Teach English in ShangjiAngwei Zhen - Yongzhou Shi

Classroom management is the skill of organising and managing a class to ensure that students are able to learn effectively. There are many different methods teachers can use to create an environment that will help students learn such as classroom arrangement, conducting yourself correctly, grouping students in a sensible way for each task and also establishing a good rapport with students. It is important that these techniques are applied by the teacher to create a learning environment for the classroom. Classroom arrangement is how a teacher would like to physically arrange the seating of the class and also where you would like each student to sit. The arrangement of tables and chairs will depend on the size of the room, the number of students, the type of activity and the type of tables and chairs are available. Seating can be arranged in orderly rows, separate tables, circles or in a horseshoe shape with each arrangement bringing its own benefits to the class. Orderly rows is very common as it means that the students and teacher can always see each and also helps the teacher keep discipline. It is also particularly helpful for large classes. Having separate tables is helpful when doing group work as the teacher is able to help a group on one table without distracting another group. It does however have the drawback that eye contact cannot be made with the whole class. Seating arranged in a horseshoe or a circle is good as pair work is easily achievable and the teacher can see all the students as well as the students being able to see each other. The teachers position is also important as it creates a different atmosphere and makes the teacher able to respond to different circumstances during a lesson. When the teacher wants the attention of the whole class it is best to be standing as it means the students know to focus on what is being said. In situations such as reading or the activate stage of the class letting the students work on their own is advisable so sitting down and monitoring the class from a distance is advisable. Creating an enjoyable and relaxed environment in the classroom is important as students will more likely contribute to the lesson and therefore be better placed at learning the new topics being taught. Creating a good environment can be done by the teacher conducting themselves in a way that gives confidence to the students and also makes the lesson more inviting for everyone to take part. The use of the voice, eye contact and gestures are one way that the teacher can act to create an enjoyable classroom. For example varying the tone of your voice and having eye contact with your students in different situations will help students stay focused on the lesson and participate at a higher rate than if you were to use a monotone voice throughout the lesson and only stare at a particular group of students. It is also important to act in certain situations correctly to make sure that there is a good rapport between the teacher and the students and that discipline can be kept in the class. Things such as being punctual, staying calm, showing respect and being consistent and fair will all mean that students will be more willing to listen to you and follow instructions that are given to them. Making sure that the behaviour of the class is good is vital even a few students being disruptive means that all students are likely to suffer and not learn in the classroom. Another important thing for a teacher to think about in managing a class is the use of group and pair work for certain study and activate parts of the lesson and also which students are to be grouped or paired together. It is important to not always have students working by themselves as this can create boredom and also lead to certain students not learning the topic successfully. There are pros and cons to using groups, pairs or individual work and it is good to get a good balance throughout the term to help increase student participation and improve the working relationship between the students. Group work is very good for increasing student talking time and also cooperation however it can lead to very noisy classrooms which make it hard for some students to concentrate on the class. It can also become difficult for the teacher to understand what students are having a difficult time understanding the lesson. Pair work is also good at improving student confidence and means that the teacher can also pair strong students with weaker students so that the strong student can help the weaker one. It is however important to pair students with people that they get on with as this means they are more likely to focus on the task at hand. Both group work and pair work however reduce the time available for the teacher to focus attention on certain students that are not understanding the topic which means some students may possibly start to fall behind in the class. The balancing of groupwork, pair work and individual work is therefore very important for a teacher to manage to make sure that the lessons become interesting and more enjoyable for the students. All methods of classroom management are therefore important for the teacher to understand and utilize to make sure that teacher student relations are good, the lessons are enjoyable and fun and that students have the best opportunity to finish each lesson learning the most that they could.