Building an Effective Classroom Culture

Last Sunday 24^th October 2010, a new Professional Development workshop was conducted. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Ali Badran, a member of the Professional Development Committee of Ahmed Bin Hanbal Independent Secondary School for Boys. Thanks a lot for the presenter, Mr. Ali Badran for his efforts that resulted in achieving the objectives of the workshop to a great extent. Staff interaction enriched the discussions about strategies of enhancing the relationship between teachers and students. Next session will give examples of best practice that support building good rapport with students. Staff are now familiar with the various strategies that are used to enhance the relationship between teachers and students as well as some techniques of empowering students.

The main objectives of the workshop were to:

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Identify key aspects in creating a strong teacher/student rapport.

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Discuss ways to create positive relationships between you and your students.

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Identify ways you can change your classroom to become more student centred.

Mr. Ali Badran started by getting teachers to brainstorm the key factors that build good rapport. Teachers’ answers centered on the following:

There was a discussion about the types of communication between teacher and students which can be shown by the following charts:

It is a continuous process where the teacher gives instructions. He also gives feedback to students to foster learning.

Then Mr. Ali, the presenter, elicited a number of communication strategies that are used in the classroom which are listed below:

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Greet and farewell the students positively.

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Be aware of your voice, volume and tone.

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Keep your body language positive          .

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Give clear, precise instructions.

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Regularly check students’ understanding of concepts and ideas.

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Develop open ended questioning techniques.

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Allow students time to discuss ideas and concepts and give feedback.

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Talk with them as young adults, not to them as young boys.

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Speak to the students by name.

In consolidation of the previous workshop on traits of highly effective teachers, the presenter
recalled some personality traits that are summed up in the form of some pieces of advice for teachers to help them have good communication skills in the classroom.

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Be honest, sincere and approachable.

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Use humour. Laughter brings down barriers.

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Make and acknowledge mistakes.

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Be innovative, creative and energetic.

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Be the best teacher in the student’s day.

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Share your passion for your subject and learning.

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Get to know each learner as a person.

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Praise individual’s attempts.

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Share your strengths and acknowledge your weaknesses. Don’t be afraid to learn from the boys.

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Role model values and virtues.  Share your feelings.

Professional Standards

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Be planned, prepared and punctual.

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Keep a professional distance.

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Have targets and goals for yourself.

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Be reflective and critique your own teaching.

Empowering students

To empower your students you need to:

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Acknowledge students’ prior knowledge and strengths.

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State that mistakes are a part of learning.

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Dispel their fear of failure.

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Encourage participation; Don’t ask the same 5 students for answers.

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Believe that all students can succeed under your guidance and support.

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Allow students time to explore their own ideas and interests.

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Remind students that hard work leads to positive results.

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Let them know that you are there to work hard for THEM.

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Let students know that you enjoy working with them.

What do we expect to see in a classroom?

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A clear learning objective on the board. (Clearly stated Learning Objectives).

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A lesson with a Clear Start.

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A Clear Middle that comes from the start.

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A Definite End that relates back to the Learning objective.

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Students working in groups – unless there is an assessment/ test on.

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Students doing activities that help them learn. Less listening more action!

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Students writing their notes in their copybooks.

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Clear, accurate feedback from the teacher in the student books.

At the end of the workshop, there was a recommendation encouraging teachers to put today’s
activities into practice in their classrooms.

You can download this presentation here.