lunes, 11 de abril de 2011



According to the book Qualities of Effective Teachers we can learn that one of the most common issues teachers face all around the world is classroom management and as some experts have claimed that classroom management are those actions and strategies teachers use to solve all those problems of order in classrooms, teachers need s to find the way to create the a positive classroom climate that involves students in an active learning. Good classroom management skills enable teachers to be prepared to cope and predict with those ups and downs that take place during the class.


A teacher must be aware of his role and try to limit disruption by involving students at the time of establishing fair rules in the classroom. The teacher also has to have a positive attitude and to make a balance between variety and challenges. Regards to this a good distribution of the space keeping tools as staplers, scissors, tape, glue, crayons, books, etc, accessible to students avoiding the waist of time and giving more time for academic task, also we involve students helping them to know what to do and when to do it.


To prevent that negative behavior that affects the learning process, Teachers must develop proactive management skills by explaining students in advance the role they are expected to have in the classroom. Another important thing is that effective teachers must have fair treatment to all the students providing feedback to the whole class instead of just paying attention to some students and ignoring some others.

In my experience as practitioner in junior high school, I have realized the importance of classroom managements. Even though I don´t have a large class, I am facing misbehavior problems. In fact there are two students who provoke disruption. But I think the problem regards on the dependence of the book, classes are designed to use the book and to fill in activities, cross out wrong words and some other. Students get bored and misbehave.

As Susan Eva porter says in her book “RELATING TO ADOLESENTS,” adolescents have social and affective necessities that arise in the classroom, also they have hormonal changes that make them to behave differently.

In order to develop a good classroom climate I will try to do the following activities:

· Prepare activities that will motivate students to participate.

· Try to find why the two students provoke disrupt.

· I will use a variety of activities in order not to be predicted.

· I will implement collaborative learning.

· I will use appropriate feedback with my students.

viernes, 1 de abril de 2011

Teaching is a demanding job that involves big responsibilities towards student´s success. Even though a lot of people consider the teaching major as a suicide, it is a rewarding job. It is common to hear expressions like: “How can you deal with many kids? I can´t understand how do you work with many teenagers and don’t get crazy”

However, teachers have different opinions and value this beautiful profession. As teachers, we see the potential our students have. We get to love our students and get happy whenever they succeed but if we consider teachers as persons, what are those facts that make them effective?

James H. Strong on his book Qualities of effective teachers, chapter two explains seven characteristics of teacher as a person. I will consider two of them.

First I want to consider how well teachers know their students. As every student is different and has his personal needs and learning style, teachers must know his students in order to create a positive relationship that keeps the lines of communication opened.

Knowing students and their personality lets the teacher identify student´s potential, develop good relationships that allows him to show his interest on their achievement.

Second I would like to consider to what extent the teacher promotes enthusiasm and motivates his students towards learning. As students have a direct relationship with the teacher every day, they really appreciate when the teacher shows some interest on them.

According to Susan Eva Porter on her book Relating to Adolescents, Students have personal psychological needs of being accepted and they are aware whether the teacher cares on their learning or not. Thinking on this we can say that an effective teacher recognizes that students vary in their motivation levels, so they know how to support them intrinsically and find ways to provide extrinsic motivation to students who need it. When teachers are able to do this they motivate their students to be responsible, set high standards and become autonomous. Students also turn exited to learning so that they feel comfortable showing enthusiasm.

In my personal opinion both characteristics take an important role in the teaching life. In my experience as a teacher I have realized that students appreciate those teachers who motivate them to work hard and show them a real concern on their success. I remember one of my students who use to extremely misbehave since he was in kindergarten but when I received him on 5th grade I realized that he was just trying to call other´s attention. I started to analyze his behavior and to show that I really wanted him to be different. One day the coordinator of the Biblical School decided that teachers must wear black pants, white shirt and a tie.

The first day I wore that uniform that student was really impressed and started asking me what I was wearing differently. The next Sunday he was wearing black pants and a white shirt when he was accustomed to wear jeans, polo shirts and sneakers. I understood that he was trying to be like me so after the class a talked to him and he said that He was happy on finding a teacher who really cares on him and since that day he started to behave differently and work hard.