Teach English in Huogeqi Sumu - Bayannao'er Shi — Bayan Nur

Effective classroom management is very important and will positively impact the outcome of lessons. For students to be able to have the maximum learning experience, their learning environment must be of a certain standard. Teachers should strive to be balanced and flexible in their approach, so they do not come across as too rigid and unapproachable. Inspiring confidence in your students, building rapport and maintaining classroom discipline are skills all teachers should possess. If your students feel confident in their abilities and inspired by you, they will be more likely to participate in activities and do well. An uninspired and self-conscious student will be less likely to participate and will shy away from practicing new language learnt. They would be de-motivated and overly self aware especially when doing fluency activities, dealing with speaking and conversation practice. A good teacher will inspire confidence in their students by building and maintaining rapport throughout the entirety of the course or school term. Teachers can inspire students’ confidence by congratulating them on a job well done; praising them for participation and creating a relaxed atmosphere so students know mistakes are understandable. Teachers should use achievable and relevant materials tailored to the language level of their students. This would ensure confidence when they realize they can successfully complete a task to the end. Additionally, giving individual attention and learning students’ names is an important aspect of rapport building. Ensure that all students are equally included in activities and refrain from focusing on only a specific group of students. This, coupled with other classroom management strategies can result in very successful lessons. Having a versatile voice or tone, using clear gestures and making eye contact are some ways to effectively manage classes. It is important to not be monotone in your lessons as this could lead to extreme boredom on your students’ part. Learning a new language already comes with its fair share of difficulties, so teachers should learn to manage their voice. Managing your voice entails: raising or lowering your pitch to convey emphasis, switching volume depending on your class size and having a clear and audible tone that all learners can easily comprehend. A good voice will be incredibly useful when giving out instructions to your students or for explanations. Gestures can be very important in the classroom as they decrease unnecessary teacher talk time, thus, making a more upbeat learning environment. Clear and effective gestures help to manage the classroom as it can convey instructions easily. Whether you are trying to organize an activity, manage a discussion or just simply giving instructions, these can all be made easier with the use of gesticulations. Using effective gestures with classroom instructions can help clarify meaning and increase student response, thus, managing classes better. Another strategy teachers can utilize is eye contact. Eye contact is important as it sends the message that you are confident and that you are connecting with each and every student. It can be a good tool to let students know who is to speak and to encourage participation in your class. Completely avoiding eye contact with your students is not good, neither is staring them down. As such, it is important to have a balanced eye contact so students feel connected instead of alienated or dominated. Good eye contact can also be useful in disciplinary situations as you try to sustain classroom discipline. Maintaining classroom discipline is another aspect of effective classroom management. There are many different reasons for disruptions and problem behaviors in the classroom. Some of which are: family issues, lack of self esteem or confidence, peer pressure or even boredom. Some of these are out of the teacher’s control and can be very difficult to assess. This is where rapport building would be crucial- having good rapport with your students would let them feel comfortable to open up to you outside of the classroom setting. With patience, understanding and fair discipline you would be able to manage problem behaviors accordingly. Problem behaviors like peer pressure and boredom can be addressed with different classroom seat arrangement/grouping and making your classes as interesting as possible. Additionally, refrain from bluffing about punishments you cannot enforce. Also, it is better to reprimand a student in private than in front of the entire class which could cause embarrassment. Overall, there are many different strategies teachers can implement to increase the effectiveness of their classroom management. Whether it is by having good voice range, using clearly understood gestures, making eye contact or building rapport- successfully managing your classes will increase students’ academic engagement. Effective classroom management is important as it facilitates social and emotional growth, maintains an orderly classroom environment and decreases negative behaviors. All these benefits are derived from exercising good classroom management skills, which will lead to better classes and more successful learners.