Teaching large classes.
This video is really nice because it gives you many information about how to overcome many of the problems when teaching. The video was developed with children, but I think you can adapt it to teach teens or adults.
There are 3 things that we have to take into consideration and they are:
Pedagogical planning, classroom learning system and students behavors.
These factors are important if you want to work in a sucessful way with your large class.
1-Pedagogical planning:
This is one of the most important things in a class, and of course in large classes.
Something that called my attention is the diagnostic test that you must do at the begginig of a level, topic, class etc. This is a nice tool that can help you to know the way you are going to prepare the material for your classes. Remember that you have to plan every thing you will do because if you do that, you can be prepared to face problems that will come when teaching. Also a teacher has to be very creative, and for example if at the beggining of a term the teacher doesn´t know the names of students, it is useful to write their names in little name cards.
2-Classroom learning systems:
Well, I think this is very important too because if you have a physically organized classroom, it is possible that your students learn better. Also,when you have students´materials in the classroom, it can motivate students to work harder.
But in this point there is something that is kind of impossible in our country; it is that students have to have enough space for them to be capable to move their bodies. Unfortunately in our country we don´t have that, and some students have to receive their classes in very small rooms.
Another nice activity that I could see is the “self check and peer check work”. This is amazing if you want your students to feel as a real part of the class and as if their opinions are really relevant for the teacher. When you have large groups this can be nice for you because you learn that a large class is not always a difficult think; you learn that you can make your students help you, and they will be happy to develop your activities.
3- Students behavor.
This is something that is difficult in our country because there are a lot of problems especially with teens, but I could see something nice in the video, and that is that you don´t have to think that misbehaving students are stupids. Every person´s behavor represents what they are living, if they have problems etc, so a teacher has to think in it and try to help students.
I think that if all teachers have that idea clear, our society would be different, and we might avoid the kind of problems that we have nowadays like: students trying to kill themselves.
But a teacher also has to know how to apply every role in the classroom as an authority, teacher, friend, parent etc. In this way a teacher has to show confidence, but also respect because your students are going to treat you in the way you treat them.