Unit #7: TESL 100

 How Do I Manage My Class?

One thing that caught my attention in this unit was the possibility of something going wrong with students in a classroom. The scenarios may vary from students arriving late, to refusing to put away a cell phone during class time or a student refusing to work with other classmates due to religious beliefs. Whatever the situation, the teacher has to find a reasonable solution to the problem, and yet, not allow the students to think that the teacher will be making such changes just because the students want to. I totally agree with respecting specific requests made by students, but they also have to know that the way a teacher runs his/her classroom has to be regarded as well.
In addition to the above scenarios, there are other issues to think about. The teacher should also consider other learners with literacy needs, poverty, mental/physical disabilities, and LGBTQ and how to support them and include them like any other "normal" group.
Sometimes trying to be inclusive with different groups of people it means that the teacher has to look for ways to access additional resources to support these students, and most of the time, those resources are not available to the teacher. I find this part very frustrating because it is unfair to those students who would really benefit from getting extra support to be left out of the equation just because there are no resources available to them.
As stated in chapter 13 (pp. 260-261), Brown and Lee (2015), the teacher takes some many roles in the classroom. She/he becomes the controller, the director, the manager, the facilitator, and the resource, but something is missing in this list, and that is that the teacher also takes the role of the counselor. I don't think there's anything wrong with the last character I added. To me, this reflects the level of bonding that the teacher has been able to develop with his/her students. The level of trust is there, and that's important. Sometimes students look for someone to talk to if they are experiencing a difficult situation and they are looking for someone to help them. The teacher can easily connect the Ss with the appropriate resources or services available to address their needs.
With all the above said, I agree that establishing a clear understanding of the roles of the teacher and students and their functions in the in the classroom are essential factors to help in the development of a successful learning environment.