HumaneMaths

  Teachers need to have a personal plan to prevent bullying , for “personal plan helps teachers to clarify their rationales for classroom management”, (Hue & Li, 2008). However, they should be “consistent with their personalities”, (Hue & Li, 2008). The way that resonates best for me is to work on the social environment of the class, that is “…the informal relationships among students and encompassed “friendship, support, attraction, isolation, power and relations between subgroups”, (Allen, 2010, p.10). Focus on individual and group relationships. Reminds me of a time when I would ask students to work in groups and choose their groups on their own. 2 students were repeatedly left out and they felt miserable. I took a chance on our relationship and asked the whole class, “how do you think these two feel when they are repeatedly left out and have no choice but to work with each other?” The class responded very positively and the two students had groups that invited them. P...

  The Setting “ Creating a well-managed classroom with established procedures is the priority of a teacher the first two weeks of school…" (Wong, Wong, Rogers and Brooks, 2012, p.1.). The setting I have taken is grade 6 of an IGCSE school. I am the form tutor. The school has IBPYP curriculum in the primary school where they had a single room and a homeroom teacher managing most of the day. They have moved to middle school building where for the first time in their lives, they will move from classroom to classroom for their classes, place material in the locker given to them and manage the key to the same. These are a lot of skills to be mastered for them. As the students are not used to them, and I am the form tutor for one of the sections of grade 6, I need a set of procedures to help them be self-sufficient as soon as possible in navigating the middle school environs. The rules “When possible, convey what you do want to happen rather than trying to list all the possible...

“Bullying begets bullying and aggression begets aggression” , (Allen, 2010, p.12). In the current situation, since students are working in groups of two in the class, and 1 of them hits the other, Ms. Chung can “deal with the problem by (a) exerting her authority, (b) adopting a student-oriented approach and (c) taking a group-oriented approach” (Hue & Li, 2008, p.87). (a) Authority : She could use her authority and ask the two students to settle. She can separate the two students and ensure that the work in the class does not suffer. After a brief interruption, all goes on as before. Her objective is managing the content that she has to teach. She could later call the 2 students and have a discussion on what led to the incident or ignore. After all her syllabus is running fine! (b) Student Oriented : She could separate the two students and place them on different seats. She could ask her both students to reflect on the reasons for the behaviour and write a reflective note. H...

This is my own story and one I am not proud of at all.  IGCSE grade 9, we had a student who was a special needs student. He was quite impossible for anyone to get him to focus or work. Not even a single subject teacher could get some work from him. I was the Maths teacher and at wits end. He would not do any classwork or homework. He would allow the class to go on without disrupting it at least once daily. I became a “brick-wall,” teacher (What is inner discipline? n.d.) . I completely lacked the skill of “ Neutralizing student arguing”, (Delisio, 2008), and that went against building an empathic approach, which is one of the “nine essential skills for teachers” (Delisio, 2008).  The school counsellor team tried very hard to find some area where they could discover potential in him to give him the space to shine in that area. They found photography and swimming as two fields where he was a champion naturally. Our clash happened when he was to go for a swimming meet, and I...

  The grade is 6 and the subject is Maths, a dreaded subject by many. Hence, I create a classroom where the students feel safe and welcome. “I cringe when I hear teachers say, “I teach math.” No! We do not teach math; we teach math to students!  Caring about students is far more than just warm and fuzzy sentiment”, (Harris, 2005, p.46). To care is to create a classroom where students improve in self-efficacy. For this I use some strategies, two of which are explained below. “To perform like a team, act like a team—together”, (Harris, 2005, p.23) Collaborative work is a norm in my class. Students often get together for tasks. They could be solving a set of problems, research or a project. For example, (Kochar, M) displays an example of students working in groups to do research in Maths. My reasons for using collaborative work are many: 1.       Students learn from each other. 2.       They learn to work in a team. 3....

When I was teaching, I got a job with an IB school in 2006, Pathways Word school (School, n.d.) and it was a turnaround for me.  One of the things I was introduced to was the learning management system, (veracross, n.d.).  I embraced it fully. For students, it was a channel of communication of their homework and upcoming assessments. I did away with the school diary and uploaded religiously all classwork and homework on it for them to check. The students were not used to such self-efficacy and would want me to write the homework on the board, like it was done for centuries. I refused and stayed consistent with my approach. “When teachers express their feelings with “I-messages”, students are able to understand how they feel and what problems are” (Hue & Wai-shing, p.117). The focus was to teach them independence. And I communicated that to them with clarity of thought. I understood that they had to unlearn old habits and gave them space for the same, while staying firm on ...

  “ What you believe about yourself as a teacher and what you believe about all children are closely related. (Harris, 2005, p.6) What is the purpose of teaching? To teach is to progressively develop a transformative relationship with the student. A relationship that is a space into which a genuine connection can develop. (Brown, 2010) “I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment;” ( Courage, Compassion, and Connection: The Gifts of Imperfection. (2010)). When a teacher can grow into giving the student such a non-judgmental space, teaching happens and is not an effort. What do I believe about teaching children? I believe that teaching children is an art that may use some aspects of science. But broadly, it is an art. “ Art does not confine to logic; it is an expression of feelings” (Chandra, 2013). Hence it may use pedagogical structures, but by and large its ba...

    “As a starting point, Coloroso says that teachers need to ask themselves, “What is my goal in teaching?” and, “What is my teaching philosophy?”” , ( Models of Discipline Low Approach, n.d.). Everything else stems out of this, including the philosophy of classroom management. For me, my focus as a teacher is to create a positive classroom environment.  The objective of that is to be able to have an atmosphere where everyone can learn in a space of safety and harmony. Once I am clear about the focus, that gives the benchmark rubric to assess if classroom management system has worked or not. In my opinion, the rubric should contain the following: ·          Are the students engaged and learning? ·          Is everyone focused on the task? ·          Is there a pleasant vibe in the classroom? ·         ...