About classroom management

This is a very difficult topic because class management makes or breaks the learning process.  There was very good advice in the Classroom Management Manual excerpt that we had to read, but as they say…”one thing is to see rain coming, another very different one is to get wet”.

There are so many different factors that affect classroom management… Some of them have been mentioned in the manual, but the depth of their dimensions is hard to fathom.

There are many aspects that are beyond the control of the teacher. Some have to do with the students and their home environment, others with the institution where the learning takes place and a whole lot of them with the teachers themselves.

Even when the conditions are good, or too difficult to be able to make much progress, a good teacher can make a big difference, but besides the knowledge a teacher should have about his or her subject, what else should a teacher have?

According to my personal observations, and what several specialists describe, a good teacher should:

·         Be empathic. That is, capable of connecting with student’s emotions, and to communicate with them at their level of understanding.

·         Have a positive mental attitude when confronted with challenges. A healthy sense of humor, with a willingness to laugh at yourself without becoming the clown of the class, helps lighten things up. Everyone tires of grouches, and no one respects clowns.

·         Be open to change. It is a reality, and an opportunity to grow. It can come from any source.

·         Be a consistent role model. There is nothing worse than to be caught at saying one thing and doing another! And.. there is no turning off the constant scrutiny under which  students subject everything teachers do. They learn from actions, omissions and inconsistencies as well.

·         Be creative. In our changing world, you won’t always find a readymade answer for what is at hand, creativity is one of teachers’ most useful intellectual  muscles.

·         Have good presentation skills. Now days, most students are highly visual and kinesthetic learners, teachers that are highly energetic without being overbearing, go a long way in keeping their students interested.  However, one must not forget that discussion and not lecturing stimulates greater feedback, and that you can’t substitute students’ learning processes..

·         Be calm. It helps to remember that the behavior directed towards you, is not personally against you, but to what your represent in the student’s imaginary (mother, father, authority…). Usually, a word acknowledging the student’s feelings or expressing how the current behavior can be interpreted is enough to give the student some room to reconsider why he or she is conducting him or herself in an undesirable manner.

·         Be respectful. Besides being the ethical thing to do, contributing to lower a student’s self-esteem will only result in a worse conflict.

Overall, one must always remember that a teacher has the capacity to touch people’s lives. If not…,  just look back at your own life , and see who you remember with fondness and who with anger or contempt.  A teacher who inspires people to reach their highest potential will always be remembered with respect. When teaching is not just a profession, but a way of being, a vocation for service that gives meaning to life, then, we open the door for all those qualities and skills mentioned above to flourish.  Then, we can say with satisfaction that we have left a small footprint on the sands of time that is worth following.