Summary of Classroom Management by Harmer

Are you an English Education student? or are you a teacher?  If you are included in both criteria, this following material will be really helpful. As a common thing, teachers dominantly hold teaching activity in classroom. Therefore, managing the classroom situation will be essential for the sake of succeeding a teaching learning process. To know more about it, here I summarize important points of managing classroom taken from Harmer (2007,p.34-45).

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

For managing classroom in an effective way, teachers should be able to handle a range of variable. It consists of organizing classroom space, students’ working, and classroom time. We also need to notice how we appear to student, how we use their voice, the way teachers talk to the students, who talks most in the lesson, and the role of mother tongue in lessons.

            To manage the classroom, we teachers should consider our physical presence and behavior in the classroom. The way we move, stand, respond to what happen in class, the degree of awareness to the classroom situation, and marking the difference between successful and less satisfactory lesson are the matters of appropriacy. We teachers also should consider how close we are to the students. The matter is about proximity.

Movement

Every teacher has their own way to take a look to their movement. Nevertheless, moving around the classroom to some extent is regarded as the most successful way to do. It can retain students’ interest and make closer to smaller group. However, it depends on the teachers’ personality to choose which physical way they want to do.

Awareness

Awareness is assessing what students have said and responding appropriately because making contact with students is the key of helping students to learn in the classroom. Self-awareness is also important because by having this, teachers can measure their behavior and know how students see them. Therefore, awareness can be concluded in personality aspect to manage classroom.

Using the voice

Teachers’ voice should be audible by students who sit in the front until in the back of class. Being audible here means they tend to have a good projection rather than a high volume. Teachers should vary the volume of voice that depends on the activity. The volume of voice will be different when we are giving instruction, introducing a new activity, and having an informal conversation.

Conservation

It means that teachers should control their voice by emphasizing the important thing to conserve their voice.

Talking to students

The manner of teachers’ talk/interact with students is one important thing. An ability that is commonly used by teachers is rough-tune the language. The ability is the way to make teachers be more understood. Teachers adapt their language by using physical movement, gesture, expression, and mime.

Giving instructions

In giving instruction, it is better for teachers to keep giving a simple and logical thing. It is also necessary to check whether the students have understood or not. It is carried out by asking students or one of them to show the other students in the class how the exercise works.

Student talk and teacher talk

In this matter, the activity should be student-centered. It means that student talk time should dominate the activity than teacher talk time. Teachers also should consider teachers talk quality.

Using the L1

The using of L1 should be done dominantly in class. L1 may be used when there are complicated instructions that should be conveyed to students. It is forgiven to use L1 in order to make sure the students’ comprehension about the instructions.

Creating Lesson Stages

The beginning of lesson stage should be necessarily clear. It may give students’ interest. Here the teachers really need students’ attention from the beginning to the last stage of lesson.

Different seating arrangements

It indicates the approach that the teachers used. It means that different seating arrangement gives different approach in conducting teaching-learning activity. For making it clear, here is the details of each arrangement.

Orderly rows

It can be used when doing organized activity such as explain grammar points, watching DVD, using board, etc. in this seating arrangement, the teachers can keep her eye contact and reach students’ attention in classroom. It is to make sure that their students involve in classroom activity.

Circles and horseshoes

It is especially used in smaller classes. This arrangement makes the students feel equal. It can lower the barrier between teachers and students. The students can see the expression, gesture, and body movement each other.

 Separate tables

It can make the teachers easier to see the students’ work in group. Teachers can explain in a smaller group. It is also effectively used in collaborative writing, working around screen or listening. However it may be a problem when not all students are happy to work in group.

Different students grouping

Whole class

This will increase the sense of belonging between teachers and students. The students will make the students motivated and treat them as the same part of the group. Nevertheless, this way is less effective if we want to get individual participation.

Group work and pair work

It makes students work individually and independently. The students will feel free to do the work. It makes teachers are able to give more focus on a group who needs a more attention. On contrary, this seating arrangement also gives some disadvantages. It will be a problem when the students do not want to be in the same group. They would not be happy. Then, the problem also happens in the unequal participation among students. The using of the same first language could be another problem as well.

Solo work

The students can do as they want. They know when the best time to think. They also can consider their need and progress.

Class to class

It can motivate students in different level. For students in lower level, they will be motivated by the higher level class. Then for the students of higher level, they will feel positive because they are able to help another student to learn. 

Reference: 

Harmer, Jeremy. 2007b. How to Teach English. China: Pearson Education Limited.