Managing Large Classes

To teachers who are having management problems……


New teachers often face problems in keeping some students on task and having them pay attention to the explanation of a lesson. They do not often follow classroom rules. This problem aggravates when working in groups or working with low achievers. That’s why there is a need to develop a system to better manage classes especially large ones.


Have a look at these techniques; they are fun to do, unlike the rigid old fashioned ways of managing classes. You will use different techniques for the different problems you have.

- For the class as a whole, write with your students a classroom pledge. It is much better than the ready made classroom rules. Then use the class point chart and add one point every time the students in general are behaving well. When the class collects fifty points, do all together an activity after school such as inviting them to your house or going together to a fast food restaurant.

- For students who have behavior problem do the parent-student-teacher contract. Then give each of them two cards a red one and green one. Punch the red card when they misbehave and the green card when they follow the rules. When the student has 10 punches in the green card they get a prize and when they have 10 punches in the red card, call their parents and review together the contract to get the consequences that are written.

- As for group work use the idea of pasta discipline. Put plastic jars in front of each group. Then add pasta to the jars of the group whose members follow the rules (talking softly, everyone participates). The group whose jar is the fullest will receive behavior awards or extra points.

- Concerning group work form a homogeneous group for low achievers and work with them on their weaknesses. You could also assign a peer tutor to teach them. You could motivate them to achieve better by giving Popsicle sticks with positive comments to the student who improves.

In fact there are hundreds of techniques, you can even be creative and invent your own techniques.

If such a system is properly followed, student will pay more attention. They care for the reward so they will try to follow classroom rules to earn it. Students usually care for going out with the teacher so they will try to please her. When working in groups they will stay on task and work quietly and everyone will participate to have their pasta jar filled. Low achievers will get more attention from the teacher and from peer tutors and they will achieve better (too idealistic… this is what I hope…) .The benefits from this applying such a system are numerous. Students’ achievement will increase because they will stay more on task and because there are no distractions. Their motivation will also increase because of the use of positive reinforcement.

The change to be completed needs around two months. From the first days of starting the new management plan you will see changes. However, students need time to feel that the teacher is consistent and that they are rewarded and that there are rewards or consequences for their acts. Establishing routines also takes time.

The degree of your success of implementing such a system is both visible and tangible. You can see if your class is behaving in a better way and can notice if they are following the rules or not. The number of awards given students is also an indicator of success of the new management plan.


A final word:
This management system focuses on extrinsic motivation techniques. You know that there is a debate on the issue of intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation- that students should behave properly because this is the way it should be, not because of the reward. However, in this case, where the learners are young, it works a lot to use extrinsic motivation techniques.