Teach English in Shilipu XiAng - Anqing Shi

Classroom ManagementThe ability of an educator to calmly control student behavior so that students can effectively learn can determine whether or not a teacher will be successful. Randi Weingarten said that classroom management ?is probably one of the things that?s least understandable and most complex about teaching. This is the hardest skill to master.? (Mehta, 2009) One of the main reasons why teachers are unsuccessful or quit teaching is their inability to effectively manage a classroom (Mehta, 2009). It is easy to find a best strategy for teaching most subjects in a classroom, such as algebra or chemistry, but there is no single best method for managing a classroom. If you are looking for the best strategy to manage a classroom, be prepared to find several different methods which view the other strategies as insufficient. Although there are multiple approaches, there are a few guidelines that the experts can agree on: Teachers must be consistent with whatever method they adopt for classroom management, make the expectations for the class very clear in the beginning of the school year, follow through with whatever method of punishment you have decided on and make it clear to the students that you are unflinching in your position (Mehta, 2009). There are some teachers that will have a more natural ability to manage the classroom and others will struggle and have to learn over time. Beverly Young, who trains 55% to 60% of california?s teachers, says, ?No matter how much you do in teacher preparation, brand-new teachers wish you had more of it because when you?re out there on your own, it?s always different with your own students? (Mehta, 2009). No one can predict how a teacher will do when they are first given their own class. There is no preparation that can completely make a teacher ready to effectively manage a class upon arrival. One of the major ways that effective classroom management is achieved is through the development between the teacher and the student in the classroom (Beaty-O?Ferrall, 2010). Knowing and understanding the learner is an essential component to developing relationships with students. A teacher needs to understand where a student is in their development so that they can interact with them appropriately. Different age groups of students need to be responded to in different ways in order to get the most desirable response from the student. An effective student-teacher relationship is not determined by how well-liked a teacher is by the students, but rather by the teachers specific behaviors, strategies, and attitudes that the teachers demonstrates (Bender, 2003). This means that the teacher needs to take a personal interest in the students, give clear learning goals, and by being positive and fair in their behavior. The teachers who are the most effective at classroom management do not treat every student the same. These teachers use different strategies with different students. This shows that there is not one specific strategy that needs to be used, but multiple strategies being used in the appropriate context. It is helpful for a teacher to know how to use a classroom management strategy for each student, but this does not guarantee that the correct strategy is going to absolutely work every time. There may be difficult students and the teacher must be able to know how that individual student needs to be treated without trying to categorize them into a specific classroom management strategy. Teachers must be prepared to face the challenges of working with a variety of students, especially if it is an english as a Second Language class that has students represented from different countries and with different ages. It is important for teachers to obtain the knowledge and skills from education and other fields that will allow them to develop effective and unconventional management systems in their classroom. Teachers must view classroom management as a continued development in building relationships. Works Cited Bender, W. L. (2003). Relational discipline: Strategies for in-your-face students. Boston: Pearson. Mehta, Seema. ?Controlling a classroom isn?t as easy as ABC.? LA Times. 14 Dec. 2009. www.articles.latimes.com/2009/dec/14/local/la-me-classroom-control14-2009dec14. Beaty-O?Ferrall, Mary Ellen, Alan Green, and Fred Hanna. ?Classroom Management Strategies for Difficult Students: Promoting Change through Relationships.? March 2010. http://www.amle.org/Publications/MiddleSchoolJournal/Articles/March2010/Article4/tabid/2149/Default.aspx