Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Classroom Management

    Uploaded by

    B.Y
    31 views9 pages
    Copyright:© All Rights Reserved Available FormatsDownload as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    Copyright:© All Rights Reserved Available FormatsDownload as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    31 views9 pages

    Classroom Management

    Uploaded by

    B.Y
    Copyright:© All Rights Reserved Available FormatsDownload as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 9
    ‘Teaching Language Components CLASS. MANAGEMENT Class management - the ability to control and inspire a class - is one of the fundamental skills of teaching. Teachers find it much easie if their students believe that they are genuinely interested in them and available for them. HOW SHOULD TEACHERS TALK T0 STUDENTS? ‘The way that teachers talk to students - the manner in which they interact With them - is one of the crucial teacher skills, but it does not demand technical expertise. It does, however, require teachers to empathise with the people they are talking to. 0 adapt their language to One group of people who seem to find it fairly natural t it they their audience are parents when they talk to their young children. Studies show the use more exaggerated tones of voice, and speak with less complex grammatical structures than they would if they were talking to adults. Their vocabulary is generally more restricted too and the attempt to make eye contact (and other forms of physical contact) is greater. They generally do these things unconsciously. ‘Though teachers and students are not the same as parents subconscious ability to ‘rough-tune! the language is a skill they have in common. Rough- ‘onscious simplification which both parents and teachers make. Neither exactly correct for their audience. They rely, le listening to and children, this tuning is that unc group sets out to get the level of language instead, on a general perception of what is being understood by the peop them, Theit empathy allows them to almost feel whether the level of language they are using is appropriate for the audience they are addressing. rough-tune the way they speak to students as a matter of fo concentrate their focus on their students’ comprehension yeaking style inthe classroom. Experienced teachers course. Newer teachers need t as the yardstick by which to measure their own sp language, experienced teachers also use physical ime. It becomes almost second nature to show concepts (e.g. heavy" and ‘drunk’) especially with Apart from adapting their | movement: gestures, expressions, i happiness and sadness, movement and time sequences, using these techniques. They become part of the language teachers use, students at lower levels. HOW SHOULD TEACHERS GIVE INSTRUCTIONS? ‘This issue of how to ta to students becomes erucial when teachers are giving their students instructions. The best activity inthe world is a waste of time ifthe students don't understand what itis they are supposed to do. ‘There are two general niles for giving instructions: they must be kept as simple as possible, and they must be logical, Before givin instruction, therefore, teachers must eee thergselves the following questions: What isthe important information I am trying to convey? What must the students know if they ae to compete this activity successfully? Which information do they need first? Which should come next? 58 Scanned with CamScanner Teaching Language Components Tenching language Compone ee When teachers give instrictions. it vadersfood what they are bene To darn! for them to check thatthe students "10 explain the activity after the ten »ne to show the other people in the clase share the same mother tongue ¢ can be asked to translate th: There is a continuing de talking in class, Trainees' classe (Teacher Talking Time) and not bate about the amount of 's are sometimes criticised enough STT (Student Tall Getting students to speak a teacher's job. Students are the teacher. In general terms, Good TIT may f time teachers should spend because there is too much TIT king Time). ~10 use the language the People who need the pi therefore, a good teacher maxin have beneficial qualities, to students - if they know how to rough-tune thei have discussed above - then the students get a ch: above their own productive level, but which ‘comprehensible input’ (a term coined by the American methadologist Stephen Krashen) — where students receive rough-tuned input in a relaxed and ‘unthreatening way - is an important feature in language acquisition. TTT works! arc learning - is a vital part of ractice, in other words, not the nises STT and minimises TTT. however, If teachers know how to talk i language to the students' level, as we vance to hear language which is certainly they can more or less understand, Such A classroom where the teacher's voice drones on and on day after day and where you hardly ever hear the students say anything is not one that most teachers and students would approve of, however. TTT can be terribly over-used. Conversely, a class where the teacher scems reluctant to speak is not very attractive cither, The best lessons are ones where STT is maximised, but where at appropriate moments during the lesson the teacher is not afraid to summarise what is happening, tell a story, enter into discussion etc, Good teachers use their common sense and experience to get the balance right. WHAT ARE THE BEST KINDS OF LESSON? i ing is student boredom, This is One of the greatest enemies of successful teaching is st r ofien caused by the deadening predictabiFity of much classroom time. Stofets frequently know what is going to happen in class and they know this bocmwe it Ne the same as what happened in the last class — and a whole string of classes : Something has to be done to break the chain, In his monumental book, Breaking Rules, John Fanselow suggests tat, both for the teachers sanity and the students’ Sohne eee ee eee i i tems, If a teacher normal a imu upane ay near a suit, Ifa teacher normally sits i Eo or i isy and encrgetic as a teacher, he or she s rat sis Behaving cola Cad ley, Each time teachers bret one of thr ov rls, in 39 ietar tre aeSCeTraS Terr €artion Scanned with CamScanner ‘Teaching Language Components words, they send a ripple through the class. ‘That ripple is a mixture of surprise and Curiosity and itis a perfect starting point for student involvement lesson is also The need for surprise and variety within a fifty-minuts s overwhelming, If, for example, students spend all ofthat time writing sentences, they will probably get bored, But if, in that fifty minutes, there are a number of different tasks with vivelection of different topics, the students are much more likely 10 reat, interested. .d secondary levels, but even This can be seen most clearly with children at primary an¢ adults need a varied dict to keep them stimulated. we have said, students However, variety is not the same as anarchy. Despite what si fe structure which they tend to like a certain amount of predictability: they appreciate a sal if can rely on. And too much chopping and changing - too much variety in a fifty-minute lesson — can be destabilising. Good teachers find a balance between predictable safety and unexpected variety. HOW SHOULD TEACHERS USE THEIR PHYSICAL PRESENCE IN CLASS? ‘The teacher's physical presence plays a large part in his or her management of her. ‘The way the teacher the classroom environment. And it's not just appearance eill moves, how he or she stands, how physically demonstrative he or she is - all these play their part in the effective management of a class. ‘All teachers, like all people, have their own physical characteristics and habits, and they will take these into the classroom with them. But there are a number of issues to consider which ate not just idiosyncratic and which have a direct bearing on the students' perception of us. Proximity: teachers should consider how close they want to be to the students they are working with, Some students resent it if the distance between them and the teacher is too small. For others, on the other hand, distance is a sign of coldness. Teachers should be conscious of their proximity and, in assessing their students’ reactions to what is happening in the classroom, they should take this into account. Appropriacy: deciding how closely you should work with students is a matter of appropriacy. So is the general way in which teachers sit or stand in classrooms. Many teachers create an extremely friendly atmosphere by crouching down when they work with students in pairs, In this way, they are at the same level as their seated students. However, some students find this informality worrying. Some teachers are even happy fo sit on the floor, and in certain situations this may be appropriate. But in others it may well lead to a situation where students are put oft from concentrating. All the positions teachers take - sitting on the edge of tables, standing behind a lectem, standing on a raised dais etc. — make strong statements about the kind of person the teacher is. It is important, therefore, fo consider what kind of effect such physical behaviour has so that we can behave in a way which is appropriate to the students we have and the relationship we wish to create with them. If we want t range a class effectively, such a zelationship is crucial. 3 ad Movement: some teachers tend to spend most of their class time i ss time ae at the front of the class, for example, or 10 the side, or in the middle, preaa a . n Scanned with CamScanner Teaching Lantvsee Components great deal of time eas neat SP eer the chairs. A Side to Side, or stridi 4 0 som M8 UP and down the ee taco cn br sr Sl cee ; tudents, whilst 1 . moving from s co ito tennis-match Telarc nae exhausted, a Most suc 5 0 ay cin voit ae around the classroom to some extent. That way ane hey ped ate Heading an activity) wore we © {0 help a pair or gy ian group). $e personal le whee ns nthe classroom, then, wil 1 feels h not e or she +21 10 work with smaller greape a8S20™ effectively, and whether or groups, Contact: much of what we have teachers make costal with shade i i about the sue of canal How can low close should that contact be? In order to manage a class successfull r ass ly the teacher has to be aware of what students are doing and, where possible, how they are feeling. This means watching and listening just as carefully as teaching. It means being able to more sewed the class, getting the level of proximity right. It means making eye contact with students (provided {hat this isnot culturally inappropriate), listening to what they have sad and responding appropriately, Jt is almost impossible to help students to Jearn a language in a classroom setting without making contact with them, The exact nature of this contact will vary from teacher to teacher and from class to class. ‘The teacher's physical approach and personality in the class is one aspect of class management to consider, Another is one of the teacher's chief tools: the voice. HOW SHOULD TEACHERS USE THEIR VOICES IN CLASS? Perhaps the teacher's most important instrument is the Toes How ae peak = what our voice counds like have a crucial impact on classes. Wen considering of the voice in the management of teaching there are three issues (0 ¥ i Audibiity: clearly, teachers need to be audible. They wast be ue tha ite students at the back of the class can hear a jus ot eto isaleye pleat Jivorced from voice quality: 6 5 Fie a ea tee ¢ audible, In fact, in most classrooms, her i 8 too loud, Good teachers try to get this bal ‘Teachers do not have to shout {0 i danger of the teacher's voice pene si between audibility and volume just 1p) v ity of their voices - and the 0 rary the quality of! 2 Tee og aD vo we eason and he typeof activity, So the C| ling on ivity will be different Volume they speak at = depending yr inioduce 8 net i of ir ice you use to give inst . no tl wou Views or information. sa ae for conversation Scanned with CamScanner Teaching Language Components Joud voices, and that is when ee the next section), But it is worth pointing out that sj fften just as effective a way of Beitne the Nadents’ attention since, when they realise that you af% talking, they wil want sop sruitfaten in case you are saying something important Of interesting, However, teachers who almost never raise their voices, the ‘occasional shouted interjection may teeter extremely dramatic effect, and this can sometimes be beneficial. Coriservation: just like opera singers, teachers have to take g7e#) care of their voices. It # important that they breathe correctly from the diaphragr that they don't ‘heir larynxes. It is important that they vary their voices throughout a day, their vocal energy. fing shouting wherever possible, so that they can consery® : Ciorcerving the voice is one thing teachers will want to take into account when planning a day's or a weeks work. teachers often use Very In one particular situation, : top doing something (6 they want students to be quiet or i speaking quietly is STAGES OF A LESSON? HOW SHOULD TEACHERS MARK THE then clearly he or she will have to include If the teacher needs to provide variety, different stages in his ot her lessons. ‘When he or she arrives in the classroom, the teacher needs to start the lessor off. Where possible and appropriate, he or she needs to tell the students what they will be doing of, in a different kind of lesson, needs to diseuss with them what they are hoping to achieve. Teachers do not always explain xa since they sometimes want to maintain an elem lear start to the Tesson is necessary just as a play often starts W or a visit to the doctor starts when. hhe or she asks you, 'Now then, problem?" or ‘How can Thelp you?" When an activity has finished and/or another one is about to start, it helps if teachers make this clear through the way they behave and the things they say. It helps students if they are made clearly aware of the end of something and the beginning of what is coming next. Frequently, teachers tieed to re-focus the students' attention, or point it in some new direction. In order for such changes of direction to be effective, the teacher first needs to set the students’ attention. This can sometimes be difficult, especially when teachers try fo draw a speaking activity to a conclusion, or when students arc working in groups. Some teachers clap their hands to get students! attention. Some speak loudly, saying things like, "Thank you .. now can T have your attention please?' or ‘OK ... thanks .. let s al face the font shall we! Another method is forthe teaches to raise his or her hand. ‘When individual students see this, they raise their hands briefly in reply to indicate that they are now going to be quiet and wait for the next stage. Finally, when an activity or a lesson has finished, it helps if the t provide some kind of closure — ‘ gael prediction of what will jake, ae ea ae oer bie ey bine Peale Flnes te ml of ecaching. wie the bell Es bat aris aor in g when the bell goes, but this is unfortunate, tly what they are going to do, however, ent of surprise. But even in such cases, a ith the rise of a curtain, what seems to be the Scanned with CamScanner Teaching Language Components Teaching “anemnes Cor because it leaves unfinished ty better to round the lesson of smtess behi ce the wortd their chairs have little woods, N palettes or none « Sometimes, the students wil] hi m ave desis | chairs bolted to the floor, At the frosts in front (so that all the students can soe thence SU clas: institutions where you can find studs StMd the te classroom. Or you may see small proc Sometimes, they are atranged PS Of them wo not immediately obvious who i — os = ¥ ce separate tables horseshoe orderly rows oard aches Different seating arrangments in class Clearly, we are seeing a number of different approaches in, ee ibireat arrangements of chairs and tables and this raises a number of questions. Are schools which use a variety of seating plans progressive or merely modish, for ce a here something intrinsically superior about rigid seating arrangements ~ cae es ans the product of traditional orthodoxy? Is one kind of seating ov angen nt beter tha. another? What are the advantages of cach? The following,

    You might also like