Class Management and Atmosphere

Class Management

My first day of classes was the most difficult because I had to give them the whole class by myself, but I remember that the first  thing that I had to do was remembering their names; so, I used the name tags in order to build a good relationship with my pupils. Then, we establish the clasrooms´rules; the first rule was: not to interrupt to your classmate when they were talking; nother rule was: rise your hand if you want to give your opinion,and etc. After establishing the rules, we create a system of reward or penalty depending on their behavior. The system was really simple: if students were well behaved they will get a candy; but if they were  troublemakers, they will get a penalty; that penalty would  be that they had to dance the chicken song or they will miss the opportunity of getting a candy.

In each class I had to look for new activities and ways to teach every topic; even though,the topics were really simple, I didn't want to bored to my students.

With this goal in mind , I remembered the topic of my presentation of the tools of the trade:
 CLASSROOM CLOTHES´ LINES. So I decided to use marionets and paper dolls to teach them the parts of the body.

With this material my pupils learned very quickly the parts of the body and they got fun; the only problem was that my pupils sang the song "head shoulder knees and toes" over and over again.

 Later, I established the parameters of my pupils´behavior, It was really easy to work with them because I knew when I had to assigned individual or pair work group. when I  used an activity with the differents materials like: scissors, glue, or even building blocks in order to get the attention of my pupils because sometimes the topic wasn't easy to understand for them.

After all this work with my pupils, I realized that I needed to be more calm and be more accessible with them because sometimes my pupils said that I was a dragon. They called me in that way not because I was grumpy but because I was strict with them.

Atmosphere

Since the very beginning I tried to create a good atmosphere because It is one of the most important point that we as a teacher never have to forget. As a result, I did a lot of research about how to maintain a good environment. The respect an tolerance are the keys to reach the best environment, also I found the ten step of " How to Create a Positive Classroom Atmosphere?"

1.

Change how you interact as much as necessary -- to talk, teach and communicate positively -- with each students, starting today. Your body language and tone of voice makes up the majority your overall communication, so include it in your changes. ~ Show that you have independent, total confidence in each student's individual, potential for progress. Though you treat them as individuals according to academic needs and skills, each one needs to feel the warm glow of inspiring confidence that you will show for her or him.

2.

Begin each class by greeting the class full of students with smiles, and while standing at your door at the beginning of class, extend a personal welcome, with eye contact -- smile with your eyes, also.

3. Encourage the students with positive feedback whenever possible. Praise for successes is a far stronger motivation than criticism.

4. Cover the walls of your classroom with positive messages: posters with motivational pictures and words; inspirational quotations from great people; positive paintings, drawings, prose, poems, done by your students

5. Create stereograms that have hidden positive words. For an example go to www.school-teacher-student-motivation-resources-courses.com/teaching methods and check out subliminal communication.

    6. Embed more positive words in everything that you write and talk about.

7. Create a positive word for the day and start a discussion on it. Apply it to positive case studies, role models. For example - 'Winning' - Lance Armstrong won against cancer, won Tour de France Race 7 times, and won the hearts and minds of charities and young people with his coloured rubber wrist bands.

8. Create a class dictionary of positive words. Start with an A - Z template and get your students to add positive words to the template. Make it big and put it on the wall.

9. Use bright, warm colors in decorations. Most classrooms begin with standard-issue furnishings, all the same. Well-placed wall decorations can make a classroom more homey and occasionally even impart knowledge to those whose attention has drifted off.

10. Make wall displays educational. Make them so that students can easily learn from them.