CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

16 Common Classroom Management Mistakes Teachers Make Part2

Last Updated 29 November 2023/ By Zineb DJOUB

In the previous post (click here to read it), we talked about 5 common classroom management mistakes among teachers. These mainly concern providing instructions and interacting with students. In this second part of this blog series, we’ll carry on with other classroom management mistakes that can wreck the quality of our teaching.

So, let’s get started!

6. Keeping silent while eyes are on you

What irritates most if not all teachers is seeing their students distracted or not focused on the learning task: chatting, playing, using their mobiles, etc. All those acts show that these students are no more willing to absorb any content and thus follow the path (the lesson plan) we’ve drawn for them to achieve those learning outcomes.

But, there are cases where teachers themselves make students bored and distracted. How?

The Dead Silence! What kills students’ curiosity and engagement in learning. Those moments we keep silent, trying to search for or use a given material, fix an issue with a digital device or even write on the board while students are watching us.

Those are obscure moments for students. Because they may not understand what we’re doing and why and so feel bored following us.

Avoid THE DEAD SILENCE. If you’re writing on the board and your students are expected to be attentive listening to you (not writing), explain to them the task and what they’re expected to do. Then read aloud what you’re writing simultaneously.

Similarly, if you’re looking for material (handouts, books, CDs, books, etc) in your bag, desk….talk meanwhile to your students about it. Tell them what you’re going to use it for or ask them to guess it.

Even when you’re struggling with your PC or any tech device, make students busy thinking about a question, or tell them why you opt for it.

Instead of keeping silent, you can also talk to students about what they did during the last weekend, what books they’ve read, or movies they’ve watched so far. Always grab their attention even through discussing their interests and having some fun.

So, when students’ eyes are on you don’t leave that lapse of time where your silence is dominating. This is likely to make them shift their attention to something else. Keep on their learning momentum, maintaining those patterns of interaction with them. This is the key to students’ attention, and so negotiation and reconstruction of meaning.

7. Overusing the board

The board is an essential tool to support our practices and the achievement of our goals. Like any classroom material, it should be used more effectively in every lesson.

It is necessary, therefore, to plan ahead and make deliberate decisions regarding when it should be used, why, and how to meet students’ needs and the intended learning outcomes.

Hence, there are teachers who interact more with the board than they do with their students. This means they spend more time writing on and cleaning the board than communicating with their students.

Even while they’re writing their eyes are focused on the board, reading and checking out the content.

So, instead of pausing to check for students’ understanding, they keep writing, explaining what is written there, and assigning further tasks.

I believe you can make good use of the board only when you know how to use it. Its overuse is not only going to sap your energy, but it’ll also deprive you of those fruitful moments you interact with your students and gain feedback about your teaching.

Besides, students are likely to feel bored looking at their teacher stuck to the board, writing and trying to make himself clear. The board is essential but it’s not everything!

8. Ignoring good students

In every classroom, teachers should help all students to get involved. This means participating beyond the answer/question mode; expressing their ideas and interacting more with their teachers and peers.

However, in practice, it’s always the same students who speak in the class, initiate and show more interest in learning. Without even calling them on they are always there to tell you ‘we are here to take part in our learning’.

Yet, this is not the concern of others who are reluctant for one reason or another. Being introverted, shy, afraid of making mistakes, and speaking in front of others, their silence is an essential tool to remain in their comfort zone.

It’s a good decision to try to call upon all students’ contributions. Yet, to achieve this there are teachers who ignore good students when they raise their hands. They even tell them not to participate because they know well they have the right answers to their questions.

Encouraging reluctant students to speak their minds should not be done at the expense of others. There are different ways to deal with those students who dominate the classroom talk and give the rest opportunities to voice their ideas (to learn more read 6 Reasons of students resistance to participation in class.

For example, you can tell students I don’t have just’ name the good students’ I also want the others to say something and call their names. Start with those reluctant, help them participate then listen to the answers of the good ones at the end.

Also, pair up students so that those who resist participating get more stimulated by their peers to share their ideas.

It’s not necessary to have all your students speak in one lesson. Target the majority, but leave the chance for others to take their turns next time.

Ignoring good students can be really demotivating and frustrating for them. Our role as educators is to motivate students to learn and make more efforts not to demotivate and make them lose interest in learning.

9. Caring more about the learning outcome

We value a lot the learning outcome and give less importance to the learning process (how students are learning, what decisions they need to make, and how they should progress…….)

Indeed, we tend to care more about students’ performance. We consider it the first indicator of who they are and who they will become at the end of the learning process.

Whatever reason lies behind such attitude (the educational system, our beliefs, previous learning experience..etc.) we’ve helped our students believe that learning is all about performance and grades.

Even when we address our questions in class, we look for the right answer. And we get satisfied when we get it without questioning the ‘why’ or how the student has come up with it.

Questions can be a source of reflection, discussion, and thus more learning. So, why consider correct answers as the ultimate goal of such a process? It’s rather the starting point for other learning opportunities to take place.

Because we care about the outcome, we also offer blanket praise: good/excellent/well done, rather than congratulating specific successes and highlighting students’ efforts: well done for using a range of punctuation in that passage, it made your sentences far more effective.

We need to care about how our students learn. This will help us identify their weaknesses and strengths and guide them to reach their progress.

There are still other classroom management mistakes we need to avoid. Subscribe below to receive the third part of this blog series.