Abstract

“Classroom management refers to the ways in which student behavior, movement and interaction during a lesson are organized and controlled by the teacher.” While one has completed a graduation and learned all that s/he could about classroom management while student teaching, by reading textbooks, or observing experienced teachers, he’s still left with many questions unanswered. Many ‘inexperienced’ teachers stand in front of the classroom, instruct students, give explanations, assign homework and are convinced that they have done the best possible job. However the question still remains if the students “got it”?! It’s worth taking a moment here to define exactly what we mean when we talk about classroom management. To our point of view, there are a number of key concepts to consider, namely: preparation, procedures and behavior. Cultural norms are also different. So there are a lot of classroom management questions and answers that every novice teacher wants to know. Teaching is only the half of it. A large part of our “teaching” time is spent not on developing lesson plans or introducing new material, but doing something else entirely. Unfortunately, there doesn’t exist a simple bound of tips that will work in all situations. To get to the heart of how-to-effectively manage the classroom, we’ll have to go deeper. In this article, we’ll examine some key questions and elements that we all, as educators, need to consider when deciding on our own approaches to classroom management. We give some ideas that seem to work effectively, but personal observation, experience and reflection is what matters. Our best advice is, reflect on what works and adapt the approach accordingly.