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Jill Maschio, PhD
August 15, 2023 [updated 1/7/2025]
Managing a classroom effectively requires a combination of organization, communication, and empathy. A well-managed classroom provides an environment where students can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. In this blog, I will explore various strategies educators can use to create a positive and productive classroom learning experience for students and teachers.
1. **Establish Clear Expectations**
Set clear expectations at the beginning of the school year. This is essential for student success. Create a list of classroom rules and guidelines that outline acceptable behavior, homework expectations, writing expectations, and other policies. Write a syllabus that contains that information. You may even be interested in writing a student contract. Communicating your policies and expectations to students helps ensure everyone understands the standards, your classroom structure, and student responsibility.
Also, communicate your
teaching method so that students can better understand how classroom time will be spent and what will be expected of them. For example, I tell my class that we do a lot of group work during class time. Then, I spend some time letting students get to know each other and get comfortable with others around them.
2. **Get Students Socializing Face-to-Face Again**
With each new generation, students are living in a digital world. They socialize less and less in person. In a survey I sent my students, about half reported that they would rather be in the digital world than socialize face-to-face. Children have become “less expressive, less energetic and less verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative, less unconventional, less lively and passionate, less perceptive, less apt to connect seemingly irrelevant things, less synthesizing, and less likely to see things from a different angle” (childcreativitylab.org, para. 2). These changes in children’s behavior must also cross over into adulthood and adult learning. This presents a significant dilemma for teaching. How do we get students’ attention, how do we get them interested in socializing face-to-face, and how do we get them to want to think? That is the challenge with no easy answer.
A welcoming and comfortable classroom can significantly impact the learning experience. Students who feel relaxed and less stressed in school can focus more on learning and engage in the learning process. Some simple things can include being genuine and approachable.
Students will respond to educators who care about their well-being and success. Building trust should be of high importance. You can build trust by how you talk to your class and through written communication. Writing a welcome letter to students before the course starts allows them to feel welcome before they step foot in the classroom.
Take the time to get to know your students as individuals. Show genuine interest in their opinions and insights. Acknowledge students when they share experiences. When students feel valued and respected, you are establishing a relationship. The educator-student relationship is important because it will motivate students to engage in the learning process and complete assignments.
Consider having students work together on projects and be held accountable for engaging with the group and making contributions. The sooner students can feel comfortable talking to others, the sooner they will start to get out of their comfort zone. Students need opportunities to engage with others. It helps them to develop their social skills, which are needed to adapt in society and in their careers.
3. **Use Active Learning Strategies**
Engage students through active learning methods that encourage participation and critical thinking. Students like to do a variety of work that keeps them busy learning and engaging. Try incorporating the following active learning activities:
-
- Problem-solving activities
These types of activities make learning more enjoyable. Students often tell me how they understand the content better by doing in-class work when followed by a small lecture. This technique is also based on how the
brain learns.
4 **Effective Time Management**
Organize your lessons to make the most of class time. Lectures and lessons should be created based on student learning outcomes. Once you understand what the learning outcomes are, lessons should reflect them. So, create a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule. Allocate time for lectures, instructions, group activities, and individual work.
Gauge your time. The lecture should be about 15 minutes, followed by some activity, whether it’s having students solve a problem, work on a case study or a mini project, or do self-reflective writing. The activity will help reinforce what your lecture covered. This strategy will help ensure that the classroom structure aligns with how the brain learns.
5 **Using Artificial Intelligence**
With the arrival of advanced technology, educators must start learning best practices in the classroom with AI, such as how to use large language models. AI will bring advantages to the school for both the student and the educator. Educators must use AI responsibly, and that includes some of the following:
- Be aware of AI’s limitations, including that it can be incorrect and provide nonsensical information. AI doesn’t understand what information it generates, it has limited reasoning ability, it doesn’t know if the information it provides is factual, and because of how AI is programmed, it can give wrong answers.
- Not all prompts will produce practical information. Students must be AI-literate. They must know how to prompt AI effectively and adequately.
- Consider using AI effectively to provide students with opportunities to be creative. You can read more about that in my other article.
- Don’t let AI do the thinking for students, but find ways for students to use that will enhance their knowledge, build essential core skills, and help foster students’ intelligence. If not used correctly, AI will not help students learn effectively. You can read more about that in my other article.
Conclusion
Managing a classroom is a dynamic and multifaceted endeavor that requires careful planning, adaptability, and a genuine concern for student well-being. By establishing clear expectations, fostering positive relationships, and employing effective teaching strategies, educators can create an environment that supports optimal learning outcomes and prepares students for success both inside and out.
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References
Childcreativitylab.org. (n.d.).
Why do we need creativity? https://www.childcreativitylab.org/the-creativity-crisis#:~:text=Studies%20show%20that%20creativity%20is,creativity%20is%20a%20learned%20behavior.
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