Teach English in Aylesbury - TEFL Courses

Classroom management is the main topic of discussion for majority of teachers no matter what discipline they teach. A lot of teachers still identify a class management with a discipline and control. In reality successful class management is much more then solely discipline and control. teacher cannot totally control diligence, motivation and involvement of the students but those are the real keys to successful learning. Good rapport between teacher and students and between students, an atmosphere of respect and mutual understanding, relaxed learning environment is the necessary attributes for good classroom management. Everything starts, though, from the teacher's attitude. Students are very sensitive to the teacher who doesn't enjoy his work. You cannot motivate anybody if you are not motivated yourself. When teacher is not prepared and he doesn't know what to do with the students until he opens the book after the bell rang, he has to start from trying to be heard over the noise. Therefore, the rapport is lost, because a teacher has to discipline and take control over students and it usually involves not popular measures. When teacher is well prepared, starts from good engagement material, the lesson is dynamic and well adjusted to the interest and level of the students, there are much fewer unpopular disciplinary measures needed. Besides, the use of proper tools for encouraging a good behavior and discouraging a distractive one helps to maintain relaxed but controlled classroom environment. Very important to communicate teacher's expectations from the very beginning of the semester and reiterate them every lesson. In case of children it may be choral repetition, for older students we may ask them to take turn writing the rules on the board. Maximum 3-4 major rules have to be used. In case one of these rules is broken the consequences have to follow immediately. It might be the reminder for the first time followed by request to leave the classroom for the next offence (depending on the rules in your teaching institution). After the reminder the offender has to verbalize the next disciplinary step. But the most important is positive reinforcement. Emphasizing a good behavior would encourage the good students to work even more diligently and the majority of the class would rather follow these students to obtain the encouragement than to be reprimanded. Friendly competition between teams or between males and females add motivation and fun to the teaching process. Games and songs, different types of media, role play keep students interested and motivated especially if all these activities are followed by challenging tasks. When class is dynamic and involves a lot of interaction between students there is not much time left for boredom which usually leads to behavioral problems. Saying all that, I strongly believe that successful classroom management depends on teacher's motivation and preparation. When we as teachers introduce new and unexpected activities, closely monitor the level of comprehension and class progress, adjust the material to students' level and areas of interest, are flexible and fun, but most of all when we enjoy what we are doing the learning process brings satisfaction and success not only to us but to the students.