Teach English in Zhangzhai Zhen - Liaocheng Shi

The first step to being able to have high engagement and therefore effective lessons is to build a rapport with students. In my experience, the best way to get students to work for you, even the reluctant ones, is to get to know them at least a little and let them know you care about them. When students believe a teacher cares about them as people, they tend to like that teacher. And while it's not necessary that all students like you as a teacher, it does make them more willing to try and work for you. At the beginning of each school year I make an effort to learn every student's name as quickly as possible, even though it usually takes me a couple of weeks. Being able to call students by name not only builds that relationship between student and teacher, but also allows you to call on them more randomly during class. This keeps things unpredictable and students know that everyone will be called on, so they need to pay attention. Random name drawing has worked very well in my own classroom to improve focus. Another huge factor in good classroom management is how quickly and clearly you establish expectations. This includes general classroom rules as well as expectations for lessons and specific activities. Classroom rules and procedures must be established from day 1, and repeatedly reviewed, to make class run more smoothly. When students know exactly what to do when they come into a classroom and while they are in a classroom, it decreases disruptions and increases the flow of class. In my own class, my students know that as soon as they enter, they must put their phone away, pick up their assigned calculator, and there will be a warm up to do. These strict expectations set the tone for class each day, and the students like to have some routine and know what to do. Giving clear instructions for activities and stating what you expect of the students at the beginning will get students working more quickly and will reduce confusion and repeated questions. I've found that putting written instructions on the board or on their paper, along with giving a verbal explanation and having them confirm back to me is most effective. When I have only done one of the two, verbal instructions or written instructions, the students tend to ask me for clarification over and over. The students work best when they know exactly what you want from them. The next thing that affects behavior in the classroom is how the room is arranged and how the students are grouped. Different arrangements work better for different lessons and activities, so I change up my classroom quite often. For example, for most lessons I like for students to work together when figuring out concepts so I may arrange desks in groups of three, four, or five in a way that everyone can also see the board easily. When desks are facing each other in tables, it encourages conversation which can be an advantage or disadvantage. Therefore I vary if the desks are facing in toward each other or all to the front depending on the lesson. When doing a stations or centers activity, I find pushing desks to the middle of the room allows better flow for walking around the outside of the room. For tests, I put the desks in rows all facing the same way. The seating chart is another important factor in classroom arrangement. I tend to change this up each unit so my students get to work with different people throughout the year. By getting to know my students, I'm able to group them according to ability, however I also consider their personalities and friends. On one hand, students need to be grouped with people they will work well with, but sometimes friends can't be together because they distract each other too much. On the other hand, some students refuse to work together or will disrupt class if in the same group. Where the groups are in the classroom, how close or far from the board, has to be considered along with everything else. Some students may need to be close to the board because of poor eyesight or because they need a lot of teacher refocusing. A lot goes into how the classroom and students are arranged, but it greatly affects behavior, attention, and engagement. To me, having a good working relationship with students, having clear expectations of them, and making a good classroom arrangement are the biggest factors in classroom management which will affect students behavior, attention, and therefore motivation in a class.