Lecture 6

26/11/2018
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT?
 I talked too much when I was giving instructions &
might have even confused some SS.
 I didn’t think of ending the lesson properly, which
was an obvious weakness of my plan.
 My body language – my presence seemed
unnatural.
 The main problem was some girls chatting in the
back row.
 Time management – I still can’t predict how much
time is necessary for a particular activity.
 ACTIVITIES GROUPING & SEATING

 Setting up activities  Forming groups

 Giving instructions  Arranging seating
 Checking  Deciding where you
understanding of instr. will stand/sit
 Monitoring activities  Reforming class as a
 Timing activities whole group after
 Bringing activities to activities
an end
 AUTHORITY CRITICAL MOMENTS

 Gathering & holding  Starting the lesson

attention  Dealing with
 Deciding who does unexpected problems
what  Maintaining discipline
 Establishing &  Finishing the lesson
relinquishing authority
 Getting someone to do
something
TOOLS &TECHNIQUES WORKING WITH SS

 Using the  Spreading your

board/equipment/aids attention evenly
 Using gestures  Using intuition to
 Speaking clearly + gauge SS feelings
volume & speed  Eliciting honest
 Use of silence feedback from SS
 Grading complexity/  Really listening to SS
quantity of language
 A brisk start: promptly engaging SS in useful
activity Why? What? How?
 if not, idling&chatter leading to cumulative disorder
 warm-up, checking HW, revision, brainstorming
 prepare in advance: materials, equipment, board

 Carefully planning the end of each lesson

Why? What? How?
 almost over: opportunities for trouble making
 recapitulation, consolidation, quiz, game
 time-management, positive feedback
 Tell the students what will be done in the lesson or
what the goals are... or maybe not?
 Variety and pace to maintain momentum, smooth
transitions
 Concluding an activity
• give an early warning that it will be time to stop in
‘two minutes precisely’
• supplementary activities for those who finish first
• get SS’ attention (clapping your hands, a “hand-
pinch motion”, a loud ‘Thank you...’, eye contact,
raising your hand and asking the SS to do the same)
 Proximity: how close you want to stand to your SS
 Appropriacy: how close you want to work with the
students (sitting on the edge of the desk, behind
your desk, crouching down – pair work)
 Movement: motionless teachers bore students; if
too much movement exhausting – balance
To move or not to move: a quiet S; monitoring;
group reporting; trouble spots;
 Contact: eye contact (“lighthouse technique”),
listening and responding appropriately
 My weakness in the first 5 minutes was that I wasn’t
moving around the classroom – I liked being safe
near the board. Then I remembered that poor boy in
the video, so I started moving.
 I didn’t quite make an eye-contact with the pupils (I
was afraid that they wouldn’t like me).
 The host teacher told me the SS said they loved the
way I was able to connect with them and show
interest in their personalities by asking additional
questions related to what they have said.
 Audibility: the right balance between audibility and
volume (quiet teacher – quiet class, but inaudible
teacher – insufferable class)
 Variety: you should vary your voice, depending on
the activity or type of lesson (one voice for giving
instructions and/or introducing a new topic, another
for chatting informally) – speaking quietly is more
effective than shouting, but also if you almost never
raise your voice, a dramatic shout can sometimes be
very effective
 Conservation: conserve your vocal energy
 OK, everybody, would you, Maria, sit down. Now
what you have to do is, when you, you take this
sheet of paper that I’m handing out now and keep it
secret, and some of you are ‘A’, it’s written at the
top, and some are labelled ‘B’. OK, can you see that?
Don’t show your paper to anyone and then you have
to describe to your partner; sit face to face. Could
you move your chairs around and describe what’s on
your paper so that your partner can find out what’s
different, and you must agree; when you find sth,
draw it on your paper. OK? Do you understand?
 Prerequisite: SS’ undivided attention
 Analyse the instructions beforehand
 Sequence it in a sensible order
 Use short sentences – 1 for each key piece of info
 Use simple language
 Don’t say things that are obvious (I’m giving you a
piece of paper.)
 Don’t give instructions that they don’t need to know
at that point (what they’ll do after the activity)
 Silence, authoritative tone, gestures
 Check that SS have understood what to do. How?
 Say Sit opposite your partner.
 Wait while they move.
 Some of you are ‘A’ (gesture to letter A on the HO).
 Some are ‘B’ (gesture).
 Don’t show your paper to anyone (mime hiding).
 Distribute the handout.
 Some things in picture A are different from pic. B.
 Describe your picture.
 When you find sth different, draw it (mime).
 OK, what are you going to do?
 Ask one student to come out in front of the class
and sit opposite you.
 Give the HO to the S & take 1 yourself, making a big
show of keeping the HOs secret from each other.
 Pretend to be student A and do one complete
example with student B: (eg. A: Have you got a tree
in your picture? B: Yes. A: Is there a bird on top of
the tree? B: No. A: Oh, so that’s one difference in
my picture: there is a bird on the tree.)
 Distribute HOs: Now you do the same. A and B.
Find 10 differences.
 The first 30 seconds: ’monitoring to check the
mechanics’ – whether SS have understood the
instructions & are doing what they are supposed to
 Monitor actively (visible, resource, advice,
correction)
 Participate (join a group/groups, alert to what
others are doing)
 Monitor discretely (you want them to use their own
resources)
 Vanish (get out of immediate eyeshot)
 Analyse the lesson in terms of classroom
management