Concerning the Teacher: Classroom Management (Part II)

Education
[Click here to go to Part I]
Some Things to Keep in Mind (cont'd)

5.  If we come to the teaching/learning situation expecting that our students, given their idiosyncrasies and other ways of being, might act in a particular this will disarm the frustration we might feel.  When we feel frustrated, we see their behavior as getting in our way of teaching or getting in the way of “the other students learning”.  If we see part of our responsibility as helping them to get to the point at which they are able to appropriate our instruction, then our response to their behavior will more understanding, strategic and instructive rather than punitive.

6.  We teach students as a group, so a key objective is to get them to learn as a group.   The most important thing at this point is not the lesson of scholarship, but the lesson of studentship. 

7.  In view of the foregoing, it is necessary that routines and procedures be set in place.  These provide the structure around them to help manage or minimize the various manifestations of their problems.   As often as is reasonably possible, the routines and procedures must be followed consistently.   Further, it is important that the time allotted for each class period be broken up into smaller segments with obvious transitions between them. 

(to be continued)

[Photographic Art by Ric  Couchman]