CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

I am going to make a brief synthesis of all what has been discussed in class on ‘Classroom Management Techniques’. I must say that this is a very interesting topic and I am sure that all these advices will be very useful to me for my teaching career.

The first aspect we must take into account is that it is essential for a teacher to be authentic. As  Carl Rogers says:

´The teacher can be a real person in her relationship with her students. He can be enthusiastic, can be bored, can be interested in students, can be angry, can be sensitive and sympathetic… Thus, he is a person to his students, no a faceless embodiment of a curricular requirement nor a sterile tube through which knowledge is passed from one generation to the next´.

Starting from this idea, we must be aware that a teacher needn’t always be a perfect model to follow. A good teacher must remember: ‘you don’t have to be on that stage being THE TEACHER’. It is more important being yourself and be sure that if you make mistakes and fall down, you will be able to stand up and go ahead.

According to Sue Cowley, we must stop acting and be ourselves:

´A stage on which to perform… A show to present… An audience watching your every move… A character to step into… When you are on that stage, ´being´ the teacher, you´re not playing yourself´

Be oneself is the best way to establish a good rapport with students

Some advices:

• Don´t try to be ´The Teacher’.  Be real and always say what you feel
• Have real conversation
• Don´t pretend omniscience. Students may often ask you about things you do not know. Don’t worry about that. Find and learn the solution together.
• Be appropriately authoritative.
• Be wary of staffroom advice.

WHAT IS RAPPORT?

´The quality of the relationship in a classroom: teacher-student and student-student. It is not primarily technique-driven, but grows naturally when people like each other and get on together´. Scrivener.

Some ideas that can be useful to create good rapport:

• Be welcoming, encouraging and approachable.
• Treat students as individuals.
• Remember positive things about your pupils.
• Empathize.
• Be yourself.
• Don´t fake happiness.
• Be culturally sensitive.
• Avoid sarcasm.

Questions for reflection:

• Is it a good idea to be authentic in class?

Teachers are ordinary people who may commit failures and be wrong. Therefore,   as teachers we shouldn’t hide it to students.  We must recognize our limitations and investigate and learn with students when necessary.

If we work with little kids (preschool or primary education), we should control our emotions to avoid a negative impact on students.  However, when dealing with older students, there should not be any barrier that prevents students from detecting the teacher’s mood. Everybody may have a problem or a bad day, but when it comes to teachers, nothing will happen if students notice it and the teacher has a trusting relationship with them. Anyway, we should never let our mood affect the way we treat our students. That is to say, if for any reason we are angry, we shouldn’t take it out on students because they are not to blame for it. 

• Am I being myself in this class? Am I being real or acting?

My personal experience makes me realize that students work better if we are ourselves and have a close relationship with them, without going beyond the limits established between teacher and student.

The answer to the second question should be the same. We should show ourselves as we are and share with students those personal experiences that can be useful for them to learn.

NEURO LINGUISTIC PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES

NLP Techniques are an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created in the 1970s. The title refers to an asserted connection between the neurological processes, language, and behavioural patterns that have been learned through experience.  

Therefore, they are a communication model mainly based on the relationship between behaviours. Also, it constitutes an alternative therapeutic system that tries to educate people in auto science and effective communication, as well change their mental and emotional behavior models. The NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is based on the influence of language on our mental programming and other functions of our nervous system, as well as the linguistic patterns we use.

NLP Techniques:

• Mirroring:  We must change our body language when someone speaks to us; if the person speaking starts to imitate our movements, we will feel more comfortable.
• Pacing.
• Leading.

Another interesting aspect we deal with is: Is it Ok to be friends with students?

Three currents stand out:

1. Students are workers.
2. Students are students.
3. Students are people.

The least adequate current that we should avoid is ‘Students and workers’. If we had to choose one of them, it could be good to strike a balance between the second and third current. That is to say, a balance where we value students as individuals who may need our help.

LISTENING:

1. Conversational.
2. Analytical.
3. Supportive.

Following the example we saw in class, it is important to be sure what type of exercise we want to do because depending on our objective, sometimes we will have to correct some mistakes. 

• What is more important message or language?

To answer this question, it will depend on the objective set in the exercise. If we only have asked him to communicate it, we will not correct him. However, if it is a specific exercise, we will do it.

In addition, it is also important to see if we have focused on getting that the student communicates. It is no sense that we stop to analyze the problem.

Reached this point, I think it is important to consider the type of ‘listening’ that we are used to do: 

• How do you listen in class?

I usually get closer to ‘listening with full attention’, mainly in those subjects I am interested in. However, even when it is about topics that aren’t so interesting to me, I use to have this degree of attention. In any case, I usually do it in a passive way.

• How do you listen in day-to-day life?

In this point, I might be in an average position of the table ‘listening in an interested way’, though whenever they have told me something that does not interest me, it takes me a long time to remember it. This makes me think that this is a clear sign of considering myself included in ‘listening in a distracted way’

• Do you think the kind of listening you do is important?

Personally, I think it is really essential to increase motivation among our students, improving their attention in ‘listening’.  In this way, the rate of school failure and bad results could decline significantly.

In Spain we have serious problems to motivate students and make them take interest in the new concepts they learn in class. Therefore, as teachers we should keep in mind this idea and do our best to get that students take interest, participate and pay attention to us.