Knowing classroom management is an important aspect in the teaching profession.

After all, the teaching profession is nothing but transfer of knowledge. Effective transfer of knowledge requires non-obstructive and smooth flow of communication.

Effective transfer of knowledge does not simply mean ‘mouth to ear’ communication. Transfer of knowledge takes place when the knowledge in the brain of the teacher transmits to the brain of the recipients. Transfer of knowledge is seldom perfect but it can be made as effective as possible.

What is Classroom Management?
It is the primary task of a teacher to ensure that the class as a whole remains a place of learning. Classroom Management involves the following:

Managing difficult students.
Managing disinterested and indifferent students.
Managing average students.
Managing brilliant students.
Many a time, classroom management is misunderstood to simply mean controlling and silencing ‘noise makers’. But the fact is that it is more difficult to manage brilliant students rather than difficult students.

‘Difficult students’ are to be managed to ensure:

There is free flow of communication

That the class as a whole is not distracted and side tracked

To maintain the sanctity of the learning place

Difficult students are to be primarily tackled by the teacher and not by the head of the institution.

Teachers may know the common ways of managing difficult students, such as  firing them, complaining to the head of the institution/parents, threatening to fail them, snubbing them etc.

All the above measures are somewhat effective but will be short lived. Further, they will have a negative effect and tend to create a sense of dislike between the teacher and the classroom ‘stalwarts’.

So the best way to tackle the difficult students is to adopt a step-by-step approach.

The first step is to ignore their pranks and proceed with the class. This tends to affect their destructive enthusiasm and heroic efforts.

The second step is, whenever there is a disturbance the teacher can stop lecturing and take his seat, which in turn, will lead to such students coming to their senses.

The third and most effective step is to join such students in such a way that they feel their efforts are defeated and the teacher is one up on them.

The teacher’s reaction in such cases should be very intelligent, positive, spontaneous and humourous. Only skillful teachers can attain this maturity, and only such teachers can be effective as teachers. This technique can be better explained by illustrations.

1. When a teacher tried to explain a concept by saying, “let us take that there are parties A, B, C,” a difficult student began repeating all the letters of the alphabet to entertain the class. In order to control the situation, the teacher simply said ‘I know that you know the alphabet’. This not only provided entertainment to the class, but also succeeded in thwarting the designs of the student to distract the class, and that too without any ill will towards the teacher.

2. While a class was in session, a student used to frequently mutter something. On one occasion the teacher asked him to share his muttering with the rest of the class. The student said, “golden words cannot be repeated”. The teacher very calmly said  “But what you are uttering is not golden they are only hindalium words”. A witty retort for a retort makes the particular student as well as others think twice before they make such noises in future.

3. In a co-education classroom, when a teacher was asking the students to note down the figures, a student retorted by asking ‘What figures, Sir?’ the teacher answered him by saying, ‘I am not talking about the figures you have in your mind’. The entire class burst into laughter. 

Indifferent and average students        
To bring the indifferent and average students to the main stream, teachers have to take definite initiatives in the classroom.

The first aspect is that the faculty should address such students more frequently, in the course of teaching their subject. The teacher should make all efforts to draw their attention towards the teacher. This itself solves half the problem.

Second, the teacher can occupy a seat amongst such students, in the midst of the class and teach. This move puts all the students at ease, as the teacher becomes one of them. This also in one way controls difficult students and mischief-makers in the classroom.

Third, teachers should be more interactive with indifferent and average students. Generally, teachers make a grave mistake of ignoring such students, thus aggravating the problem.

Fourth, make the classroom lively to them by teaching from the bottom and taking it gradually to the top, with as many practical examples as possible. For eg. if you are explaining about Inventory Management, explain to them about why and how an ordinary housewife manages the stock of provisions at home and what problems it could lead to if there is a ‘stock out’ of sugar in the house, in the early morning! Then take them to the scenario in industries.

The goal of a good teacher should be not to sacrifice students but to drag them into the main stream. To achieve the purpose, no teacher can act like a military commander but should leverage the discipline in reasonable proportion.

Brilliant students
Managing brilliant students is a test of the teacher’s knowledge and experience.

Teachers can satisfy such students and can manage them well only when teachers are able to enhance such students’ knowledge, by elucidating complex issues in a systematic way, and answering their questions convincingly. More importantly teachers should not try to escape from the questions on one pretext or the other.
It is also an opportunity for teachers to test their own depth of knowledge.

In some cases, it may be necessary to have extended sessions to satisfy brilliant students.

On the whole, a classroom is a mix of all and it is to be managed well by the teacher himself. Therefore, the teacher should develop heterogeneous skills as outlined above for an orderly management.