Teach English in Zhaili Zhen - Zibo Shi

This summative essay is written by Kardelen Ozel for the TESOL Course and it is based on Classroom Management. In this essay, the definition of classroom management, the importance and strategies of establishing a good rapport with the students, different strategies to create a supportive classroom environment, and lastly my own classroom management experiences will be stated. Classroom management is the skill of organizing and managing the classroom in order to create a good learning environment and live up to the learning objectives. When it comes to living up to learning objectives, classroom management is main variable to consider. The physical apperances of the classroom may affect classroom management. Students spend most of their time in the classroom so it is extremely important for a classroom to have good conditions. According to a study by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), classroom decorations and the colors used in a classroom may affect the ability to focus especially in young learners. The classroom should have enough natural light, the desks and chairs should be functional and light to carry around for different kind of activities, the tempature of the classroom should not be too cold or too warm. The wall paint should be selected carefully. For instance; while white colored walls may strain the eyes, warm colored walls tend to be more stimulating. I personally believe that psyhical apperances of a class is very important. I used to teach young learners in a classroom where the tempature were not warm enough even in summer and there were not enough light inside. Students kept interupting the lesson by telling me how cold they feel and they used to feel sleepy due to the lack of natural light. Having a physically good classroom environment may help a teacher a lot in order to manage and organize a classroom, However it is not enough to create a good learning environment. In order to manage a classroom, teachers should establish a good rapport with students. Teachers should gain students’ trust. Teachers should be fair and keep their promises. Especially young kids are very sensitive with fairness so each kid should be respected and treated the same way. Classroom rules should be created together with the students, students are tend to buy into rules when the rules are created all together. It is also important to use a positive language while writing the classroom rules. The rules should be short and simple and they may be hanged on the wall so that students can see it all the time. Offering students options when it comes to rewards and classroom work can also help teachers to establish a good rapport with students as students will feel respected. In order to manage a classroom, teachers should have good time manegement skills, preparing a lesson plan can help teachers to use the time more efficently. In many classrooms, there are some early finishers and slow workers. Students who finish their activities and worksheets earlier are tend to distract others so teachers should have extra activities and worksheets for early finishers and they should provide options for students. There is no doubt that teachers’ gestures and eye contact is extremely important to estalish a good classroom management. Gestures can be used to convey the meaning of language and to reduce teacher talk time. Eye contact can be used to maintain disipline in the classroom and to keep students involved. The voice of a teacher should not be too loud or too low and it should be heard from the back of the classroom. I honestly believe that, the speed of speech depends on the age group and level of students, for young learners, teachers should produce simple and clear sentences with a slower speech as they need more time to understand. Classroom management strategies may change from situation to situation and from classroom to classroom. For instance, a strategy used to maintaing the disipline in a young learner classroom may not work in an adult classroom. Teacher should know their students and their needs in order to come up with more suitable strategies and rules to establish in a classroom. Motivation is another variable that can affect classroom management and educational efficiency. Most of the discipline problems or learning difficulties are caused by motivation. While older learners are more motivated as they usually decided to learn a language by themselves, young learners usually don’t decide to learn a language by themselves so they may need more motivation. If students don’t have inner motivation, teachers should motivate them outside with rewards. Teachers should praise even the smallest act of effort that comes from students .Teachers should also encourage students to speak freely without fear. I believe that, classroom management is extremely important to create a good learning environment and to achieve highest educational efficiency. Classroom management strategies can make a good teacher great. Classroom management can be learnt by experience. Teachers can read different research on classroom management and they can come up with suitable strategies to use in their classroom. As long as, teachers establish a good rapport with their students and make them feel respected, I believe teachers can meet the learning objectives and create a peaceful classroom enviroment.