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If you want to be a good teacher, first, you have to manage the classroom. This is important if you are coming to teaching from a non-teaching background like s

If you want to be a good teacher, first, you have to manage the classroom. This is important if you are coming to teaching from a non-teaching background like software development. Having had experiences dabbling in teaching in actual classrooms, the most difficult part for me was my weak classroom management skills. I am always in awe at my teacher friends who command the classroom, sometimes without saying a word or very little.

neonate 8y ago
Can you give some examples?
- wallflower 8y ago
  Like tormeh said, it is really about situational awareness. The best teachers I've seen have a constant vigilance and constant banter. Not complete military drill control like Mastery Charter Schools but not chaos. Somewhere in between. And, yes, they all called out the student by name. They, as tormeh said, knew each student's weaknesses and strengths intimately. Tough love. One example: One great teacher I know would go up to the whiteboard/blackboard, turning his back to the class, and, if he sensed "mutiny" in the making, he would randomly call out one of his student's names and ask them a question. He also said he had eyes in the back of his head, and I think the students believed that in the sense that he knew when they were trying to mess around. My own example: Teaching 10-12 girls CS which required laptop usage. It was really hard to stop girls from messing around on Facebook when I was on the other side of the "U" table, working the rounds. A better teacher would have managed that situation. As an aside, this is why programs like ScriptEd work so well. They give "training wheels" to people who would like to teach CS to kids. ScriptEd has a system where everyone gets a chance to teach in front of the classroom. When you are not teaching, you are learning from the side/back of the room.
  - alexashka 8y ago
    My 2 cents - the classes that had the least (if any) mutiny were classes like woodworking, where everyone came in, and got to working on whatever their task was. I built a chair, made some shovel handles etc. When people are actually doing something, these problems don't exist. The skill of keeping people from going crazy through intimidation/fear tactics seems like a necessary skill, only because the school system is structured like a detention center, rather than a place to help people learn and discover themselves.
tormeh 8y ago
Have also tried it and failed miserably. A lot of it is situational awareness (what's the state of the "help-queue"? Which students are not doing what they should, etc.), knowing everyone (name, who they are, struggles) etc. All things I can't do. If everyone feels seen by the teacher, that helps a lot.

neonate 8y ago

Can you give some examples?

wallflower 8y ago
Like tormeh said, it is really about situational awareness. The best teachers I've seen have a constant vigilance and constant banter. Not complete military drill control like Mastery Charter Schools but not chaos. Somewhere in between. And, yes, they all called out the student by name. They, as tormeh said, knew each student's weaknesses and strengths intimately. Tough love. One example: One great teacher I know would go up to the whiteboard/blackboard, turning his back to the class, and, if he sensed "mutiny" in the making, he would randomly call out one of his student's names and ask them a question. He also said he had eyes in the back of his head, and I think the students believed that in the sense that he knew when they were trying to mess around. My own example: Teaching 10-12 girls CS which required laptop usage. It was really hard to stop girls from messing around on Facebook when I was on the other side of the "U" table, working the rounds. A better teacher would have managed that situation. As an aside, this is why programs like ScriptEd work so well. They give "training wheels" to people who would like to teach CS to kids. ScriptEd has a system where everyone gets a chance to teach in front of the classroom. When you are not teaching, you are learning from the side/back of the room.
- alexashka 8y ago
  My 2 cents - the classes that had the least (if any) mutiny were classes like woodworking, where everyone came in, and got to working on whatever their task was. I built a chair, made some shovel handles etc. When people are actually doing something, these problems don't exist. The skill of keeping people from going crazy through intimidation/fear tactics seems like a necessary skill, only because the school system is structured like a detention center, rather than a place to help people learn and discover themselves.

tormeh 8y ago

Have also tried it and failed miserably. A lot of it is situational awareness (what's the state of the "help-queue"? Which students are not doing what they should, etc.), knowing everyone (name, who they are, struggles) etc. All things I can't do. If everyone feels seen by the teacher, that helps a lot.