My experience on behaviour in the classroom
They say a good teacher is one who manages the behaviour in the classroom effectively.
I was nervous about standing in front of the classroom for the first time, with all eyes on me. Later as the week progressed I felt I was getting to understand the students, but each day was not the same. The teaching aspect was good but the behaviour management was not effective. I was told to become more assertive and me being nice wasn’t going to help them or me. I had to find the fine balance between managing behaviour and making it look positive (while following the school behavioural policy).
I thought that a particular class was giving me a hard time as they talked a lot during the lesson, either because they didn’t like me or my lesson. But it turned out that they behaved like that in all the other lessons too (as their main teacher encourages peer learning and group discussion).
And then there was a particular student in year 10 who wanted each teacher known that he was in the LSU (learning students unit: referral) each day. I dreaded his presence during my lesson as he would end up disrupting the lesson. In his absence the lessons would go smoothly. One day we had a chat during form time which changed him. He started making an effort to concentrate in the lesson. That changed me too (not to judge the students by their behaviour).
In the course of my time at placement A school I came to understand that students are people who have feelings and who don't want to feel cornered. They want to learn but they also want to feel as if they have some control over themselves.
I never made assumptions again about students before they came into my class. Every student is different; no two students react in the same way.
It is our task as teachers to find not only what motivates each student to learn but also what motivates them to misbehave. If we can meet them at that point and take away that motivation, we can go a long way toward achieving more effective classroom management and a better learning environment.
By Nita Patne