Questions tagged [classroom-management]
For questions about overseeing, directing, motivating, and effectively controlling student behavior while in the classroom.
42
questions
9
votes
5answers
3k views
Math activities for fast-finishers
I am a math teacher for sixth graders and I am trying to think of some strategies to keep the students who finish their work quickly productively occupied. I would like to have a selection of ...
4
votes
2answers
284 views
The trick didn't like me (teaching Fourier transform)
I was teaching Fourier transform for engineering students. Since I didn't want to go into rigourous proofs during class, I often use intuition, just give students an idea to persuade them with the ...
8
votes
2answers
148 views
Math Lessons with Two Parts and a Combination
This is fairly open ended, so I understand if people consider this to be off-topic.
I'm interested in creating math lessons where two groups each learn how to use a different simple math skill, and ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
Topics in Mathematics for a 15 minute demonstration
I need to appear for an interview for the post of Assistant Professor in Mathematics in an undergraduate college.
My Backgorund : I have studied topics like Algebra comprising of Group Theory,Ring ...
8
votes
1answer
112 views
How to organize a “cheatsheet-making session” with students
I am in charge in my institution of a class where students prepare math interviews to enter university. Part of the time is devoted to the review of the topics of PreCalculus and Calculus the students ...
15
votes
4answers
550 views
How To Help a Quiet Class
This term I am teaching a very quiet precalculus class. I am having trouble getting students to answer questions or respond to verbal prompts, even questions I know they can answer. What I initially ...
6
votes
1answer
839 views
How to teach calculus effectively to non-math (and noisy) students?
How can I teach calculus effectively to non-math students (chemical engineering students, for example)? Sorted by priority, the problems I'm experiencing are:
Students cannot keep their voice down. ...
15
votes
1answer
170 views
Pacing your teaching for a variety of learning speeds
I am often tasked with teaching large enrollment courses, and one thing that becomes obvious quickly is that students attempt to pick up new information and solve problems at much different rates. ...
0
votes
1answer
315 views
Most effective classroom management plan [closed]
I'm looking for an effective classroom management plan for high school teachers. Mine is:
Every student should have a notebook and a pen to take notes.
Food, drinks, chewing gums and electronic ...
8
votes
1answer
249 views
How are U.S. students placed in math classes?
I am currently working with a student who is on the slowest math track at her school of the three available; however, I cannot understand why. She shows an amazing ability to reason mathematically and ...
16
votes
2answers
424 views
Nontraditional calculus recitations
I'm a math grad student, and next semester I start TAing a calculus class for the first time. We all know about the standard recitations: instructor gives short lecture on some more difficult topic ...
8
votes
1answer
208 views
How do you teach a class with one struggling student?
One of my classes has about 15 people in it. Everybody else is going okay except for precisely one student. If it was 2, that'd be fine because I can pair them up.
However, with this student, I am ...
4
votes
2answers
170 views
Spending time with students individually
I have a few students that need lots of individual attention.
What do you have the other students do during this time?
Review problems? Challenge problems? start on their homework? play a math ...
11
votes
3answers
204 views
What to do when a math course needs too many shapes/figures and I'm not good at drawing?
Teaching some courses in mathematics requires drawing too many shapes or figures (e.g. Geometry, some parts of calculus, etc.) but I am not good at drawing shapes. Of course I can use slides, but I ...
5
votes
0answers
76 views
Organization of an interview preparation course
This coming Fall semester, I will have to organize a course to prepare high school students for the maths interview they will have before entering to university. This is my first time teaching this, ...
7
votes
3answers
297 views
Students iPads and mobile phones in class: good or distracting?
Nowadays almost everybody uses such devices almost every time! Particularly during my lectures in the class I can see some students who are working with their iPads and mobile phones. In such a ...
7
votes
2answers
825 views
How can a math teacher manage a class when unprepared?
Sometimes a math teacher becomes sick or depressed like any other human and is not able to be prepared for lecture. Sometimes a math teacher spends too much time on a research project and does not ...
6
votes
2answers
284 views
How to randomly call on students to present HW? (without students losing motivation , and high probability everyone presents)
Assume you have decided to call on students to present HW solutions in your course. For educators who have done this before, how do you implement this and why? There are a few problems I can imagine ...
18
votes
7answers
9k views
How to deal with fast students without neglecting weaker ones
In my class, what often happens is that some smart students do problems faster than other students. And they are actually going well ahead of my course plan. While I am teaching to other students a ...
14
votes
5answers
559 views
Remedying poor interpersonal skills
When I have TAed calculus courses and led discussions, while I did not find myself grossly inept at interacting with students, there was a bit to be desired with making discussion interactive. I am ...
5
votes
1answer
71 views
Optimal management of mixed-knowledge classes
There is always a risk that the teaching of translation is neglected. Meaning: there is a process to go through to get from a word problem to a collection of variables, equations and constants. Very ...
14
votes
3answers
778 views
What can be done to instill good habits in students?
This question might sound vague, but I'm really just looking for particular examples that worked for you.
From my experience, it seems like a large portion of "weak" students remain weak despite ...
50
votes
10answers
14k views
How to handle the situation where a student insists I am wrong during the class?
I had one very vocal student in my Calculus recitation last year. Sometimes she would point out if I made a mistake in the lecture.
However, sometimes she would insist that I had made a mistake, ...
35
votes
14answers
15k views
How to handle the situation when you made a stupid mistake in front of the class?
I don't know whether you guys have made a similar experience but it just happened to me: I made a very stupid mistake in front of the class. I can't really tell you how it happened and I feel too ...
12
votes
3answers
988 views
How to keep students engaged during a quiz that is not at the end of class?
I'm getting down to details here:
When a quiz or exam is the last thing in the class period, students can leave when they are done. If not, there is necessarily a time when some students are done ...
6
votes
1answer
206 views
How to handle babies in the classroom [closed]
I was a grad student at Brigham Young University, which has a very high marriage rate, and a large number of grad students (if not most) were parents.
A couple of different parents brought their ...
30
votes
13answers
7k views
What do you say to students who want to apply Banach-Tarski theorem in practice?
Once when I was talking about Banach-Traski theorem (paradox) I said:
OK! This is Banach-Tarski's theorem which is against our intuition but provable from our intuitive axioms! It says you can ...
10
votes
1answer
356 views
The Lord of the Fields [closed]
In our department, something is growing up into the darkness. A dark power which seduces my colleagues and their students one by one and leads them into the shadow. Those whose hearts are corrupted ...
12
votes
3answers
397 views
Should one ask questions directly to specific students in a lecture or exercise group?
In the question Encouraging class participation there are some answers how to encourage class participation in general.
Sometimes, there are some smaller lectures (in particular in graduate courses) ...
20
votes
5answers
7k views
What is a method you use to handle the students who thinks they “know it all”?
This is a typical problem in my undergraduate Calculus I class. Many of these freshmen come in having made an A in their High-School Calculus class, and believe they know everything they need to ...
14
votes
4answers
2k views
What is a wise reaction to a silly question?
I like students' nice questions too much (sometimes much more than their nice answers). It shows that they are thinking on what I am teaching and I am successful to make them curious about the subject....
32
votes
3answers
3k views
What happened to the Moore method?
I always read about the Moore method with great enthusiasm. Somehow I always felt that it should be how we do it in an ideal world, but it is impossible to use because of time and other constrains.
...
14
votes
4answers
1k views
What should I do with kissing problem?
There are two young lovers in one of my crowded calculus classes. Sometimes when I am explaining an idea I see they are kissing each other and some of the other students are watching them and pay no ...
23
votes
6answers
2k views
What are some good rules for handling student questions during exams?
For example, I gave an exam earlier today with a problem that ended in the sentence
Use the chain rule to find $(f\circ g)'(3)$.
During the exam, one of the students asked me what the circle ...
15
votes
3answers
775 views
How should I deal with overenthusastic students?
This is sort of an opposite question to keeping quicker students engaged?.
Sometimes I encounter students who are overenthusiastic about the course; they're constantly moving faster than the rest of ...
17
votes
4answers
2k views
What to do when students are not keeping their eyes on their own test?
At my university, exams take place in a lecture hall, but it is usually pretty packed. Along with alternating versions of tests, it is pretty easy for a student to look to the next row or their ...
12
votes
4answers
580 views
Technology and distractions
Before I begin this question properly I want to say that I feel responsible for my students, and I want them to do as well as they can do. I mention this because my question is about technology and ...
15
votes
1answer
300 views
How do you fix a broken course plan?
The most terrifying thing about teaching my own class is 'do I actually know enough to effectively teach students?' I know this is anxiety brought on by a lack of experience but finding the tools to ...
17
votes
3answers
762 views
What deficiencies are present in Precalculus curricula that causes so many students to fail Calculus I?
At our university we now require one semester of Pre-calculus instead of one semester of Algebra and one semester of Trigonometry before you take Calculus I (for those who do not test into Cal I). ...
22
votes
4answers
549 views
Keeping quicker students engaged and interested throughout a course
In a college math course one is bound to find a fairly broad range of students in terms of their quickness in understanding the material. This is due to many reasons, including differing mathematical ...
14
votes
2answers
344 views
Engaging students in computer lab
I am currently teaching the workshop for a class on chaos and fractals in a computer lab. The class is predominantly first year, first semester university students.
Worksheets have been developed for ...
62
votes
14answers
2k views
Encouraging class participation
I teach calculus to college students, and find it very difficult to get them to speak up in class when I ask questions, or when I'm trying to get a pulse for how much they understand. I think ...
