eLearn: Best Practices - 10 Things I've Learned About Teaching Online

eLearn: Best Practices - 10 Things I've Learned About Teaching Online

Positioning in the classroom…

Coming to work in British School made me learn skills I never needed before. On of them is Classroom Management. It was hard road and I still cannot say I am there. It was tough to stand in front of pupils who have different cultural background and less polite and learning orientated behaviour then I was used to from my teaching experience... (although this varies from class to class). In one of the behaviour management courses (Tribal) the presenter mentioned the positioning in the room and its power and how different messages are conveyed depending on where and how do we stand in front of students... This made me curious and any time I remembered I tried a little experiment.

Recently I was lazy and I forgot about my position (also thinking that I don’t need that after three years in the school). Most of the time I was sitting. The discipline and attention I had at the very beginning of the lesson slowly disappeared. Later after the lesson I was not happy about my performance and started to think: What went wrong? When? Why?

I was sitting. Even when I was asking for the silence for x-th time I was still on the chair behind student's desk... Probably looking very relaxed and like someone who does not give a damn. The message must have been very confusing for the class…

The Proxemics – The Psychology of the Environment describes and studies the positioning of people towards each other and in the space... How the perception of the person can change depending on whether we are standing, sitting, whether we are across each other or by the side...

We learn from that field of study that people consciously or subconsciously choose to be in a particular spot in relationship to others depending on their interpersonal relationship, the context of the communication, and their particular goals (Hall 1966)

Anyone coming into the classroom needs to think about the space and how to use it to his benefit. Whilst being 'angry' and requesting silence and attention from everyone, one cannot stand in the back or sit with legs crossed... Being happy and joking with the class cannot be done with ‘evils’ and shouting.

But which position and posture is most effective? From the course i mentioned earlier I remember this advice: ‘Choose the spot in the front but not in the middle. Rather towards left or right side of the room depending on your visual preference (e.i. Right handed people tend to turn slightly to the right and look to the left, therefore they should stand more to the right side of the room...). Relax. Jaws need to be relaxed not clenched as this is a message of anger and shows that you are not under control. Do not smile either (one of my friend who has many public appearances said he pushes a thumb nail under his little finger nail. The pain will override other emotions and he will stop smiling or laughing. And it is almost invisible) Feet shoulder wide apart and and hands relaxed along the body. (I tend to hold the boarder marker in my hands so it does not feel awkward having them hanging down...) This works. Being foreigner I may have difficulty to choose the right vocabulary and have real impact with what I am saying. But the body says the message more than clearly...

Teacher's proximity to a student or students establishes the specific student-teacher relationship. We realize that there will be occasions when that relationship reflects a hierarchy of power, other times when a more caring relationship is indicated; and yet other times when the relationship is somewhere in between. (Taubert and Mester 1994)

I know this might be nothing new for many presenters and teachers out there. But nowadays here in the UK there are so many people taking and supervising classes without the advice on how to use the space of the classroom.

Because I rarely stay in the same classroom all day/ week sometimes I go to the room earlier to check whether the desks and layout of the room are as I want them and if not I will adjust them to my need. I will check windows, clean any mess there and look around how I can use the space effectively... It usually cost 2-3 min of my time but I get more pleasure from taking the class. And I can also plan little experiments with my posture and positioning to see what really works (warning: some classes less predictable than weather and what works today, won't work tomorrow...)

Further reading:

Robert T. Tauber, and Cathy Sargent Mester, Acting Lessons for Teachers: Using Performance Skills in the Classroom (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1994) iii, Questia, 28 Oct. 2009 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=9627827.

http://www.careerrocketeer.com/2009/07/proxemics-psychology-of-positioning-use.html

Teacher positioning in the classroom | Teaching English | British Council | BBC

Herman Aguinis, Melissa M. Simonsen, and Charles A. Pierce, "Effects of Nonverbal Behavior on Perceptions of Power Bases," Journal of Social Psychology138.4 (1998): 455, Questia, 28 Oct. 2009 http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=97802129.

The Big Question: Why are pupils making so many false allegations against teachers?

By Richard Garner, Education Editor

Are the problems caused by these allegations really so bad?

Yes...

*A staggering 28 per cent of teachers say they have had a false allegation made against them by a pupil

*Some teachers have had to wait more than two years before they are cleared

*Some of those eventually declared innocent have found it too traumatic to return to the classroom

No...

*The Government has declared that teachers should not automatically be suspended if an allegation is made

*The ATL survey showed it was possible to carry on teaching a pupil even after a false allegation

*The Government's call for teachers' right to anonymity during an investigation will protect them from stigma

 

The Independent

Resources from BBC

Word Cloud of my essay…

BBC NEWS | Education | Parents pushing to run own school

BBC NEWS | Education | Parents pushing to run own school: "Sitting in the spartan surroundings of the 1960s-style food and technology room, lined with hobs and sinks, they discuss the latest development: a local bus company has agreed to provide extra services to bring in the pupils."

Dude alert: How to keep beach teens in the classroom - Schools, Education - The Independent

Dude alert: How to keep beach teens in the classroom - Schools, Education - The Independent: "'Just because it's called surf science it doesn't make it easy,' says Lowry. 'It's very hard work. The surf science modules are at degree level standard and are overseen by Plymouth University and we're also taking A-levels in sport, travel and business studies.'"

BBC NEWS | Education | Faith schools warned on RE texts

BBC NEWS | Education | Faith schools warned on RE texts: "Ofsted surveyed 51 schools in England from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu faiths, at the request of Schools Secretary Ed Balls.

Inspectors said some materials were biased or had incorrect information about the beliefs of other religions.

But the schools were judged to be good at helping pupils understand the importance of being a good citizen."

Education Quandary: Parents have been banned from drinking lager at the school gate. What other school gate behaviour should we clamp down on? - Schools, Education - The Independent

Education Quandary: Parents have been banned from drinking lager at the school gate. What other school gate behaviour should we clamp down on? - Schools, Education - The Independent: "I would ban parents who threaten my staff with violence as well as parents who demand to see me, the school head, about a pair of lost trainers. I'd ban parents who send their children to school with flu, parents who never remember to sign permission slips, those who turn up an hour-and-a-half late to collect their children from school... These, thank goodness, are the tiny minority. Most of my parents are lovely."

BBC NEWS | Education | What will you be when you grow up?

BBC NEWS | Education | What will you be when you grow up?

School with a zoo is named UK's greenest - Education News, Education - The Independent

School with a zoo is named UK's greenest - Education News, Education - The Independent: "It all started when assistant headteacher Sean O'Donovan, who trained as a rural studies teacher, launched a school farm 14 years ago. Then, it was just a case of a few rabbits and chickens. Now it has expanded to include the alpaca, Shetland ponies, chinchillas, pigs and even boa constrictors. The snakes came from HM Customs and Excise, which has been so impressed with the way the school looks after animals that it is on its list as a possible sanctuary for animals that have been smuggled into the country and are in emergency need of a new home. In fact, the school was offered 60 boa constrictors, but diplomatically put it to HMC&E that it would prefer to cope with just two.

Looking after animals is a central feature of the school's curriculum and many of its pupils harbour ambitions to become involved in animal welfare when they leave school. Some are employed by the school and look after animals in the holidays and at weekends while continuing with their studies."

Parents to be given right to make formal complaints about pupils disrupting school classes | Mail Online

Parents to be given right to make formal complaints about pupils disrupting school classes | Mail Online: "Parents will be encouraged by the Government to make formal complaints about the behaviour of disruptive pupils who wreck lessons for their classmates, Schools Secretary Ed Balls revealed yesterday.

Families will be granted new rights to complain if schools fail to maintain order in class as part of a final bid by Labour to reform education before the next election.

Parents will be encouraged to make representations first to the school and then to an impartial ombudsman."