Ricardo Aguiar is a specialist trainer of beginner teachers who recently taught UTS preservice teachers how to demystify classroom management by creating practical classroom routines that help students to learn and feel supported.
Ricardo explaining the routines that foster positive relationships. Taken by Joanne Yoo and used with permission.
Relationships. It is all about relationships!
Ricardo Aguiar Acting Deputy Principal, Plumpton High School
Classroom management is the number one area of concern facing preservice teachers during professional experience. Preservice teachers often find themselves overwhelmed and stressed as they face a room full of unruly students. Without a careful induction into the practicalities of teaching, they are likely to struggle rather than thrive as beginner teachers.
Yet there are those teachers who artfully wrangle even the most rowdy of classes into manageable, attentive and collaborative learners. Classroom management involves thoughtful skills and creativity, and fortunately there are experts like Ricardo Aguiar (Acting Deputy Principal, Plumpton High School) who teach practical strategies in how to do this.
Last week, Ricardo gave a practical workshop for our UTS preservice teachers in how to create classroom routines so their own students are inspired to learn and feel supported.
“Relationships. It is all about relationships! Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like,” he declared, and urged the group to build trust with their learners.
Ricardo modelled different teaching strategies to create a safe and rich learning environment. He tapped on tables to redirect focus and initiated a countdown to channel student attention back to him.
A demonstration of a ‘Do-Now’ that engages preservice teachers in the ‘here’ and ‘now.’ Taken by Joanne Yoo and used with permission.
He roamed around the room to catch potential student misbehaviour, to reinforce how teachers can actively get students back on task.
Ricardo demonstrating how to ‘roam’ the room to actively engage UTS preservice students. Taken by Joanne Yoo and used with permission.
He framed his practice through relevant and current theories, such as the ENVoY strategies (Educational Non-Verbal Yardsticks), to refocus students without disruption.
He drew on Choice Theory and Restorative Practice to illustrate how to cultivate student agency, and explained how Universal Design for Learning enabled him to differentiate learning and address diverse student needs.
“Ricardo brings to life what effective classroom management looks like. This has got to be one of the best workshops I have seen on this topic!” observed Dr Joanne Yoo, the Master of Teaching in Secondary Education Course Coordinator.
Ricardo’s dynamic workshop on routines to establish a positive learning environment is one of the highlights of the subject ‘Professional Learning’. This subject is a core first year UTS Master of Teaching in Secondary Education subject. It provides a bedrock of relevant experiences and information to kickstart UTS preservice teachers' lifelong career journeys.
Ricardo reminded the class that “teaching is not a sprint, it is a marathon.”
His generous sharing of his hard-earned knowledge quickly and thoroughly engaged the UTS preservice teachers, reinforcing again how trust and positive relationships are fundamental to effective teaching.
Learn more about the UTS Master of Teaching in Secondary Education degree here and other UTS Teacher Education courses here.