Unit 3: Classroom Management

This is often the undoing of novice and experienced teachers. They have their lesson plans well planned and have been told that as long as the lesson is planned the management will be easy. There is some truth to that statement but I think in addition you have to follow the general and specific guidelines that Brown and Lee(2015) refer to in their chapter on classroom management. Some of those are connected to well thought out lesson plans such as ensuring that equipment is working, adjusting teaching style to the size of the class, monitoring L1 use and attending to the physical environment. The general guidelines refer more to the 'climate' of a classroom. Establishing clear roles, articulating unambiguous objectives and goals, being flexible, providing choice and challenges, taking a personal interest in the students and being fair, enthusiastic and positive (p. 290). By looking at the global picture and always keeping the needs of the students in mind classroom management shouldn't be an issue.

 

Brown, H. D., Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language

       pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson.

Unit 7 Teach to your audience

I remember as a beginning teacher taking a course on classroom management. The professor referred to the work of Jacob Kounin. Kounin claimed that the difference between teachers who have strong behaviour management and those who don't, begins with how they prevent misbehaviour in the first place.
A term that stuck with me for all this time is one he refers to as 'with-it-ness'. A description of that teacher who intuitively knows what to put in place before the class starts and how to adjust her style throughout a lesson. I tell new teachers to 'know their audience and to teach to their audience'. What do I mean by that? Learn to read your class and analyze why the behaviour is occurring. Is the lesson too long, too easy, too difficult...do I have students sitting beside each other who don't make the best choices together, is the configuration of my room adding to a problematic situation?
In my observations there are teachers who have this intuitive gift, they can scan a room and determine what needs to be done to fix a situation. Then there are those who it doesn't come naturally to but who can learn it. They listen to their colleagues who offer suggestions about what works best with a group and start planning from that point. There are others who don't get it, they blame the students or parents, worse yet they choose to ignore the situation, chaos ensues and everyone just has a bad year. Despite what might be out there, those scenarios are few and far between and hopefully there is a mentor or coach who can counsel that person to a new profession!
The key is not relying on one method for every class, I reiterate, you need to read your audience and adjust your teaching to the needs of the class.


Here is a link to an article on the Kounin Model.

Jacob Kounin