A guest speaker (Dr. R. Ralph) came and spoke to the class about classroom management. She did have valid points in classroom management as well, and I’ve listed some below for reference:

• 15 seconds to “hook” students into thinking what they’re doing is important’
• Set expectations for behaviour
• Have rules and procedures that you will enforce
• Create a smooth functioning classroom
• Beginning and ending the period
• Use of materials and equipment
• Method of instruction
  • managing academic work
  • students must be held accountable for their work
  • effective teacher-led instruction
• Unobstructive strategies
  • proximity
  • verbal instruction

All these points and tips are viable; however, just because you use these pointers does that mean good classroom management happens. For example, let’s say you have rules and procedures that you will enforce. If you have rules that are so constricting that students really can’t do anything, then yes, you are “managing” the classroom by not letting them do anything. Also, I feel that although these are useful, in the end classroom management is all about the teacher; if he or she is likable by the students and if the students respect them as a person, then you can minimally use these classroom management skills and still have a great classroom atmosphere with good control of the class.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that no matter how much you reinforce rules and regulations, use strategies such as proximity or verbal instruction, it really doesn’t work if you are not a charismatic, likable teacher. As long as you have a good re pore with the students and the students know that you have a passion for teaching and can teach the topic in fun and interesting ways, students will listen to you.

In the end, experience trumps advice and it’ll be interesting to see how many of these skills I will end up using inside the classroom.