Teaching Mthods

Effective Support Strategies for Learners

Effective classrooms have a positive and purposeful atmosphere, where pupils and teachers feel valued, and work together in a supportive and safe environment. The effective classroom is one where pupils learn, and teachers help them to do so without spending much of their time managing 'problem' or 'difficult' behaviour. However, this is not an easy task, and at one time or another teachers may experience difficulty in maintaining a harmonious working environment. The main focus of this chapter is to explore ways of establishing and sustaining a purposeful, working atmosphere in the classroom. Behaviour management and maintaining discipline is clearly a concern for teachers when seeking to establish themselves in a new school context or with a new class, even for those who have plenty of successful experience. For short-term supply teachers, the challenge is increased by the number of different classes they may encounter on a daily or weekly basis. There is no shortage of advice in relation to behaviour management and there are marked differences of opinion across the teaching profession about behaviour and discipline in schools. What is certain is that there is no 'right' way to manage all situations.

Every student should have the opportunity to have his or her achievements formally recognised. Achievements may be either as an individual or as a member of a team.

Teachers are often able to establish very early on who in their classes is most likely to disrupt. This predictability can be tedious, but it does offer teachers the scope to anticipate bad behaviour, distract the miscreant and praise at the earliest opportunity. All these approaches are preventative tools that can help to pre-empt the persistent low-level poor behaviour that is a source of such stress for many in the profession.

Teachers are guardians of pupils'