What can a teacher do to ensure effective classroom management?
Gearing Up: Honing your Classroom Management and Teaching Strategies As a new early childhood educator, skills in classroom management and teaching strategies will come in handy. These skills will boost your confidence and give you a smooth start to your early childhood journey. Ms Tiffany Lim, Principal of My First Skool at Blk 756 Jurong West, shares practical tips and strategies for improving classroom management. Professional skills and knowledge for effective classroom management are essential to a positive preschool experience. Such skills not only enable early childhood educators to better support children’s learning and development, they also give the educators the confidence in handling difficult classroom situations. Early childhood educators, especially the novice ones, are always on the lookout for strategies to manage their classrooms effectively. To Ms Tiffany Lim, Principal of My First Skool at Blk 756 Jurong West, having the practical knowledge and skills alone may not be sufficient to ensure effective classroom management. Early childhood educators also need to have a good understanding of themselves and the children they work with to effectively implement their skills and knowledge. THE IMPORTANCE OF A PERSONAL TEACHING PHILOSOPHY Tiffany strongly recommends that every new early childhood educator develop their own teaching philosophy. Relating to her own personal experience, Tiffany shared, “I think having a teaching philosophy guides me as an educator. My teaching philosophy helps shape my teaching pedagogies, behaviour and mindset. It is fundamental to why I am doing what I am doing to provide the best for the children.” She further elaborated, “My teaching philosophy leads me to set various desired outcomes for myself and my students. The desired outcomes then guide my teaching instructions and sets the culture in my class. This shapes the behaviour of children when it comes to classroom management.” In shaping their personal teaching philosophy and establishing desired outcomes, Tiffany encourages early childhood educators to be reflective, realistic and practical. By being reflective, early childhood educators get a better understanding of the children they work with. They also get a better understanding of themselves and the educator role they play. Reflection can help early childhood educators clarify why they embark on a career in early childhood. This can in turn help educators develop a more impactful teaching philosophy and guide them in prioritising the things that are important to them when faced with conflicts and challenges at work. Tiffany also encourages early childhood educators to be realistic in setting goals and expectations for themselves. It is important for new educators to identify their personal limits to avoid setting overly high expectations. Unrealistic expectations can lead to unnecessary stress and burn-out. Last but not least, Tiffany advises early childhood educators to set practical expectations and desired outcomes for the children under their care. Each child is unique and reacts to situations differently. When faced with a situation where a child is reacting negatively to a situation, educators need to step back and reflect on the reasons behind the child’s behaviour to determine how they can meet the behavioural needs of this child. 4 KEY PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Guided by her personal teaching philosophy and desired learning outcomes for the children, Tiffany further adopts four key principles to develop strategies for effective classroom management:
Principle 1: Know your children To Tiffany, it is critical for early childhood educators to understand individual children’s interests to cater to their different needs. “One of my philosophies for teaching is to maximise every child’s learning potential and ensure that every child is happy in the process of learning. This belief helps me set my foundation right – that is to know my children. Without knowing what these children can or cannot do, I won’t be able to stretch their learning,” says Tiffany. In getting to know the children, Tiffany suggests the following tips for new early childhood educators:
Principle 2: Be Intentional Intentional planning is the next key step after getting to know the children. As Tiffany says, “After knowing (the children), it is very important for me to have a plan to work towards setting the expectation and culture for the classroom. This requires intentional planning.” In being intentional, Tiffany suggests the following:
Principle 3: Tap on Available Resources For a holistic approach to classroom management, Tiffany strongly recommends that early childhood educators tap on available resources around them. “In building an effective classroom, strong partnerships with colleagues and families are required. Through close communication and deepening of relationships with the families and colleagues, you will be amazed to see how much every partner can contribute in building an effective classroom,” she shares. Some tips offered by Tiffany include:
However, for novice early childhood educators, Tiffany has the following advice to share, “It requires some experience and planning to seize the opportunity and know what kind of resources are beneficial for our children and aligned with what we want to achieve.” Principle 4: Establish a set of routines and structures Lastly, Tiffany highlighted the importance of well-established routines and classroom rules in effective classroom management. In establishing routines, Tiffany shared the following tips:
Rounding up her advice to new early childhood educators, Tiffany has 3 wise words to share with new early childhood educators entering the sector, “PLAN, DO and REVIEW. As early childhood educators, always PLAN your lessons beforehand and decide on the type of conversations you would like to have with the children. Listen to what the children need, DO by acting on them. REVIEW your actions and strategies to see how well they have worked in the context of the classroom.” About Tiffany Ms Tiffany Lim Yan Ting is an ECDA Scholarship recipient who graduated with a Master of Education (Early Childhood) at the National Institute of Education. Tiffany started out as a trainee teacher in 2005 and is now a Centre Principal at My First Skool at Blk 756 Jurong West. The above tips and advice were shared by Tiffany at the ECDA Scholarships & Awards Tea Session held on 9 Feb 2018. The ECDA Scholarships & Awards Tea Session aims to provide pre-service educators with practical tips to start and transit well from a student to an early childhood educator and to build a strong and supportive fraternity among ECDA Scholarships and Training Award recipients. What can you do to ensure effective classroom management?Classroom Management Techniques. Understand your students. Get to know each student as an individual. ... . Practice patience with Rational Detachment. ... . Set effective limits. ... . Keep to the schedule you set. ... . Be aware of the causes of behavior. ... . Engage with students. ... . More classroom management resources:. What should a teacher do to make his class effective?10 effective teaching practices you can use right now. Model as you teach. ... . Make mistakes. ... . Work as a team. ... . Encourage learning from experience. ... . Let the students teach. ... . Integrate technology into the classroom. ... . Try graphic organizers. ... . Emphasize behavior management.. |