Positioning Yourself in Class

Hello everyone,

Something that might help you a lot in managing your classes is where you position yourselves. I would draw elaborate diagrams if I could, but since I can't you'll have to use your imaginations as I describe things.

As I write these, I can't help but feel that I look like a mad paranoiac. I don't mean that. I want to look like a practical manager of a large, potentially volatile, but usually docile, group. You are teachers, not police; as teachers, the strategies are to improve instruction in your class, not catch children in their mischief.

Here are a few principles to keep in mind:

1. Avoid having your back to a large amount of the class. If you are helping individual students, position yourself so that you can see as much of the class as possible, then listen to the rest of them with at least a portion of your attention. There are few things worse than to be called on the carpet for something that happened where you should have seen it.

2. Avoid having your back to the door unless you can hear it easily. Don't let people come in and go out of your class without your knowledge.

3. Use simple proximity to students to help them behave. This doesn't mean that you have to invade their private space without their permission, but their knowing that you are standing within a few feet of them, and you are aware of them, helps them behave. (By the same token, if you are close and they sense that you are unaware of them, they are tempted beyond their poor power to resist to do something outrageous. Be aware of them as much as possible. If you hear the unmistakable sound of being mocked behind your back--loud laughter right behind you--there's no sense getting angry; it will only make matters worse. A wry smile as you bring them into your sphere of awareness is usually the best thing.)

4. Sometimes standing behind the class while you teach is a very effective way of managing them. It's especially useful when you're proctoring a test, but it is frequently a good position in direct instruction, particularly when you want them to have an unobstructed view of a board or screen.

5. Move around. At the very least, it adds some excitement to the class. (Make sure that your moving gives you frequent views of every corner of the room. Don't just move arbitrarily. Also, avoid dancing nervously in one place; I mean change position completely if it's possible; start in front; inscribe a large circle around the room; walk from side to side or front to back, pausing to answer questions or give correction as necessary.) It will, however, require good shoes.

6. MAKE FREQUENT EYE CONTACT. Please. I beg you. Let your eye fall on everyone in the class frequently, and as equally as possible. It's best if your eye is smiling, but if you have to give the "evil eye" to someone, so be it.

7. Set your classroom furniture up in such a way that you can physically approach every student in the class, so that you can get in and out between rows, and so that everyone can see your face when you want them to. (This is an ideal; it's not always a reality in small classes with large numbers; still ideals are worth reaching for.)

Jeff Combe