.» ~ <

~.1~~

E'j

I.~

'I

i

I

~'

I

i

X11

p

~I

fC

~~

a ii'~

??`~`..

i," ;'

— - / / ~ / ~\r

_~'.

l

~ —. -----

i

J

-.9

ALLY BROWN,~ LYN EARLAM&PHIL RACE

~'

'a;

Our aims in this

First published in 1994Second edition 1998 by Routledge

Apart Erom any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism orreview, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publicationmay only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with theprior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproductionin accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishersat the undermentioned address:

by Routledge2 Park Square, Milton Park,Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Tailor £~ Francis Group

Transferred to Digital Printing 2006

O Sally Brown, Carolyn Earlam and Phil Race, 1994, 1998

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library,

ISBN 0 7494 2835 X

Typeset by Jo Brereton, Prunary Focus, Haslington, Cheshire

Publisher's NoteThe publisher has gone to great lengfihs to ensure the quality of this reprintbut points out that some imperfections in the original maybe apparent

Chapter 1 Technimanagement1 Meeting a ci.2 Gaining atte:3 Coping with4 Learning nai5 Avoiding di;6 Using blackt7 Organizing ~8 Doing yard/9 Ensuring eqi10 Strategies fo:

Chapter 2 Planni11 Assessing pt12 Giving pupil13 Getting feed'14 Using self- a15 Making sens16 Planning sct~17 Invigilating18 Writing repo19 Preparing fo

Chapter 3 Using20 Preparing in21 Preparing le.22 Getting the r23 Organizing ~24 Making do v25 Making your26 Making effec27 Taking pupil28 Visiting mus

Chapter 4 Suppc29 Helping puF30 Helping puF31 Helping pub32 Helping puF

1 5

Help pupils to

get

to know each other (

at the

same time helping you to

get to

know them). For

exa

mple

, conduct a cla

ss round along the li

nes of

'My name is

Jean, my fav

ouri

te Ehi

ng in the wo

rld is pizza, and my pet

hate is s

pide

rs'.

M ee

ti n g a c I as s for th e f i r st

6 Show you

r pu

pils

where they're hea

ding

. Giv

e your pupils a clear idea

of what th

ey will be doing in

the

next few weeks and why the

y are do

ing

it. Hel

p them to se

e how your work with them fi

ts in with the

syllabus,

t~ m e

Nati

onal Cur

ricu

lum programmes of s

tudy and so on

.

There is no second chance to make a good fi

rst i

mpression! Fi

rst i

mpre

ssio

nsare cr

ucia

l in any work with people and non

e more so than with new pupils.

The old ada

ge 'd

on't

smile until Christmas' h

eld a gr

ain of

tru

th —it

's alw

ays

easier to loosen up lat

er than it

is to st

art t

o lay down the

law

once your cla

ssha

s decided yo

u're

soft

!

1

Don't fo

rget

to introduce yo

urse

lf —and spe

ll your name out on the

blac

kboa

rd if necessary. Pup

ils in

Pri

mary

Sch

ool us

uall

y know their

teachers quite well, and see the same tea

cher

s for

a gre

ater

proportion of

the ti

me tha

n in sec

onda

ry education. I

t can be quite stressful f

or pup

ils

to sta

rt a new sch

ool,

or a new yea

r, in which they may enc

ount

er 20 new

teachers in the sp

ace of a wee

k.

2

State cleazly what yon expect of you

r pupils —what th

ey can

and

cannot

do in

the cla

ssro

om. E

stab

lish

a few sim

ple rule

s of behaviour an

d always

stic

k to them. You may also wi

sh to invite from pupils their own

suggestions for additional groundrules.

3 Leam you

r pu

pils

' names as quickly as

you can —any in

struction i

s much

more effective if d

uetted to an individual. You

r work will also be more

effective if you never for

get that your cl

ass is made up of individuals,

and know them as su

ch.

4

Help pupils t

o learn ea

ch others' names if

they

don

't know them already.

One way of doing this is to

form them into a la

rge ci

rcle

, and

ask each

pupi

l to s

ay (for

example) 'my name is

Cheryl, and th

is is

my fr

iend Mark,

and thi

s is Clive, and

..: seeing who can

say

the

most names. Th

is hel

psyou lea

rn their names too!

7 Make sure yo

ur pup

ils know how the

y will be ass

esse

d. Which pieces

of work are

more imp

orta

nt for

ass

essm

ent,

which

areas are

revision of

mate

rial

they hav

e al

ready co

vere

d? Emphasize the

need for them to l

ook

afte

r th

eir own work and take responsibility for their own pro

gres

s,es

peci

ally

where the

re is

continuous assessment.

8

Use the first lessons to fi

nd out

what pupils al

read

y lrnow ab

out the

subj

ect and bui

ld on this in your pl

anni

ng. You cou

ld make thi

s in

to a

quiz

or get them to wr

ite something which is personal to them whi

ch will

help

you get to know them.

9

Explain which resources are avai

lable fo

r pu

pils

to use; wh

ich they can

access th

emselves and

which

reso

urce

s are

to be obtained fro

m th

e teacher,

or in

the li

brar

y or r

esou

rce ce

ntre. Encourage pup

ils t

o tak

e responsibility

for the re

sour

ces in

their classroom, f

or exa

mple

keeping an eye

on the

numbers of ru

lers

, rub

bers

, an

d so

on, ensuring that the sto

ck las

ts all

year

.

10

React fi

rmly

if any of yo

ur rules of behaviour are transgressed. T

his is

espe

cial

ly unp

orta

nt in the fi

rst few wee

ks. Show the

clas

s that you no

tice

everything tha

t is go

ing on and

aze

not wi

lling t

o ignore anything. Name

the pu

pil who has done som

ethi

ng you don

't lik

e, but be aware of

indi

vidu

al per

sona

liti

es and not

ice if what you say

is hav

ing an

ext

reme

effe

ct on any

one.

You may nee

d to

tre

ad carefully with pu

pils

who feel

insecure or ne

rvou

s. Don

't be drawn into az

gume

nts;

when you know

pupi

ls bet

ter you can be

more fl

exible.

2

3

2 Gaining attention an

d settling

a class down

Nice as i

t wou

ld be if al

l pup

ils w

ere sitting q

uief

ly, ready to

leaz

n, and at

tent

ive

at al

l tim

es, t

his i

s not the nature of th

e young of th

e human spe

cies

! Here ar

esome tip

s to

overcome human nature —but rem

embe

r th

at dif

fere

nt thi

ngs

work

for

dif

fere

nt people, so fin

d your own st

yles

.

1 Try doing nothing f

irst

Stand th

ere,

very st

ill, ab

solu

tely

quie

t. The pu

pils

clos

est w

ill n

otic

e, and the wo

rd wil

l gra

dually

spread. Give it a moment

or two bef

ore yo

u decide tha

t another tactic is

needed!

2

Don't shout (

yet)

! If a

ll is

not qu

iet,

avoid the in

stin

ct to shout '

be qui

et'

at th

e top of y

our vo

ice!

Star

t a qu

iet c

onve

rsat

ion w

ith tw

o or th

ree p

upil

swho already look ready to

list

en to you.

i3

Take

advantage of human cur

iosi

ty. It sometimes pays to

whisper!

Human nature in

cludes

not wishing to miss anything. Whisper to th

ose

clos

est t

o you, an

d many of t

he res

t wi

ll stop ta

lkin

g an

d listen.

4 Drop anon-attender in

it! Ask a question to

those

who are

alr

eady

list

enin

g, but end

with the name of so

meon

e yo

u know has not been

paying at

tent

ion.

Watch as a

ll eyes t

urn to

this

pupi

l, the e

ffec

t of som

eone

being found out by th

eir peers not to

have been li

sten

ing.

5

Have ways of ma

king

pupils li

sten

. St

art with something tha

t needs

care

ful lis

teni

ng— forexample at

ape-

reco

rdin

g or video played back qui

tequ

ietl

y.

6

People lo

ve pr

aise

. Pra

ise t

hose who are

paying at

tent

ion,

part

icul

arly

ifthey don t normally, rat

her than grumbling at t

hose pup

ils who are

not

yet paying att

enti

on.

TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE TEA

CHIN

G AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

7

Segin with a tas

k. St

art a

ses

sion

with something fo

r pupils

to do. Have

prin

ted i

nstn

zcti

ons on handout ma

teri

als,

or wr

ite the

m on

the b

lack

boazd

in advance.

8

Sele

ct some ta

rget

s. Pick on som

e'kn

own'

live-w

ires

in the cl

ass by nam

e,gi

ving

the

m pa

ztic

ular

tas

ks to do at the st

art of a les

son,

as le

ader

s of

groups of pu

pils

.

9

Don'E take chaos as a personal aff

ront

. Don't rega

rd initial chaos as

disr

espe

ct to

you. Regard it as

human nat

ure,

and na

tura

l unt

il so

mething

inte

rest

ing co

mes up.

10 Few want to

be le

ft out of

some fun! I

f you

can do th

is (w

e're not good at

it!) st

azt a le

sson

by very qu

ietl

y saying s

omething re

ally

amusing to

tho

sewho have al

read

y 's

ettl

ed down'. The re

st wil

l soon bec

ome eager to

be

included in this.

4

5

TECHrIIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE TEA

CHIN

G AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

3 Copi

ng wit

h in

terr

upti

ons

'If only I

could ju

st ge

t onw

ith myteaching!'— how oft

en have we thought th

is.

When we're int

erru

pEed

, it's nat

ural

to fe

el emotions including anger an

dfn

istr

atio

n. How

ever

, at t

hese

times, al

l eyes tend to be on us —n

ot le

ast t

o see

how we re

act The Fo

llow

ing s

ugge

stio

ns may help yo

u deal with in

terr

upti

ons

with dig

nity

.

1 Accept th

at you

are in f

act b

eing in

terr

upte

d. Tryi

ng to

carr

y on as th

ough

the s

ource of th

e int

erru

ptio

n was un

noticed tends to

do mor

e harm than

good, a

s mo

st pu

pils wil

l probably be

con

cent

rati

ng on the in

terr

upti

on,

and how you

rea

ct, r

athe

r than on wha

t yo

u ha

d been saying or doing

just, bef

ore the ev

ent.

2 Keep tra

ck of wh

ere yo

u were. Make a mental note of ex

actl

y wh

at you

were doing ju

st be

fore

an in

terr

upti

on, so th

at when you

have de

alt w

ith

it, you

can pickup the t

hreads without ha

ving to say ̀

now, where was I?

'Also, c

heck whether the

re are

connections between thi

ngs yo

u do and

the pr

obab

ilit

y of

inte

rrup

tion

s.

3

Accept th

at some in

tenvptions wi

ll be im

portant an

d ne

cess

ary.

When

this

is so, make sure th

at anyone re

spon

sibl

e fo

r th

e in

terr

upti

on is not

crit

iciz

ed or made to fe

el embarrassed.

4 Be pat

ient

with co

llea

gues

. Be pa

rtic

ular

ly car

eful

when in

terr

upte

d by

a co

llea

gue o

r ot

her member of

staff. Eve

n if th

e int

erru

ptio

n is unw

elco

mean

d unnecessar

y, it is

best

to have a qu

iet wor

d with the

person c

oncerned

later, ra

ther

than le

t any

frus

trat

ion be not

iced

by your pup

ils.

5

Turn int

erru

ptio

ns into po

siti

ve lea

rnin

g ex

peri

ence

s. When pos

sibl

e,draw use

ful l

earn

ing po

ints

from int

erru

ptio

ns by pu

pils

. The

mor

e they

feel

that

thei

r int

erru

ptio

ns ar

e taken no

tice

of, the mor

e li

kely

they ar

e to

avoid ma

king

unnecessary ones.

6

Keep individual fe

elin

gs for ind

ivid

uals

. When a par

ticu

lar pupil is

maki

ng too many int

erru

ptio

ns, t

ry to have a pri

vate

wor

d later, ra

ther

than a publi

c show of annoyance.

7 Have something to do ready for any

one who intemipts. Have a li

st of

rele

vant

ques

tion

s about th

e top

ic of

the d

ay, so th

at an

yone who in

terr

upts

can be put on the spot if nec

essa

ry with a question to answer. This can

work well at

disco

urag

ing in

terr

upti

ons!

8

Watch your distance. Move up clo

se to an

yone

who has made an

unwe

lcom

e in

terr

upti

on Pup

ils a

re much le

ss br

ave when you

're s

tand

ing

over the

m than when you'r

e at

the ot

her en

d of th

e room.

9

Look for

the causes of in

terr

upti

ons.

If th

ere ar

e fr

eque

nt in

terr

upti

ons,

it co

uld be th

at pu

pils

aze t

ired

of l

iste

ning

, and

need to

be given s

omething

defi

nite

to get on with.

Avoid the

'I'v

e sta

rted

, so Pl

l fin

isK approach.

10

Learn from colleagues. When you

hav

e the chance, observe how

coll

eagu

es cope with in

temz

ptio

ns. The

mor

e tech

niqu

es you

have at

your

disp

osal

, the mor

e ve

rsat

ile your approach becomes.

6

7

~_ _

_ --y--~

, r.

_ _--

lear

ning

names

You wi

ll know yourself how ir

rita

ting

it is

when peo

ple f

orge

t you

r own nam

e.Calling someone by

name mak

es any mes

sage

you wis

h to communicate al

lth

e stronger a

nd more personal. How

ever

, we of

ten see

m to

have a

whole bun

chof

new names to

tac

kle at

onc

e: th

e fol

lowi

ng suggestions may help you wi

ththis tas

k. The

re wil

l al

ways

be so

me nam

es that a

re ver

y ha

rd to re

memb

er,

but iY

s worth ma

king

the

eff

orh you maybe the only person who doe

s le

arn

such

nam

es.

1 Le

t pupils dec

ide th

eir names! Ask

your pu

pils

to te

ll you th

e version of

thei

r name th

ey wis

h to

be lrnown by an

d at

temp

t to c

all the

m by

it un

less

it is

too

daft f

or you to

cop

e wi

th. M

icha

el mig

ht hate bein

g ca

lled

Mick,

but Sa

lim might prefer Sa

l.

2 B e ca

zefu

l with ni

ckna

mes.

Be ca

utious ab

out u

sing

nic

knam

es th

at se

eminnocuous e

nough to us, but c

ause

the las

s to f

all about hy

ster

ical

ly ev

ery

time you use it

. It may well be that you are un

wittingly b

eing dra

wn in

tous

ing an unknown (t

o you) vu

lgar expression!

3

Addr

ess questions to named pup

ils.

To help you to ge

t to

know some

naznes, choose pe

ople

fro

m th

e class l

ist t

o an

swer

(eas

y) qu

esti

ons a

ndbi

t by bi

t mem

oriz

e the respondents' na

mes.

4 Make a map of th

e names. Use a seating plan to note names of

pupils

next to

where the

y az

e sitting a

nd try

Eo en

cour

age th

em to sit t

here fo

rthe fi

rst few

les

sons

until y

ou are more fa

mili

ar with the class.

5

Once you've got t

hem,

nse them. Onc

e you lr

now some names, use them

every tune you

speak to those pu

pils

(without le

tting t

hem feel the

y az

ebeing pi

cked

on!).

,.

~:__

TECFINIQUES FOR EFF

ECTI

VE TEACHING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

6 Make names visual. Some pupils will be happy to we

ar name la

bels

for

the first few day

s of a session, o

r you cou

ld use fol

ded cardboard name

labels on the

desk: remember to ge

t them to wr

ite their names in really

larg

e le

tter

s.

7 One step at

a tim

e! Con

cent

rate

on fir

st names for

the

fir

st par

t of

the'

school yea

r, and pick up the sur

name

s as

you go on.

8

Take care wi

th the repetitions. Find out any pupils who sha

re a first

name and

learn these fir

st, once you have le

arne

d th

e th

ree Matthews,

two Tra

ceys

and four Alis you hav

e made a good start!

9

Make sure you have th

eir names ri

ght.

Che

ck you aze

usi

ng the

correct

names fo

r pu

pils

and

encourage them to co

rrect you if

you ge

t them wrong.

Also

che

ck out how to pr

onou

nce un

fami

liar

nam

es. I

ds dreadful t

o fin

dou

t at t

he end of t

he year th

at you have be

en ge

tting o

ne wrong fro

m th

ebeginning.

10 Be persistent. Don

't expect to

lea

rn all the

nam

es all at on

ce: b

uild up

gradually over the

wee

ks. Do

n't be

too

har

d on you

rsel

f if you never

master all of the names, es

peci

ally

if you tea

ch lots of dif

fere

nt gro

ups.

But do you

r be

st: p

upil

s do ten

d to be critical of t

eachers who don't make

an eff

ort to learn nam

es.

8

9

TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE TEA

CHIN

G AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

5 Avoiding dis

rupt

ion in

your

CI 1S S

This is

an ar

ea a gre

at deal ea

sier

to wr

ite about than to fo

llow

through —bu

twe al

l keep ba

ttli

ng aga

inst

the unp

redi

ctab

ilit

y of the human fa

ctor

!

1 Es

tabl

ish a f

ew, c

leaz

rule

s for behaviour in

your cl

ass.

If po

ssib

le in

volv

ethe pu

pils

in the development of the

se rul

es. The

mor

e ownership yo

ucan allow th

em to fe

el regarding the rul

es, t

he mor

e li

kely

they ar

e to

at

leas

t try

to f

ollow them.

2

Rewazd goo

d behaviour immediately with pos

itiv

e feedback — a smile

or a few

wor

ds of pr

aise

or encouragement. Try als

o to

ensure th

at you

are q

uick to

rewazd the go

od behaviour of any

pupi

ls who az

e of

ten gu

ilty

of bad

behaviour —they may re

ally

respond to some pos

itiv

e feedback.

3

Deal

with an

y misdemeanours before they become major inc

iden

ts.

Often, it is

best

to deal w

ith minor i

ncid

ents

as pr

ivat

ely a

s yo

u ca

n. Public

conf

ront

atio

ns arouse too much in

tere

st!

4

Establish what th

e sanctions w

illbe fox t

rans

gres

sing

the ru

les.

Ensure

that

such sa

ncri

ons ar

e reasonable and

pra

ctic

able

.

5

Avoid unreasonable exp

ecta

tion

s of pupils —but don't demean the

mei

ther

. Ensure tha

t the le

vel of the wor

k yo

u se

t is

sui

tabl

e fo

r all th

ein

divi

dual

s within the group, an

d th

at pup

ils ex

peri

enci

ng difficulties

have manageable ta

rget

s. Duec

t th

e emphasis of your co

mmen

ts to

wards

the wo

rk or la

ck of it. This invo

lves

get

ting

to know wha

t each pupil is

capable of

, and

set

ting

realistic t

arge

ts.

6

Look fo

r sig

nals

. Beadaptable — change the pace or co

nten

t of a le

sson

as

soon as yo

u re

aliz

e it is not working we

ll. Changing approach on the

basi

s of fe

edback you

rec

eive

is a str

engt

h, no

t a weakness!

7

If a par

ticu

lar p

upil is

causing problems, immediately r

emov

e th

is pupil

to another par

t of t

he room. Th

is is

a way of d

emonstrating tha

t yo

u have

observed the problem, and

also

pro

vide

s such a pupil w

ith t

he op

port

unit

yto

sta

rt af

resh

.

8

Provide '

cool

ing-of

f' ti

me. I

f yo

u — or a pupil —lose your temper, t

ry to

allow a fe

w minutes fo

r yo

u both to calm down: ta

ke the

pupil in

volved

out fro

m the room fo

r a sh

ort wh

ile.

It can pave the way towards pr

ogre

ssto

say something along the lin

es 'I

'm sor

ry thi

s happened. How can we

make sure th

at th

is sor

t of th

ing does

n't happen aga

in?'

9

Inve

stig

ate the causes of ba

d behaviour. Talk to a pupil who has caused

problems away from the cl

ass,

on a one to one ba

sis an

d tr

y to

fin

d out

the reasons fo

r misbehavio

ur. Sometimes, t

he reasons (o

nce known) wi

llbe

very understandable and

for

giva

ble.

10 Have ready something int

eres

ting

to give the cla

ss to do. This

can be

invalu

able when you

need tune to

calm down yo

urse

lf, or when you

need

to have those few

qui

et wor

ds outsi

de the door with an in

divi

dual

pupil

who has been causing problems. Prepare a ve

rbal

quiz or game for

the

last

ten minutes, e

ithe

r as a rewazd fo

r wo

rk well done, o

r because yo

uhave fin

ishe

d a us

eful

acti

vity

and

need a change.

10

11

TECFINIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE TEA

CHIN

G AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

l~J

~~ Using bl

ackb

oard

s

Ther

e's a blackboard or whiteboard in most tea

chin

g rooms. We sometimes

feel

so cl

ose to

this

in our pr

ofes

sion

al li

ves t

hat t

he ter

m'li

fe at t

he cha

lkfa

ce'

is in

common use! How we use th

e most st

raig

htfo

rwar

d ofourvisual a

ids c

anmake a big dif

fere

nce to

how much our pup

ils barn.

1 How vis

ible

aze

your etch

ings

? Check th

at the siz

e of your wr

itin

g is

such tha

t the pupils who are

furt

hest

away from th

e board can read wha

tyo

u puE on the boazd.

2 Aim for the top! E

nsure th

at you make goo

d use of th

e upper ha

lf of th

eboard, and

only use th

e re

st of the board

if you

know tha

t pu

pils

at th

eback aze

n't s

creened from viewing by tho

se clo

ser t

o the board.

3 Show your agenda. Us

e the board to

wri

te que

stio

ns tha

t you

will

be

disc

ussi

ng, so pu

pils

can continue to

see the que

stio

ns as yo

u develop

with the

m the answers.

4

If you

are l

eft-

hand

ed, you

may fi

nd wri

ting

on the blackboard di

ffic

ult

This is

not your in

epti

tude

, but be

cause yo

u ar

e pushing th

e ch

alk.

It has

taken some tea

cher

s ye

ars o

f dis

tres

s to di

scov

er th

is! Left-handed chalk-

users (

e.g.

PR) sometimes f

ind th

at st

anding a li

ttle mor

e to

the ri

ght t

han

usua

l, and

pul

ling

the cha

lk tha

t bi

t more, he

lps improve th

e si

tuat

ion.

5

Be heazd as well as seen. D

on't ta

lk to the cl

ass while yo

u're

wri

ting

on

the b

oard with your ba

ck to

your pu

pils

. When po

ssib

le, arrange th

e roo

mso th

at you

can maintain eye-co

ntac

t with most of

your pu

pils

even while

-yo

u're

wri

ting

on the board.

6

Be prepazed! Whe

neve

r yo

u have the chance, prepare a blackboard in

advance fo

r a cl

ass,

so tha

t pu

pils

can see an ou

tlin

e of th

e th

ings

you

're

going to

tal

k about in the forthcoming le

sson

str

aigh

tawa

y.

7

Get your pup

ils'

wor

ds on the blackboard. Whe

neve

r yo

u ca

n, us

e the

blackboard to wr

ite up thi

ngs th

at pupils

tell yoi

z in answer to

your

questions, so that they ca

n see th

eir thinking being valued and

.acknowledged by you. When pup

ils see yo

u wr

ite up (h

eir words, th

eir

ownership of wha

t is going on is in

crea

sed,

and

the

ir att

enti

on may

improve.

8

Let pupils have a Eurn wiEh the ch

alk. Make the blackboard '

ever

yone

's'

terr

itor

y. Ask pup

ils to

wri

te thi

ngs on it, for

example, qu

esti

ons they

want

to ask, ideas they wa

nt to

dis

cuss

, and

int

eres

ting

thi

ngs they wan

tto

tal

k about.

9

Use the blackboard as a classroom res

ourc

e. Give groups of pu

pils

'blackboard ta

sks'

, for

example when st

arti

ng a new top

ic, ask groups to

comp

ose an

d wr

ite up 't

en que

stio

ns we wan

t to

know about i~

.

10 Be car

eful

with the rubber! Be

fore

you

era

se com

ment

s suggested or

writ

ten by pup

ils,

give a fu

rthe

r acknowledgement of the value of th

ese

comments.

12

13

---

~. E~_

_ . _ _-

----

___-

_ .__

____..

__ ---

_ .___

_ J

TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE TEA

CHIN

G AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

7~ Organizing pr

acti

cal lessons

Prac

f~ca

l les

sons

can so ea

sily

turn in

to chaos if

not well or

gani

zed, however

well planned the conEent is

. Don't try

anything new with a cl

ass un

less

you

have don

e it you

rsel

f in advance and

know it wo

rks —and save time in

demonstrating by showing 't

he one

you

made ea

rlier'.

1 Pu

t sa

fety

first. There is a wid

e range of sa

fety

leg

isla

tion

, par

ticu

larl

ycovering equipment and

mat

eria

ls th

at az

e po

tent

iall

y hazardous. I

f your

work involves dangerous th

ings

, tak

e every opportunity to

get you

rsel

fsome rel

evan

t sa

fety

tra

inin

g. If

something were to

go wrong, th

e buck

could re

st with you.

2

Chec

k through the ma

teri

als y

ou re

quir

e bef

ore the l

esson starts. Ensure

they ar

e prepared fo

r use

. You can waste many minutes (seems li

ke hours)

tryi

ng to unscrew a ja

r wh

ilst

the cl

ass g

ets bored an

d runs ri

ot.

3

Asse

mble

your ma

tezi

als in lab

elle

d boxes or tra

ys. T

his is well worth

doing when it

is a les

son yo

u wi

ll rep

eat,

and

can save yo

u much time

organizing the same mat

eria

ls in

fut

ure.

4

Enga

ge the help of the cla

ss. Let pup

ils help to di

stri

bute

mat

eria

ls and

equipment, and in cle

anin

g up at the end of th

e se

ssio

n. It

wil

l save yo

utime and

help pupils lea

rn how to look aft

er res

ourc

es. Allow ple

nty of

time fo

r cl

eari

ng up;

it may take much lo

nger than yo

u th

ink in

the

ear

lyst

ages

.

5

Make sure yo

u have eno

ugh ma

teri

als for everyone. Or at le

ast have

enou

gh for

pup

ils to

wor

k in pai

rs. When pup

ils ar

e not fu

lly involved

themselves, they tend to

experiment in way

s of which you

wou

ld not

approve!

6

Give sho

rt, c

lear

inst

ruct

ions

about the tas

k re

quir

ed. Ask que

stio

ns of

those pupils

who see

m not to

be co

ncen

trat

ing to

ensure th

at they have

understood. T

heir re

peti

tion

of t

he require

ments of th

e ta

sk wil

l rei

nfor

cethe in

stru

ctio

ns to the ot

hers

.

7 Make demonstrations snappy. When you

are

demonstrating an ac

tivi

tyor an experiment it

is easy to

take so long ex

plai

ning

the

'rig

ht' way of

doing something th

at pupil

s who are

itc

hing

to tr

y it themselves at

first

beco

me turned off.

8

Esta

blis

h firm ru

les of behaviour. D

isru

ptio

n or si

lliness may prove not

only co

unter-pr

oduc

tive

to le

arni

ng, but ca

n tu

rn out to

be very da

ngerous,

for example if

your cl

ass i

s working with chem

ical

s or electrical eq

uipment.

9

Avoid the ne

cess

ity f

or pupils t

o qu

eue for your advice or opinion

. Teach

pupils to be

self-reliant an

d re

sour

cefu

l, and

to help each ot

her if Ehey

can'

t do something or fi

nd something.

1 Q

Bring the cl

ass back together at

inte

rval

s. Ta

lk to the whole lass during

activities. Everyone may be working at

a dif

fere

nt ra

te, and

some pup

ils

will

need th

is str

uctu

re to avoid being left behind. .

11

Evaluate the ac

tivi

ty. Make time towards the en

d of a pra

ctic

al le

sson

for

some kind of eva

luat

ion.

You may not have ha

d time to get round to

every in

divi

dual

, and

in th

is way you

can ensure th

at al

l pup

ils re

ceiv

esome fe

edback.

14

15

n j iI ~a

Doin

g yard/bus/break duties

painlessly

TECHNIQUES FOR EFF

ECTI

VE TEACHING AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

6

Pave the way

. Try to be es

peci

ally

wel

l-pr

epar

ed in ad

vanc

e if you know

you will be teaching immediately af

ter a duty. This can ensure that you

are not to

o flustered at

the sta

rt of th

e ensuing le

sson

. Gi

ve the

cla

ssso

meth

ing to

do that really keeps them bus

y while you get

you

r breath

back!

7 Have con

ting

ency

pla

ns for what to do if th

ings

go wrong. Ch

eck out

what the sch

ool po

licy

is on minor accidents or incidents. With yo

unge

rpupils, i

t may be useful to

hav

e re

adil

y avai

labl

e su

ppli

es of antiseptic

wipes and plasters.

8

Keep you

r ey

es peeled! It

isn'

t po

ssib

le to ha

ve your eyes eve

rywh

ere,

but you can oft

en prevent trouble by ste

ppin

g in before it

happens. The

price of pea

ce is

ete

rnal

vigilance!

'Oh no, not a

ll th

is as well?' you may hav

e exclaimed, when fi

rst you discovered

9th

at you were expected to do suc

h duties! Sa

dly,

bei

ng a teacher is no

t just

abou

t te

achi

ng. We also ne

ed to help kee

p the sc

hool

goi

ng dur

ing th

e ti

mes

when we're not te

achi

ng. The following sug

gest

ions

may hel

p you tac

kle th

iswith equanimity!

101

Get a whi

stle

! Don t wo

rry th

at they aze a bit old-fashioned. They can

help you gai

n at

tent

ion in noi

sy cir

cums

tanc

es — as long as you don t

over-use them.

2 Make sole you know the

rul

es. Know what is

all

owed

and what is

not.

Try to

get a tha

roug

h briefing from an experienced colleague who can

show you the ropes.

3 Be seen, and hea

zd! Should you nee

d to ent

er the to

ilet

s or go behind the

bike

shed, announce yo

ur pre

senc

e lo

udly

. You are

less li

kely

to have

unpl

easa

nt su

rprises that way!

4

Wrap up wazm on col

d da

ys — and be pre

pare

d for rain! Suc

h duties aze

made more miserable tha

n ever if

you are uns

uita

bly dr

esse

d. If

you can

get a hot dri

nk as we

ll, so much the

bet

ter.

5

Try pa

irin

g up wit

h a colleague. If

your du

ties

turn ou

t to be a hard

chor

e for yo

u, you can either ke

ep each ot

her company or co

ver ea

chot

her fo

r sh

ort periods so

that you each get some sort of

bre

ak. A 20-

minute yazd-duty can fe

el a lo

t lon

ger than two 10 -minute half -du

ties

. If

possible, shadow a colleague on the re

leva

nt duty before your actual tu

rncomes up, so

tha

t you know what may be expected of you before you

tack

le it

on you

r own.

If fights br

eak ou

t, thi

nk carefully about your interventions. You can

rest

rain

pup

ils us

ing 'reasonable force' where the

safety of a pup

il or a

coll

eagu

e is t

hreate

ned, but th

ese c

ondi

tion

s may not be easy to

interpret.

Under no cir

cums

tanc

es sho

uld you ever strike a pup

il.

Use suc

h duties as oc

casi

ons when you can

bui

ld up good

relations

with

pup

ils outside the classroom. Be

careful, ho

weve

r, not t

o pu

t yourself

at ri

sk of see

ming

to ha

ve fa

vour

ites

, or of gi

ving exc

essi

vely

exc

epti

onal

atte

ntio

n to

par

ticu

lar in

divi

dual

pup

ils.

16

17