Lesson Planning and Classroom Management

University Degree Education and Teaching

This assignment will look at lesson planning and classroom management. It will also analyse a lesson plan for the session on Stereotyping, on a Challenging Offending Behaviour course.

A teacher is the manager of a classroom. They are responsible for learning and all that goes on inside it.

‘Classroom management and management of student conduct are skills that teachers acquire and hone over time. These skills almost never "jell" until after a minimum of a few years of teaching experience. To be sure, effective teaching requires considerable skill in managing the myriad of tasks and situations that occur in the classroom each day. Skills such as effective classroom management are central to teaching and require "common sense," consistency, a sense of fairness, and courage. These skills also require that teachers understand in more than one way the psychological and developmental levels of their students. The skills associated with effective classroom management are only acquired with practice, feedback, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. Sadly, this is often easier said than done. Certainly, a part of this problem is that there is no practical way for education students to "practice" their nascent skills outside of actually going into a classroom setting. The learning curve is steep, indeed’. (Bob Kizlik)

Classroom management is extremely important for obvious reasons. It aids effective learning. Classroom management covers things like health and safety, how the classroom is set out, controlling the behaviour of students, and all learning and planning that goes into each session.

‘Students are the beneficiaries, not the victims, of effective classroom control’ (Michael Marland)

It is important to consider classroom management when planning lessons. A good lesson plan will help minimise any inappropriate behaviour as it will differentiate between learning styles and be suitable for both advanced learners and students with key skills issues.

Initially rules ...

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‘Students are the beneficiaries, not the victims, of effective classroom control’ (Michael Marland)

Initially rules and regulations would need setting.

‘Many teachers establish and procedures at the beginning of the . They also try to be consistent in enforcing these rules and procedures. Many would also argue for positive consequences when rules are followed, and when rules are broken.’(Unknown).

Once those have been established the objectives should be made clear. Once the students are aware of these they know what they are working towards. Objectives should be clear and have short targets so that the students can see that they are achievable. This will help motivate students as the objectives won’t seem so hard.

Differentiation must be planned for. Some students could have more advanced learning skills than others, or prior knowledge of the subject so must be catered for, otherwise this could cause problems within the class. Others might have a disability i.e. a hearing impairment, so therefore a seat at the front of the class would prove a valuable help to that person, as would effective communication.

It is important to vary activities, so as to cater for all learning styles. These can be shown on the lesson plan. It will help keep the students interest in the session.

The start of the lesson is extremely important. For effective learning to take place, the students need to be comfortable with their surroundings and at ease with their tutor. Therefore icebreakers are a useful tool to use. They can put the class at ease and aid in introductions with each other. If the class feels uncomfortable, then maximum learning will not take place.

The lesson plan should show different methods of assessment and feedback, so that we know that all learners are understanding each session and that the objectives are being met. It also motivating for the students to know that they are taking all the information in. Another motivator is medals. Medals are information about what has been done well. It is important for all students to be given medals as encouragement and to recognise the process of learning.

My own personal lesson plan has learning outcomes set for differentiated learners. It has lots of different activities set out. Some of these activities will hold the attention of the learners better than others. We tend to have students with learning difficulties in our classes, some that cannot even read or write. There are activities set out in the Stereotyping session that these students are easily able to do, without needing to read or write.

There are no exams or tests at the end of class, so students aren’t put under any pressure.

My lesson plan does lack information about the students. I could improve on this in future.

My classroom management can be improved by learning more about the students before the course starts. Setting the room out in a better position, so that any students who do need help don’t feel isolated.