Take Charge Of Your Classroom
Wong says effective teachers are good classroom managers
Speaks at IPD / QuEST Conference
He said it many times and in many entertaining ways, but Harry K. Wong’s
message to 500 educators at the IPD/QuEST Conference boiled down to
this:
Effective teachers are good classroom managers.
“The Number One problem in our classrooms is not discipline. The
Number One problem in our classrooms is lack of procedures and routine,”
Wong said at the annual Instruction and Professional Development and
QuEST Conference sponsored jointly by WEAC and the Wisconsin Federation
of Teachers. The conference was Saturday (March 11, 2000) at the Milwaukee
Hilton.
“Most teachers spend absolutely no time managing their classrooms,”
said Wong, an author and teacher who has developed methods that caused
him to have no discipline problems, a zero dropout rate, a 95% homework
turn-in factor, and the ability to demonstrate mastery of learning for
each of his students.
Not limiting his message to teachers, Wong said educators, including
support staff, must lay down a set of procedures for students, repeat
them over and over, make sure everyone understands them, then apply
them consistently.
“The very first thing we have to establish the first week of school
is consistency, consistency, consistency,” he said.
Wong practices what he preaches. Before dismissing his audience for
a mid-morning break, he clearly laid out procedures. He said he wanted
everyone back in their seats in exactly 20 minutes at which time he
would stand before them and raise his hand in the air. At that time
he expected everyone to be quiet and listen attentively. Twenty minutes
later, everyone was back in their seats. When Wong raised his hand,
a hush came over the room.
Wong noted he has been to many meetings where the speaker or facilitator
has had to yell and plead with people to return to their seats and be
quiet after a break. All he did was take control, clearly lay out a
procedure ahead of time, and make sure everyone understood it.
Other key points he made:
- Students like having a set of classroom procedures because it simplifies
their task of learning.
- The greater the structure of a lesson and the more precise the directions,
the higher the achievement rate will be.
- At the start of a lesson, students must be given a list of learning
criteria that tells them what they are expected to accomplish.
For more information about Harry K. Wong or to order his book, tapes
or other materials, go to: www.effectiveteaching.com.
Posted March 13, 2000