Classroom management is a key to quality teaching. Research done by Frederic Jones (See more on: http://www.fredjones.com/) shows that “50% of teachers’ time is spent on managing students who are off the task and disturbing other class members”. There are many ways of effective classroom management. Those proposed by Jones are the body language, incentive system and providing efficient help.
Through my observation I have noticed that the body language used by the class teacher as opposed to the pre-graduate teacher was very clear, direct and specific. In order to move on to the next activity the teacher used counting strategy: “I am counting to five and I want all students to finish working and stand up behind the desk”. It was clear that the year 5 teacher, with over 20 years of teaching experience, had established routines and clear rules within the class. Students knew what was expected form them. Each lesson started with the prayer and finished with clear instructions of putting the seats back and making sure the work area was left clean and organized for the next day.
The pre-graduate teacher did not achieve the same results and provided students with more flexibility which consequently lead at some instances to very disruptive behaviour. The pre-graduate teacher allowed the middle row to leave first which caused chaos and disruption for others. What I like was the incentive system done by the pre-graduate teacher. She used the “grandma’s rules” (Jones 1987a, 1987b) and informed students that there was a video coming if they completed the task. That definitely increased students’ motivation and made them quickly complete the activity.
Through that experience I can see how knowing your students well, setting up rules and routines ,and smart incentive system are important in a classroom management. As there is no magic bullet for classroom management I believe it will take me time to establish my own strategies in order to provide a quality teaching within the well managed classroom environment.
"Good Teachers are made, not born" (Selinger, 1991:1)
References:
Konza, D., Grainger, J. & Bradshaw, K. (2004). Existing Models of
Behaviour Management. In Classroom Management:
A Survival Guide, (pp79-100). Social Science Press.
Selinger, S. (1991). Share and take: A path to critical reflection
for entry-level teachers. A paper presented at the Annual
Conference of the National Council of States on Inservice
Education, Houston.
Image retrieved from http://www.northwoodnapa.com/resources/Behaviour Management. In Classroom Management:
A Survival Guide, (pp79-100). Social Science Press.
Selinger, S. (1991). Share and take: A path to critical reflection
for entry-level teachers. A paper presented at the Annual
Conference of the National Council of States on Inservice
Education, Houston.
Images/rk8_teacher5.gif on 15.10.10
