Most times, teachers spend less time in real teaching but more time on classroom management. Teachers may spend as little as 30% of the total time meant for teaching in the classroom, including physical education instructional areas such as gymnasium, basketball and Tennis courts, swimming pool and similar areas, controlling the class.
This, of course, is part of teaching. As a teacher the ways you handle the management of the class is very important just as the teaching itself; otherwise, much will not be achieved during the lesson. If teaching is going to be effective, management and control of the class are the two areas to which a teacher should address his attention.
Daily African Tips looks at both the management and control of a school classroom
Read 9 qualities of a good school teacher
6 Aspects of Classroom Management
Regulating the physical condition of the classroom: The classroom must be neat and clean since this will promote good health of the students. As a teacher you must, therefore, make the necessary arrangements for making the classroom tidy and clean every morning before the commencement of class work. The classroom must as much as possible be homely to the pupils. Similarly, it must be beautified with things like flowers, attractive pictures and articles of the teacher and pupils’ work since all these promote learning.
2. Lighting and Ventilation: The physical environment of the classroom must be safe through adequate lighting and ventilation. This is why teachers must avoid allowing the sun to strike directly on the chalkboard or on the student’s face. This could be done by putting up curtains or erecting screens. It is also advisable to use diffused fluorescent rather than bulbs as florescent produces light similar to natural daylight. It must be noted that good ventilation is very important because lack of it can lead to tiredness. Sufficient windows should therefore be provided to let in fresh air.
3. Sitting arrangement The most common arrangement for formal teaching would be for pupils to sit in rows facing the teacher and the chalkboard. Usually the short ones are seated in the front and the tall ones behind. Regardless of the height, arrangements should be made by the teacher to provide a seat for the short-sighted ones and the hard of hearing. However, pattern of sitting arrangement are to be determined often time by the prevailing classroom activity and the method the teacher intends to use.
4. Handling Instructional Materials The teacher must evolve an effective system of distributing and collecting exercise books, test papers and other instructional materials like charts, diagrams and apparatus. The teacher must also ensure that his students have adequate supply of all relevant materials like textbooks, exercise books, pencil, etc. In most classrooms there are bulletin boards and a lot of empty wall space for pictures, charts, diagrams and other forms of visual aids.
5. Handling classroom activities: In a system where different teachers move from one class to another (esp. In primary schools) the teacher should ensure that lesson starts on time and in orderly manner. This can be done by the teacher’s punctuality which will enable pupils to pack away books and other materials used for the previous lesson and clearing the chalkboard. In course of a lesson, the teacher should encourage students to ask and answer questions in an orderly manner. This could be done by raising up hands.
6. Care of routine: Since it’s difficult if not impossible for the teacher to perform all the necessary tasks alone he has to involve his students as much as possible. This is to sustain the cordial relationship that should normally exist between him and the learners.
Different routines like distribution and collection of materials, cleaning of the board, taking care of the classroom notice/bulletin board, reading corner etc should be properly organized. Generally, students should be assigned to each of these routines at specific time through duty roaster.