How To Effectively Manage Your Classroom

One of the most noble professions in the world, teaching is all about giving back to the society. In this profession it is all about impacting the lives of a group of individuals and passing on all that you know to them for their betterment. This passing on may be in the form of scientific or technical knowledge or it may even be the experience of life that you had gathered over the years.

However, it is to be noted that even with the best of intentions in mind, it is not always easy to manage a classroom. There are many teachers who argue that it is much easier to teach a smaller group of individuals as people tend to listen better when addressed individually or in smaller clusters. Also, as a teacher you can cater to the doubts and concerns of your students better if they are in smaller groups.

This does not mean that your quality of teaching should come down when you are addressing a classroom. With this tips and tricks discussed in this article you can go ahead and manage your classroom effectively and thereby, let the magic of your knowledge work its way on your young students.

1. Be Confident

The key to managing a large group of people (irrespective of whether it is in the classroom or outside) is confidence. When you address a classroom, make sure that you are loud and that you are confident about what you say. From a technical point, make sure that you have well-researched a topic before teaching the same to your class. This will make your students respect you and in turn foster the way for better classroom management on your part.

2. Love Your Students

Unlike most other professions where one deals with customers, in the world of teaching you deal with people who consider you to be better than them and want to imbibe some of your qualities in themselves. That is why it is all the way more important for you to love them.

If some of their behaviour does not meet your expectations, make sure you are clear about it and convey the same to them with a lot of love. As human beings we tend to get things better when they are told with love.

3. Dress Like A Teacher

This is all the way more applicable when you are teaching in a college or a coaching centre where students do not have a uniform. If you dress the same way as your students, they will feel that you are one amongst them and then cease to respect you. Once that happens, it will be very difficult for you to manage a classroom.

Thus, irrespective of your sex, it is advisable that you stick to formals when trying to address a classroom.

4. Trust Your Students

When you are teaching a group of people in the classroom it is obvious that someone will be better than the others. The ones who are not topping the tests have their own set of insecurities and do not really need to be told by you about how they suck at their job.

Doing so will break their morale and make them perform even worse. Instead you must have trust in their abilities and motivate them to work to the best of their abilities.

5. Praise What You Can

It is a psychological fact that human beings tend to perform better when being appreciated. Thus, if you see a student making considerable improvements, make sure to bring it to the notice of others and praise them. Doing this will not just motivate that person to keep up the good work but it will encourage others to put in the effort and become like them as well.

6. Be Impartial

When teaching a group of students in a classroom, it is humane for you to like a student (or a group of students) over the others. In case such a thing does happen, make sure that you take conscious efforts on your part to ensure that you are not partial. One of the most important things in effective classroom management is ensuring that you do not favour a student or a group over the others.

7. Lead By Example

This is one golden rule of teaching - do not do anything that you would not want your students to do. Be it using the phone in the classroom or humming a song, if you do not want your students to imitate your behaviour, make sure that you do not do it yourself.

8. Connect At A Personal Level

While we admit that these days teaching is all about meeting deadlines and completing the syllabus, make sure you take some time out to tell your students about who you really are and stories of your life. This will enable your class to connect with you at a personal level, which in turn will pave the way for them concentrating better on the syllabus that you are going to teach.

9. Have A Plan

Before you enter the classroom, Make sure that you have your lesson plan sorted out. Make sure that you know the key points you want to cover for the day and organise your material accordingly. You could even plan activities that'll help students understand the day's topic better. Students will be more interested and attentive when fun exercises/practical classes are involved.

Keep a flexible schedule though, so this way you can encourage productive classroom discussions.

10. Make Room For Mistakes

Understand that no one is perfect and once you enter a classroom as a teacher there will be certain mistakes committed on your part and some by your students. Do not get disheartened by those. Make sure you learn from them (and ensure that your students learn from their mistakes too) and that such a thing is not repeated in the future.