Exploring Exciting Teaching: Class room Management-II

Exploring Exciting Teaching: Class room Management-II: As my earlier blog on the same topic became more popular, I thought of penning down some more ideas related to Classroom Management. The...

Class room Management-II

As my earlier blog on the same topic became more popular, I thought of penning down some more ideas related to Classroom Management. There are many tips and ideas for the given topic but still there are a few which are very close to my heart.

I feel managing a classroom is an ever evolving concept. The students change, time change and so the tricks and twists also need to change to gain optimum results. Classroom is a sanctity sanctorum for the students and the teacher. It is a place to learn, to be active, to be observant, to be enthusiastic, to be lively and to be charged.  Hence this area should be carefully managed to provide better development for the children.

Some rules for managing a class:

1.      Follow the Japanese rule of Seiri, Seiton, Sieso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke-Make a place for everything and keep everything in its place. Designate a place for everything in the classroom and then make rules where children are firmly told to keep everything in its place. This ensures clutter free classroom. It also clears confusion. Each child has a well defined space and has an idea of where other things of the classroom are.

2.      Observation: Observe each child closely and raise a question if anything is amiss. Don’t take things for granted. Ask or enquire about everything related to a child. You will be able to solve every problem as soon as it arises.

3.      Provide a solution: Remember the teacher is a solution provided for the children in the classroom. Do not ignore their problems. When they ask you something, stop your humdrum activity and answer their question. If there is a problem think and arrive at a conclusion. Mostly everything can be solved. Their problems are not a herculean task they are just small issues which get resolved at the slightest intervention by the teacher.

4.      Make rules: Make classroom rules and stick to those rules. Do not let children break the rule. This leads to chaos at times and they start taking liberty where they should not.

5.      Books: A major cause of concern develops when the books go missing. Hence devise a method where the books don’t go missing. Also warn the children of misplacing or taking someone else’s books or notebooks when they have not done the homework.

Classroom Management is very important in the life a teacher. The first step of the career starts in the classroom. Each educator has their own way. You are free to choose whatever you want but these are some time tested rules which each teacher adopts and follows to run a good classroom.

Let your class be a stimulating one.

Many first time teachers face a dilemma in choosing the best strategies for their class. Just remember anything that you do with passion will provide you the best of results. When someone tells you it can’t be done it is more a reflection of their limitations not yours.

So let nothing stop you from developing your own class.

4 Ways to arouse curiosity among learners.

4 Ways to arouse curiosity among learners.

Learning and curiosity are interconnected. Curiosity determines the self interest of the learner. Once the self interest is aroused, a student bends towards learning. He listens and understands to satisfy his own needs. Active learners always show great interest in their surroundings. They want to know more and this quest of theirs is enough to take them to great heights.

A teacher must take care to arous

e the interest level of the students. This helps them to focus on the talk being delivered by the teacher.

There are different ways to make a learner curious.

a.       Teaching Aid: Carry a teaching aid to the class. The students are really curious to know how the teaching aid is going to be connected to the story that is meant for them. They ask questions and try to find answers on their own.  A teacher can take up many discussions with a single teaching aid. It is not necessary that huge and complicated teaching aids should be made for the children. But even something as simple as a paper boat can provide many solutions and narrate many stories for the children.

b.      Throwing questions: As soon as you enter ask certain questions to the students. Ex: Why is there a lot of ice on the poles? They start wondering and get connected to you.

c.       Position in the classroom: Most teachers have a habit of entering the class and standing in one particular place. At times one must enter and go and stand at the back of the class.

d.      Closed fists: Enter with closed fists in the class and ask the children to guess what will come out of the fists. Or ask them to guess in which fist will they find a paper or a coin.

These strategies are just clues. There are many things which help you to make your students curious. Try these out.

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You can reach the author at kesarpatel1234@gmail.com

5 Strategies to Teach Comprehension

Comprehension is the crux of reading. Unless a reader understands the text given in the book, reading does not make sense. Hence teaching comprehension is very important to the students at the same time it is not a very easy task.

The child who has well developed comprehension skills will be much ahead in academics. The reason is that he will be abl

e to apply knowledge to get the desired result.

Below mentioned are some of the comprehension strategies which can be useful to develop good readers who can understand well.

a.     Reading Fluency: Develop reading fluency among the children first. When they are able to read age appropriate material fluently, only then can they concentrate on understanding the meaning of the text. But educators and parents need to understand that reading fluency is not the same as reading comprehension. Comprehension focuses on understanding the text, inferring meaning and retaining the gained knowledge.

b.     Imagination: Ask the students to close the books. The teacher reads the text and asks the students to draw pictures of what they just heard. This helps them to expand their imagination and most importantly they think.

c.      Main idea or central theme: Ask the children to point out the central theme of the paragraphs or the text.

d.     Make maps or diagrams: The students can be asked to make maps or flow charts of the movement of the characters of the story.

e.      Difficult words: Teach the students to underline the difficult words if they do not understand their meaning. After completing the text and understanding the passage ask them to relate the meaning of the word by reading the text. Then ask them to cross check their meanings with the dictionary. With this exercise they get into the habit of finding the meaning by inferring an idea by relating words. 

10 Things to do at the beginning of every school year.

Come along a new session and each teacher and child is brimming with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Each year brings new challenges and it is nice to see everyone embracing them with open arms and a smile with a quote ‘We have a solution for every problem.’ It si the best time of the year as everyone is optimistic and so a lot of progress is harnessed.

Below mentioned are a list of things a teacher must do to begin a year.

a.      Read, Read and Read: Every teacher must read a lot of books or binge into blog reading about books, how to improve reading habits of children, or classroom management, or bulletin boards, etc. Reading helps you to gather a lot of information. It may not come in handy all at once, but your mind has a trait of giving the dose to you at the right time i.e. when you require it the most. Reading also comes in planning to a great extent. (Picture of reading material)

A good link which shows you how to work on Phonics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzHVmX1pnc8

Below given is a very good link of website which has material to read

http://www.readingrockets.org/audience/teachers

b.      Maintain a journal: Maintaining a journal helps you to note down your teaching aims for the year. It gives you a good start. Your daily to do list can also go in the journal and hence you can keep track of your goals for the coming session.

c.       Day one activities: Plan out good Day-One activities for the students. If it’s a new session, then you need to gear up for the budding enthusiasts who are going to come to your class. Make your activities colorful, and filled with fun. Even if it is a session break, day one activities set the ball rolling for the coming session.

d.      Bulletin Boards:  Unique and creative ideas are available on the internet for bulletin boards. Make your class attractive by decorating bulletin boards in your classroom to remove the slumber from the children if there is any.

e.       High Energy Level:  First day of the school is tiring after vacations but keep the energy level very high to ensure that your children also receive the message of ‘Back to work.’

f.       Classroom Rules: Classroom rules set the tone of the teaching and behavior of the children. Hence make rules which the children must remember to follow. It is good to discuss the rules with the children. It gives them a taste of how important decision making is.

g.      Classroom Helpers: Make children responsible for certain tasks in the classroom. Make classroom helpers for proper delegation and implementation of work.

h.      Good Lesson Planning: Everything said and done nothing can replace good teaching. Browse, discuss, create, innovate and come up with good teaching ideas which would suffice for sometime to come or else until too much work grapples you. Making a note of teaching ideas in the journal will also help you to recapitulate whenever you are running short of time to research and come up with something new.

i.        Personal Time and feedback: Remember the children need your personal attention during school hours. All the more so when the school starts as there are many new things which they need to understand to start their learning process. Understanding instructions given by a new person is also difficult sometimes. Hence it is said that patience is the key at this time with the students. Take a feedback from the children before they go home on day one about the classroom, or classroom rules of bulletin boards or the lesson taught by you. Feedback is a great way of building appositive relationship with the children.

j.        Speak out Loud: You can also have a Speak out Loud activity wherein the child is encouraged to speak about How he spent the day in school. This also gives you an insight on how to deal with the children of your class.

OH! This is too much work for day One! But it pays to do all of this. You can add or reduce the task and adjust it according to your classroom needs.

I can already feel the excitement in the air to start the new session.

Best Of Luck!

Next: 5 Ways to give Instructions to the Students.

8 Mistakes a teacher should avoid!

Teaching can be a smooth sailing job if certain rules are followed and certain mistakes avoided. Remember it is the students or the future of any nation that we are talking about. As often quoted, I would also quote again that teaching is a noble profession and requires a lot of determination, integrity and skill.

Teaching or rather any profession can roll in success or accomplishment for a person if he or she has self discipline. The same mantra of self discipline is applicable in this profession also. One wonders how a few teachers are able to take the burden and out shine others? You may also think how come a teacher who slogs and works so hard looks refreshing and is enthusiastic at all times?

The secret behind their gleaming personalities and humble demeanors lies below in avoiding the below mentioned habits or traits-

a.       Choosing a dress-Remember you have students, children who are gleaming and bubbling with joy and energy at all times. Hence you should never choose a dress in which you are uncomfortable because a lot of tasks have to be performed at the same time. Also do not overdress yourself and neither be shabby in appearance. Always be decently dressed which gives out positive teaching vibes to the children.

b.      Don’t ever wear a frown: A smile easily wins hearts and a frown just increases the distance between the students and the teacher. Whatever your frustrations or worries, never wear them on your face as a frown. Students get taken aback and do not respond positively to the teacher. Hence your classroom management can go out of control. Enter the class with a smile and greet the students before you begin the class.

c.       Never Stick to a corner-Most often teachers are seen standing in one corner or they have a favourite place in the classroom. Once they enter the classroom, they take their place and remain there until the period gets over. Avoid this. Never develop any predictable pattern for the students. Always be unpredictable. They must be curious at all times as to what she is up to today. Move all over the classroom. Infact try teaching from the back of the classrooms so that the children have to turn back and look at you. It keeps their attention for long.

d.      Never go late to a class-As a teacher you have to set rules. And it is better to follow before you lead. So reach the class on time and leave when the period is over. The students also understand the importance of punctuality.

e.       Never humiliate- The ground rule says that children get motivated to learn only in a positive environment. If they fail to perform one must only give them positive motivation to try again but never abuse them verbally to drive home the point. Any misbehavior on their part should be firmly dealt with but don’t harm the child’s perception about his ability to perform.

f.       Never go unplanned to the class-Planning is a prerequisite for teaching. All your lessons must be well planned. Take time out on a regular basis or weekly basis, whichever suits you to plan your lessons, the methodology and the ideas or activities to be done. Proper planning will save time and ensure proper implementation of the lesson.

g.      Avoid leaving the class during period- Many educators do not realize that leaving the class to go to the staffroom for some work is a sign of faulty planning on the part of the teacher. It shows that you were not prepared for the class. Remember to carry the material or stationery of printed worksheets to the class with you. Or place it in the class rack one day prior so that you do not have to hunt for it at the last minute.

h.      Don’t follow the rules of the students, make your own rules-At times the students get into the habit of making their own rules like-asking a question again and again, speaking when not asked to, replying for an answer in chorus, etc. As a teacher one must frame these rules at the starting of the year. Rules once framed must be followed until they realize that those rules are going to stay and it would be an offence if they tried to cross their lines. Gently make the students understand that they have to wait for their turn to answer, they cannot speak if a teacher is teaching and many more. These rules can be framed according to the needs of the class and they can be changed when required.

If the above mentioned points are avoided one is in for a successful and enjoyable roller coaster ride.

Next Article: 10 Things to do at the beginning of every school year.

5 Important Rules of Classroom Management

“The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake.”

This truly defines the inner atmosphere of a classroom when we speak of classroom management. The basic principle of classroom management indicates that there should be continuous action on the part of the teacher to have a better classroom atmosphere.

Classroom management can be divided into two strong areas. The first one being the physical arrangement of furniture, the teacher’s desk, bulletin boards, book racks, etc. A teacher should use her aesthetic sense to arrange furniture and take care of the physical demographics of the classroom. This has a great impact on the students. A classroom which is well lit, airy and has ample room for movement will leave a better impact on the students mind and they will be more bent towards learning.

Though there are wonderful pictures and visions of vibrant and vivacious classrooms available on the internet, a teacher has her limitations when it comes to the classrooms. This is so because every school building is unique in its features and each building is constructed in a different manner according to the availability of the space.

The second important aspect of classroom management is the behavior management of the students and keeping the action going on in the classroom.

Below mentioned are the five important principles of good classroom management.

1.      An innovative idea in the classroom: A good teacher understands the importance of coming up with unique ideas to teach the students. She always aims to bring in an area of interest in her classroom every day. The more innovative a teacher is the more attentive her class would be. If a teacher is monotonous in her approach, the students lose their interest and do not follow her. This ultimately leads to no teaching learning taking place in the classroom. The more a child takes interest in the class the better he will learn.

2.      Going over prepared to the class: It is always better to be over prepared for the class. If you feel that your ideas will not be sufficient to last a period of 30 or 40 min then immediately plan some more activities to suffice. If the students are without work or they are idle, they will start creating noise and the situation will go out of hand.

3.      Time Management: Time management is very important in the classroom. A teacher has to perform many roles in the class and a lot of work has to be done. This requires time management. The educator must allocate time for each task that she has decided upon. Ex: taking attendance, collecting writing material, motivating students to read and submit their reading logs, deliver the lesson, allot home assignment, recapitulate, etc. All this again takes time to master.  So the teacher has to be at it very persuasively.

4.      Being mentally and physically present in the class:  This is the biggest challenge for a teacher. Once mastered it delivers very good result. A teacher has to be mentally and physically present in the classroom. Administrators often thrust many tasks upon a teacher which are to be done maintaining the deadlines. This is also important on the part of the school but it is the teacher who has to keep a rightful attitude to check her mental presence in the class. Often the teachers get blown away due to these inundating tasks which they are required to perform. If one gets carried away by these tasks and attaches more importance to them, teaching will take a back seat and the learners will suffer.

5.      Reaching class on time and leaving on time:  This is a prerequisite for every teacher and one of the important rules of classroom management. If the class is left empty for a long period of time, students make a mental rule that they are at liberty to do whatever they want. They will take the teacher for granted. It is simple, ‘If our teacher can come late so can we.’ You will find students out in the corridors once the class is empty. Trust me most incidents or mishaps take place in the transition time between the two periods. Leaving the class when the period is over is also very important. Don’t eat away into the time of the next educator.

The above mentioned are the time tested rules for classroom management. Follow these for effective result and proper attention of your students. It is important to remember that good classroom management will result in effective teaching and even in your growth as a teacher.

Ms.  Kesar Patel

Educator, Writer, Blogger and a Teaching Enthusiast.

Next article: 8 Mistakes A Teacher Should Never Make.

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