Riley Grace Poe

Participation Paper 9

A Disciplined Classroom

To my mind, a well-disciplined classroom looks like a learning environment where

students respect one another and their instructor and are putting forth their best effort to engage

in learning. In order to show their respect, students remain on-task and do not attempt to distract

their classmates; they are engaged with class content and with the teacher’s instruction.

Objectives are clearly and successfully transmitted from teacher to students, and everyone within

the classroom is aware of the expectations that they are all attempting to uphold (raising hands

before speaking, taking a hall pass when going to the restroom, staying on-task while doing

independent or group work, etc.). Within a well-disciplined classroom, students may still

struggle with content or language objectives; however, instead of giving up in their frustration

and choosing to distract their classmates or give up, students make every effort to persist with the

help of the teacher’s support.

Difficulties in Classroom Management

As someone who enjoys improvisation and student involvement, I can see how I might

struggle with having a clear lesson plan that runs an appropriate amount of time. However, as Ur

notes, “When a lesson is clearly planned and organized, there is likely to be constant momentum

and a feeling of purpose, which keeps students focused on the current task” (249). I have

sometimes had trouble maintaining that sense of classroom momentum in our literacy class in the

CELL on Tuesday nights, so it is helpful to know that that might be why. Student involvement is

important, and I believe incorporating it into lesson plans and providing students with choices

helps them to become more independent and engaged learners. However, I appreciate Ur’s
comments about the importance of structure and momentum within the lesson plan, and I will

bear them in mind the next time I am preparing to teach.

Helpful Strategies from Our Reading

From Penny Ur’s A Course in English Language Teaching, I really appreciated her

suggestion of creating a learning contract with students at the beginning of the year in order to

set classroom expectations together and encourage student involvement (249). As I hope to teach

in an international school setting, with students of a variety of nationalities and cultural

experiences, I believe that this tool will be especially helpful in allowing students to share their

own expectations for our learning environment and shaping my classroom into a place where all

may feel heard. From Jeff Martin’s “Working the Crowd: Behavior Management through

Strategic Classroom Arrangement,” I really appreciated his suggestion of creating an interior

loop within the classroom set-up (54). An interior loop arranges the desks (in either rows or in

teams of four students together) such that the teacher may walk around the innermost desks and

keep every student (or nearly every student) within the red or yellow zones (i.e. within 8-15 feet

of the teacher). I really like this strategy because it encourages students to stay on their guard at

all times, and also encourages teachers to be up on their feet, engaged in student participation

and encouraging diligence. Likewise, it does not require any harsh corrections on the part of the

teacher. Rather, interior loops help to combat disruptions in the classroom before they can even

start.