Job Discussion Forums

[cmp45]

yell loudly short abrupt bursts Hello?...Hello? ...Hello? until they stop talking...if they persist in talking keep shouting hello... they will eventually stop. Then say Thank you, loudly and smile! and then launch into your lesson quickly while you have their attention!

[spiral78]

Not certain that CELTA trainers would approve this either

[naturegirl321]

Probably not, but passing a training course and surviving in the classroom are commpletely different.

Glaring at them unti they're silent tends to work as well

[arioch36]

CMP

[Kootvela]

[Justin Trullinger]

I feel like a lot of nonsense is getting mouthed on this thread re "student centered" teaching. Nobody sane EVER said that student centered means student controlled.


I kind of like the term "learning centered" myself- but some thoughts:

[Jetgirly]

Thinking back to my CELTA course, one thing that was on my side was that I had a very good relationship with my students outside of class. I accepted all of their invitations to go out for drinks, to nightclubs, etc. (always with other CELTA trainees along too). I think that if you spent some time with your students outside of the classroom environment, they might treat you more respectfully. That's also a strategy I used when teaching adults in Italy, but it was more like hanging around for coffee by the coffee machine after class (which happened at least once a day) rather than going out in the evenings (which happened maybe twice a month or so).

I am currently teaching at a wealthy private high school in Mexico and have documented my classroom management problems in novel form at http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=60104. Basically, the school's culture is one of disrespect and while I haven't given up on student learning, I have given up on classroom management. The following strategies have failed:

- Seating plans (they will shout across the room and/or wander around during lessons).
- Having disruptive students work at desks outside the room (they will- I swear to God- just walk across the street to Starbucks).
- Having students stay after class (they will leave unless I physically restrain them, which obviously I am not going to do).
- Assigning a grade for participation, which includes behavior (if they get a low mark, administration will just change it).
- Sending students who are disruptive and DANGEROUS (!) to the office (there is no guarantee an administrator will be there)
- Organizing appointments between students who have filled out Behaviour Reflection Forms and members of administration (administration doesn't show up)
- Shouting (I won't do it because I am worried about long-term vocal chord damage, but I've seen other teachers and administrators shout at my students and my students just shout right back at them)
- Waiting for silence (they will simply talk right through to the end of the lesson- sooner or later I just have to start talking over them so that the handful of students who want to learn something get the opportunity).

What am I supposed to do if a student punches another student so I send them to the office, but nobody is there? I can remove the student from the room and have them work in the hall, but they'll just go to Starbucks. If I tell administration the student went to Starbucks, they'll tell the student not to do it again. When the student does it a second time, admin will tell that student not to do it again. When the student does it a third time, admin will tell the student not to do it again. And so on and so on.

When the school has a billion rules about behavior and clearly set out consequences for improper behavior, but never enforces its own rules, and when school administration is more interested in keeping paying customers (aka students) than ensuring that those customers actually learn, there is virtually no hope. I saw a final exam for a Spanish Lit course where one of the questions was: "What is the word for a story that usually involves mythological creatures and is passed down from generation to generation? a) film b) legend c) song" Gotta keep the grades up for all those parents paying a lot of money for their kids to get a good education...

I fully recognize the difference between student-centred learning and student-controlled classrooms. Unfortunately, I am teaching at a student-controlled school. I can't come in for fifty minutes a day and expect my students' behaviour to magically be different than it is for their other seven classes. All I can do is count down the days until the term is over!

[cmp45]

I think it is safe to say that teaching at the secondary level is difficult no matter how one analyzes it.

As for teacher trainees being evaluated; it depends a great deal with who is doing the evaluating and the type of students you have to work with.

Confidence, humor and ability to use facial expressions, and voice tone can all help to some degree to manage student' behavior. The trick is discovering what works for you. Not so easy when you have limited time to prove your abilities while being assessed by an teacher trainer.

I still stand by what I said earlier, a little 'shock and awe' treatment by the use of an abrupt change of voice can get a student's attention, however, will a teacher trainer approve??? perhaps- perhaps not, so do what works best for you, watch closely how other successful trainees are doing it and emulate them.

If you are teaching teenagers...may god help you. They- teachers and students are both in a whole category of their own when it comes to classroom management.

[arioch36]

Justin