Přednášky - topic 4, 5, 6

Classroom Management

What is classroom management?

• The skill of creating the conditions in which learning can take place

• Organisational skills and techniques

• Learners are part of management – you have to know your learners

• Classroom management involves both decisions and actions

  • What do we have to decide on?

    • We have a plan to teach, how to teach

    • Change the strategy (when we see that students don’t work, they are bored)

    • Choose possibilities

• There is no perfect lesson

Teacher in the classroom

• Proximity – distance of the teacher from students

• Appropriacy – you use appropriate language, you don’t look on students from top

• Movement – you shouldn’t just sit at the desk, should move appropriately

• Awareness – you should be aware of the situation – if students don’t follow instructions

Classroom management

1. Grouping and seating

2. Activities (sequencing, starting, ending, timing)

3. Giving instructions, teacher‘s body language, speaking clearly and appropriately

4. Giving feedback, encouraging, error correction

5. Authority, discipline, attention

6. Starting and ending lessons

7. Tools and techniques

1. Grouping and seating

• Forming groups, singles, pairs, mingle, plenary

• Arranging and rearranging seating – might be in horseshoe, in circle

• Deciding where you will stand or sit

• Reforming class as a whole group after activities

1. Whole-class teaching

Advantages:

• It reinforces a sense of belonging among the group members (sharing amusement, emotions)

• Is suitable for giving explanations and instructions

• Is more cost-efficient (material and organisation-wise)

• Is good for the teacher to see general understanding of student progress

• The students and teachers feel secure (students listen), well-organised

• Students are more confident

Disadvantages:

• It favours the group, individual students do not have much chance to say anything on their own

• Many students are disinclined to participate

• It is not suitable for communicative language teaching, task-based activities

1. Pair-work

Advantages:

• Increase of students time talk

• Teacher should observe and decide if it is possible to work in pairs (some students don’t like other students)

• Students work and interact independently - promotes learner independence

• It allows the teacher to work with one or two pairs while the others continue working

• Promotes cooperation, sharing responsibility

• Quick and easy to organize

Disadvantages:

• Noisy and some teachers and students dislike it

• Change the topic and the point of the activity

• Not popular with some students

• Choice of partner can be problematic

1. Group-work

Advantages:

• Students talking time is higher

• Dramatically increases the amount of talking for individual students

• Personal relationships are less problematic

• Encourages broader skills of cooperation and negotiation than pair-work

• Promotes learner autonomy – making their own decisions in the group

• The students can choose their level of participation

Disadvantages:

• Noisy

• Not all students enjoy it

• Roles that become fossilized

• Longer to organise than pairs

• Beginning and ending may be chaotic

• Students who are quiet all the time/students who talk all the time