The elephant in the middle of the room - Classroom Management!



Discussions of classroom management can be intense!  My professional development session on this topic with the Meynaa School English teachers was no exception.



It is amazing how quickly students learn what a teacher's hot buttons are! Students are experts at identifying hot buttons and pushing them! The trick for the teacher is to understand this principal, keep their cool, and never allow the students to get under their skin! 





Classroom rules and procedures were a big topic of conversation. 

I asked the teachers to think about what their expectations of their students were?  These expectatons were stated to me in general terms.  So I then asked the teachers if the students knew what their expectations of them were?  None of the teachers shook their head yes.... their expecations had not been verbalized to their students.



To ground my question about teacher expectations I used the example of bellwork. Bellwork or a spong activity at the beginning of class, was a new concept to these teachers.  So I explained to the teachers that my expectations of the students related to bellwork was very specific.

For example, my expectation of my students was that when they came into the classroom, they would sit down at their desk, get out their notebook and immediately begin working on the bellwork.



The key to good classroom management (for me) is a fast paced, student focused, and engaging lesson plan.  Students know what is expected of them, the teacher gives explicit instruction, questions are asked with "think" time given before the teacher randomly calls on a student to respond, the teachers allows for ample student processing time for new information with a partner, multiple learning stules are used, and the lesson ends with a quick assessment of the learning objective.



I was on a roll this whole sesson as we discussed classroom management with tips, stories and practical solutions.  The workshop became a blurrrrrrrrr of activities and action.... none of which I got on film..... because.... we were all so engaged.... just did not think about taking pictures!














    




 







Simple tools can make a big difference in the classroom!





A timer and a method for randomly calling on students by giving each student a number and then drawing a boat (with numbers on the bottom) after having asked a question.

I gave the teachers an assignment today to identify three main summary points in a text they'd read yesterday in the Reading Comprehension workshop.  They were given 30 seconds to indentify the points.  I then used my random method to call on teachers to give me the answer. 

Within a very short time, the pace of the workshop increased substancially and the anxiety level of the teachers also increased substancially!  They knew they had limited time to search for the answers and that at any point in time, any one of them could be called on for the answer!

Good pacing and keeping a certain level of student anxiety during the lesson can be a good thing ..... it keeps the lesson interesting, keeps the students on task, and it reduces classroom behavior problems.

A couple of keys to the successful use of calling on students randomly.

First.... always ask the question first, allow some "thinking" time,  and then randomly choose a student to answer.  If the student is chosen before the question is asked, all the other students will check out and not listen.  By asking the question first.... everyone knows they could be called on!

Second ..... if the teacher calls on a student and they say "I don't know" the teacher can not let that student off the hook.... or every subsequent student when asked the question will say... "I don't know!"  Instead, tell the student that you'll be coming back.... even if that means having that student repeat the correct answer given by the next student.