Classroom Management in the Now

In the age-old gurukula system of teaching, widely practiced in India centuries ago, the interdisciplinary methods of knowledge delivery, the harmonious system in which the students learned, and the equality that was gifted to the guru-shishya partnership ensured that learning was a system of co-creation and symbiosis. Fast forward to today, the world has transformed, and we are in a constant state of flux, it is of little surprise that looking back on lessons from the past to keep our best foot into the future seems the best way forward. Lessons in effective classroom management can be learned from these schools that existed around the 5000 BC and used aptly in the classrooms of today.

How can classroom management be truly beneficial to students in today’s age? Let’s explore lessons that go beyond coursework and book lessons.

Lessons in Self-regulation

Gone are the days when teachers were expected to manage the behaviour of students through rules and regulations, today the need of the hour is to not manage but help the student manage their behaviour on their own. The journey of learning today is of enabling and empowerment, where children are given autonomy and are in turn supported by helping them learn strategies that help them to monitor, reflect, analyse, and resolve their behavioural issues, themselves. This is a stellar technique to make students independent in class and also train them in conflict management.

Starting Early

Early childhood classrooms are the perfect space to start effective classroom management. Children develop emotional intelligence and recognise and experience empathy very early on. Using aides and techniques to help students even in kindergarten classrooms using visual schedules, non-verbal signals, varied instructions, modelling and practicing, creating nooks for specific activities, building up skills through team activities and gentle rewarding can be extremely helpful when the child grows up and heads to primary school. This brings us to the next important pointer, the need for skills to be honed by teachers.

Imperative Skills for Teachers

An overhaul of teaching modules for teaching degrees to build practical skills that can help effective classroom management is a critical ask. Teachers need to have skills that help them create order and stability with clarity in instructions and support in the development of students within their classrooms. Teachers need to build resilience in students, classroom management is key to this trait. A paper prepared by Nani Taig for UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report sheds light on the fact that more resilient students, ones who work hard and perform against all odds are found in classroom scenarios where disorderly behaviours are rare and classrooms where management isn’t good, students aren’t as resilient. This affirms the fundamental need for teachers to establish effective classroom management. Stability that stems from a conducive classroom can prepare students not just for immediate employability but also roles as changemakers, thinkers, and visionaries.

Teachers need to be trained in strategies that can help address disruptive behaviour by students, right in their university training modules. They also need to be trained to work in a world where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation will soon revamp how knowledge is delivered.

Digital Revolution in the Classrooms

Artificial Intelligence is here to stay and educators and students need to adapt to a world where it may help them teach and learn better. For this very purpose, training is important. Classroom management will be revolutionised when AI finds its way into the picture. Yet, it won’t remove the need for human mentors even in those circumstances. While AI can relieve teachers from the routine, from attendance to assignments to grading, teachers will still be needed to encourage and motivate the students and help them make the connections that only a human element can provide. From ethics to poetry, to aiding collaborative work, lessons to be delivered through human interaction will remain indispensable. It will become important to train mentors to have skills that can help them use AI to facilitate the best in classroom management.

Transcend Classrooms

Last but not least, teachers will need to employ classroom management through lessons that go beyond the classroom. In the neo-liberal age of today, topics are complex and abstract, and using new methods, analogies, scenarios from real life, visual representation, and even bringing in stakeholders who have real-life experiences can help the delivery of knowledge become more seamless, effective, and beneficial.

From teaching lessons out of books to lessons in life, teachers are imperative to develop academic resilience in students but beyond that, turn them into human beings fit to combat the challenges facing the modern world of today, with strategic behaviour and learning cues.