500 Tips for Teachers

Sally Brown, Carolyn Earlam, Phil Race, Brown, Sally, Earlam, Carolyn, Race, Phil

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781135371777
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This updated text takes account of the changes that have occurred through technological advances, and has sections to cover ICT in the classroom. It is suitable for both new and experienced teachers in primary, further and higher education.

Chapter 1 Techniques for effective teaching and classroom management

1	Meeting a class for the first time
2	Gaining attention and settling a class down
3	Coping with interruptions
4	Learning names
5	Avoiding disruption in your class
6	Using blackboards
7	Organizing practical lessons
8	Doing yard/bus/break duties painlessly
9	Ensuring equality of opportunity within your teaching
10	Strategies for raising achievement

This section contains some advice on some basic techniques of teaching, particularly on interaction with pupils. This is perhaps one of the most difficult areas on which to give advice, because the way we work with children tends to be a very personal thing. Techniques that work with one teacher can sometimes prove to be completely useless to another, and it is really important to develop your own style, with which you feel comfortable. People tend to talk about ‘natural authority’ as though it were something that one is either born with or not, but in reality everyone has good days and bad days. The principal advantages of being an experienced teacher include that you have learned not to take unpleasant experience too seriously and you can learn from mistakes. In this chapter, we aim to share some very practical tips on teaching techniques. If you have already passed the stage of needing such suggestions, please pass on to later chapters of the book.

1

Meeting a class for the first time

There is no second chance to make a good first impression! First impressions are crucial in any work with people and none more so than with new pupils. The old adage ‘don’t smile until Christmas’ held a grain of truth – it’s always easier to loosen up later than it is to start to lay down the law once your class has decided you’re soft!

1	Don’t forget to introduce yourself – and spell your name out on the blackboard if necessary. Pupils in Primary School usually know their teachers quite well, and see the same teachers for a greater proportion of the time than in secondary education. It can be quite stressful for pupils to start a new school, or a new year, in which they may encounter 20 new teachers in the space of a week.
2	State clearly what you expect of your pupils – what they can and cannot do in the classroom. Establish a few simple rules of behaviour and always stick to them. You may also wish to invite from pupils their own suggestions for additional groundrules.
3	Learn your pupils’ names as quickly as you can – any instruction is much more effective if directed to an individual. Your work will also be more effective if you never forget that your class is made up of individuals, and know them as such.
4	Help pupils to learn each others’ names if they don’t know them already. One way of doing this is to form them into a large circle, and ask each pupil to say (for example) ‘my name is Cheryl, and this is my friend Mark, and this is Clive, and …’ seeing who can say the most names. This helps you learn their names too!
5	Help pupils to get to know each other (at the same time helping you to get to know them). For example, conduct a class round along the lines of ‘My name is Jean, my favourite thing in the world is pizza, and my pet hate is spiders’.
6	Show your pupils where they’re heading. Give your pupils a clear idea of what they will be doing in the next few weeks and why they are doing it. Help them to see how your work with them fits in with the syllabus, National Curriculum programmes of study and so on.
7	Make sure your pupils know how they will be assessed. Which pieces of work are more important for assessment, which areas are revision of material they have already covered? Emphasize the need for them to look after their own work and take responsibility for their own progress, especially where there is continuous assessment.
8	Use the first lessons to find out what pupils already know about the subject and build on this in your planning. You could make this into a quiz or get them to write something which is personal to them which will help you get to know them.
9	Explain which resources are available for pupils to use; which they can access themselves and which resources are to be obtained from the teacher, or in the library or resource centre. Encourage pupils to take responsibility for the resources in their classroom, for example keeping an eye on the numbers of rulers, rubbers, and so on, ensuring that the stock lasts all year.
10	React firmly if any of your rules of behaviour are transgressed. This is especially important in the first few weeks. Show the class that you notice everything that is going on and are not willing to ignore anything. Name the pupil who has done something you don’t like, but be aware of individual personalities and notice if what you say is having an extreme effect on anyone. You may need to tread carefully with pupils who feel insecure or nervous. Don’t be drawn into arguments; when you know pupils better you can be more flexible.

2

Gaining attention and settling a class down

Nice as it would be if all pupils were sitting quietly, ready to learn, and attentive at all times, this is not the nature of the young of the human species! Here are some tips to overcome human nature – but remember that different things work for different people, so find your own styles.

1	Try doing nothing first. Stand there, very still, absolutely quiet. The pupils closest will notice, and the word will gradually spread. Give it a moment or two before you decide that another tactic is needed!
2	Don’t shout (yet)! If all is not quiet, avoid the instinct to shout ‘be quiet’ at the top of your voice! Start a quiet conversation with two or three pupils who already look ready to listen to you.
3	Take advantage of human curiosity. It sometimes pays to whisper! Human nature includes not wishing to miss anything. Whisper to those closest to you, and many of the rest will stop talking and listen.
4	Drop a non-attender in it! Ask a question to those who are already listening, but end with the name of someone you know has not been paying attention. Watch as all eyes turn to this pupil, the effect of someone being found out by their peers not to have been listening.
5	Have ways of making pupils listen. Start with something that needs careful listening – for example...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Our aims in this book
• Chapter 1: Techniques for effective teaching and classroom management
• Chapter 2: Planning and assessment
• Chapter 3: Using teaching and learning resources well
• Chapter 4: Supporting pupils’ learning
• Chapter 5: Providing personal and pastoral care
• Chapter 6: Being an effective colleague
• Chapter 7: Information and communications technologies
• Postscript
• Further Reading
• Index