in giving the time for the students to
involve and engage in the lesson. The other goal is self-management. This can only be
achieved if the teacher able to manage the class effectively with time, students and the
lesson.

(b) One of the main qualities of a professional teacher is possessing teaching and
learning competency in the classroom.
Elaborate on three important aspects of teaching and learning competency which
should be mastered by teachers in the classroom.
The three important aspects of teaching and learning competency are subject matter
competency, good classroom behaviour management and effective communication.
The teacher must master the subject matter, in this situation, of the learning that you
want to teach the students. The teacher must understand all the principles and skills
behind his teaching and be able to teach the students well. The teacher also must
have a good classroom behaviour management. With this competency, the teacher
will be able to overcome the students misbehaviour by tackling the problem from the
base or root. The teacher must build a good rapport with the students so that the
students will cooperate with the teacher and the rules in the classroom that they
agreed to execute in the classroom. Affective communication is one of the teaching
and learning competencies that should be mastered by teachers in the classroom.
Effective communication will help the teacher to be able to give information and
knowledge to the students and also the students will be able to follow the lesson. The
teacher and the students must be able to communicate and engage in the learning
process. The teacher must know how to communicate with the students in order to
get them engage actively in the lesson and also listen to the instructions given by the
teacher well.

2. Good teacher-pupil relationship can contribute to an improvement in pupil
performance
a. Elaborate on three factors that can contribute to a positive teacher-pupil
relationship in classroom. (6 marks)

First, positive relationship between teacher and pupil can be affected by the classroom
arrangement. In classroom, students must be arranged to face the teacher so they can
perceive instructions, get enough attention and allow full contact for question and answer
session. Thus, teacher will be aware to fulfil the high-needs students and succeeded to build
rapport with them. Next, teacher is unlikely recommended to practice authoritarian or laissez
faire style since both are ineffective to embrace positivity between teacher and pupil. A
teacher must be a democratic person who will encourage kindness, caring and establish
warmness that secured students emotionally so they are able to be open with the teacher.
Besides, teacher should take note over the verbal and non-verbal communication
established while teaching. Verbally, teacher must convey positive or motivational messages
and lesson of the day with correct tone and appropriate voice projection. Teacher is
encouraged to use positive language all the time and avoid saying Dont while requesting or
correcting bad behaviour. Last but not least, teacher must use correct responses or non-
verbal reactions that go along with verbal messages.

b. A teacher plays an important role in creating a caring culture in the classroom.
Explain two strategies which can be used by teachers to create a caring culture in the
classroom.

Teacher must first role model a warm, fair, consistent support and empathy towards students
to gain their trust and believe that to care is something essential. This could be done by
develop positive teacher-students relationship. When the teacher has a good rapport with the
students, the students will learn and see all the actions that the teacher does in order to
create a caring culture in the classroom. Implicitly, the students will try to follow the actions of
the teacher.
Then, the teacher engages them in a dialogue about moral life, supervise students practices
and confirm them in developing their best selves and appropriate senses. When the teacher
has positive relationship with the students, the students will feel free to talk, give opinions
and share ideas with the teacher and also their friends. The teacher will also be able to talk
to the students about their progress in studies and also themselves, for example their
behaviours in the classroom. The teacher can held some discussion with the students about
moral actions that the students can do in their life. These will eventually create a caring
culture in the class. When the students display some caring culture in the classroom, the
teacher must acknowledge it and give support for the students to keep on to do it.
Most of all, the teacher must encourage the students to help their friends and others who are
in need by first helping them in action. Teacher usually leaves some remarkable actions on
the students. When the teacher gives hands for students who are in need, the students will
turn out to do the same to the friends and other people because they understand and know
the feeling when someone gives hand when they have problem. This will explicitly encourage
the students to build a caring culture in the classroom, where they feel cared for and they
also care about the friends around them.

3 a) Explain the main aim of classroom discipline (4 marks)
Main aim of classroom discipline 1: make sure lesson objective is fulfilled
Discipline is implied in order to help the lesson go about smoothly without interruptions from
students. In a classroom, every teacher has the right to teach and students have the right to
learn. Therefore any interruption that prevents these rights from being achieved is
considered a disturbance and must be prevented at all costs. Classroom rules with clear
description of what should the students do and how to behave in the class are needed to
avoid such disturbances from occurring, and help promote better learning environment in the
classroom.
Main aim of classroom discipline 2: to promote self discipline
Another important aim of classroom discipline is to promote self discipline among students.
When a student misbehaves, he is punished in order to make him release that he has done
something wrong, and he is not supposed to repeat that misbehaviour. The same concept is
implied whenever a student shows good behaviour. He will be rewarded, in order to
encourage him to keep on practicing the good behaviour. As time goes, students will have a
high level of self discipline in which they will show good behaviour even when teachers or
any other authorities are not around. This is because they are no longer doing good
behaviour for the rewards, nor were they avoiding the bad behaviour because of the
punishments, but simply because they have understood that it is always better to practice
good behaviour.

b) Canters Model suggests that teachers should be assertive in the classroom. To be
assertive and effective, Canter suggests that a teacher should consistently use certain
behaviours. Elaborate on three of these behaviours. (6 marks)
Canters Model suggests that teachers should be assertive in classroom in order to help
maintain discipline. There are few assertive behaviours suggested, such as using I
messages, the broken record technique and to be clear and specific.
1. Use I messages:
Using I messages is a techniques emphasising on self-focus rather than focusing on other
person. This is to say, teachers are supposed to state what they feel when a misbehaviour
occurs, rather than to directly blaming the student. This technique focuses on stating or
describing the situation and its consequences clearly, and not to blindly forces student to
accept the punishment for his misbehaviour. For example, when a student did not keep the
art supplies properly in the cupboard, a teacher should say Zaki, when you did not keep the
art supplies back in their places, it is going to be hard for the others to look for them the next
time we are having an art class. It would make the others feel bad when they could not find
what they want. Therefore it would be good for everyone if we could all put the art supplies
back in their right places so it would be helpful for the others the next time we have an art
class.
2. Broken record technique:
This is a technique in which you repeat your requests several times until the student
complies with it. When misbehaviour occurs, teachers are advised to tell the student what
she wants him to do in clear and short order. Repeat the order several times, and ignore
whatever excuses that the student gives. For example, if a student walks around while you
are still teaching, a teacher could say I am still explaining so I want you to sit down and
listen to me. If the student gives excuses, cut him short and repeat the same order until he
finally moves and sits down in his place. This technique will give an impression that you are a
teacher that means what she says, and students will learn that they would need to listen to
you well.

3. Be clear and specific:
An assertive teacher should always be clear and specific with her words. Be detailed in
telling your students what you want them to do. This is important in order to avoid confusion
and preventing students from taking your order as a joke. For example, when a student
makes a mess of his table, a teacher should ask him specifically to clear his table, Sarah, I
want you to put away your colour pencils and drawing papers, and leave only the textbook
and a pencil.

4. A classroom that is not productive can be attributed to the failure of teachers in
managing certain aspects such as time and learning opportunities.

(a) Explain what is meant by the failure to manage time and learning
opportunities.
i Time
The teacher has problem in getting the students attention and takes time to get the
class under control. When the teacher takes time to get the students attention to the lesson,
this will disturb the time that the teacher already allocates for the lesson. The failure to
manage time might be occur because of the improper lesson planning by the teacher where
he/she might not plan properly the time for each stage in the lesson planning and also
engaged time by the students or time on task. If the teacher waste to much time on the
lesson (teaching), the teacher will have just a little time to get the students engage with the
lesson (practice).

ii Learning Opportunities
When the teachers are not able to manage learning opportunities, this will
make the classroom become less productive. Learning opportunities is to give the
opportunities to the students to learn and engage with the lesson. If the teacher didnt use
the learning opportunities well, the students might not be able to engage actively. This will
eventually make the students cannot focus or didnt feel interest with the lesson. If the
teacher gives some learning opportunities to the students, to explore and learn things by
themselves, this will help them to understand the lesson better. If teachers are not able to do
so, the lesson for the day might be less productive and the students might not be able to
learn and engage.

(b) Explain two ways that a teacher can manage time better in the classroom.
The teacher must be able to grab the students attention before the lesson begins.
The teacher also must be able to control the classroom well before starts the lesson and the
teacher should not take too much time in order to get the students attention. This is where
the rules that have been set up and agreed by the teacher and the students take place and
play role. The teacher also must be able to manipulate time if any problems occur. This will
help the teacher to have backup plans and manage time well so that the time will not be
wasted on unnecessary things. The teacher must plan the lesson planning well with back up
plans so that if any problems occur the teacher will be able to tackle the problems. The
teacher also must allocate time to each stage in the lesson planning well, so that the time for
the students to engage with the lesson and also time for them to do the task will be enough
and not wasted. The teacher must avoid taking so much time on the academic learning time
because this will make the students have less time for their own learning.