Any advice for someone that has no experience with teaching children? I was told games, games, games, but how about getting them to quiet down, when there are 10 talking at once. I was told give them candy, but I could see that going bad. I was also told, stand up and act mad, but I don’t know about that one either. What is your advice? I had a demo today that just didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I would like to do better next go around. So the more advice, the better.
Thanks in advance,
J_
They should give you a lesson to teach at least, or if you do a game, something to review.
Try to first see what they know, and go from there. Get them reading, ask some questions, then play the game.
[quote=“jdsmith”]They should give you a lesson to teach at least, or if you do a game, something to review.
Try to first see what they know, and go from there. Get them reading, ask some questions, then play the game.[/quote]
Solid advice. I’ve had countless demos where they school expected me to just go in there and wing it, and it just doesn’t work very well even if you have all the experience in the world. Get the kids focused with some reviewable material, then play a game or two. Use the game as kind of an incentive for individual or team based practice of sentence patterns, q & a, whatever. The school will be impressed if alot of the kids raise their hands to speak some english, even if it’s just so they can play the game. Playing a game with no material is not a good tactic for a demo, the kids can get way out of hand, as they know you are not their real teacher (yet). It can also make you quite flustered as it seems you are losing control of your demo. Next time, find out what they know, and use the game to reinforce or review that.
[quote=“jason242”]Any advice for someone that has no experience with teaching children? I was told games, games, games, but how about getting them to quiet down, when there are 10 talking at once. I was told give them candy, but I could see that going bad. I was also told, stand up and act mad, but I don’t know about that one either. What is your advice? I had a demo today that just didn’t go as well as I had hoped. I would like to do better next go around. So the more advice, the better.
Thanks in advance,
J_[/quote]
Ack! Who told you such things? Surely they didn’t do so with a straight face. Nothing but games? Acting angry? CANDY to bribe them?! I don’t know where to begin except to tell you that whoever told you these things is trying to set you up for failure. Throw everything you were “told” out the window. If you used these things in your demo, I think “not as well as you hoped” is an understatement. There are a few things you should know about teaching kids.
Number one: Most kids don’t like to be controlled.
Number two: Kids are smarter than they let you think.
Number three: Despite numbers one and two, you can outsmart your kids to help make them behave.
Number four: A lot of behavior issues can be directly linked to classroom management and especially in routines and expectations (and the lack thereof).
Number five: The better your classroom is managed, the better kids can learn.
I’m no expert by any means, but after only three weeks of school, my students (both 2nd grade and 4th grade this year) walk into the classroom and begin doing their daily warm-up work, even if I am not within eyesight or earshot. I am not exaggerating. They know that when they walk into the classroom, the first thing they have to do is look at the board and see what materials they need and what their warm-up activity is for the day. I also write what we are going to be doing as well so they know how much work they are expected to accomplish by the time they go home.
They are also aware of where their voice level should be as they go through their work (on a scale from 0 - silence to 3 - presentation/discussion). And we have our silence signal: “a high thumbs-up means our mouths go shut”. If their voice levels are higher than they should be (especially when they should be at 0 to listen to me), I put my thumb up without saying a word and within 10 seconds I have everyone’s attention…we’re still working on improving the reaction time. Anything beyond 10 seconds takes away from our go-home game time…games like The Green Glass Door (spelling) or Just A Minute (vocabulary) played verbally as we wait in line to go home. A simple “You owe me…” and the time it took for quiet after the 10 seconds is enough to get faster reaction times after that.
I’m far from perfect in the classroom, especially in the department of organization, but I know what a good classroom looks and feels like (and unfortunately have seen what a less-than-ideal classroom looks and sounds like…think lots of raised voices, backtalking, mimicking, and foul language…not pretty).
Before I can begin dispensing any advice, though, I need to know with what ages we’re dealing: 2-1/2 to 4 years old, 4-6 years old, 6-8 years old, or 9-11 years old? It makes a big difference in how you do your classroom management.
And for the record, candy (and stickers) as a reward for expected behavior is a big no-no except in extreme cases. Some people use them as a substitute for being able to properly manage their classrooms. Brings me to point #6…
Number six: If you reward students for something you expect them to do, chances are it won’t be long before they expect it for everything you want them to do (the “What do I get if I do it” syndrome) and/or demand something bigger. And the ones who tend to get the rewards are the ones who tend to need it the least.
I have never given out candy or stickers and I’ve already had one parent tell me her child was afraid of me because I am strict, but my older students from last year come to visit me in my classroom (they agreed that I am strict, but that I’m not mean…whew!) and I get attacked by my former preschoolers (and some who were in a not-so-ideally managed classroom that I visited every week to read to them) who run up to hug me every time (and I mean every time) I am in that part of the school.
It’s possible to be liked without having to bribe the kids to like you.
What an excellent post. Lots of good, sound advice for those of us who are not blessed with being born teachers.
Thanks for taking the time to share your wisdom.
I think that was the type of advice that I needed to hear. I had severe doubts about the advice I was getting from my friends. They did tell me a couple things that sounded like they could work. For example, getting all the kids to form a circle and putting flash cards on the floor. Then saying the name of a character on the flashcard, and having them point to the card that you called out. I was also told to play a guessing game, where you take the cards and show all but 3 of them, and have the kids try to guess what three cards are not shown. That is if they know the cards well enough. I think the fact that my English degree, is not focused on teaching children that I am in the role of playing catchup. The age range I went to demo for yesterday, was kindy age. Today and tomorrow, I have demos at schools with ages 4-12, and perhaps a couple high schoolers intermingled.
Thanks for all the advice 
The previous posters all gave some very good advice about classroom management. I will talk about demos:
My view of demos is that the employer is generally looking more at how you relate to your students than how much you teach them (or at least they should be). As jdsmith says, the prospective employer should give you some idea of the class you are going into and also provide you with some outline for you to teach. You can ask your employer questions, tell the employer you like reading stories and have them provide a book to read to the preschool class (you should prepare beforehand, know the story and have some questions ready - or bring your own book), or teach an action song to the kids. If you choose a popular one and the kids know it already, that’s fine, just be easy-going and ask kids to tell how they sing it. Don’t be afraid to settle kids down gently or bring kids that are wandering off back into the group. Demos don’t have to mean crazy chaos!
Demos are also a way for you to check out your employer. Are they supportive of new teachers? Do they help you get ready for your demo? Do they give you constructive feedback after your demo? Do they show you some resources that they think would be useful after seeing a quick-take on your strengths and weaknesses? Do they appreciate that you took time to make props, plan a lesson and so on? From their feedback, can you feel their attitude toward children and learning, and do you feel comfortable with it?
Best of luck with your job search!