Crazy Class

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“Teachers are paid too much and have way too much holiday. It’s money for old rope. ” I overheard this comment in my local pub and as you could imagine, I had to bite my lip.

If only they knew how much is involved in teaching: Planning,preparation,marking,meetings etc etc. And that’s before you get to the teaching itself!

I’d like to see these critics have a go.If it was all so piss easy, why is stress related illness soaring, and more and more teachers in the UK are quiting their jobs?

If it was such an easy number, how come we can’t retain experienced teachers within the profession?

One of my friends left teaching after 20 years to become a painter and decorator. He had had enough off the stress and took a cut in pay to get out. I saw him the other week and he said he wished he’d done it years before.

For a really interesting take on the value of teachers time check out this post:

http://watdawat.com/2008/02/22/are-you-sick-of-high-paid-teachers/

It’s no wonder the U.K government are considering training ex army personnel to become teachers. For more on this, take a look at my post about soldiers joining the barmy army.

Underpaid, undervalued…..under stress!

Teachers everywhere. I know the fantastic job you all do.

From Crazyclass

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A recent survey has shown that 71% of children questioned, said that they had bullied another pupil. The survey carried out in the UK ,between 1995/1997 tried to find if the children had bullied, and why they had done it?

Why did the children bully?

The main reasons where:

1 peer pressure

2 fear of being bullied if they did not bully

3 copy catting

4 to get at pupils they dislike

None of these reasons are going to help if you are the victim of bullying.

Read on to find out what to do if you are …..

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Your pupils are lucky - they only have your name to learn,you can have 30+ in their class alone!

Calling a person by their name is a great way to build rapport. Most peoples favorite word to hear is their own name! But make sure you get it right or the rapport will fall apart. By knowing their names you let your pupils know that they are important to you as individuals. Its surprising how much co-operation you get when you address a pupil by name.

Below are some great tips to help you learn your pupils names:

1 Make a seating plan. Once the kids are in the correct places you can refer to te plan to find their names.

2 Look at the pupils face and think of their name. This association will help link the face to the name.

3 Once you find out a pupils name repeat it back in conversation as you talk to them.This repetition helps to transfer their name to your long term memory.

4 You could try to link the person to the image of another person who’s name they share. This works well if they have some similarities!

5 Don’t be afraid to ask someones name.

6 If you are having problems remembering 30 names, chunk it down to get to know a couple of names per lesson. It soon adds up.

7. If you are not sure of a pupils name and you don’t want to ask ,you can find out by looking at their book-covers or listen out for over pupils calling them.

8. Use mnemonics

9. If your pupils have unusual or difficult to pronounce names put in some extra special practice with them because it can upset or offend someone if you keep getting thier name wrong.

10. However tempted you are to call your pupils derogatory names - try to refrain. It will create bad feeling and besides, you wouldn’t like it if the kids called you a name. ( to your face anyway!).

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I dont know why 8,9,+ 10 have stars next to them. Could be: *dont do this in class*

High expectations of your pupils is one way to help them on the way to better results. If you set and then communicate your expectations to your students they learn to raise their standards. Reinforced by there pier group they can adopt these new standards and become self motivated towards there own success.

This idea of high expectations for all permeates all aspects of learning and classroom management.High expectations of students work and behaviour should be part of your and also the whole school ethos. If its not somethings wrong.

Hey remember, that you are one of these kids role models. So are you going to walk the talk and model high expectations for your own work? Look I don’t follow the idea that teachers are super heroes who can do everything perfect and have every single thing covered.That’s a recipe for nervous breakdown time. However there are a number of things that are fairly easy and should be part of every-ones teaching. High expectations should be one of those things.

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Gents - Pay attention to rule number 8!

Ten top tips for behaviour management in the classroom.

Tip 1

Right at the beginning, behaviour/classroom management starts with you. If you know what you want your lessons to be like, and also what you don’t want, you are in a good position to start with a clear set of expectations.

Read more about the value of pupil expectations here.

Tip 2

Your kids are not mind readers. Unless you tell them of your rules and expectations there gonna have to learn the hard way and that adds to your grief. Why not train your class from the beginning by telling and showing them without doubt what you want from them. High expectations can bring out the best in all of us. In life you often get what you are prepared to settle with. Why not put up a poster showing the main rules of your class room. It can be a handy aid to reinforce your wishes and remind the students. Rules that cover general school policy and any health and safety issues need to be addressed.

Read more …..

Tip 3

Learn their names. You will get to know the bad behaved kids names really quick but what about all the kids who get on with their work. Using kids name helps to get their attention, lets them know that you value them (at least enough to got their name), and goes along way to improving behaviour of the ones who hide behind anonymity. Make sure it’s the right name! If you call them the wrong name, apologise and move on before it becomes an issue.

Start with a seating plan and tick off their names as you get to know them. You could set a target to learn a couple of new names each lesson. It will come in handy at parent evenings and report time.

Read more …..

Tip 4

Use praise when praise is due. If the kids do what you want them to do, it should get some positive reinforcement. Say well done, great, good job etc. Don’t praise if you don’t mean it and do not reward bad behaviour.

Read more …..

Tip 5

Have some clear cut rules in place and if they are not followed you need to b e prepared to back them up. Try not to make rules and threats if you are not going to follow them though. Its best to act quickly when things are not going how you want but remember to keep your behaviour in perspective as an over reaction can blow up in your face.

Read more …..

Tip 6

If behaviour starts to move towards what you don’t want have a number of strategies that you can fall back on to deal with the issue with minimal disruption to the learning of the class. Low level disruption can often be sorted quickly but more serious problems might need some extra help. In school you should not feel that you are alone and if you need backup it should be there. Placing a kid at the back of a college’s lesson can be a quick way to remove a problem without resorting to calling SMT for help.

Read more …..

Tip 7

Classroom layout. - Make sure your class is laid out in such a way to improve behaviour and stimulate learning. Think about how you’re going to arrange the desks and seats. Where is your area going to be? What displays and resources can you use to create a stimulating learning environment?

Read more …..

Tip 8

Have your lesson objectives clear for your students. Write them on the board or get the kids to put down at the beginning – by the end of this lesson I will have learned……(bteotliwhl for short).

These clear objectives provide a clear guide to what you want to achieve and can be the basis of the lesson structure. A map on the board can help to show the kids where you are going with the lesson.

Read more …..

Tip 9

Get to know your pupils. One of the ways that I have managed to survive with some of my roughest classes is that I took some time to look beyond their bad behaviour and find out about them as individuals. Most people only want someone to talk to and feel that someone is listening. Once you get talking you will find out lots of things about your pupils and you start to build a positive relationship that you can call upon at time when you want the kid to listen to you and follow your instructions. It’s called having some mutual respect.

Read more …..

Tip 10

Try to put some humour into your lesson. Its surprising how much can be achieved by an entertaining story or joke. It also can make the class see that you are also human and not just a teacher.

Read more …..

If you want to read my routine for new classes in September…Click here

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