Classroom Management in an International School in Shenzhen, China
As a teacher of grade 2 at an international school in Shenzhen, China, my classroom management has many components. Educators require both teaching skills and classroom management skills because strong classroom management creates a safe environment for students to learn with joy.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate YunXiang C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Setting up Rules
First, a classroom agreement is a component of my classroom management plan. At the beginning of the semester, students collaborated and agreed upon the rules. Such rules included: listen when someone is speaking; respect others; be caring; no running in the hallway or in the classroom and no shouting. When the rules were made, everyone signed their names signifying their commitment to follow the rules.
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Classroom Safety
Second, emergency cases are also very important in my classroom management. Some emergencies in my class are students bleeding; fighting during recess; headache, stomachache or fever. As a teacher, my priority is to make sure I take immediate action to ensure the students are safe. Then I judge if I would need to send the student to the nurse, or call the parents. If the student is sent to the nurse, I would ask one classmate to accompany the student in need. In serious cases, I would seek help from another teacher or the head of the school.
Considering Learning Difficulties
Third, planning accommodations for students with learning difficulties is also a vital part of my classroom management. A few significant issues I had this year include students with attention problems; chatty students and those not listening when the teacher is talking. The student with focus issues demonstrated the following behaviors: he was lying down rolling his body while other students sat crisscross facing the teacher, and he did not complete his work while others students were able to finish the task in time. To accommodate for this student with difficulty focusing, I collaborated with the guidance counselor. Our solutions included: allowing him to hold a softball, letting him sit next to the teacher and providing him with a sensory cushion. When there’s a task, he could work in a small, quiet classroom to avoid distractions. I also worked closely with his parents to understand his emotions at home. Both the school and the parents encourage and motivate him every day. After these interventions, he has shown much improvement.
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Reward System
Finally, setting up the reward rules is a way of motivating my students. This is also part of my classroom management. I set up weekly star student rules and whole class reward rules. This is to motivate not only one student personally but also the class as a whole. When the stars reach a certain number, students are rewarded with a small celebration or prize, such as a lollipop, ten minutes of free play time, and so on. The students enjoyed it a lot.
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Everyone has his own style of classroom management concerning rules, emergencies, rewards, and accommodations. Each educator’s classroom plan will be designed based on the needs of the teacher and the students. I am motivated to continually learn how to improve my classroom management because I am passionate about my current and future students.
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