Time Management - Essay Example

There are some general rules for pacing that are very valuable, but there are also necessary modifications to be made when there is a diverse group of students with varying levels of need. 1. Develop Awareness of Your Own Teaching Tempo: "We can learn to generate interest and enthusiasm by adjusting effectively or create a calming effete by adjusting our own personal pace in the classroom" (Jones & Jones, 2004, p288). These authors suggest videotaping or recording yourself during class to monitor your own behavior and then later replay it and evaluate your actions.

While this is one excellent tool, quite often teachers can be too hard on themselves or not hard enough depending on their own ego structure and make incorrect decisions based on highly personal rather than objective criteria. It is recommended that the teacher pick a peer that they trust and respect to evaluate the tape to ensure a more well rounded set of inputs. Once the teacher has established the correct pace for the classroom they will be much more comfortable in class and able to quickly recognize those times when they may have to speed up or slow down that pace, appropriate to the needs of the students and the material being covered. 2. Watch for Non-Verbal Cues: During the course of a lesson if the class becomes too quite or too boisterous that may be a clue that the students are becoming bored.

If there are glazed eyes all around or if students are fidgeting in their seats and tapping pencils; rather than remonstrate them for this undesirable behavior it is wise to take the time to listen to yourself, stop and break the pace that has caused this. "Wake people up by giving them a 2 minute test on last weeks vocabulary" (TEFL, 2007), this helps to enliven the group, perhaps agitate them a bit and cause them to pay more attention during the lesson