Teach English in Xiangyanglou Jiedao - Tianjin

Classroom ManagementStudents are unable to learn when they don't feel safe and comfortable in the classroom. This concept is fundamental to the idea of classroom management. A teacher manages a classroom through: altering her role in the classroom to fit its needs; gesture, eye contact, and tone of voice; rewarding good behavior; remaining flexible; teaching to the students' skill level; communicating rules and consequences from the start; and implementing the rules fairly and consistently. When a teacher manages a classroom effectively, the students feel safe and able to learn. A teacher must ?know when to be firm, and when to leave the students alone.? (TESOL) The teacher's role changes based on the activity that is being completed at the time. A teacher needs to allow the students to manage themselves as much as possible to avoid becoming over dominant in the classroom. However, a teacher must never be seen as wavering or unable to control the class. In large classes especially this is a recipe for disaster. (McDonald, ?Setting the Tone?) Eye contact, gestures, and tone of voice go a long way in the management of a classroom. Sometimes all that it takes to pull a student in line is a stern look. Students who are misbehaving often squirm under a hard stare, knowing that their behavior has been noticed and will be watched extra closely from now on. Similarly, a nod and a smile go a long way toward showing a student that their contribution is valued. Students love a high five or a pat on the shoulder as a reward for an especially good answer or a determined attempt at hard material. A teacher's tone of voice can show approval or disapproval. Students don't need to understand every word of what is being said when issuing praise or a reprimand; tone is often enough. Coupled with a hard stare or approving nod, the message is clear. A teacher should always reward good behavior as much as possible, especially when working with young students. Young students are naturally full of energy, and often struggle to engage in appropriate behavior. Rewarding their efforts (through high fives, stickers, or minutes of english game time at the end of class) encourages them to keep trying. A teacher should always remain flexible. When her students are beginning to get squirmy or disruptive, she may adjust her lesson plan to incorporate five minutes of Simon Says. Students could be asked to march, touch their toes, turn around, and jump. Five minutes of physical activity can focus a class far better than a lecture on proper behavior. Students are often disruptive when the lesson is too hard or too easy for them. A teacher can remedy this by having worksheets available that suit the students' differing skill levels. These can be used when the teacher has to focus on the grammatical or pronunciation problems of one set of students, to avoid boredom and disruptive behavior from the rest of the class. A teacher should clearly communicate the rules and consequences in the very first class, and then implement them fairly and consistently. Students are less likely to argue about rules when they have been told about them in advance, and know that they are implemented fairly. As Emma McDonald writes in her article, ?Consistency and Flexibility,? implementing rules fairly doesn't mean ?always doing exactly what [your] consequences require, no matter what the circumstances might be.? (McDonald, ?Consistency?) If a child didn't bring his homework to class because his family got evicted the night before, clearly he should be treated differently than if he hadn't done his homework so that he could play five hours of videogames. When a child cries ?But that's not fair!? as they inevitably do, point out that ?fair doesn't mean the same.? (McDonald, ?Consistency?) A teacher is fair when she takes extenuating circumstances into account in each situation, and judges from there. Consistent yet flexible classroom management can make the difference between a classroom in chaos and a successful classroom learning environment. Students are unable to learn when there is constant chaos in the classroom; they don't feel safe or comfortable. A teacher manages the classroom through altering her role to fit the class' needs at the moment; gesture, eye contact, and tone of voice; positive reinforcement of good behavior; remaining flexible; providing level-appropriate teaching; communicating rules and consequences from the very beginning; and implementing the rules fairly and consistently (while taking into account extenuating circumstances). When a teacher effectively manages her classroom, students are able to learn successfully. Works Cited McDonald, Emma. "Consistency and Flexibility." Education World: The Educator's Best Friend. Education World, 2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. . McDonald, Emma. "Setting the Tone." Education World: The Educator's Best Friend. Education World, 2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. . "TESOL Classroom Activities." TESOL Trainers' Manual: Teaching english to Speakers of Other Languages. [Brisbane, Qld.]: Australasian Training Academy, 2007. 90. Print.