“Orderliness and Calm in SA School – A personal experience”
“Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
― Plato
During my WIL practice experience I observed that schools uses orderliness as a strategy to maintain both school, discipline and disruptive behaviour and all this is done to help students meet rigorous course standards in academic ,career or technical classrooms. The teachers and the principal tried by all means to establish and
maintain a learning environment that supports and motivates students to do their
personal best. In Phambanisa Primary,
School and classroom management is so much more than a set of appropriate rules
and consequences. During my WIl practice I Saw that there are a skill set of
strategies that the principal and the teachers use to create focused and productive
classrooms that help students achieve higher levels of performance.
Calm and orderliness in my WIL practice was fundamental as
they maintain order and smooth running of the school. Productive Management and
learner’s behaviour ensured a smooth day to day running of the school. The
school knew that smooth day-to-day operation of the school or classroom does
not happen by accident. The teachers and principal work in teams to develop
written classroom motivation and management plans. These plans were
communicated in writing to parents and students, explained orally and posted in
classrooms permanently. The teachers were so effective and they always
revisited their plans several times to evaluate the learners on how their plans
are working and make adjustments if necessary for them and learners to be more
productive and focused.I observed that in order to make pupils calm in the
classroom, you need to set Classroom policies, rules and procedures. The
teachers at the school knew that assuming that learners can guess what they as teachers
expect from them does not promote effective classroom practices. Communicating and
channel to learners expectations for daily
operating procedures orally and in writing
by posting them permanently in the classroom and also by sending copies to
parents, sends a clear message to all parties about the business of learning.
The teachers in that school were very fantastic and savvy
because they engaged learners in the development of these expectations and use
the process as a teaching and learning experience. Expectations were stated
positively and clearly. (Policies are a statement of school-wide expectations;
rules are few and never changing; and procedures are uniquely the teacher’s
preferences about what constitutes business as usual in the classroom.) The
teachers ensured that they did set rules that each learner will be able to
understand and show a positive behaviour towards the learners.They had good methods to solve conflicts promptly and to
maintain discipline, they dealt with severe behaviour in a good way as
they considered common decency and the fact that safety must be addressed —
publicly and privately. They had clearly defined policies
that included including stakeholders (parents, students and teachers) in the
development of policies. The school knew the importance of discipline,
orderliness and calm in their school.
“Where did we ever get the crazy idea that in order to make
children do better, first we have to make them feel worse? Think of the last
time you felt humiliated or treated unfairly. Did you feel like cooperating or
doing better?”
― Jane Nelsen
