• Home
  • Login
  • Registration
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
ESLarticle.com
Tweet
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Members
  • Add Article

Top Categories

Teaching 509
Other 210
Classroom Management 138
Career Development 135
Learning Methodology 121
Study Skills 90
E-Learning/CALL 87
English Language Learning (ELL) 78
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) 77
Teaching Methodology 76
English Language Teaching (ELT) 73
English as a Second Language (ESL) 64
Teach in Shanghai
Home / Articles / Classroom Management / View Article

Publishing

  • Articles
  • Add Article
  • Articles Archive
  • Latest Articles
  • Popular Articles

Latest Articles

Jan 5, 2019

Metacognition in Reading Competency

As related to the reading process, metacognition can be defined as contemplation concerning one's own thinking processes or knowledge of one's own...

Jan 5, 2019

Mass Media Literacy Reflections for Language Instructions

"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself." Galileo Galilei Mass media forms thrive today. As development...

Nov 30, 2018

Ideas for the First Class with New Learners

~~The first class with new learners can be an anxious one for all concerned – teacher as well as learners. Below are some tips to make that first...

Nov 19, 2018

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners It is estimated that there are over a billion English speakers in the world, including native speakers,...

Nov 15, 2018

Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Hom

Education Today, December 2013 Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Home  Timothy G. Weih University of Northern...

Popular Articles

1144491 Views

5 Creative Ways to Decorate Your Classroom Bulletin Board This Winter

Back to school, fall leaves, Thanksgiving and Christmas all easily lend themselves to great decorating themes, but what to do when those are over...

383208 Views

Three Unique Ideas To Make Your Bulletin Board More Useful

Bulletin boards have long been existent in campuses. They have proven to be such versatile and useful aids in both the learning and teaching...

140998 Views

History of the Chalkboard

Walk into just about any classroom and you will find one: A dark green board on the wall, lined with pieces of chalk and felt erasers. Chalkboards,...

65300 Views

Report Card Comments

For a small minority, writing report cards isn't a big deal. But most teachers generally dread report card writing time. Completing the comment...

49448 Views

Second Language Acquisition: Swain's Output Vs Krashen's Input

1. Introduction: Input versus Output. A general overview In order to assess how compatible Krashen's and Swain's views are, it is essential to...


Classroom Management Part II - Five Things a Teacher Should Never Ever

by James Guilford

Feb 3, 2010 Classroom Management 4776 Views

_notregistered/art_4369_e32556b58d~.jpg

I'm only human.

Of flesh and blood, I'm made.

I'm only human.

Born to make mistakes.

--Human League, "Human"

If you have attended any professional development session for more than three seconds, then you know you should not smite your students, call them names, or cast a spell transforming them into bloated, wart-covered toads. Still, there are those gray areas--those mistakes that we do not realize are mistakes--those pebbles that tumble over the cliff and set off an avalanche of classroom chaos.

This article will help you avoid such landslides. As the second in a series of articles about classroom management, this article lists five behaviors educators should avoid at all cost. What follows are a list of things teachers should never ever do.

LET'S GET PHYSICAL. But only if you are coaching a sport. Of course you know better than to hit students. As an adult, you should also avoid grabbing, tapping, or hugging students.

 

  • WHY NOT. Touch can be misinterpreted. These tactile cues become even more confused when they are exchanged between a supervising adult and a child. Students have different relationships to physicality. Though you may not know a student's issues, you can trigger them.
  • OTHER OPTIONS. To congratulate your students, give handshakes or high-fives. To console your students, listen to them and offer teacherly assistance. To gain the attention of your students, use the strategies mentioned in the next section.

 

YOU MAKE ME WANNA SHOUT! No matter how your students are behaving, do not shout at them in anger. Shouting is the equivalent of a verbal punch--a slap in the face with your larynx.

 

  • WHY NOT. Shouting adds to the noise of the classroom, the noise you may be trying to address with your shouts. Shouting also startles students and makes them feel unsafe.
  • OTHER OPTIONS. Replace shouting with a gentler method of signaling attention. Counting backwards from 5 to 1, ringing a bell, turning down the lights, or issuing a call-and-response clap are some tried and true methods to refocus your group.

 

CRY ME A RIVER. Perhaps a kid has shared a troubling story with you. Perhaps you have just had a difficult conversation with an administrator. Perhaps a parent has accused you of being unfair. There are a number of situations in which a teacher may feel like crying. Still, as much as humanly possible, avoid crying in front of your students.

 

  • WHY NOT. Crying places your emotional needs before the needs of your students (literally and figuratively). Seeing a supervising adult cry could make students feel sad, guilty, or unsafe. Crying could also undermine your authority or burden students who are dealing with their own ups and downs.
  • OTHER OPTIONS. If a situation at school makes you sad, angry, or frustrated, remember to focus on the situation as it relates to your job. Address it as such. If you are feeling overwhelmed at school or in your personal life, talk with an administrator, mentor, or school counselor.

 

WOULD I LIE TO YOU, HONEY? If you have not graded the quizzes, then do not tell the students that your dog ate their papers. If you have not read their emails, then do not tell the students that your hard drive crashed.

 

  • WHY NOT. Lying compromises your credibility and your students' trust. Further, lying models a poor way of dealing with responsibility.
  • OTHER OPTIONS. Be honest and transparent. Tell students that you have yet to grade their papers or read their emails. Apologize, and then, give them a date by which to expect your response. Exercising this level of honesty models a healthy way of balancing life's many responsibilities.

 

LOST IN EMOTION. Sadness, anger, frustration, and angst are a part of everyday life. You are human, and, as a human being, you experience emotions. Still, you should tuck these emotions away while you are teaching. Remember: a room full of pre-teens does not a therapist's couch make.

 

  • WHY NOT. No matter if you are angst-ridden or overjoyed, broadcasting your feelings puts your emotions, and not the goals of the classroom, on center stage. Remember: you are paid to facilitate the development of your students, not to publicize your emotional highs and lows.
  • OTHER OPTIONS. Personal days, sick days, and extended leave exist to help you take care of yourself. Use these breaks. In addition to these options, turn to family, friends, mentors, and therapists as appropriate emotional outlets.

 

Though you are an educator--wise, powerful, and all-seeing--you are also human. As a human, you are bound to make mistakes in classroom management. Minding the points listed above will help you avoid grievous errors and will sure up your classroom management skills. Look out for upcoming articles in this series, including the following:

 

  • What to Do When All Your Students Hate Your Guts
  • How to Deal with the "Problem" Student
  • Tackling Talkers, Whisperers, and Note Passers
  • How to Avoid Loosing Students, and Your Mind, on a Field Trip
  • Five Ways to Win Your Students' Trust, and Their Hearts
  • Stay Sane. Stay Organized

 

 

Article source: http://eslarticle.com/pub/classroom-management/4369-classroom-management-part-ii-five-things-a-teacher-should-never-ever.html

  • General Information
  • Pictures
Author Info

Author Name: James Guilford

About Author: James Guilford, a graduate of Emory University and Columbia University, has worked in education for nearly a decade. Download the entire classroom management series for free at http://www.jamesguilford.com. In addition to this e-book, you will find chapte

General

Pictures:

Most Recent Articles

  • Jun 16, 2018 Why Effective Teachers Have Minimal Classroom Problems by James Guilford
  • May 10, 2018 School trip ideas: How to make them exciting & educational by James Guilford
  • Jan 15, 2018 Managing very Young Learners by James Guilford
  • Jul 31, 2017 The Need To Shift From The Natural Voice To An Instructor's Voice by James Guilford
  • May 17, 2017 Tips for Classroom Management by James Guilford

Actions

  • Print Page

Articles Archive

  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • December 2021

Random Articles

Other

The Business of Education

Education has, since the early 1700s, been a fundamental right for all citizens of this country. We have always recognized education as necessary...

Reading

English Majors Experience Various Works Of Literature

English majors are subject to take a variety of advanced literature courses. These higher-level courses delve into great detail about how to read...

Teaching

The History of Standardized Testing and History on the Standardized Te

Perhaps, it shouldn't be too surprising that kids today in school know less of their history then they have at anytime the prior. One of the major...

Career Development

What Has Education Lost?

Do you remember when you were little? We eagerly anticipated being "big enough" to attend school. Sometimes it was because there were few other...

About ESL Article

ESL Article is a private ESL/TEFL site designed and maintained by educators and educational administrators. It was launched in August 2008 with the aim of bringing ESL/TEFL students, parents, teachers and schools information and articles about the teaching profession and learning community.

Icon Group Member

ESL Article is a member of Icon Group Thailand (IGT), a group of ESL TEFL TESOL websites providing educational resources and information to teachers, schools and students around the world. The group was founded in 2003 and now includes 15+ websites covering educational information services, teaching resources and e-learning.

What is ESL?

English as a second language (ESL) is the use or study of English by speakers of different native languages. It is also known as English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL), and English as a foreign language (EFL).

  • Home
  • Registration
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Help
  • Partner
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
​

© 2022 ESLarticle.com.
Member of Icon Group Thailand - Educating the Future:
TESall All TESOL  Total ESL  ESL Job Feed
TEFL World  TEFL Jobs Overseas  Teach Overseas
Asia TEFL  ESL Powerpoint  Teacher Training