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Getting to know your students better promotes good classroom management

By Stéphanie Loiselle, Director of Pedagogical Development, Zelexio.

Contact with young people is undoubtedly one of the main reasons why so many people choose the teaching profession. Their spontaneity, curiosity and liveliness are just some of the aspects of their personalities that make young people so valuable to us. However, when good classroom management is undermined, the pleasure of teaching can quickly give way to stress. There's no magic formula for ensuring healthy classroom management that is conducive to learning, but there is one basic principle: the development of positive social relationships (Gaudreau, 2011).

Students have a great need for recognition, and the simplest way to meet this need is to consider the uniqueness of each individual. Getting to know your students and differentiating between them makes classroom management easier. It's not just a matter of "relating to them and getting to know them, it's also a matter of taking an interest in their point of view and their perception of reality. "1 This is a preventive method to be started at the beginning of the year. All efforts will pay off, as conflict situations with students will diminish if the teacher is attentive to their relational needs (Hamre and Pianta, 2005).

One element in the perception of reality is the emotional state of your students. The assessment of this emotional state is based on a recognized psychological theory: the FLOW theory of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, psychologist, professor at Claremont University in California and researcher in positive psychology. By applying this theory to studies, we can identify and anticipate how a person feels when carrying out a teaching activity. With this data, the teacher is able to have a complete emotional profile of his or her students when faced with school. How do they feel? Are they in a state of anxiety, boredom, indifference or "flow" when faced with different course tasks? How can we make better use of students' strengths and better support them in their challenges? An emotional state assessment also enables you to differentiate your interventions to make the most of the zone of proximal development. If a student experiences anxiety when cooperating, the teacher can recognize the emotion and better support the learner in this situation. It's a thought-provoking approach that encourages the creation of a caring classroom climate.

Since perceptions vary according to different experiences, it's important to update the emotional state report during the school year. A student who is in "flow" at the beginning of the year may not necessarily remain so until June. It's a good idea to administer the assessment at the beginning of the year and at mid-year. By updating the data in this way, the teacher will be able to

The more the teacher recognizes the student as unique, the more the student will be motivated and committed to the task. The more the teacher recognizes the student as unique, the more motivated the student will be to maintain this climate, and the more committed he or she will be to the task. If students are engaged, then maintaining good classroom management will no longer be your hobbyhorse. To find out more about the Emotional State Assessment, visit www.zelexio.com.

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