HOW TO MANAGE GOOD CLASS

This artcle could become interesting source for teacher

1. Planning Lessons

Some teachers with experience seem to have an ability to think on their feet, and this allows them to believe that lesson planning is unnecessary. For students, evidence of a plan shows that the teacher has devoted time to thinking about the class. For teacher, a plan gives the lesson a framework, an overall shape. There is one particular situation in which planning is especially important, and that is when a teacher is to be observed as part of an assessment or performance review. Whatever lesson plans look like, they should never be though of as instructions to be slavishly followed, but rather as proposals for action. Good teacher need to be flexible enough to cope with unforeseen events, and it is because they know that they may have to adapt to changing circumstances that they understand that a lesson plan is not fixed in stone. A good lesson needs to contain a judicious blend of coherence and variety. Coherence means that students can see a logical pattern to the lesson.

Unless teachers walk towards a class with absolutely no idea about (or interest in) what is going to happen when they get there, they will have though about what they are going to do. Who exactly are the students for this activity? What do we want to do and why? How does it work? What will be needed? What might go wrong? How will it fit in with what comes before and after it? When making plans, some teachers write down exactly what they are going to do and note down each sentence that the students are going to say. When teachers are observed – or when an institution asks for formal plans – the exact format of the plan may depend on the personal preferences of trainers, exam schemes or institutions (schools, colleges, etc). Description of the students, aims and objectives, procedures, anticipated problems, extra activities / material (just in case), material to be used in the lesson. Good teachers also need to assess how well their students are progressing. Therefore we need lesson plan or ’RPP’ in Bahasa Indonesia.

2. Testing

At various stages during their learning, students may need or want to be tested on their ability in the English language. At various stages during a term of semester, we may give students progress test. At the end of a term, semester or year, we may want to do a final achievement test/exit test to see how well students have learnt everything. In this chapter we are talking about testing in terms of ‘one off’ events, usually taking place at the end of a period of time. Good tests are those that do the job they are designed to do and which convince the people taking and marking them that they work. Good test also have a positive rather than a negative effect on both students and teachers. A good test is valid and should have marking reliability. A test has a powerful effect on student motivation. Types of test are: 1. Indirect test items: multiple choice, fill in and cloze, transformation. 2. Direct test items: reading and listening, writing, speaking.

How to design the tests? When we write tests for our classes, we need to bear in mind the characteristics of good tests. We will think very carefully about how practical our tests will be terms of time. When designing tests for our classes, it is helpful to make a list of the things we want to test. Finally, once we have given the test and marked it, we should see if we need to make any changes to it if we are to use some or all of it again.

3. What if?

In the last chapter we will talk about the problem of teaching and that solution. Some problems and solutions are:

1. What if students are all at different levels? We should:

* a. Use different materials/technology.

* b. Do different tasks with the same material/technology.

* c. Ignore the problem.

* d. Use the students.

2. What if the class is very big?

* Use worksheets.

* Use pair work and group work.

* Use chorus reaction.

* Use group leaders.

* Think about vision and acoustics.

* Use the size of the group to your advantage.

3. What if students keep using their own language?

* Talk to them about the issues.

* Encourage them to use English appropriately.

* Only respond to English use.

* Create an English environment.

* Keep reminding them.

4. What if students don’t do homework?

* Ask the students.

* Make it fun.

* Respect homework.

* Make post homework productive.

5. What if students don’t want to talk?

* Use pair work.

* Allow them to speak in a controlled way at first.

* Use ‘acting out’ and reading aloud.

* Use role play.

* Use recording.