Bocah Petualang ( Bolang ): Classroom Management Skills of The Language Teachers

Classroom Management Skills of The Language Teachers

Classroom management refers to the wide variety of skills and techniques that teachers use to keep students organized, orderly, focused, attention, on task, and academically productive during a class.

1.Comprehensive Classroom Management

• Students are likely to follow rules they understand and accept.

• Discipline problems are minimized when students care regularly engaged in meaningful activities geared to their interests and aptitude.

• Management should be approached with an eye toward maximizing the time students spend engaged in productive activities, rather than from a negative viewpoint, stressing control of misbehavior.

2 . Factors Influencing How Teachers Manage Their Classrooms

As you may remember when we talk about classroom management These are factors the physical environment of the classroom, teacher’s voice and body language and planned teaching.

2.1. The Physical Environment of the Classroom

It is the prime responsibility of the language teacher to establish a non-threatening atmosphere in the classroom. Therefore, language teachers should be sensible to create environments that promote standards based language learning in supportive, . Classrooms must be secure, positive, and motivating learning environment.

2.1.1. Sight, Sound, and Comfort

Brown (2001) truthfully declares: that “students are indeed profoundly affected by what they see , hear, and feel when they enter the classroom”. Unless the teacher ensures the following in his classrooms, management problems may occur (Brown, 2001):

· The classroom is neat, clean, and orderly

· Chairs are appropriately arranged,

· The classroom is as free from external noises as possible (machinery, outside, street noise, etc),

· Healing or cooling systems (if applicable) are operating.

2.1.2 Seating Arrangements

Seating arrangements are also influential how we manage our classrooms. The best way for this is semi–circles or U-shapes (Sarıçoban, 1998),

2.1.4 Equipment

We may have chance to use certain instructional equipment in our institution, there are a number of factors that will help us avoid any danger in regard to the resultant disorder in the class. We should make sure that:

The room has outlets,

· The equipment fits comfortably in the classroom,

· The visual / auditory stimulus must be placed in such a way that every individual can easily see them,

· You leave enough time before and after the class to get the equipment and return it to its appropriate place,

3. Teachers Roles and Styles

In this stage . Teachers themselves can also give rise to a number of management problems if they don’t act properly . so we can anticipate with

• Your face should reflect optimism, brightness, and warmth.

• Use facial and hand gestures to enhance the meanings of words and sentences that might otherwise be unheard. Make frequent eye contact with all students in the class.

• Do not “forget” yourself in notes and plans ..

3.1 Roles

In education a teacher should take on many roles such as knower, guider, provider, director, and so on, while performing this wide range of problems we have to be careful and consistent. We should know our limitations and strengths. monotonous, tedious and/or boring flow of instruction control.

3.2 Unplanned Teaching

As teachers we should plan before lessons. Then language teachers should plan students’ learning experiences based on assessment of language proficiency and prior knowledge. That's why we should plan teaching.

• You digress and throw off the plan

• You are asked a questions you don’t know the answer

• There isn’t enough time at the end of a class period to finish an activity that has already started.

3.4. Teacher’s Voice and Body Language

The teachers’ use of verbal and non verbal messages. Teachers must be careful when they are speaking in the class. All students should hear their voice even at the back rows in crowded classes and most importantly his language should be clear and understandable. In order for your verbal and non verbal language to succeed its aims you have to abide by a certain set of principles: These are as follows;

3.5 Teaching in Large Classes

Normally, the ideal number in a language classroom should neither be more than twelve or fifteen in order to provide enough communication nor should it be too small in order not to lose the atmosphere of communication. However, the situation is not at all so. Due to the lack of schools, classrooms, teachers, there are many classes that hold thirty to fifty students together.

• Widely varying proficiency level

• Reduced interaction between teacher and students.

• Less opportunities for learners to speak

• Limited feedback to students.

Yet, don’t be frightened and step back. There seems to be some solutions.

• Have as much interaction as possible by assigning “ice breaker “type of activities

• Increase pair – work and group work activities.

• Use more listening activities, using tape, video and yourself.

• Give students extra – class work to keep them engaged.

3.6 Discipline Problems

Here comes the most problematic area: how to treat discipline problems or how to cope with them? Here are some suggestions (Brown 2001, Sarıçoban 2001).

• Learn to be comfortable with your position of authority

• Gain the respect of your students by treating them all with equal fairness

• State your expectations clearly

• Try to solve disciplinary problems outside the class.

4 Creating a Positive Atmosphere in the Classroom

All physical arrangements completed properly, now you are in a position to conduct and put into practice your class management knowledge into practice, the part where you come closest with the audience and keep them within a body the aim of which is directed to language learning. Here are some basic considerations:

4.1 Establish Rapportk

Rapport is creating the atmosphere of togetherness. It is based on trust and respect between the teacher and the students and it is necessary to help learners feel that they are capable, competent and creative (Brown, 2001). But, how to do it? Not very difficult, we should just fallow these steps.

• Value and respect what students think and say

• Laugh with them and not at them

• Work with them as a team, and not against them

In addition, as a proposal, give remedial opportunities to shape the students’ positive conduct.

4.2 Praise and Criticism

There will always be times in the classroom when you will either have to praise or criticize students. The golden rule here to remember is the saying, “Too much everything, kills everything”. This means that we have to balance praise and criticism, here is the contrast between effective praise and ineffective praise.

5. Problems of Large Classes

One basic problem teachers face when they are teaching is large classes which pose a number of problems.

5.1.Discomfort

Discomfort may give rise to following cases (Sarıçoban, 2001):

· some students do not want to join in some of the activities

· teachers must speak very loudly so that their students can hear them as much clear as possible for understanding

· large size classes make teachers frustrated and tired, and they may feel hopeless to manage the class successfully

· students do their best not to attend the classes

5.2.Control

I becomes difficult to control large classes (Sarıçoban, 2001):

· if the students are too many, the teacher cannot control them

· when students do in class activities, they make loud noise

· it is noisy because some students who are not interested in class activities disturb others

5.3 Individual Attention

In crowded classes individual students receive less attention (Sarıçoban, 2001):

· teachers do not have time to help all the students

· if it were a small class, it would be easy to assist individual attention

5.4.Evaluation

Teachers cannot provide rightfully accurate evaluation of all students (Sarıçoban, 2001):

• it also takes a long time to check all students' exercises,

• it is impossible to finish the course program,

• from each other, cheating increases.

5.5.Learning Effectiveness

Teacher will absolutely become worried if their students cannot learn and this seems to be common in large classes (Sarıçoban, 2001):

• they are not sure that their students get what they have taught exactly

• it is difficult to see in which points their learners need help through pop quizzes because in crowded classes there will be papers and papers to evaluate every day or so.

• even if we are able to demonstrate that class size is not an effective factor on learner achievement, we will still have an evidence to tell us that teachers, for example, have a whole range of valid reasons as to why smaller classes are preferable

Conclusion

classroom management is crucial for education to take place and there may be a number of factors that trigger misconduct. Thus, we can create a non-threatening atmosphere in which we are less likely to live discipline problems. We must serve as Professional resource personnel in their educational environment.