Classroom Management

Classroom Management Classroom Survival

Disclaimer • "In order to discover the rules of society best suited to nations, a superior intelligence beholding all the passions of men without experiencing any of them would be needed.” ~ Rousseau

A Nightmare

Language Teaching Classroom Management

Classroom Dynamic • Foreign Teachers managing in English. • Korean teachers using Korean to manage in the English classroom • Teachers working in strict English Only environments

Management • Must be comprehensible for students • Must be effective when delivered in English • Must be reasonable for the language classroom

Rules And consequences

Rules in the classroom • All classrooms have some rules. • Make sure rules are clear, appropriate and necessary for your classroom. • Creative positive rules.

Rules • Ms. Sara’s Rules • Respect yourself and others • Keep the school safe for all students • Listen when others are talking • Keep your area clean • Be prepared for class

Involve the students • Publishing rules is a first step • Create activities using the rules • Ask students to provide feedback on rules • Allow students to create and add rules to the classroom.

Sample Activity • Rules reviewed with students • Students play a board game • On the game students see positive and negative examples of the rules • Students state what the example represents

Positive and Negative Examples

Consequences • Consequences should be consistent with rules • Consequences should encourage better behavior next time. • Consequences do not have to be disciplinary measures.

Ms. Sara’s Consequences • Respect • Others will not respect you. • “You called your friend a name. Your friend called you a name. You need to have respect. • Safe • The classroom is dangerous • “You rolled on the wheels and fell out of the chair. That’s not safe. You need to be safe.”

Rules and Consequences • Encourage good behaviors • Help students understand the effects of negative behaviors • Teach students to care about their actions and the actions of others

Student Centered Classroom Management

Let the student manage • Identify the basic procedures of each classroom. • For each procedure determine possibilities for student managers or officers to mediate • Promotes student responsibility

Procedures and Officers • Attendance • Attendance keepers • Announcements • Hands Up • Behavior • Student Officers

When possible… • Public School Teachers • Many public schools promote some form of student responsibility • Try to find out what roles students are taking in your school • Use these roles in the classroom

Points and Rewards Additional Strategies

The problem with rewards • Students come to expect compensation for performance • Students only use positive behaviors when being observed • Students demand rewards for certain performances

Can you use rewards? • Yes, but consider • Don’t provide consistent rewards • Don’t reward performance • Be fair with rewards, reward all • Rewards should be earned by everyone together

Points systems • Students earn point in team • Establish clear guidelines for earning points • Guidelines are not behaviors students can “fake” to get points • Examples • Help others be successful • Explain difficult words to your friends • Show students how to do it

The “why” or “what” question with points • Teacher what are points for? • Teacher what do I get? • Students earn the points. • At the end of the year every team that earned points will receive recognition. • All teams have received some points.

Discipline And Punish?

Discipline • Many classrooms do use some kind of disciplinary measure. • First try to avoid moving towards discipline

“Withitness” • A teachers withitness can dramatically reduce problems in the classroom that might call for discipline • Withitness refers to how well a teacher knows what is happening in the classroom.

Using Withitness • When teachers notice things happening that could lead to discipline consider • Proximity (move towards students) • Removal (take away distracters) • Remind touch (place a hand on shoulder or elbow of student • Eye contact (let the student know you see them) • Non-verbal indication (a shake of the head, or a hand signal to stop behavior)

When it is necessary • There are times when it is necessary to use a disciplinary measure in the classroom. • As with rules, make sure your discipline policy is clear and appropriate for students. • Publish discipline policies. • When using discipline be consistent

Ms. Sara’s Discipline Policy • Verbal Warning • Five minute standing time out (standing at desk with students) • Second verbal warning • Five minute out of group time out (away from group or outside of class) • Third verbal warning • Removal from class

Other strategies For student management

Know your students • Your students know you • There is a great deal of power in being able to use student names. Find a way to know your students to you can encourage good behavior or discourage bad behaviors.

Ms. Sara’s Chart • Seating charts are excellent

Other tips and strategies for students management • Model good behaviors • We all have bad days, when this happens model for students how you deal with anger, frustration, sleepiness, anxiety etc. • Show students how to handle these same issues to help students learn to manage behaviors

State it and forget it • Don’t address rules once a year. • Incorporate rules and good behavior practices into regular class activities • This helps to remind students and encourage them to practice good behaviors in your classroom

Work Shop Group and Share

Consider the following situations. What can you do? • Students have just entered class. • They are playing superman with the chairs with wheels.

Inappropriate Questions • Everything is running smoothly. You are talking about health and body issues. A student ask you how many times a day you go to the bathroom. Everyone in class starts laughing.

Inappropriate behaviors • You have to reach down to get the chalk you dropped off the floor. • One of your students goes for the Korean “똥침”(ttong chim)

Inappropriate Language • Students are working on classroom tasks and activities. Everything is going very well when suddenly one of the students yells out very loudly a Korean vulgarity.

Open Discussion

For more information • You can download this presentation at www.saradavila.com/english

Classroom Management