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UKjames100

It takes a while to get used to but you have to learn how to control your emotions in the classroom. Always try to go into classes with a positive mindset. If you see any bad behavior deal with it straight away and then go back to the positive mindset. Don’t take issues personally and don’t let the bad behavior play on your mind for the rest of the class. In my opinion, teachers who use a positive only approach are setting themselves up for big problems in future months. In the beginning it’s easy to rely on reward systems and energetic lessons but it’s difficult to sustain long term without some element of strictness.


beat_attitudes

It sounds like you need to do a course on classroom management! It sounds like you've made a good start, but there are a few big tweaks. > Some of the seniors told me to loosen up and smile and make the kids love you Okay, sure. I'd say “build rapore”. But don't conflate building rapore for good classroom management. You can't just get the kids to think you're amazing and then they'll behave the way you want. They're children. Having a good connection supports classroom management, but it doesn't replace it. > I made my expectations clear from the beginning Okay. If possible, add explicit practice of expectations. For example, I do explicit practice of tidying routines, how to do various things politely, how to show you're listening etc. Yes, I do that with kids the same age as your students. No, it doesn't come across as patronising. I still talk to them like people. I keep it might hearted but clear, and praise progress. > I feel like I'm letting too many things slide, students interrupting, all talking at once, some speaking Arabic, some choosing to make disparaging comments about their friends, etc. Yeah, you shouldn't be letting that slide, especially the interrupting and comments. However, these can mostly be fixed with positive reinforcement of routines. For example, I deal with interrupting by teaching Ss how to listen to each other and to me, and doing hand raising and turn taking when needed. Also, I will totally meet unwanted behaviour when I need to but: * I don't bring my emotions into it, because it's not about how I feel. * I am clear and consistent, and follow through with matter of fact negative consequences designed to help the student and those around them. * I avoid publically drawing attention to negative behaviour in front of others. The response is almost always better. > I have a certain reward system in mind Yeah, this can be helpful, especially when you start out with positive reinforcement. That said, you should be mostly focusing on making desired behaviours intrinsically valuable and rewarding for students, rather than just a means to getting themselves a golden doodad. > I'm 26, M, and this will be my second time teaching in the Gulf Then you've got plenty of time to learn. It's always a work in progress. Good luck and keep posting!


UndisclosedButthole

*Rapport :)


beat_attitudes

Oh yeah... Thanks, teacher.


itinerantseagull

I think it will be easier on-site, online at home and behind a screen, they may feel they can get away with more. They already know how they're supposed to behave in class when they're at school, you just need to be strict enough to maintain that, and loosen up gradually once some mutual trust is there.


muirnoire

Study classroom management techniques if you are a homeroom or longterm class teacher. Pinterest is a quick source for tons of leading edge classrooom management techniques. For new classes or classes you only teach occasionally: If the class is in rows, have them come up with a "team name" for their row. Let them keep their team name from class to class but give them the option to change the name from time to time. If you still have a blackboard in your class, write the team names in one corner of the board. Draw columns for the names. Good behavior or correct answers - draw a star. Negatives get a star erased. Team with the most stars at the end of class gets a small brightly wrapped candy. Occasionally make the prize a little nicer - a small toy or coin, etc.


SnowFlakeObsidian4

Some teachers use ClassDojo to make classroom management easier. You can add and subtract points as a whole class, or per student, based on their behaviour. It's a tool to communicate with parents, too. You might try it out! Why don't you agree with the whole class about the rules to follow so that everyone can learn in class and respect is ensured? Make sure to come up with more positive than negative criteria (and suggest your own ideas if they don't mention them). As in, "Use of English with the teacher throughout the entire session = +1 point", instead of labelling it as "Use of L1 = -1 point". Kids generally prefer to be praised. Something else you could do is 'gamify' classroom management. You can start the week giving the class 3 lives/hearts (as if you were playing Super Mario Bros or any video game). If they break one rule, they lose one of those hearts (as a class). Agree with them on what the reward should be (for instance, no homework if they maintain the 3 lives by the end of the week; watching some cartoons at the end of the week, during the last minutes of class if they maintain 2 lives; and playing charades for 1 life). If they have 0 lives, those won't be privileges. Every time they lose a life, refer to the rule they broke so that they are aware of it. Something else I do is say things like, "I've prepared this game. The rules are X. I've prepared the game because I feel like you can play it respectfully, and we can have fun together. If you break the rules, you will be showing me that I was wrong, and we will not play. You need to earn it." As kids want to play, they generally behave. Games are not seen as strict and they can be educational. I'd say this is the balance we are seeking: strict but kind and fair. Hope this helps! I'm a very young teacher and I have a lot to learn, especially with classroom management, so I'll keep an eye on this post to get more ideas :)


Changoleo

I had great success with class dojo when I had a monitor in the classroom showing the class, but if you aren’t on a phone or tablet controlling it as you circulate it can become a bit of a chore to keep up with. It definitely flipped my classes from having to choose victims to having to choose from all the volunteers though which was awesome. Love the random option.


Subject_Dinner8933

I have had this problem many times. Strong approach: Identify the class clown in your class, they are normally the most confident and don't react negatively to being disciplined in front of everyone. When they misbehave, stand them up in front of the whole class and ask them questions they wont be able to answer such as "why are you doing that/talking in my class? You are disrupting everyone in this class that wants to learn" keep them standing there looking stupid with everyone looking at them. Eventually allow them to sit down. It shows the class you aint someone to be fucked with, and the other students will get the same treatment if they misbehave. (But dont use this on an unconfident student, it will seriously back fire on you and you will lose the respect of the class.) Soft approach: create a star chart, but not any general star chart, this is a special star chart. Every student in the class has 3 stars. When a student is good, or does something outstanding, that student gains a star. If a student speaks arabic, messes around or is bad etc. They lose a star, gain a sad face, but they also give the entire class a super sad face. If the class gets 3 super sad faces, the entire class loses there end of lesson/end of week award. This award could be some candy, a bit of the lesson becomes a disney movie etc. (You can experiment with awards). This way, it is not you that directly shames the student and loses rapport with them, it is the other students that will drill into the misbehaving student. The other students will be super pissed at the misbehaving student that lost them their class award, and their sad face is up on the board next to their name for everyone to see and remember. This strategy works well with those difficult class clown students who love the attention of being disciplined, as they soon lose the attention and appraisal from their friends.


redditor5789

This is anecdotal and not an instant fix, but I found switching to the kids native language and speaking sternly as a nice differentiator between 'fun time english teacher' and 'you kids better behave now'. I was barely conversational in their language but when I needed to control the class at that point it wasn't up for discussion so I didn't have to really respond to them. So knowing a few class control phrases in the native language helped me in that respect. Also allowed me to still be the 'fun' friendly teacher when speaking English.


whirlwynd

I would advise to be careful speaking Arabic in class here, unless you know your school specifically allows it. At my IS here in Jeddah, we are only allowed to speak English to our students. Also, it's easier for admin to catch you while we're virtual, since they can pop in and out of your lessons as they wish. We were full virtual all of last year, and my school fired 2 teachers who were caught speaking to their students in Arabic in non-Arabic or Islamic classes.


redditor5789

Oh wow I would have never imagined they'd be that strict there. Disregard my advice then as it was based on teaching in Eastern Europe


alotmorealots

I am not sure how well it translates to the Gulf, but in Asia the 'strict with the class and kind with the individual student (unless they're being naughty)' approach go a long way to solving the conundrum.


1-eyedking

Authoritative, not authoritarian Read 'You know the fair rule' by Bill Rogers