Classroom Management Archives - Page 2 of 2

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Edsys

Teaching a number of children with different attitudes, behaviour and attention spans can be a challenging task. Bad behavior is not something a teacher should tolerate in a classroom. You cannot ignore it or it will get worse. It is crucial to teach students to manage their own behavior. Understanding the root cause of the child‘s behaviour is essential. Basic models in understanding child behaviour includes:

Must Read:

4 Essential Parts of Classroom Management Strategies

• Biological, where children’s behavior will be influenced by their environment
• Behavioral, where behavior can be modified through classical or operant conditioning
• Cognitive, the approach that helps the child judge and reason effectively and have a perception of their surroundings
• Systemic that targets the individual‘s behavior within the family, friends, school, classmates and community
• Psychodynamic that focus on understanding and intervening by unravelling past conscious and unconscious experiences

Effective classroom management strategies should be implemented to run a well-disciplined classroom. Behaviour management can promote a positive and caring classroom community that encourages student learning, positive peer and teacher relationships and self-motivation.

Effective Strategies to Check Out

An effective classroom management will help to develop a quality relationship between the teacher and the students in the classroom. Certain classroom management strategies can help to change student’s attitude gradually.

1. Teach those Routines and Rules

First, create the rules and the routines that the class agree. Next step is teaching them. Explain the created rules in a clear, brief language. Students should also be taught to use those rules in different special areas such as the lunchroom, hallway, school bus, or playground. It is ideal to create routines and rules in the beginning of the school year and also shared with parents. It should also be reviewed frequently throughout the year. Most students learn routines and procedures quickly. The teacher has to periodically review the routine and reteach it.

2. Be fair, but Consistent in Class

A teacher needs to be fair with the students, but at the same time consistent. Students should know that if they do something wrong, what the consequence is going to be. They should be aware that there are consequences that follow from the way they behave. Consequences may include formal punishments. Even though punishments are last option, it is important to deal with serious misbehavior.

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19 Smart Classroom Management Strategies for Teachers

3. Arrange Classroom Meetings

A positive classroom atmosphere can be promoted by conducting classroom meetings on a regular basis. Such meeting can encourage effective communication between the teacher and the students. This also provides an opportunity for the teacher to involve special students in all classroom activities. Certain ground rules should also be created for the meeting such as students should help each other, they should show mutual respect, and only one should speak at a time.

4. With-It-Ness

With-it-ness refers to the teacher’s ability to know what is going within the class or among students, even without watching a student or group of students. It is less likely that students will misbehave if they know their teacher notices every little thing going on in the classroom. It is essential that teachers should use their peripheral vision. This helps them to indirectly monitor what is happening in all areas of the class. Continuously scanning the room to see what is going on. Hope you remember your school age where you assume that good teachers have eyes in the back of their heads.

Social stories can also be used to teach students new social skills, routines, behavior, and transitions. Encourage students to praise each other by clapping, cheering or even doing something positive. It creates a positive and fun classroom environment. Effective classroom management strategies can also increase the engagement of all students rather than just a few paying attention and few responding to teacher’s questions.

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Edsys

If you want to help students motivate themselves, there should be a balance provided intrinsically and extrinsically. Autonomy, competence, relatedness, and relevance are the four qualities that are critical for this process. They are the 4 essential parts of Classroom Management Strategies. Let’s go through these 4.

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Read Also: 19 Smart Classroom Management Strategies for Teachers

Autonomy

For promoting learner autonomy, one strategy is to provide your students with the freedom of choice. Generally, us educators think of this idea through the view point of organization and procedures. As an example, an organizational choice might enable students to speak out for seating assignments or make teams for their learning groups. As for procedural choice, it gives your students a chance to select from a given list of homework choices.

Cognitive choice is a third point put forward by some researchers. They believe that this would be a better approach to provide student autonomy. Cognitive method would include ideas such as:

Students developing ideas for homework related to the topic
Students sharing different approaches and thinking processes for solving problems
Problem based learning – where a class splits in to small groups to come out with solutions to issues
Teachers making use of the thinking routine to initiate the students to think and ask questions and learn by becoming inquisitive

Competence

Feedback is highly important to boost the morale of students, and a crucial part of classroom management strategies as well. When a student does well, we should praise their effort. Praising effort has a significantly higher impact than praising intelligence. The latter forces the student to not risk their genius status. But when you praise the effort taken, it makes them understand that one learns through hard work.

For healthy learning, providing critical feedback is also necessary. Plussing is the strategy to be used here. It is a concept used by Pixar animation studios with a high rate of success.

Recommended Read: 7 Awesome Creative Classroom Ideas

Relatedness

A key factor in developing intrinsic motivation in students is by creating good quality relations with tutors they respect. When you or your teachers take a genuine effort in developing these relationships, it pays off really well. Here are some steps to go forward in this path:

Be genuinely interested in the students – Take an interest in their dreams and interests. Keep an open communication which is two way. Share your stories with them and hear theirs out too.
Be flexible – Understand their needs, read their minds, and become slightly flexible in what you demand from them. Being gentle and lenient with them could help off rather than being too strict and adamant. It could be alright to change the rules once in a while. Keep eyes on the learning goal prize.
Become more friendly – Make some small jokes, laugh with them, give a good smile, and also give a gentle supportive pat on the shoulder.
Do not give up on your students – Be positive and do not give up on your students. They will strive their best to meet your expectations, but if they fail, motivate them. Encourage them to grow.

Relevance

The students need an understanding of how learning the syllabus is when it comes to application in real life. Have them write about it. It would definitely encourage growth and positive learning gains. . This makes the students connect to it at a personal level as well, which leads to a better learning.

Making real life connections to what they teach is one of the most common Classroom Management Strategies by teachers. But, this could have a negative impact for students who have low skills. They tend to under-perform. As such, it is important to let the students make their own connections and learn from them rather than forcing them to follow exactly what the teacher thinks.

Posted on August 17, 2016 by Edsys

If we rewind yourselves to our school days, most of us had an inspiring teacher, right? Such teachers will definitely help students reach new heights by making a difference in their lives, their attitude as well as behavior.

But where do these teachers get inspired from? Certain movies about teachers and students can really help them gain great inspiration.

Must Read: 5 Inspirational Movies That Every Student Must Watch

Here is a list of top 9 best inspirational movies which every teacher should watch at least once.

Get inspired!

1. To Sir, with Love (1967)

To Sir, with Love, this British drama film deals with social and racial issues in a school in the inner-city. The main character Mark Thackeray, acted by Sidney Poitier is an out-of-work engineer who later turns to teaching in a London school. Mr. Thackeray starts working in a high school where discipline has completely broken down. But he manages to earn the respect and admiration of students with his ground-breaking teaching methods. The film is noted by the actor’s powerful performance

The movie was a screen adaptation of E.R. Braithwaite’s novel of the same name. Hope you’ve read it!

2. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

Goodbye, Mr. Chips, this is a sentimental story of a kind hearted English school teacher Charles Chipping at an English boy’s school in Brookfield. His lack of authority in the classroom, results in a disordered outburst from the students and a severe warning from his headmaster. After that he becomes a strict disciplinarian, who was disliked by boys as well as fellow instructors. His marriage with Kathy makes his life change. With gentle guidance from his wife, Chips gains the respect and affection of students and faculty. Even after his wife’s death in child birth, Chips maintains his better personality, resulting in advance in career.

The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and Robert Donat, who acted as Mr. Chipping has the Best Actor award.

3. Dead Poets Society (1989)

Dead Poets Society, the movie is the story about an unconventional English teacher John Keating, whose poetry teaching inspires his students. His unorthodox teaching surprises the students. On the first class, he has the boys tear up the syllabus and has followed his unique teaching methods. The teacher has even asked the students to stand on their desks to teach them how they must look at life in a different way. Keating’s unique methods of teaching have also attracted the attention of their strict headmaster Gale Nolan.

It is Robin Williams who stars as the rebellious teacher. The movie has won Academy Awards for Best Screen Writing and other nominations include Best Picture, Robin Williams nominated for Best Actor, Peter Weir for Best Director.

4. Freedom Writers (2007)

Freedom Writers, the movie is quite positive, with interesting characters, and moral messages. This is a true story about Erin Gruwell, a young white teacher, who is idealistic but strong-willed. The teacher faces trouble with her mixed freshman class of Hispanics, blacks, Asians, and one white guy. While the white guy just wants to leave, students from other races are not at all interested discussing Homer, or even proper grammar. And one day Ms. Gruwell breaks through with a comment about racism, from when she scores a place in their minds.

By earning her student’s trust, she makes them record their diaries. In their diaries, they talked about their tough experiences of being abused, and seeing their friend’s death.

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5. Good Will Hunting (1997)

Good Will Hunting, this American drama film is about an unrecognized genius. 20-year-old South Boston laborer Will Hunting is a self taught intellect. This high school dropout works as a gatekeeper at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and spends time with his friends. Gerald Lambeau, the math professor, discovers the talent in Will and forces him into therapy and math lessons. However, Will is not comfortable with the new life and always wanted to stick back to his old familiar life.

The movie was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, and has won two awards – Best Original Screenplay for Affleck and Damon and Best Supporting Actor for Williams.

6. The Class (2008)

The Class, a different kind of a teacher movie, this documentary story takes place inside the school. Viewers will never see the students anywhere else, at home or on the street. The story is the struggle between Marin, a school teacher who wants to do something good and students who disagree those attempts.

The movie, based on the 2006 novel by François Bégaudeau has won Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film and Golden Palm Award at 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

7. Finding Forrester (2000)

Finding Forrester, written by Mike Rich, here learning does not take place primarily in the classroom. Also the teacher is a writer, not a trained educator. The story is about a young African-American Jamal, who gets scholarship to a prestigious prep school. Though intelligent, Jamal hides his talents as he is interested in basketball. He meets up Mr. Forrester, at his apartment in a night and there develops a friendship that benefits both of them. It is similar to what a teacher learns from his student.

8. Stand and Deliver (1988)

Stand and Deliver, the story is about a math teacher Escalante, who has left a higher-paying business job and has returned to the teaching profession to prove something. He takes the challenge of guiding a class of losers and potential dropouts. In the course of one school year, this teacher gradually transforms them.

This movies is based on the true story of a math teacher Jaime Escalante and has received a nomination for Best Actor at the 61st Academy Awards

9. Lean On Me (1989)

Lean On Me, one among the best inspirational movies, the movies is the about the story of Joe Louis Clark, an inner city high school principal New Jersey. The challenge he faced was that this school is at risk of being taken over by the New Jersey state government. The students cannot even pass the Minimum Basic Skills Test. Clark makes changes in the school that was once known for drugs and crime. He was also able to positively influence the students.

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Edsys

Grabbing students’ attention in a classroom is not easy for a teacher. Ideal classroom management strategies can help.

Getting students to stay interested and engaged in a classroom is not that easy. Classroom management issues are a great concern, especially for beginning teachers. Reliable smart classroom management strategies are crucial to create a successful learning environment, where students are free from disruptions, distractions and threats to safety and well -being.

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Motivation plays a crucial part in managing students. While intrinsic motivation is a response to needs that exist within the student, extrinsic motivation refers to external rewards on the completion of a task.

Must Read: Top 12 Classroom Management Tips

Relevance of Classroom Management is Important to –

• Create a positive learning environment that students feel safe

• Manage class time most effectively

• Engage students in lectures thus boosting confidence

• Organized learning opportunities

• Manage classroom resources in an effective manner

Optimize Student Learning and Achievement with These 19 Strategies

These strategies also impact the student’s life outside of the classroom.

1. Maintain Positive Attitude

Be positive minded. Teach each lesson with a positive mind frame. A negative approach towards your students can provide negative results. Be strict, but be positive. However, too much control can spoil everything.

2. Use Some Signals to Get Attention

Teachers can use any word, signal or sound to grab student’s attention during class. Popular signals include hand signal, where teacher raises his/her hand and waits for complete silence in the classroom, bells, whistles, turn off the lights, or even claps. Make sure not to continue with your lessons until all the students listen to you.

3. Make Changes in Seating Arrangement

Changes in the seating chart can bring in the discipline in your class. It is the cheapest form of managing our class. Make sure to seat the children where their attention is directed towards you. They should be able to clearly see board and screens as well.

4. Update your Lesson Plan

You should also learn the skills you need to successfully plan and teach motivating lessons. Updated lessons and course structure is essential to the process of teaching and learning. A new teacher must be ready to spend the necessary time developing interesting lessons.

5. Give and Take Respect

To be respected by your students you should also respect them. A warm, personal greeting for each student at the beginning of the day and a farewell at the end would be good. Also, have the general talk with them. Know what the student does at home. Do he read, plays games or even watch TV.

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6. Get them Involved in Extracurricular Activities

You can arrange some extracurricular activities outside the classroom at regular intervals. Evaluate the games your students enjoy the most. Ask every student to participate in those activities in one or the other way. This will also help the students to realize that you are there to encourage them.

7. Compliment positive Behaviors

Instead of correcting a student’s negative attention, ignore his behavior and praise the students. While praising the hardworking student, the other students will most likely copy the model student’s activities so that the teacher will also praise him.

8. Silence is the Right Tool

Shouting at the unruly students will be of no use. It is ideal to use a calm and quiet voice, which reflects your emotions and tone. By remaining silent, students will realize that their teacher values their conversation and respect them to let them finish.

9. Create a Guideline for Disciplinary Measures

Your students should have enough freedom in their class. But at the same time, they should be aware of the after effects of certain actions. When they know what repercussions come with certain behaviors, they are less likely to act out.

10. Balance Friendliness and Position

Maintain the right mix of authority and friendship in your class. Be friendly to your students and advise them in difficult situations. But remember you are the authoritative figure in the room.

11. Stick to the Decided Rules

If you are not ready to follow the rules you set, how your students would follow. Never compromise in the decided measures. Stay steady with your student discipline approach. This will help in stopping students from repeating offenses.

12. Punish the Right Candidate

It would never be fair to punish an entire class, even if it seems that all of them are misbehaving. Choose the right kids who are providing directions. Punishing the class as a group only provokes further conflict.

13. Bring Hard Situations to Light

Handling problematic situations would be difficult for a beginner. In certain cases, talking to the students’ parents will be the right action to take. You can also take help from experienced colleagues.

14. Change the Possible, Leave the Rest

Your class may not be perfect when compared to others. That doesn’t mean that they are not learning. Certain things may be out of your control. Don’t be scared to experiment. Try to turn the negative to positive. Don’t worry about the rest.

15. Try Creative Activities

Make students do creative activities. Provide them ideas. Guide them how to do. For instance, you can make them hang seasonal symbols in the classroom for each season. Celebrate each time they get a compliment from staff member or a visitor.

16. Teach them Social Skills

Teach them social skills such as raising hands, taking turns and sharing them as a part of the learning course. Provide reminders so that they will remember the taught skills.

17. Identify each Student’s Strength

Create opportunities to reveal each kid’s hidden talents and interests. Make sure the student is prepared to exhibit his expertise in the subject.

18. Use Simple Language

The classroom is not the place for teachers to exhibit their language fluency and expertise. Talk to students in a very simple language so that they will clearly understand your instructions. This improves their confidence as well.

19. Provide more Visual Content

Rather than theory, it is far better to use visual aids like charts, images and graphs. Visuals will stay in their mind for a long time than just text materials.

Remember that the major principle behind classroom management is to deal with students’ disruptive behavior and teaching them how to manage their own behavior.

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Edsys

“The discipline you learn and character you build from setting and achieving a goal can be more valuable than the achievement of the goal itself.”

Discipline plays a vital role in maintaining a civilized life. Proper discipline can significantly decrease unnecessary chaos existing in daily life. For the effective operation of an institution like a school, discipline is very much essential.

School discipline is a system of a certain code of conduct, behavior and punishments for regulating students and making school well organized. For making teaching learning process effective, the classroom environment must be favorable and opportune.

Must Read: Top 12 Classroom Management Tips

Here are the ten awesome tips to manage discipline issues:

1. Be Organized

If there is no proper organization in the classroom, kids feel bored and starts to misbehave. It will be better if the lessons are properly planned, make supplies ready and thus be organized in everything as possible. Always think about items that can be displaced and figure out a system that help to keep track of those items.

2. Deal with Problems Right from the Start

It is advisable to deal with problems before they become too large to handle. You can address each and every small issue happening in the classroom. A tiny mistake in discipline issue can be a nightmare in the future.

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3. Have Good Control Procedures

Certain good control procedures are developed to prevent problems. For instance, a cover sheet can help prevent children from cheating during written exams. Such procedure should be easy as possible for the students to choose the right thing and be difficult as possible for them to misbehave or take imperfect decisions.

4. Teach the Procedures Well

Making good and appropriate procedures is not enough. They should be taught to the students properly as well. Four steps involved in teaching them are:

a. Clearly explain the procedure

b. Practice it with children

c. Correct the parts that were done incorrectly

d. Repeat it constantly until they do it in the right manner

If you don’t take time to teach procedures properly, students may not follow them which leads to utter frustration.

5. Keep your Students Engaged

The more students are engaged in activities, the less they cause problems. Make sure you give interactive classes and teach the students passionately. It is better to make students involved than just giving lectures. Hence it would be advisable to make the students write while teaching.

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6. Move Around the Classroom

Most of the teachers stand at the front of the room without even moving their position. It would be a good idea to walk around as you teach. It is not only a different approach of teaching, but also helps to keep an eye on what the students are doing.

7. Develop a Rapport with the Students

If we want students to follow us, they not only need to respect us, but also create an impression that we care about them. Always be genuine, kind, approachable and ready to admit mistakes. Also, students must be given compliments, and show that you love them. With the above qualities, you will be able to create a good rapport with students.

8. Be Professional

Rather than becoming a too friendly teacher, try to become a good mentor. Interactions must be made friendly but not familiar.

9. Require Students to Clear their Desks

Students should be asked to keep only the required items on the desk. When desks are cleared, teachers will be able to know exactly about the activities done by their students. Teachers will have better control of students.

10. Establish Structure First

Train students to work and do their activity in a structured environment. Once they understand the structure, they should be able to work in an unstructured environment without losing control.

All these tips help to manage disciplinary issues in school. No institution can be operated successfully without proper maintenance of discipline. Hence, discipline should be given top priority.

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Posted on March 24, 2016 by Edsys

Whether you’re a new or experienced teacher, these 12 effective classroom management tips will help you run your class smoothly and will also help to create a positive learning environment for your students.

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1) Stick to the Rules but don’t be too Strict

Rules and routines help to communicate and also establish the kind of behaviour and discipline you expect from your students. Stick to the rules you create but make sure that the classroom environment does not become too strict and rigid that students feel suffocated.

2) Deal with Misbehaving Students Personally

Ask a misbehaving student to talk to you in person and speak to the student in a calm demeanour. Try to be a friend to them but be firm with what behaviours you would and wouldn’t accept. When you truly get to understand them you might often be able to recognise patterns or issues the child tries to mask up with his/her mischievous behaviour

3) Keep Calm and Carry On

It is important to have control over your emotions to have better control of your classroom. A teacher who loses his/her temper and yells at the students often lose the battle. If a situation gets unruly, try standing in silence and look at your students. This will alert them to a change in your demeanour and will make them aware that something they did was not right. When everyone falls silent you can resume your lessons.

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4) Connect with your Students on a Daily Basis

An important classroom management tips is to greet your students every morning and at the beginning of class to connect with them on a daily basis and also to set the tone for the day.

5) Build Positive Relationships

To help a student be his absolute best, it is important to wear their shoes and walk a mile in them from time to time. This will help you look at things from the student’s perspective and be empathetic with them. Support them by encouraging them not only in academics but also with their extracurricular activities. This will help build a trusting and honest teacher-student relationship.

6) Reach out to the Parents

While you support a child from school, parents should also be considered as active contributors to a child’s growth. Make sure to not only address the drawbacks but also highlight the positive qualities of the child to his/her parents.

7) Be Interactive and Friendly

Interact with your students and speak to them in simple terms to help them be more comfortable in the classroom. Communicating and engaging them in conversations will boost their confidence and interest in studies.

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8) Change your Teaching Style from Time to Time

classroom management strategy is to adopt multiple instruction methods or styles. Students often lose interest when the lessons are conducted in a mundane manner. Following a singular mode of teaching often leads to a boring classroom session and disengaged students. You can disrupt this routine and keep your students engaged by frequently varying your instruction style.

9) Keep Students Engaged and Involved

It is a challenging task, but if you gain mastery over this your students are less likely to misbehave. Having an engaging classroom session will make the students actively participate in the lessons or task at hand and will prevent their mind from wandering.

10) Keep them Busy

Following up on the point above, you can create engaging classroom sessions by tightening up time management and by staying organized. This will greatly improve classroom culture as well as teaching and learning time.

11) Motivate Students to Work Hard using Rewards

A simple reward system can be a great motivator. The reward could be something that adheres to your school’s policies. It is also important to remind students that help is always available when they need it. Remind them that they don’t have to battle it out alone. Encourage students to ask questions to receive timely advice.

12) Show that you Care
A teacher’s attitude can easily rub off on their students and most often in the wrong way. Make sure to leave your emotional baggage outside of the classroom. If you are feeling any negative emotions like anger, sadness or boredom, make sure that you do not show it to your students. A bad emotion spreads as fast as the flu and your students should be the last one to catch it. As an educator, it is important for you to show that you are happy and excited about the lessons you are going to teach.