Dealing with large classes has often been a harrowing experience for most educators. Teachers find it impossible to make their classrooms communicative as it requires a lot of resources. Space crunch is the most common roadblock. Many educators find it difficult to remember so many names. Hence, personalisation and scope of equal opportunity fall flat. Thus, lecture-based classroom seems the only way out.

Let’s consider the students’ perspective:

1. The lectures, activities are not clear to me.
2. The teaching method is boring.
3. The teacher appears to be unenthusiastic or bored.
4. The examples are meaningless.
5. Important points are not emphasized.

and so on.

So how can we make the class seem smaller, manageable and encourage students to participate more?

Let us look at some of the strengths of large classrooms:

1. Diversity- Learning ability, prior knowledge, learning styles, goals
2. Dynamics of a large class is different
3. Opportunities for enriched learning

Classroom management routines and procedures are important to create a productive and effective learning environment. Without a well-thought plan, the class be disorganised and chaotic.

First of all, organising the physical space of the class is important. Here are some tips on how that can be done:

a) Maximize classroom space. While many of us don’t have control over where we teach, we may have the opportunity to arrange our assigned classroom as we see fit. The arrangement of a classroom may be flexible or a challenge, but the idea is to draw students into the group and to create a physical space that makes them comfortable and want to enter into a discussion or group situation.

In large class settings, space is often a luxury. To maximize what learning space is available, consider removing unnecessary furniture to reduce the feeling of overcrowding and to facilitate movement. If you really don’t need a large teacher’s desk, ask for a small one. Instead of desks or chairs for students, consider using mats or rugs with your students being seated so that everyone sees each other and feels a part of the group.

b) Facilitate movement. Develop plans in advance for how students can best enter and exit the classroom; for instance, students who sit in the back of the classroom can enter first, followed by those seated in the middle, and lastly by those seated at the front. A reverse strategy can be used for exiting the classroom. Plan in advance how you will change the classroom arrangement depending on what is being taught, such as moving from a whole class arrangement for test taking to small groups for art or science lessons. Plan on how routine activities will be conducted, such as handing out written assignments and then handing them back to students after grading.

c) Use space outside of the classroom. School grounds can be a rich resource for learning, and they can serve as an enjoyable complement to crowded classrooms. They are also important sites for students to develop both social and cognitive skills and to learn important lessons about cooperation, ownership, belonging, respect, and responsibility. Look around your school, identify good areas for learning, and incorporate them into your lesson plans. For instance, different areas of the school grounds can be used as activity centres to support what is being learned about a subject in the classroom. In learning about geometric shapes, for instance, students can explore the school grounds and identify as many geometrically-shaped objects as possible.

d) Display student work creatively. Space is needed to display student work. Rather than display boards or tables, which take up space, students’ work can be hung on a classroom wall or displayed just outside the classroom door for everyone to see. Strings can be used onto which each student’s work is attached with clips, tape, or even blunt thorns. Decorating the room with student work will also help add to the attractiveness of the room and make it more welcoming, even if there are a lot of students in it.

e) Involve your students. Students can be very helpful in managing the classroom’s physical space, and it helps them to develop a sense of responsibility. They can hang up student work, create bulletin boards, and put away instructional materials at the end of each lesson. Students can also be helpful in solving space problems. When a problem occurs, such as students bumping into each other or inadequate seating space, ask them to suggest solutions.

There are many other ways to consider and experiment with. Classroom routines, discipline and order, sharing classroom responsibility, good monitoring etc. These can be looked at in another article.

Dear readers, please share your opinions/ thoughts on these tips for a productive discussion.