Classroom Management Tips

Hi everyone, I am sure tha more than once in our teaching life we have come to work with great groups of students as well as with other students who make our lives a bit more difficult. However, it is the difficult student who makes us better teachers! (at least that's what I think).

In order to manage a class of 10 or more students and have them learn English in a fun and engaging way there are some tips that can be followed. Sadly, there is not one recipe that fits all classes and we must constantly look for different strategies and activities in order to keep our classes managed. Below are some of the things we have tried in our classes and have worked fine.

These signs are extremely useful when giving instructions to young children. They do not only hear the instruction but can also see them and teachers can also use these (after some practice) by only showing them to the class or a student in particular, no words necessary.

These are some other instructions (homemade) that are attached to a clip so the teacher can always have it at hand.

Another important tip is too keep a class schedule that students CAN SEE. When working with any age group, a routine is important. Moreover, when working with children a VISUAL routine is even more important. Being able to see what is coming will help children relieve some of the class anxiety and also get ready for a change of activities. The picture below is a homemade version of a classroom routine used in class.

What you see here is the weather, a teacher activity, a transition. Some other activities can be added such as: craft, story time, math time, snack time, hello, good bye.

Another very useful tool is https://www.classdojo.com. Class Dojo helps you keep track of students behavior and progress and also connect to parents.
Another tool which was mentioned in a previous post is https://bouncyballs.org/. Bouncy balls lets you control the noise in the class. Let students know that the more noise the more bouncy the balls will be. It sometimes works in class, some other times it doesn't. Try these and let us know how it goes!

Got other suggestions? Let us know!