Classroom Management

When implementing my classroom management strategy, I first really battled as there was a lot of learners in one class which made the noise levels very loud and I couldn’t even hear my own voice. I came up with a way to use a classroom strategy tool such as the hand signal method where I made a hand using card board and a stick. Whenever the hand was up, the learners needed to know that they had to stop what they were doing and put their hands up and listen to me.

The successes were that the learners really enjoyed the hand and it gave them something to look at and know that if they didn’t listen to the hand there would be consequences, the learners really enjoyed my classroom management tool and wanted the other teachers to use it too. They liked to see signs and objects because they learnt by visual items as they love watching TV and I thought it’s a great way to grab the learners attention when I need to explain an activity and they are getting too loud. My vulnerabilities with positive disciple was hard as the learners battled with respect in the class, I had to find a way to disciple them when not listening to the hand signal. Some learners didn’t want to have positive disciple and they didn’t understand why they should respect the people around them as they didn’t like them. This was a struggle in the classroom and with having so many learners it was difficult to keep up with all the learners fighting and not being happy with one another.

I used the theory of Skinner, where he used a negative reinforcement, which I used was if learners didn’t listen to the hand, they would have to write lines on paper saying what they did wrong over and over again, the learners really didn’t enjoy this but it worked as soon as I implemented this they started to listen to the hand and the noise level stopped (Balbastro, 2013). The positive reinforcement was used when they listened to the hand signal, I would say well done, thank you and I would also allow them to speak when holding the hand as a way of giving them the floor. This they enjoyed and they all tried to be silent in order to have their turn. If I would adapt them I would add more stick with words or signs for the learners as they really enjoyed and listened well with the hand signal sign. The continuous reinforcement of telling them good job and allowing the floor when they listened, this was their rewards and if not they would get punished and do lines. This strategy encouraged the learners to be confident, have a clear and consistent communication, helps them to develop self-respect and respect for others (DBE, 2012).

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Department of Basic Education (DBE). 2012. Positive Discipline and Classroom Management. [Online]. Available at: http://www.cjcp.org.za/uploads/2/7/8/4/27845461/positive_classroom _discipline_and_classroom_management_reader.pdf [Accessed 19 October 2019]

Balbastro, E. 2013. Operant conditioning. [Online]. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/himiko006/operant-conditioning-25885010, [Accessed 19 October 2019].