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“Teachers affect eternity; no one can tell where their influence stops” - Henry Brooks Adams
Teaching is an expression of the soul, where you render all your knowledge and wisdom to your students. It is the beauty of giving to your students that makes teaching beautiful. But, to enjoy the gifts of knowledge and wisdom you offer, your students must be ready to receive them. They should be open to absorb all the light you radiate.
Further, as your students depend on you for everything related to learning, the responsibility of making them ready to receive the knowledge also lies with you. To get them ready, you have to engage them in such a way that for the timing you teach, their notorious mind loses its connection with mischief and gets engrossed in learning. Although it is a really challenging task, some smart classroom management techniques can help you engage your students well.
These classroom management techniques are curated, keeping in mind the needs of the students. They require an element of curiosity, innovation and fun to engage properly in learning. So, these classroom management techniques enable you to add all these elements in your teaching style, which ensures your success in engaging your students.
Now, let us discuss the 5 smart classroom management techniques for excellent student engagement.
1. Portraying an influential body language:
According to a study, our first impression is mostly influenced by our body language. If we have an influential body language, people like us more and we have more chances of being heard. The same is true in teaching. If you portray an influential body language, right from the moment you enter your class, your students will pay more attention to what you say. As a result, they will focus more on learning and less on creating mischief. So, portraying an influential body language is an excellent technique for classroom management. Given below are three simple ways to inculcate an influential body language:
- Watch YouTube videos on body language:
The best way to inculcate influential body language is by watching. You can watch a variety of YouTube videos on body language to enhance your body language skills. But, make sure to take notes while watching and also practice what you learn in front of a mirror.
- Read a good book on body language:
Reading a book on body language will give you detailed knowledge about influential body language. You will learn well about the do’s and don’ts of body language. So, you should try to read at least one good book on body language. “What every Body says”, “The Definitive book of Body Language” and “You say more than you think” are some good books on body language.
- Practice every day:
“Practice makes a man perfect.” We all have heard this popular saying. It applies to nearly everything, including the inculcation of an influential body language. So, you should practice the things you have learned about body language every day. Try to keep them in mind while standing, sitting and communicating with others. Along with this, you should also try to practice your body language learnings in front of a mirror. All this will help you slowly master an influential body language.
2. Utilization of educational technology in teaching:
Students are fascinated by technology. They are always curious to know about different technological tools and utilize them. This makes the utilization of educational technology an effective technique for classroom management. These tools captivate your students’ attention and they become engrossed in learning. So, you should try to utilize educational technology in teaching. Given below are some of them:
- Interactive displays:
Interactive displays are similar to traditional whiteboards in appearance but they offer many great features. They enable you to interact with the documents, pictures and other files displayed on it with the help of a stylus which you get along with the interactive display. For example, you can underline an important point in the text displayed on the interactive display. Not only this, you can also interact with the display with your finger. This feature of interactive display plays a vital role in engaging students. They get super excited when you give them the opportunity to interact with the display and educational software such as NUITEQ Snowflake.
- Tablets:
Tablets are one of the most effective technological tools for classroom management. This is because students love utilizing them. They are attracted by the colors they see on the tablet screen, the way it operates with touch and its multipurpose applications. Further, there are many ways to utilize tablets for teaching. Showing concept related videos to your students, engaging them in research work and playing educational games with your students are some examples.
- Document Camera:
A document camera is a tool by using which you can project documents and pictures on a large screen. Your students can easily see these documents and pictures to understand what you are trying to teach. Further, as you know students learn better through visual means, a document camera can improve their focus and performance in class.
3. Conducting fun learning activities in the class:
One simple yet most effective way to engage your students in learning is to make it fun. When learning is fun, your students naturally enjoy it and become engrossed. You don’t have to put any special efforts to captivate their attention, they naturally remain attentive in your class. So, conducting fun learning activities in the class is an effective technique which you can utilize for classroom management. Given below are some examples of fun learning activities to organize in your class:
- Online educational game-like activities:
Online educational game-like activities are really fun. Students enjoy playing them a lot and learn a lot of things simultaneously. There are a number of websites where you can find educational game-like activities on different subjects. Snowflake.live is one of them. You can visit this website and select online educational game-like activities for your students to play according to your subject.
- Contest it on Instagram:
Instagram is one of the most loved social media platforms by students. If you include it in your teaching process, they’ll definitely get more engaged in learning. But, how to do that? It’s simple. Let us consider that you are an English Teacher and you have given an essay writing assignment to your students. As essay writing requires a lot of time and effort, students are often not fond of such assignments. To make them interesting for your students, simply tell them to post their essay on their Instagram account. Then, you can check it on their Instagram and praise them in the comments section.
- Group games:
These are offline educational games which you can play with your students in the classroom. Pictionary, Quizzes, Puzzles and Charades are some examples. You can add different elements to these games with respect to your subject. For example, if you are a biology teacher you can ask your students to draw biology diagrams while playing Pictionary.
4. Connecting with the students on a deep level:
Classroom management becomes really easy when your students connect with you on a deep level. This is because this connection makes your students heed to your advice, without much effort from your side. So, you should take actionable steps to connect with your students on a deep level. Given below are some examples of actionable steps which you can take:
- Have regular interactions with your students:
To establish deep connections with your students, regular interactions are a must. You should converse with your students every day and try to know more about them. You can also share some incidents from your life to prompt your students to share incidents from their life too. This simple interaction will establish strong bonding between you and your students with the passage of time.
- Schedule playtime once in a week:
One of the most effective ways to connect with your students is to play with them. No doubt, you can play educational games with them during fun learning activities, but once in a week you should play other games too. When you’ll laugh with them and have fun with them, they’ll naturally get emotionally bonded with you and start listening to you more.
- Be a counselor for them:
Just like us adults, students also have a lot going on in their lives. Issues like family troubles, bullying and mental troubles may damage them slowly. To cope up with these problems, they need someone who can listen to them and counsel them. You are the one who can best play this role in their life. So, you should try to be a counselor for them. For this, you have to keep reminding them from time to time that you are there for them whenever they need any help. This simple gesture will help you connect with your students. Along with this, you can also help them overcome the troubles and have a happy childhood.
5. Appreciating the students for good behavior:
‘Appreciation’ is the key to keep your students disciplined and engaged in learning. Try appreciating your students for their good behavior and you’ll see their behavior improving even more every day. This is because, through appreciation, you motivate your students to continue their good behavior. Further, you can also reward the most disciplined and attentive students every month. This will also keep your students motivated to stay disciplined and learn effectively.
To render your knowledge and wisdom to your students, you should first prepare them to receive it. For this, you need to engage them in learning with the help of some smart classroom management techniques. As you keep implementing these techniques, your students will gradually start showing enhanced focus, discipline and better performance in class.
