Class Management

The main lesson that I've picked up over the week is class management.

I found it interesting to observe how the different teachers managed their respective classes:

In the Primary 2 Social Studies lesson that I observed, the teacher calls the class to sit down on the floor so that it will be easier for her to observe them when they are involved in a group task. When she wants to send her pupils back to their seats after gathering them in front of the class, she uses the words: Ready, Get Set, Go. At first, the pupils are seated on the floor, but when she says 'Ready', they will squat, 'Get Set', stand up, and when she says 'Go', they will move back to their seats quietly.

This is quite a good way to send the pupils back to their seats, as they can treat it as a game and at the same time, the teacher can send the pupils back without them making too much noise, as they need to be quiet in order to listen out for her instructions.

In the Primary 6 Social Studies lesson, the teacher naturally has a loud voice, so it was easier for him to manage the class. He also has a different management style has compared to the teacher teaching the Primary 2 class. While she was firm and seemed to adopt a disciplinarian style, always insisting that the pupils raise their hands before speaking, he allowed the pupils to volunteer ideas freely, reminding them to keep their volume down when they got a bit excited.

Somewhere in the middle was the teacher for the Social Studies lesson. While firm, she also allowed her pupils to express their ideas, though her class seemed a bit quiet and she was constantly encouraging them to do so. Maybe it was because there were 2 other strangers (Michelle and me) in the class.

I guess this all boils down to a few factors - the pupils' behaviour in general, the camaraderie between the teacher and his/her pupils, and the teacher's teaching style. So as long as both the teacher and pupils are comfortable with it, it doesn't matter what style you adopt.

I have always wondered about my classroom management style, as I've realized that I tend to smile a lot and don't really like to raise my voice. But this would result in the pupils misbehaving in my lesson. So I guess that I am going to need to do something about this and be more firm when dealing with pupils. While it would be good to show concern for them and be nice to them, that should come later, when you have ensured that they will listen to you if you are upset.