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Education Education Effective Classroom Management Begins With a Well Designed Classroom Arrangement
Education Education Effective Classroom Management Begins With a Well Designed Classroom Arrangement
| Effective Classroom Management Begins With a Well Designed Classroom Arrangement |
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| Written by Ken Croft |
| Thursday, 29 October 2009 07:04 |
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Effective classroom management begins with carefully considering the physical environment of the classroom. This key element of classroom management is easy to improve using some ideas this article will offer. You will need to create a "center stage" area in your classroom so that you are the star attraction! We use bulletin boards, posters, and word walls to make our classroom lively. However, according to research on classroom environments, these visual stimulants can be distracting when overdone. It is important to have a bland area where you are when you deliver most of your instruction. This helps you capture your students' attention by being the brightest star in the classroom universe. Maybe you have some cute and funny posters like Garfield struggling with a load of books, but don't let them be a distraction to your "center stage." It is important to have a place to list notices, events, homework and the like but find a location for these items so they do not interfere with your main teaching area. If the board near your center stage is blank, kids will stay more focused on you and what you are teaching. Then when you write on the board, be sure that everything relates to the current topic or lesson. Arrange furniture to keep kids focused. Just because the custodians put your cabinets there and your desk here etc. doesn't mean that's where those items have to live! Carefully consider the physical elements in your classroom and how they can impact learning. Where are the windows, the doors, and the boards? Keep windows and doors to the students' backs (or at least their sides) to cut down distractions. It's also a good idea to put your "operations center"--your teacher desk and such--away from your center stage and in a less visible location. This helps minimize distractions when students are doing seat work or group work while you confer with a student or a group at your desk. Take a good look at your furniture arrangement, and how various areas in your room function. Seating arrangements are best when done purposefully. While creating a "center stage" is important, this doesn't mean that daily you "stand and deliver" your instruction. This "sage on the stage" approach has been the subject of much research which shows that this model is not effective for many of our students today. However, the "sage" when combined with much moving to different locations in the classroom can be a very effective teaching model. There are of course lecturers who are very fine presenters. But there is a hidden dynamic related to student seating arrangements that even the most spellbinding lecturer cannot overcome. The most involved students in the traditional arrangement of rows of desks are the first row or two of students. This is because of the proximity of those students to the teacher. The middle rows are also involved but not to the level of the first rows. Although we try our best to involve the back rows, those students are simply too far away to have the same level of involvement as the first rows. By rearranging your seating to include some aisles here and there you can change this dynamic. Walking among the students as you teach will give ALL students a feeling similar to those front row students since you are at some times near every student. Explain to the students why you are beginning a new arrangement. Tell them you want to be the most effective teacher possible and are trying strategies to help them learn as much as possible in your class. Are you already using many of these ideas in your classroom? Then you are using strategies that research in "best practices" has found to be highly effective (give yourself a pat on the back!). Take a careful look at your classroom environment. It is surprising how a few simple changes can reduce interruptions due minor distractions and keep kids focused. One of the most important elements in effective teaching is a well planned physical set-up of the learning environment! About the Author: Learn more about classroom management. Stop by Ken Croft's site where you can sign up for Ken's free classroom management newsletter containing lots of great strategies. Kindly provided by MoneyHunter.org You are welcome to use this article on your own website, if you include the link just before this text. |
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