Classroom management

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT -
TECHNIQUES AND REFLECTIONS ON PRACTICE

Name and surname: Erica Spada. Blondiney Mendez. Rosmaria Martinez. Kattlyn Murillas.
Login: EUFPMTFL1517311
COFPMTFL727491
ECFPMTFL839534 COFPMTFL1669231 Group: 2014-06

Date: September 27th 2014

Funiber
Classroom Management
2014

Assignment:
Do the following exercises and justify or explain your answers where appropriate.

Task 1
Look at Ur’s list of patterns of interaction below. Decide whether each interaction is either more student-centred or more teacher-centred. Justify your answers.

Group work: This is student centred; since this form of interaction demands decision making by students and the teacher’s role is listening and monitoring what students say.
Closed-ended teacher questioning: This is teacher-centred; interaction since the teacher is the one who makes decisions about what to ask and who is going to answer.
Individual work: This is student centred; since students have the chance to show what they have learned in the classroom. The teacher gives a degree of freedom to choose how and what they learn.
Choral responses: This is a teacher centred; activity since the teacher is the one who decides what students should repeat with a transactional purpose .
Collaboration: This is student centred; each group is seeking a consensus and, to do this, activities are distributed; it promotes the unity of the criteria.
Student initiates, teacher answers: This is teacher centred; the teacher is who decides to whom to answer, therefore, the teacher’s role is preponderant.
Full-class interaction: This is student centred; the students are the ones who participate in an interaction activity with their peers, in order to discuss a topic. The teacher’s intervention is optional.
Teacher talk: This is teacher centred; the teachers have a predominant role; in this case students’ attitude is passive.
Self-access: This is student centred; since it is the student who decides the time and content he or she wants to study.
Open-ended teacher questioning: This is student centred; students have the possibility to answer, but always under their teacher’s supervision and control.

Task 2
Categorise each of the following errors under one of these headings: grammar; pronunciation; meaning; appropriacy. Justify your answers.

- How you come to school? Grammar. The auxiliary verb is missing. The correct form is: “How do you come to school?”
- I go always to France for my holidays. Grammar. The frequency adverb should be in the middle of the subject and the verb. The correct form is: “I always go to France for my holidays.”
- I don’t like travelling by sheep. Meaning. spelling problem. The correct form is: “I don’t like travelling by ship.”
- (Mike speaking to his boss) That’s a load of rubbish, mate. Appropriacy: it is very rude to talk to the boss in that way.
- She suggested us to go home. Grammar. The subjunctive used is not correct with the verb go. The correct form is: "She suggested that we go home”.
- Oh, of course! - you’re Peter, aren’t you? (rising intonation on aren’t you). (Pronunciation) for being more specific the problem is with the intonation since it must be falling instead of rising.
- (student in pub) Give me a beer. Appropriacy: the student is giving a command to the bartender instead of making a polite request. The correct form is: “Give me a beer, please.”
- She went to the library to buy a book. Meaning: word-use because the use of the word “library” is incorrect. The correct form is: “bookstore.”

Task 3
Look at the following situations and decide if you would correct or not. If so, say when you would do so. Explain your answer.

1. Students are writing a paragraph about a holiday in ones or twos. Yes, particularly if the student requests to do so. We would not correct much when a writing activity is in progress .
2. Students are discussing the question of pollution in small groups. No, we would not intervene so much. If students are discussing and we interrupt it can affect student’s fluency.
3. Students are debating on the rights of women in an open class focus. No, We would not intervene since it is a communicative activity, unless we found any communicative purpose risk. Penny Ur’s (1996:228) points out that most typical interactions are classified as full-class interaction, so the teacher’s interaction may be occasional.
4. Students are discussing role-playing a public meeting after reading a text, and are preparing their side of the argument. Yes, since the teacher must walk around the classroom in order to monitor the activity.
5. Students are giving the answer to a listening comprehension exercise in class feedback. Yes, the teacher’s intervention is necessary in the very moment the students give the possible answers so we would elicit the correct answers.
6. Students are checking a grammar exercise in open class. Yes, we think that we correct it on the spot since it is an open class activity. Repetition and stress in the correct form could be a good way.
7. Students are giving the teacher examples of the target structure ‘used to’ and the teacher is writing these examples on the board. Yes, definitely we would intervene since this activity needs accuracy, but we would do it after a period of time in which students can analyze all the examples given .
Task 4.
Below is a list of classroom ‘procedures’ (activity types) which will, in theory, allow for individualisation in the language classroom. To what extent does each cater for individualised learning? What advantages and what drawbacks can you identify with each ‘procedure’ if you were to use them with your own classes? (Ur, 1996:236) Explain your answers.

1. Readers. Students choose individual simplified readers, of varied level and topic, from a school library, and read quietly in class. Mr. Ball mentions Ur’s(1996,235) specific factors of individualisation like the topic in which it is established that providing a selection of topics(based on the same language skill or teaching point) for the learner to select from could ensure certain degree of it. Advantages: Students feel engaged with the material. Drawbacks: If the students select a wrong level or topic material, they won’t be engaged in the activity, as a consequence we could have a poor output .
2. Response to listening. The teacher plays a recorded text on a topical issue, and asks the class to note down points they understood. The style of this activity matches with the individualized open-ended activity types. Advantages: students with excellent and weak listening skills can get different ideas.Drawbacks: students with low performance could be disengage.
3. Workcards. A pile of work cards prepared by the teacher is put in the centre of the class, all practising the material the class has recently learned, but each different. Each student chooses one, completes it and then takes another.
As a remedial work student technique, it can consolidate linguistic items. Advantages: there won’t be such a big level differences. Disadvantages: it gets difficult to monitor each student .
4. Textbook questions in class. The class has been given a set of questions from the textbook to answer in writing; each student does them on his or her own.
As an open-ended activity type that requires writing skills, Ur’s best activity would be brain storming which is beneficial for the student since he can work with his/her rhythm and is not delimited. Advantages: students can decide the rhythm and ideas. Drawbacks: Students don’t have the possibility to think about the mistakes they are doing until the teacher check it out.
5. Worksheets. The teacher distributes worksheets which all practise the same grammar point, but containing various sections with different kinds of practice tasks and topics. The students choose which sections they want to do, and do as much as they can in the time allotted. Mr Ball mentions one of Ur’s(1996,p235) factors: speed; how fast or slowly does the individual work on a task? Depending on this factor, a learner may be expected to do more or less of a task, or even an extra add on task.This is an amazing activity that really enhances individualised learning since they can decide what activity and the time to do it. Advantages: Students feel motivated since they do not have commands on any aspect of the activity. Drawbacks: it is possible that the students select an easy activity, so it could be no demanding and the effort on this could be minimum.
6. Textbook exercises for homework. The teacher gives three sets of comprehension questions from the textbook, of varying difficulty, on a passage that has been read in class; each student is asked to select and do one set. This activity is amazing for the ones with strong writing abilities and is very individualised since they can work at home on the set they prefer. Advantages: students work on it at home, using extra resources if they need it .Drawbacks: SS can copy ideas among them.
7. Varied tasks. The teacher has prepared a number of work-cards based on different language skills and content. There is a cassette recorder in one corner with headsets for listening tasks, and another corner available for quiet talk. Students select, work on and exchange cards freely. That is very useful in a mixed ability class, students can work on the activities they want to in a individualised practise; this way permits to evaluate their own progress. Mr ball mentions some Ur´s (1996,235) factors like language skill or teaching point; what linguistic knowledge is the learner to acquire? Each learner may choose to work on a quite different aspect of language: e.g. listening, or grammar, or reading literature, and so on. Advantages: Students select the activities they want to do and with their own pacing. Drawbacks: if there are lots of students we can find it a bit problematic since they have to take turns and some of them could not have the time to participate.
8. Research. The teacher asks the students to form groups of four in order to carry out a web-quest, based on an environmental issue. Each student is given a specific role and asked to find out particular aspects of the topic from Internet sources, to later share with the other group members. The group will then arrive at a consensus, formulate a collective report, and present their findings to the class. It is an individualised dynamic since each student has a particular task in the group. We need to bear in mind one of the factors exposed by Ur (1996:235) about topic: is the topic interesting/relevant to the individual? Providing a selection of topics (based on the same language skill or teaching point has wider connotations in terms of the possibility of negotiating course content and materials with learners. Advantages: they can work by their own, responsibility is fostered in the student and sharing ideas can be a way of going forward. Drawbacks: if one student decides not to cooperate the whole work and the goal could be seriously affected.
Task 5.
a) To what extent do you agree with each of Ur’s statements in your materials? What are your own views on the issue of mixed-ability? Do you think that mixed- ability groups always result in more successful SLA for learners? Or can the opposite seem to be true? Why? Draw on your own experience as a teacher or learner in order to prove or disprove each of her statements, providing concrete examples of classroom experiences/activities. Can you add any other advantages to her list?
b) What other considerations have now come into play regarding this issue, especially those which have made the phrase ‘mixed-ability’ seem almost old-fashioned or unnecessary?

We agree with Ur’s statements about mixed-ability. Penny Ur calls the classes heterogeneous, that is what we have in our language classes today; learners bring far more to the classroom than the term mixed-ability implies. Learners are different from one another in all sorts of other ways that affect how they learn and need to be taught ( Penny Ur 1996:302). The term mixed-ability has change over time. At the beginning the mixed-ability classes had the idea of division among the students base on their weaknesses and strengths. Penny Ur explains that the term ability indicates not only the abilities that students demonstrate but also show how capable they are.
We see that mixed-ability groups are a positive element. The personality and abilities of the students give us the opportunity to interact in a more dynamic class and it also requires creativity from teachers when planning the lessons. Students come to our classes with a variety of knowledge and previous experiences with the target language. Mixed-ability groups result in a more successful SLA experience because students will benefit from the experiences and knowledge that other students bring with them. Learners will benefit from one another during pair work, the students with proficiency get more practice in producing comprehensive output, and the weakest partner gets experience and negotiating meaning (Lynch 1996: 115). From our experiences as teachers we agree that it is important to create a supportive learning environment, where learners can perform to the best of their abilities. One of the things we do is to create the rules of the classroom to promote an effective learning environment. Another priority is to organize the classroom layout to increase learning potential. The use of varied activities and topics will motivate learners. Interest is a consideration to issue of mixed-ability, learners will be motivated if fun activities are presented.

Task 6
Say whether you agree or disagree with each of the following statements. Justify your answers.

1. If you give instructions for activities in the mother tongue, you deprive students of an important opportunity to be exposed to natural L2 use.
We agree. When we give instructions we should try it in the target language to let students infer and understand the target language, otherwise the teacher and/or students could feel that they have not understood any item of the language until it has been translated. (Atkinson 1987:426)
2. Students should be allowed to ask the teacher (in English) if they may say something or ask something in their own language, and all other use of their mother tongue should be prohibited.
We agree. Teachers should use L1 to explain and clarify concepts. Atkinson (1987) suggests that teachers should use English where possible and L1 when necessary as an auxiliary tool to solve complex issues regarding to meaning.
3.Teachers could sometimes use mother tongue texts with students, but comprehension tasks should always require students to produce English. we agree; the use of mother tongue in texts will permit the study of authentic longer text, and the L2 would be used as a basis for summarising. Withing the longer text once the main ideas are gasped there can be focus on the L2 for smaller parts.
4. If students translate the meaning of new vocabulary they will develop the mistaken idea that there is a one-to-one correspondence between words in English and in their own language.
We agree; that is one of the consequences mentioned by John Harbord strategies: “some target language strategies like visual prompts, mime and evoking situational context” could be used to avoid translation and confusions.
5. Instructions should always be given in both languages - but in English first.
We disagree since I agree with Atkinson list of consequences that states “ students become passive, since they realise that all they have to do is wait for translation.”
6.Translation should never be used with young learners.
We agree since for young learners it is problematic to talk of L1 representations, when a learner can still neither read nor write, and may not even be aware of the concept of “different ” languages.(Mr Philip Ball:74)

Task 7
Are the following statements true or false? Justify each of your answers.
1. ‘Teacher thinking’ refers not just to the way we think as teachers, but also to what effect the way we think has on our teaching. True. We as teachers know that our educational process is viewed from a cognitive perspective and our relationship with pedagogical practices in the classroom.
2.Our beliefs as teachers affect our classroom management more than any other factor in the classroom. True. Our years of exposure to models of teaching have been internalized throughout the years of experience. Beliefs also reflect the core values environment between teacher and students promotes collaboration and improves the teaching-learning process of a person which could be culturally bound; therefore, as teachers, we share a great amount of knowledge, values and beliefs to our students.
3. Examining our pre-inter- and post active decisions as teachers is the best way to investigate our thinking as teachers. True. The pre-inter- and post-active phases are the best relationship among learners and teachers. It helps the T to improve pedagogical experiences. A very conscious preparation and self assessment of these phases can result better teaching and learning processes.
4. As teachers we are doomed to repeat teaching behaviour that we ‘learnt’ through our ‘apprenticeship of observation’. False. As teachers we usually tend to repeat our teachers ' teaching behaviours, adopting those strategies that helped us to learn. So, we think our Ss can learn in the same way. However, neither time nor the Ss are the same. so, teaching approaches and the Ss’ needs change.
5. There is always a mismatch between a teachers ‘espoused’ theories and his/her real classroom behaviour. True. T’s beliefs about how Ss learn a language and how it can be taught and the real classroom behaviour can bring confusion in the Ss. The fact that the T follows an specific approach and methodologies in the classroom does not mean it is the right way to teach the Ss. A methodology can work with certain Ss but not with all of them.
6.Teachers’ beliefs, which are formed early in life, are very difficult to change. True. This isn’t an unchangeable situation at all because experiences from our childhood can sometimes modify our views of teaching. Teaching process requires a methodology based on a series of factors that include knowledge, experience, observation.
7. A teacher will usually have a deeply-rooted (possibly unconscious) view about who his/her learners are, and this view is related to how the teacher believes languages are learned. True. Teachers follow an unconscious process taught from early age, and s/he repeats it although sometimes mixing her/his beliefs with new knowledge and methodology.
8.Taking into account the affective climate in a classroom is likely to affect a teacher’s classroom management decisions. True. For most Ts, working in an affective climate can indirectly affect his/her decisions. A good working Ss and Ts promotes collaboration and improves the teaching-learning process.
Task 8

Take any other two issues from the materials – for example:

segregation of low-track students, the usefulness of web-quests, group dynamics (the 6 types), the relevance of the new ‘key competences’ to language teaching and classroom management, the way in which the market shift to young and very young learners has changed the way we think and teach,
Multiple intelligences, any other which has attracted your attention. nd discuss them separately. 1. Say why you have chosen the topics from a personal perspective, 2. Explain their importance with reference to the general framework of classroom management and 3. Try to predict how the topic will evolve in the future.
Try to be concise, but each topic should occupy roughly one page, or three paragraphs for each of the two topics.

THE USEFULNESS OF WEB-QUESTS
As the new generation teachers we are emerged in new teaching practices that come from the new globalization tendencies, it requires a different way of doing some daily activities like planning our classroom activities, that is why Web-Quests are an excellent activity in the classroom since its most important characteristic is that of cooperativism and collaborative , it very often demands the participation of every single member of the group Ss must accomplish a task in order to reach and complete the group’s academic purpose .Bearing in mind my teaching experiences, it is common and frequent to perceive how Web-Quest offers open questions tasks resulting on an authentic communicative activities that grabs students ' attention ,One of the reasons of choosing the usefulness of Web-Quest is because I have had previous experiences with our learners and I could realize that they really contribute to Ss motivation, When Ss are motivated, they are like to make an effort, and they mull over about the activity tasks at the same time they are likely to make connections and conclusions .

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

In relation to classroom management and group work , I would like to elicit Penny Ur(1196:234) guidelines about it , it is stated how instructions should be given to students in order to avoid misunderstandings, the author suggests also to set simple activities or if not ,it would be appropriate to give an example of the activity as a guideline, finally Ur’s proposal about what language will be used in the activity should be foresee, another Ur’s suggestion is in order to begin and finish an activity is also necessary to let them know the signs you use , and in this sense you would perceive an appropriate classroom management. Those guidelines already mentioned are the ones that really help us to plan and develop the activity as stated inside the classroom , moreover, it help students to have a clear understanding about where, how , when and why doing a certain activity,

BIBLIOGRAPHY :

(1) Penny Ur, (1999) A course in language teaching, module 16 . Cambridge University Press.Cambridge.
(2) Atkinson, P. (1987)The mother tongue in the classroom: a neglected resource? (ELT JournalVol.41/4 pp241-247. Oxford. Oxford University Press.

WEB BIOGRAPHY :

[1] Penny Ur’s patterns of interaction.
Weblink:http://www.studymode.com/essays/Patterns-Of-Interaction-1867567.htm

[2] Asking Questions.
Weblink:http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/asking-questions

[3] Teaching approaches: the communicative classroom.
Weblink:http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teaching-approaches/teaching-approaches-the-communicative-classroom/146489.article

[4] An Educator’s Journey: Toward multiple intelligence.
Weblink:http:www.editopia.org/multiple-intelligences-theory.

Bibliography: : (1) Penny Ur, (1999) A course in language teaching, module 16 (2) Atkinson, P. (1987)The mother tongue in the classroom: a neglected resource? (ELT JournalVol.41/4 pp241-247. Oxford. Oxford University Press.