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.
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