Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/3058
Handling crowded classrooms, members create solutions It’s not unusual for Yolanda Benito’s classroom to be packed with high school students. Some mornings, she has as many as 50. Amazingly, during a recent visit, most were on task and attentive. Benito’s students at Del Rio Commu- nity School in Brawley are considered “high risk” and were not successful in tra- ditional school. But they like Benito’s dy- namic style of teaching that’s jam-packed with activities. During a recent language arts class, for example, they were divided into teams for the following: pairing up vocabulary words in the style of the TV game show “The Match Game”; playing a version of “Jeopardy!” with categories re- lated to literature; and competing to see who could come up with the most syn- onyms. Then they sat at computers to work on individual projects. “Every 20 minutes I change my focus,” explains Benito. “These students exhaust me and I probably exhaust them. But it works.” Teaching a large class is nothing new for Benito, who serves as president of the Imperial County Office of Education Teachers Association. But it’s definitely more challenging than teaching a smaller class, she says. “I keep them constantly busy, because it decreases behavior problems,” she re- lates. “I do a lot of hands-on activities. I use a lot of auditory, visual and kinesthet- ic strategies. And I’m always on my feet. If I was sitting at my desk monitoring things from afar, it wouldn’t work. I’m al- ways walking around making sure they are on task and checking their notes.” She rewards students by finishing in- struction five minutes early and giving them time to chat, which prolongs in- structional time by reducing discipline. “I have to do a lot more preplanning,” she confides. “I over-prepare. If I think a lesson might only take 55 minutes, I’m prepared for 70 minutes, and I do a lot of weekly planning instead of dai ly planning.” “I try to have a sense of humor,” says Anh Nguyen, who teaches geometry classes with 40-plus students at North High School in Torrance. “If I am animat- ed and interesting to the students, it’s eas- ier to keep them engaged, and it makes the class environment more enjoyable for them — and for me.” Nguyen is always on her feet, going from student to student to make sure they “get it” before moving on to a new topic. “I need to walk around and monitor whether they understand what I am teach- ing — I can’t just stand up there and recite the lesson,” continues Nguyen, a member of the Torrance Teachers Association. “I establish rules and strictly enforce them to maintain control of the class. A class in chaos is impossible to teach — particular- ly when they are this large.” “Discipline is one of the largest chal- lenges of teaching a large class,” agrees Bob Sustachek, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Martin Luther King Middle School and a member of the Oceanside Teachers Association. “With a large class, you can’t keep your eyes on all students at the same time. Kids tend to chatter more in a larger class than in a smaller class. And there can be so many LEFT: Yolanda Benito, president of the Imperial County Office of Education Teachers Association, at Del Rio Community School in Brawley. OPPPOSITE TOP: Geometry teacher Anh Nguyen at North High School in Torrance. 8 California Educator | september 2009