What is class management?

• The processes and skills you use to create a good classroom environment, including…

  • How you can help students feel comfortable and excited to learn

  • How you can teach students of different levels and learning styles

  • How you can respond to potential student behavior issues

  • …and more!

Establish clear expectations

1. Importance of setting boundaries

   • You want to be friendly but professional. We know this is easier said than done, but it's important to make sure that while your students feel comfortable interacting with you, they still respect you as a teacher and will follow your instructions.

2. Early in the semester / year:

   • Set rules and consequences

   • One way of doing so is making a syllabus -- it helps to have rules in writing!

     • A class syllabus will often be several pages long, providing a comprehensive overview of the class policies and schedule; you don't necessarily need to do this for your discussion section!

     • However, if you think it will be useful for both you and your students to reference throughout the semester, you can actually create your own shorter discussion syllabus! Notice that this syllabus, though shorter, still provides helpful section guidelines, resources, and any other important information.

3. Throughout the semester / year:

   • Follow through! If you tell your students that they are not allowed to do something, but they realize that you don't actually enforce the consequences or call them out, then they will continue the problematic behavior.

   • It's perfectly fine to give second chances, but use your judgment and knowledge of your students' personalities to put your foot down when you need to.

General Guidelines

1. Remember and use students’ names!

• You may have a lot of students, but this will help your students feel more welcome, engaged, and that you really care about their learning!

• You could use name tags or cards if you're having trouble remembering

2. Project your voice

• This will help keep students' attention, especially if your classrooms are large and/or your students are spread out

• Feel free to use a microphone if that's available to you and will be helpful!

3. Make eye contact

• Making eye contact around the room helps spread out your attention

• Try not to look only at students in the same area during the whole class

4. Give clear instructions

• Break down your instructions into steps when possible instead of saying everything at once

  • For example, tell students to get into groups, and don't give instructions for the next part until after they're grouped up!

  • This will both be less overwhelming and easier to understand

• Use your slides effectively!

  • Of course, you should verbally explain the activity or task -- but you can also prepare slides with the instructions written down clearly

  • This way, you and your students will always have something to reference during the task

  • See the image below as a basic example of how you can use your slides as a visual aid for giving instructions

5. Use demos / modeling

• Even for tasks that may seem basic, it normally always helps to present a quick, live example

• For example, if you're explaining a pair speaking activity, you and your fellow TA can model one question with each other for the class

• If you're teaching solo, you can still model an example with a student sitting near you!

6. Use gestures

• Gestures are another way to keep hold of your students' attention

• You don't need to go overboard with this -- even pointing or using your fingers to hold up numbers can be helpful!

7. Practice time management

• Generally, you will find as a teacher that activities will take longer than you expect; for example, students will have questions, may be chatty, or may take time getting into groups

• Take this into account by watching the clock, using timers, and having a general (it need not be exact) sense of how long each of your class sections is supposed to take, and then adjusting accordingly during class

• However, you should also have a plan in case your activities are ending early -- for example, perhaps you may prepare an additional task for students who finish quickly, or build a backup activity for the whole class to do, like a quick learning game

Scaffolding

• What is scaffolding?

  • Supporting each student as much as possible -- this takes into account different learning styles, skill levels, and personalities

  • One way to scaffold is to use processing time -- in other words, you can consider waiting a little longer after asking questions to allow more students to think of an answer. This is because many students often do know the answer, but just need more time to get there than others!

• Balancing lessons: too easy, too hard?

  • If lessons are too easy, your students will be bored and uninterested

  • If lessons are too hard, your students will lose confidence and may also become uninterested

  • Thus, you want to find a balance so that students feel challenged but confident

  • This is also easier said than done, but you will build these skills over time as you teach. Don't be afraid to experiment, to ask your students how they feel about lessons, and to keep adjusting your strategies!

• Use a variety of groupings

  • e.g. group, pair, individual, whole class

  • Consider skill levels, personalities

  • Advantages / disadvantages?

    • Some students may not like working together

    • Some students may feel like they are doing all the work

    • Some students may not be confident about their contributions

    • Some students may always group up with their friends and not pay attention to class

  • Make time for sharing

    • This can help keep your students on track because they know they will need to present their ideas at the end of the task

    • This is also great to hear from peers, to provide positive feedback, and to build student confidence!

• Use a variety of activities

  • e.g. writing, speaking, drawing, acting

  • You can't always make every student happy or excited to learn, but by using a variety of activities, you can maximize the chance that more students overall will eventually have their time to shine

• Leave time for questions

  • For example, let students know you'll be sticking around after class to answer any questions and/or will also be in the classroom a little earlier before class starts if students need anything

  • For example, leave a little time before and after activities to clarify any questions

  • If possible: set office hours

Is it okay to use Chinese in class?

• • We are in an English learning context, but…

    • We can understand that it’s natural and comfortable for students to use their native language

    • You may also need to use Chinese for some instructions, explanations, and content coverage

• • However, 50 minutes is precious!

    • You can't get better at English (or any language) without practicing

    • After class, most of your students will not be speaking English

    • So, do your best to create an English-speaking environment while class is in session

• • How can you create this environment?

    • Set clear guidelines

      • When is it okay to use Chinese? When is it not?

      • What are the consequences of using Chinese?

    • Encourage peer monitoring

    • Choose appropriate tasks

      • Excessive Chinese use is a possible sign that lessons are too difficult

      • In this case, you may need to explain directions in a simpler or different way

Giving Feedback

• What is feedback?

  • Guidance, corrections, reactions, etc.

• Build students up instead of breaking them down

  • Use positive, not negative language

    • “Don’t stand on your chair.”

    • “Please sit in your chair.”

  • Find reasons to praise; give compliments

  • Try not to single out students -- talk to them in private

  • Avoid personal comments and comparisons

• Give different kinds of feedback

  • Accuracy feedback -- when you give feedback on whether something is correct

    • "Yesterday I eat McDonald's for dinner."

    • If you correct "eat" to "ate," you are giving accuracy feedback

  • Content feedback -- when you give feedback on what your students are staying

    • "I love McDonald's, the chicken nuggets are my favorite! What did you order? I just had ramen, so I'm jealous."

    • In this case, you are commenting, reflecting on, and responding to your student rather than correcting an error

  • Generally, when you want to build students' confidence in speaking and encourage them to speak more, you should focus on content feedback

  • However, it's also important to give accuracy feedback if your students' mistakes are making their English difficult to understand, or are affecting their ability to communicate!

• When to give feedback?

  • Try not to interrupt your students with feedback while they're talking! This way, they won't lose confidence

  • However, in other cases it's okay to give feedback right away -- for example, if your students are taking turns practicing a dialogue

  • This question will often depend on the particular situation, so just use your best judgment as a teacher!

External Factors

• Sometimes, external factors may be causing problematic behavior

• For example…

  • Energy level

  • Time of day

  • Classroom conditions

  • Noise levels

  • Personal issues

• You can’t always “fix” these problems, but it’s important to at least be aware of your students’ social and emotional needs so that you can respond and teach empathetically