TEFL Arcadia Louisiana

Discipline in the classroom is especially important for young learners as it sets the mood and affects the learning capabilities of young learners. Often in the classroom a various techniques are used to discipline students. Techniques can range from raising your voice or just staying silent and counting. Some of these techniques are effective and some aren't. BASIC CLASSROOM RULES From experience and discussing with teachers, an important tip for classroom discipline management is to provide students with a basic set of class rules to be followed. For example, students are told to always use both hands when giving books to the teacher. It is important to have rules as it sets the tone where respect for the teacher and other students are shown in the classroom. teachers should note that it is extremely important that rules are followed consistently. GETTING ATTENTION From researching the internet there were some interesting methods which teachers use to getting attention. One tip from (Perpetual preschool.com) was to use a specific chant to get students attention, for example 1,2,3 Eyes on Me. Students will then have to say, 1,2 Eyes on you and then begin the lesson. This may be simple for esl students once it is drilled into regular routine. Other sources such as (k6educators.about.com) have recommended that you use a countdown to get students attention. MANAGING MISBEHAVING children According to (VK Freelance, 2009, Helium.com), an important rule to classroom discipline is to focus on positive reinforcement. If students were misbehaving, it is important to only complement other students who are being paying attention. It is also important to focus on positively reinforcing good behaviour of students who misbehave. From experience I have found that telling a child NOT to do something has always been counterproductive. An example of this was when I had a child screaming constantly in class, a teacher told me I should draw a picture of a volume gauge on the board. Every time the child screamed or shouted I would tell him to lower his voice pointing to the drawing. However, this was ineffective as the child would always try to erase the drawing whenever he could. Following that I tried to ignore the student and only positively reinforcing good behaviour from other students. Eventually the boy stopped shouting in class. CONFLICT PREVENTING CONFLICT Lastly, an important point for esl classroom discipline is preventing and resolving conflict. Often conflict between two students can affect the mood of the classroom and affect learning. One important point to avoid conflict to begin with is to ensure that such students are physically apart from each other. This would help to avoid children from getting into physical fights with their other classmate. RESOLVING CONFLICT When resolving conflict, it is important that the teacher does not shout as well at the same time. The teacher should first create a barrier and separate the two students. The teacher should then try to quieten down students by getting students to breath. According to (ehow.com), perhaps students can sit at their desk or a quiet corner to calm down during an activity. (Ehow.com) has also recommended that when resolving conflict, students should use the “I statement”. Students should express how they feel from their point of view. Maybe this may be difficult for esl students, however, where possible, the teacher may facilitate conflict resolution by asking individual students questions. How do you feel? Do you feel happy or sad? Students can perhaps say “I am sad.” CONCLUSION In conclusion, from this research article, I have learnt that discipline in the classroom can be a challenging task. The most important viewpoint with classroom management is that the teacher should not “dislike the student, but to dislike the behaviour”. Shouting and having a negative approach or telling students not to do things may not be the best approach for classroom management. However, teachers should have a positive view when disciplining the classroom. It is important to ensure that you establish ground rules in the class, have techniques to grab attention and always provide positive reinforcement to students. This will hopefully see the classroom to be a positive environment and make classroom discipline a much easier task. Total 700 words REFERENCES (atozteachersstuff.com) http://tips.atozteacherstuff.com/143/attention-getters/ (VK Freelance, 2009) http://www.helium.com/items/1494982-strategies-for-classroom-discipline (Perpetual preschool.com) http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/behavior/behavior_management_tips.htm (ehow.com) http://www.ehow.com/how_7663235_resolve-conflicts-classroom.html