I am very thankful to my wonderful partner teacher, as I have learned so many things from her, especially about classroom management skills. Here are a few things I learned this year
Classroom Management
- Recognizing and building upon student's strengths, with the belief that every individual has areas of strengths.
- Recognizing their relationship outside the school (friends, family.. etc)
- Building relationships through empathy, listening, and respect
- Clear rules are laid out, consistently enforced, and used with praise.
Strategies in Classroom Management:
Here are some strategies that I use in my classroom, some of them I learned on my own, and some of them I learned from other teachers/student teachers:
- Involve class in developing rules. Clearly post rules in the classroom. Provide copies for students to sign, and share these with parents.
- Use positive discipline techniques instead of a long list of "don'ts". All students need attention, if they are acting badly sometimes it is only because they want your attention. Try not to give them any "negative attention", instead always rely on the "positive attention"
- Use of praise: acknowledge good behavior and efforts.
- Praise those who are excelling and those who are trying, even if they are struggling;encouragement is and important part of class management. The effect it has should not be taken lightly.
- Respect all students. (There might be students who will not like me, I will not take that personally and I will keep showing my respect for them).
- Don't overload students with work. They have a life too you know!
- If a student doesn't understand a topic in a given time frame, it doesn't mean he will not understand it or that he doesn't have what it takes to understand it. It just means he needs more time to get there, so always be patient and let students learnt at their own pace.
- Communicate with the parents the strengths and successes of their children.(not just through parent meetings, but also through email, phone calls, etc)
- Give students choices, so that they have some "positive control". students want to be independent and want to have control in their school life.
- Give students some choices, for example: when they work on a project, give them options of electing their own topic, way to present the material, etc).
- Keep a positive relationship with the students parents. Work as a "team" in each child's education, communicating with parents what is being done in class, and reinforce the importance of their encouragement and support.
- Use "class meetings" to let students speak out any concerns, suggestions and whatnot.
- Give clear instructions to students at the beginning of class explaining what will happen today.
- Use the clapping method to get their attention: start clapping, who ever hears the clap will clap as well until the whole class is clapping. It is a VERY good way to get their attention, and the kids love it.
- Use opportunities to teach "life skills" as they arise (such as responsibility, respect for others, problem solving, etc).
- Model respect for students, being a teacher who is enthusiastic, in-control, patient, and organized, thus setting an example for students. Be someone they can look up to, someone who is worthy of their respect.