Are you an experienced teacher looking to freshen up your teaching method or are you just starting out and looking forward to the first day of school? Either way, learning how to manage a class is a fundamental aspect of your job. The environment you will be able to create will be as important as the subject to be taught. You can learn how to create a simple, efficient and hospitable study environment for your students, regardless of their age, subject and type of class.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: The Principles of the Class
Step 1. Simplify the rules
Each class must have clear and simple objectives in terms of behavior and respect for the rules. Normally, for younger students it is sufficient to announce the rules orally and post them somewhere so that they are visible, while older students will need to write them each in their own notebook.
Aim for a maximum of five basic rules, or categories of rules, or else you risk a few being overlooked
Step 2. Use only concrete and relevant rules that you will be able to enforce
It is important to avoid including overly general rules in the class rules or attempting to enforce futile rules that you will not be able to keep under control anyway. It might be unpleasant to clear gum from desks at the end of the school year, but trying to prevent this from happening is a waste of time. Focus on more important things.
There is no need to give your students a full list of forbidden items in the classroom such as chewing gum, cell phones, and other electronic equipment. Just write "No distractions" and confiscate items of this type as soon as the problem arises
Step 3. Be clear
It is always better to have simple rules and to know how to explain them. Remember to repeat the most important information and check that it has been understood. Ask your students questions to keep their attention alive, or repeat important rules and guidelines more than once to make sure they are listening to you.
Step 4. Educate your students
Each class is different from the other. Younger students will need simple rules, while teens should already have more awareness of what is expected of them. Good teachers know how to adapt to the context and change the approach based on the group of students in front of them.
Remember to explain how the lesson will unfold each day. Avoid jumping into the lesson hoping your students will follow you. Your students will like to know why you are doing what you are doing
Step 5. Establish a systematic everyday life
At the beginning of each year, take a few days to consolidate what will be the way to work in the classroom. There are many ways to organize a lesson, and most of them depend on what you want to do and the subject you teach, but as soon as students enter the classroom it is important that they already have an idea of what they will be doing that day.
- Try to outline the activities on the chalkboard before the lesson begins. This way, you will have a point of reference throughout the lesson and students will have an idea of what is going to happen. You could even write precise instructions on the board so they can start working without waiting for your explanations.
- Alternatively, it may be useful to shift the order of activities during the week. If queries are heavy on Friday at the last hour, try scheduling them in the early hours of Monday.
Step 6. Have a positive attitude
Some teachers think that acting like extremely strict old-fashioned ones is a good way to confirm your authority (even if teaching requires a certain level of severity), but it is important to maintain a positive atmosphere and remember to regularly praise your students.. If you happen to take a negative attitude, however, remember to say at least one positive thing every day to the whole class, and praise the students one by one.
- It is inevitable that teaching also includes negative feedback. However, try to limit them as much as possible and discuss what can be improved rather than students' mistakes. Look forward, not backward. Teach yourself to say "we can improve at this" rather than "you were wrong at this".
- Do not exaggerate in praising the student. Even if your students are young, don't be condescending to them. Don't tell your students that the essay was perfect if it really wasn't. Praise the work done by the class, the behavior and commitment shown and not the quality, at least until it is appropriate to do so.
Part 2 of 3: Engage the Students
Step 1. Experience new things
If you are involved, your students will be too. You will quickly understand what works and what doesn't, so don't be afraid to take risks and embark on new projects, ways of teaching and activities. You can abandon failed experiments when the problem arises. Make sure you don't lose sight of the fun.
- Aim to have at least one new lesson or new project to propose each year to keep your involvement alive. If it works, keep repeating the new idea. If it doesn't work, don't talk about it anymore.
- Avoid complex scoring-based behavior management systems. Reward-based systems - including a complicated set of behavioral rules - and other similar methods tend to confuse students rather than motivate them. Go for simplicity.
Step 2. Minimize speeches
The fewer things you have to say each day, the better your class will be. Whatever the subject of teaching, it is better to keep students active, rather than letting them sit and listen passively to your lecture. Try to limit this as much as possible, and make sure that the lesson is based on activity.
Step 3. Ask your students constantly
In this way, students will not be able to get distracted and will feel more involved in the lesson. The result is that students will feel encouraged to participate and talk when they have something to say, rather than waiting to be asked when they may not have the right answer.
Step 4. Plan a variety of activities each day
It is a good idea to have playful activities from time to time, divide the class into small groups, or do free writing exercises individually during the same lesson. However, avoid doing too many of the same type of activities during a class or a week. Try interspersing different types of activities to keep the context lively and avoid falling into monotony.
Step 5. Consider setting up theme days during the week
For example, plan each Monday for individual exercises and each Friday for group activities. Do these activities on a regular basis from week to week so that your students are able to anticipate some of the work while you have fewer things to explain.
Step 6. Give yourself breaks frequently
It is useful to assign short and simple tasks to be able to interrupt the work and monotony, rather than assigning long and complex projects that students will be engulfed in. Consider breaking assignments into small chunks to make your students' work easier and keep them engaged.
Part 3 of 3: Managing Problem Students
Step 1. Clearly state what the consequences of a certain action are before students misbehave
Most discipline-related problems are best managed when trying to prevent them. If there are problematic students in your class, it is important to have clear steps to take and to act promptly.
If a student forgets to bring the textbook to school, what action do you want to take? What if it happens again? What if he openly challenges you? You shouldn't be limited to looking for answers to these questions at the very moment the problem occurs. Decide it first
Step 2. Be true to the line to be taken
If you start making exceptions for some students, the rest of the class will realize this and your credibility in front of the class will suffer. If you punish a student for chatting in class, you must punish others for the same reason as well. For this, it is important to only establish rules that you will be able to enforce.
These are not always dissuasive rules for students. Remember that your students will often forget to bring the pencil case, get distracted during the lesson, and generally break the rules - it's inevitable. If you can't enforce the “three mistakes in one check is a failure” rule, you can bet it will happen often, but at the same time it will encourage your students to re-read their assignment before submission
Step 3. Talk to your toughest students individually and privately
As a rule, it is not a good idea to talk to problem students in front of the whole class. It could easily backfire in a short time, especially if you are a novice teacher. Rather, it is crucial to get the situation clown or troublemaker out of the classroom and talk to them privately. You will realize that the outer armor of these students will begin to crack when it is just the two of you.
Call the parents of the problem student, if necessary. Often, getting the student's parents to your side can be a quick and effective way to keep the hardest-to-manage students at bay
Step 4. Keep the class at a slightly higher temperature
Ideally, the classroom should be neither too hot nor too cold for best student achievement results. From time to time, though, you will have a class full of distracted and painstaking students who are hard to calm down. If you find yourself having serious problems with your students' behavior, consider raising the temperature of the class a few degrees to keep them drowsy.
