ACTIVITIES FOR MANAGING A LARGE CLASS SIZE EFFICIENTLY

Is a "large classroom" a misconception or a real thing?

Sometimes, the concept of "large classroom" is a misconception or let me say an overstatement by teachers.

Let me ask you. How many students in a class would you consider "a large class"? 20, 50, 100 or more.

I begin to ask myself if we keep saying NO to large classrooms. or whether teachers should be equipped with techniques for maximizing the classroom.

In fact, I haven't read about or studied any research that gives a standard number of students in a normal class size. if you have one, I'll be glad to have the statistics.

I shared a poll on Linked In to know what teachers considered large class sizes. 52% agreed that a large class begins with 20-40 students while 38% considered a large class to be from 41-80 students. Only 10% of the voters agreed that a class is large if the students are over 100. See the result below:

According to our National Policy on Education in Nigeria, a ratio of 40 students to 1 teacher is considered normal. I'm sure it may contravene what applies in your country.

"The National Policy on Education stipulates that the teacher-pupil ratio should be 1:40."

Dear teachers,

Let's assume we find ourselves in a school with "a large class". What can you do to be effectively inclusive in that class? How can diversify and maintain equity in such a class?

I recently watched some British Council's YouTube videos on EDI in the classroom. This is the link here. Click here. In the video session with Sandra, it is emphasized that every child has a right to learn. As a teacher, you need to abide by the EDI policy in your classroom.

However, to maintain this policy, you need very strong co-operation, attention and response with the students. If all of these can't be figured out in your first class, then, you may find your teaching tasking and unsuccessful like thrusting a camel into a needle's hole.

While teaching in a public school in Lagos, I have found these strategies useful in maintaining orderliness, participation and effective learning in my class. Try them and give me feedback.

USE OF SILENCE

Whenever I enter my class and can't differentiate it from a marketplace, what I do is stand at the front in silence gazing. Don't talk for about a minute, you will see a reset.

USE OF IMPROMPTU TEST

Students can be serious about their test grades because they know it contributes to their continuous assessment. Write a question on the board and ask them to solve it in a very short time.

APPOINT A CLASS MONITOR

I would appoint a monitor among them to write me the names of noise makers and anyone whose name appears on the list would face the consequences.

GROUP THE CLASS

If the class is over 50, the best is to group them and appoint a leader in each group. A sense of responsibility would come.

ASSIGN PROJECT WORK

In my literature classes, most especially, I assign each of recommended texts or poems to students in groups. In every class, the group would come to the front and do a presentation of their research.

PEER-TO-PEER ASSESSMENT

Assessing learners in a class can be a frustrating and daunting task to do by one teacher. I have taught a class of over a hundred students and peer-to-peer assessment is a technique I used for marking class works and objective assignments. This is how to go about it.

The students are seated in three columns and about 10 rows. Tell the students in column 1 to submit right in from of the first person sitting on the first row. Columns 2 and 3 should follow suit.

Distribute Column 1 students' books to all the students in Column 3 and Column 2 to Column 1. This will not allow any student to Mark his/her book.

Do the corrections to the class work on the board and you may also give alternatives to some answers. Tell students to use the right pen/pencil to mark and guide them.

This technique gives learners a clue about how their work is being assessed by their teachers and makes them avoid future mistakes. On the part of the teacher, it's time-saving, interactive and effective. I use it a lot.

PEER TEACHING

In the first week of resumption, you can divide your students into groups or assign sub-topics of the term's scheme of work to each of them. Introduce the topics to them and tell them what they should do and let them know it's part of their assessment.

This technique improves the participation and evaluation of every student in the group. It can also enhance their presentation and speaking skills in class.

THANKS FOR READING!!!

Do you have other techniques for maintaining a large classroom? Do drop it in the comment section or reach out to me on elt-reflections.com.

Thanks

Hammed O. Lawal