TEACHING STRATEGY FOR CROWDED CLASSROOMS

A paper by ANTON


Abstrak
Kelas padat merupakan tantangan besar bagi seorang guru. Mengelola kelas dengan jumlah siswa lebih dari yang seharusnya terkadang menjadi beban yang luar biasa. Bagi kebanyakan guru di Indonesia, situasi seperti ini sudah menjadi fenemona biasa. Kelas-kelas di sekolah negeri dihuni lebih dari 40 siswa dan para guru kerap mengalami tekanan dan kebingungan dalam mengelola, apalagi mengajarnya. Tulisan ini dimaksudkan untuk sedikit memberikan pandangan maupun strategi alternatif dalam mengajar kelas padat.

Key words : Teaching strategy dan crowded classroom

One of many challenges that educators should face in Indonesia is the overpopulated classrooms. Classrooms in Sekolah Negeri or public schools mostly contain more than 30 students in a single classroom. Public schools in remote area even have classrooms that contain 45 students for each. One of many causes why this phenomenon appears is because the government’s policy which filter students to study in Sekolah Negeri, consequently many middle level private schools just wait students who failed entering Sekolah Negeri to enroll.

The complexity of the problem in Indonesian education system is not to be blamed. Teachers who become vehicle in every policy government make should be aware and clever in anticipating every obstacles. Being concerned with what best for students is much more important than complaining to the government. Pressure on curriculum demand, administrative work, presenting the materials, preparing test and remedial, and grade the test make teacher as a very demanding job.
Minimizing stress and pressure in daily routines for teacher is proven to bring productivity and lead a meaningful learning process. Teaching crowded or overpopulated classrooms is admitted as the stress and pressure vector for teachers. It consumes much time and energy to teach such challenging classes. This paper is aimed to give insight in finding suitable strategy to teach classes that have overpopulated population.

The Importance of Classroom Management
Headmasters, teachers and administrators play an important role in establishing effective discipline at school though in the classroom, a teacher is the manager. Teachers and other elements at school should work together to create effective teaching learning process. If teachers are strong, effective principals support them and help them get even better. On the other hands, if the teachers are weak, principals have to teach them the secrets of successful classroom management and overall discipline.

As the world keeps changing, “classrooms” also change. Students today are different with ones, let’s say, ten years ago. That means the problems are different too, and classroom management seem a little bit tougher than it used to be. The phrase “classroom management” has been familiar to teachers. But how is it defined? Classroom management refers to the actions a teacher needs to take in order to maintain order in the classroom which enables learning to take place (Whetten, 2008).
The key to successful classroom management is good teaching, not rules. In a classroom where learning is fast-paced, relevant, success-oriented, and makes sense to each student, behavior management becomes a secondary concern. When the classroom is a place of learning-excitement, students don't have time to get everything done that they want to do, including getting into trouble (Del Rosario, 2003).

Obviously, changing times and changing learners needs different teaching techniques and strategies. Teaching can't be a static profession. Effective teaching today has to be rooted in a curriculum where all students succeed. The best curriculum in the world however, won't come alive for learners if teachers don't practice effective instructional strategies. Wise words saying “Good teaching comes first. Good behavior follows.” Indicate that a teacher plays as the motor to the whole elements in the classroom.

Managing Crowded Classroom

When talking about crowded classroom, that means we talk about non-ideal classroom. Certain numbers of students who should ideally occupy the classroom relatively depends on the class itself. So the degree of ideal here means when all students share their turn equally, when teaching learning process run well, and teachers can control and monitor students well.

Students’ experience in large classes is often impersonal, frequently hindering effective learning. Research has shown that students are more motivated to learn when they believe their teachers care about them and their learning. This conclusion is consistent with related findings on the correlates of effective learning: students’ positive responses to subject matter and instructors enhance learning through meaningful relationships between teachers and students and among classmates (Whetten, et al, 2003)

Students learn more when they identify with their teachers as role models meanwhile, In large classes the interpersonal communication necessary for such learning is often inhibited. Because communication can be impeded by an impersonal relationship between teacher and students, it follows that students’ ability to learn may be impaired by a lack of access to the instructor. For example, students may misunderstand a concept and/or they may have important personal questions about the subject matter that they don’t feel comfortable asking in class, especially a large class. Furthermore, Whetten, et al proposed some suggestion for teachers how to deal with this problems.

a. Be yourself. For students to feel they have a relationship with the teacher, they need to feel they know who the teacher is. To accomplish this, teacher should incorporate into his or her teaching some things that are unique about him or her as a teacher and as a person. This might involve relating something about past experiences as an academic or sharing personal insights into the subject matter, especially things you are passionate about. Also, consider sharing your spiritual quest, especially in relation to this subject matter.

b. Learn students’ names. Try to learn your students’ names regardless of the size of the class. Learning students’ names lets them know that you think they are important, especially in very large classes.

c. Make course expectations clear and course content relevant to students. On the first day of class explain your philosophy of learning, explain why you think the course material is important, describe the process you went through to select readings, assignments, tests, etc. For example, in an introductory psychology course, one professor begins this way: “I expect that for many of you this is the only psychology class you will take in college. Therefore, my goal in designing this course was to highlight those aspects of my discipline that I believe are most relevant for your everyday life. Here are a few examples . . .” Learning centered teaching involves designing a course from the perspective of what students need to learn (rather than what teachers want to teach). Early in the semester share your assumptions about what your students need to learn. In addition, provide a mechanism for students to indicate what they want to learn. Then, reinforce these points throughout the semester by illustrating how the choice of readings, assignments, etc., reflect your efforts to make the course relevant to their needs and interests.

d. Plan group discussions/assignments. Begin group activities on the very first day of class. For example, allow students to conduct paired interviews to get to know each other, or put students in small groups to discuss some of the main themes/topics you are introducing as part of the course. Promoting such group-learning activities right from the beginning of the course lets students know you are interested in them and their ideas, and it provides them with a human connection—if not to the instructor directly, to student peers in the class.

e. Ask for (and implement) student feedback. Another way to personalize the learning experience for students is to solicit feedback during the course and then report which suggestions you found particularly valuable and intend to implement. You can use the program Students Consulting on Teaching (SCOT) to interview your class or you can administer your own survey about what helps the students learn, what hinders their learning, and what suggestions they have to improve the course. You might discover, for example, that students wish you would incorporate more examples in your explanations of difficult concepts. Later, if you use more examples during the rest of the semester, announce that you are doing this in response to the feedback you received from them.

f. Stay connected with students. A couple of times each semester send out a general e-mail to all students in your course (especially easy with Blackboard), offering students some coaching tips, learning strategies, suggestions for test preparation, etc. There are at least three reasons for sending out this information via e-mail rather than making an announcement in class: (1) students appreciate an e-mail as a personal message to them; (2) everyone receives the e-mail, regardless of whether or not they were in class; and (3) it saves valuable class time.

g. Make the most of TAs. Think of TAs not only as aids for helping students learn, but also as your “personal representatives” during the course. In order for the TAs to effectively represent you as the course instructor, consider these questions: How do I want the TAs to prepare for each discussion? What should they focus on? How can they effectively interact with each and every student? How can they best contribute a perspective and an attitude that actually helps students learn?

h. Post the TA schedule. If the course includes a walk-in help lab staffed by TAs, consider posting the times when the individual TAs are scheduled to work. Experience has shown that many students prefer working with the same TA, and by posting the schedule students can consistently work with the TAs they find most helpful.

i. Explore new teaching strategies. To personalize the learning experience for students, experiment with new strategies to help students learn. For example, using small groups (or teams) for class discussions or projects allows each student to speak/contribute, hence fostering interaction among students and promoting cooperative learning. Personal connections are enhanced when the faculty/TAs visit the discussion groups to listen and field questions. Well-designed active-learning experiences can foster collaboration among students and between students and teachers (or TAs).

Team English for Large Classroom

Team English is a technique for teaching communicative language in large classes. Conceptually, Team English can be used with any large group of students, from kindergarteners to business executives. It is particularly effective with teenagers, who are often hard to manage in crowded classes of forty, fifty, or even more students. Team English uses team and member identification through colors and numbers while at the same time incorporating principles of cooperative learning, an approach to education in which students work together to achieve a common objective. As a result, Team English provides an organization and management system that allows students to interact in communicative activities while preventing the chaos often resulting from attempts to use groups in large classes.

An important component of Team English is the ability to identify teams and individual members quickly and easily. Each team has a designated color. Each student wears the team color and a team number. Colors can be personalized further by using them in a team name. Once students are comfortable working together, they can choose names like the “yellow tigers” or “red dragons.”

To display the team color, teachers can have students wear a sports sash, jersey, head band, or other identifier that can easily be seen from a distance. A less expensive solution is to take light-weight plastic folders and cut them in half at the fold. We then punch one hole in each corner of one short side of both pieces. Next we join these pieces with ribbon so that they can be worn as a bib, front and back. Students can be responsible for carrying these with their other school materials.

Numbers identify each member of the team. In teams of six students, numbers 1-6 are used; if there are nine team members, students are numbered 1-9, and so forth. To make it easy we can a large number centered near the neckline on both the front and back of the garment. This makes it easy for us to see the number, even if the students slide down in their seats or have their backs to us. Teachers can glue or iron on numbers, or create your own by using a large-width permanent marker. The important thing to remember is that the numbers need to be large enough and high enough to be seen from a distance when students are seated at their desks.
For each activity, form pairs or groups appropriate for that activity. With a team of nine members, there are 28 different combinations of triads alone. In effect, each team represents a small class, which allows students to develop team loyalty while still interacting with a variety of classmates.

To encourage peer mentoring, teachers can form pairs and groups of mixed higher and lower abilities. The students with stronger leadership and English skills can be the group leaders. They then take on a mentoring role for the other students. As other team members develop these skills, they too can assume leadership roles. Within the group, teachers can assign each student a different responsibility, based on that student’s ability. At times, you may also want to form more homogeneous groups within the team. Each group can do a different activity, again depending on ability. Teacher can then easily assist the group most needing individual attention within each team.

Before assigning students to the teams, teacher should choose a captain for each team by selecting students recognized for their leadership ability as well as their English skills. Teacher can then distribute the remaining students randomly to the teams or assign them by ability. In the latter case, after identifying the captains, we rank the remaining students from high to low in English ability. Starting at the top of the ranking, we distribute one student to each team. After the first round, we then distribute one student from the bottom of the list. We alternate rounds in this way until you have placed all students on a team. Should we anticipate conflicts among students, we can switch these students to other teams before you begin. Likewise, if we see an imbalance among the teams, we can move students until all teams seem roughly equal in ability.

Once we have designated the number of players on a team, we will need to assign each student a number. If the students are distributed by ability, it is a good idea to number the students by ability consistently across teams. For example, in teams of nine, the lower level ability students could be given numbers 2, 6, 7; the mid range 3, 5, 9; and the higher level 1 (usually the captain), 4, 8. It is better not to order students’ ability sequentially from 1-9 so as not to stigmatize any specific student. By knowing which students correspond to specific levels of ability, we can control for homogeneity or heterogeneity within pairs or groups. While some people think of numbers as impersonal, team numbers take on a more meaningful affiliation, as they do in sports. In addition, they help you learn your students’ names because you can associate the name with the student’s team color and number.

To organize the teams within the classroom, the teacher needs to create a floor plan of the desks. We can then block off sections of the classroom so that team members are able to work with each other within their respective section. Students can move within that block as activities dictate. We do not need to require each student to sit at a specific desk, since we can easily identify students by their team color and number. However, when introducing Team English, the teacher may want to assign seats for the first few days, placing the captains in a central position so they are close to all their team members.

When using Team English for the first time, we can hand out the team identifier with its number to the relevant student, ask the captains to do so, or have the students create their own identifier, as described earlier, with the color and number that you have designated. When the teams are in place for the first time, we can begin with a Total Physical Response (TPR) activity. TPR uses commands to which the students respond, thus reinforcing their team and individual identity. First we have teams respond to commands, for instance, “Yellow stand up,” or “Blue waive your hands.” Next we use the same commands with numbers so that the appropriate member from every team responds, such as, “All fives stand up,” or All threes waive your hands.” Finally, we call on individual students, for example, “Red five stand up,” or “Green three waive your hands.”

After the warm-up activity and any other activities required to introduce concepts of team cooperation and responsibility, we form groups within the team, appropriate to the specific activity you plan to use. Pairs or groups of three work particularly well in classes where desks are packed so close together that it is physically difficult to form larger groups. Also, pairs or triads allow easy viewing of materials if each group has only one copy.

Conclusion

Being a teacher is also being committed to creativity. Teachers have the responsibility of not only teaching children well, but a responsibility of teaching children to become active, participating citizens in our society. Classrooms serve as a platform for this teaching and learning. Thus, in order for this platform to be created, an efficient, practical and flexible classroom management plan needs to be in place. Classroom should be an environment that adapts for all students’ individuality in which students develop character. An efficient classroom must consist of a positive and motivating learning community where students’ individuality are recognized and appreciated, who are treated fairly.

Unfortunately, crowded classrooms are far from ideal. While teachers are busy transferring knowledge to students, they also have a hard work to reinforce discipline and at the same time treat every one of their students as individuals, not as a noisy and chaotic groups of people.

Effective strategy for crowded classroom should be applied for the sake of teachers and the students. Expert or other experienced teachers who conducted research proposed many strategies to deal with this situation, but the best solution and most effective ones do not come hand to hand. Teachers should observe the class and choose the most suitable strategy for their own class. The most important thing, teachers and students should feel comfortable and teaching learning process run smoothly.


References

Del Rosario, Maureen. 2003. Classroom Management Plan. EDSPE 526B-Cheney ………

Elkin, David J. 1972. Effects of Group and Situational Variables on Perception on Crowding. A paper presented at the Annual Convention of The American Psychological Association in California. Washington University. Washington D. C.

Loewy, John H. 1972. Effects on Density, Motivation and Learning Situation on Classrooms Achievement. A paper presented at the Annual Convention of The American Psychological Association in California. Washington University. Washington D. C.

MacDonald, Marguerite, et al. 2008. Strategies of Teaching Class Rules and Procedures Effectively. Classroom Management: Team English for Large Classes. Available: http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=146452
Sanderson, Donna R. Classroom Management Students Observing Student Teachers: A Win-Win Combination. West Chester University.

Whetten, David, et al. 2003. Conquering the Crowded Classroom. Focus On Faculty: A newsletter vol.11. No.2. Brigham Young University Faculty Center. Available: www.byu.edu/fc.

Winer, Janice. I, et al. 1977. Factors Effecting Perception of and Responses to Crowded Classroom Environment. A paper presented at the Annual Convention of The American Psychological Association in California. National Science Foundation. Washington D. C.