Classroom management, multileveled classrooms, differentiated instruction and the whole lot!

(Louise Emma Potter)

Teaching strategies, background knowledge related to neuroscience and psychology, language knowledge and awareness, and child development are just a few of the many contexts language teachers must know how to deal with on a daily basis in their classrooms. The norm for a public or private school is to have 50 minutes, twice a week together with a classroom of 30 multileveled students. To have multileveled students in your classroom does not necessarily mean that students are only at different stages in their foreign language acquisition, but they are also multileveled due to their educational background in their mother tongue, due to their cultural background, their different expectations as students, their goals as language learners, their learning styles, their access to the target language outside the classroom and many other factors.

For this reason, teacher development is a never-ending story. In order to be in the classroom, we must be passionate about it! There is so much going on inside and outside the classroom that to ignore the many other contents beyond the language itself is to fail as a language teacher. As Prabhu (The dynamics of a classroom-1992) states “The classroom lesson is an event of several different kinds: It is a unit in a planned curricular sequence, an instance of a teaching method in operation, a patterned social activity, and an encounter between human personalities. Much of what happens in any given classroom represents a stable routine which best reconciles the varied demands of these different dimensions for the particular teacher and learners in question.” So, where do we start? How can we accomplish our goal of teaching in this multileveled environment?

Due to the scenario above, I believe that having the whole class do exactly the same activity does not work. Some students are what we may call Below-level, some are At-level and some are Above-level. How can they possibly accomplish the same objective by the end of the class, doing the same activities if they were not at the same level at the beginning of the class? Differentiating our instruction is a must in the language classroom. The aim of differentiating the instruction is that, no matter where the student started off at the beginning of the class, by the end of the class, all the students should have taken at least a step ahead, in their own level. Students who are below the expected level do not go beyond tasks that perform thinking on the lower levels: remembering and understanding. Students who are at the at-level will be asked to apply and analyse the content, and students who are above level should be asked to complete tasks in the areas of evaluating and creating. 
There are obviously many challenges at first:

• Determining where each of your students are and what they need.
• Organizing appropriate groupings within the class.
• Ensuring that all students are challenged and engaged.
• Organizing the same material for different levels.
• At the beginning, it can be time consuming for the teacher.

But the benefits are amazing:

• Students are able to learn at their own pace.
• We teach students to work collaboratively.
• Students become autonomous learners, which is our ultimate goal.
• Students develop strong relationships with their peers.
• All students are engaged and on task.

As we can see, classroom management skills are extremely necessary if you want to put differentiated instruction into practice.

Here are some simple examples of how you can incorporate differentiated instruction into your classroom within the different skills and activities and that do not take up too much time:

Reading and listening

You can use the idea of a flipped classroom: give the students who are below level the opportunity to listen to the recording or read the text which you are planning to use in the upcoming lesson at home. This gives them the opportunity to read or listen to as much as they like.

When working on the text inside the classroom, you may use the technique of jigsaw reading: divide the reading text into unequal lengths and difficulty and hand them out to students according to their level. In multileveled classes, grouping must be very accurate. Student below level can just answer straight questions, at-level students can analyse the content and make up questions and the students above level can evaluate the reading and create a similar one.

Writing
Vary the length of the writing (amount of word – 50 / 100/ 150) and make sure the weaker students have a model to follow. Below level students should write a paragraph, at-level students maybe 100 words and above level should write 150 words.

Speaking
During pair work, after modelling an activity, below level students are expected to work with only the first part of a conversation whereas the others should work with the whole conversation. Another idea for a differentiated speaking activity is having students work in pairs. Hand out flashcards to the students. The above level student needs to make up questions (which is generally more difficult than answering) and the below level student should answer the questions.

Using learning stations
Learning stations aid teachers when you have multileveled students. Students are on task and working at all times, with different objectives and outcomes. Read more here.

Project work
Students at various levels can contribute to collaborative projects. The final products can differentiate according to their language level.

I only pinpointed some activities but I strongly encourage you to read more about differentiating your instruction. There is much more to it and you will definitely excel in your classroom. I know there is no right answer and no best method for learning. We each have our own special way of teaching and learning. That is why we can never stop studying. Never stop looking out for what others are doing and reflect upon what we are doing all the time!

What are you doing inside my classroom?

(Louise Emma Potter)
The culture of classroom observation, teacher feedback and discussions is more frequent in language schools than in private and public schools. Teachers are not used to having other people in their class other than their students. Classrooms are teacher’s private space, their small world to manage.

When we think of classroom observation, the first thing that comes to our mind is classroom performance. Evaluating the teacher. Coordinators inside the classroom. However, more and more schools are using classroom observation as a form of professional development to improve teaching practices and student performance. This time, no coordinators or principles can be seen sitting in the classrooms, only colleagues.

Classroom observation in schools is usually frowned upon. Teachers do not feel comfortable and are under the impression they are been watched and criticized. When teachers enter their own classrooms and close the door, the classroom becomes their own small hidden secret niche.

It is time to open up our classrooms and share all the great practices that are going on inside them.

What is peer observation?

 

Peer observation is having a colleague come into your class and observe your practice and exchange ideas.

It builds a collaborative and trust culture inside the school.

Why is peer observation important?

 

“The most positive benefit of teacher-to-teacher observation is that it makes teaching a public rather than a private act." Stephanie Hirsh, executive director of Learning Forward.

We need to change the concept that teaching is a private act. Sharing, exchanging ideas, watching other colleagues' practice can help teachers handle not only behaviour problems, but also opportunities to share successful teaching practices with peers.

In order for the teachers observing teachers practice to actually work and have a positive outcome, some primary aspects need to be taken into account:

• Teachers need to have some level of trust. Both sides need to understand that the reason to observe each other is to help and not scrutinize.
• Reasons to observe must be clear. Teachers should be observing student’s behaviour, different skills applied in order for students to achieve learning objectives, teacher/student interaction, resources used by the teacher, etc.
• Most important of all, there must be a discussion moment after the observation and then, a reflection upon the observer’s own practice.

What are the benefits?

 

• Gives teachers an opportunity to learn from each other in a non-threatening environment.
• There is a growing atmosphere of trust between teachers inside the school.
• Teachers will begin to share ideas and suggestions openly and constructively.
• Helps less experienced teachers to develop their practice.
• It is a powerful tool for professional development.
• Teaches teachers to work collaboratively.
• Observers acknowledge different classroom management skills and different approaches that can lead to the achievement of the same goals.

Peer observation provides the teaching staff with an opportunity to reflect on and improve their teaching practices. It promotes supportive teaching relationships, collaborative work and enhances student’s learning.

I would definitely encourage you to put this into practice in your school.

Mindfulness in the Language classroom

Louise Emma Potter

The kids would not stop for one second. The girl´s group up front was chatting away deciding whether the books should be on or under their desks. One of the boys realised the teacher was going to show a video, so thought it would be helpful to turn off the lights in the middle of the teacher´s explanation. Three boys sitting in the middle section of the class decided to stand up and get something from their backpacks, which were at the back of the class. Meanwhile, the teacher was trying to explain the next activity. Complete chaos. The kids had just arrived from P.E classes. Does this outline a familiar picture?

In the scenario above, the children were stressed and anxious. They had just come back from a sports competition in their P.E class. However, even when their previous class had not been P.E., they were stressed and anxious. Their parents are stressed and anxious. Life is stressing. Parents are busy rushing their kids up and down and in and out of activities. Conversations tend to be always about schedules. What you are going to do and when. Moments of random conversation or even silence are rare nowadays. Classes have fixed schedules and teachers need to scram as much content as they can into a short period of time.

Studies have shown that in order to learn, children need to feel safe. Their minds need to be relaxed and their bodies need to be comfortable. Unfortunately, children seldom find themselves in these states. Schedules are overrated, family meals are scarce and healthy eating habits is now a world crisis.

As teachers, we are worried about getting our students engaged. We play games and motivate them to use the language. Warmups and TPR activities are essential to get our students involved and active. Language classes are noisy and they should be that way, is what we say.

However, sometimes less is more.

On occasions, starting the class with a calming activity is best than trying to get them straight into the classroom topic.

I believe teaching mindfulness is a must in the classroom nowadays. Mindfulness is a technique of mastering "living in the moment". It can be done at the beginning of a class, to calm students down and have them focus on what you want them to focus: your lesson.

Teachers might say, “We don´t have enough time. Our classes are 45 minutes long”. Again, I say…sometimes less is more. If you have 25 good minutes with your class, it is better than having 45 minutes of chaos.

Below are some ideas of how to put some simple mindfulness practices into your classroom:

Concentrating on breathing

As your students arrive from their previous class, have the lights dimmed down. Ask students to sit down and take deep breaths. By breathing deeply, our body calms down. Ask students to count to three as they inhale and count again to three as they exhale. They can put their hands on the chest and belly to feel the movement of their body.

Using the senses

Sensory experiences help children relax. Ask students to close their eyes and play a relaxing song in the background. Another example is to ask them to pay attention to all the sounds they can hear outside the classroom. You can use smell and taste as a way to make they focus. Have them taste different flavours. Play with dough, clay, cream and ask them to guess what they are holding. Use the target language to name the flavours, sound and senses of touch.

Using imagination

Ask your students to close their eyes and tell them a story. Have them imagine the person, place you are describing. Later on, you can ask them to draw what you described. Relate the story to the language/topic you are working on.

Explain to your students the theory that underlies these practices they are performing. You do not have to go into details; just remind them why they are being done. Your class will definitely have a different outcome. Share your experiences with me!