Classroom Management as an Auxiliar de Conversación

Classroom management as an auxiliar in Spain is less strict and in general, less of a thing, than it is for teachers in the United States.

That’s OK.

As a teaching assistant, or auxiliar de conversación, your job may force you to learn on the fly how to manage your classroom.

For other auxes with teaching experience, it may take a few tweaks to what you’ve already learned to do in the classroom.

The auxiliar program has a wide range of expectations. So just like your responsibilities will vary based on your school, so will your need to manage a classroom.

If you don’t teach or co-teach, but take students out of the classroom for conversation, you can skip right past this article.

These tips to improve your classroom management as an auxiliar are geared towards the auxes (mostly in primary, since that’s my background) that teach their own activities (while your co-teacher is in the room, of course!).

Additionally, for those of you that have prior teaching experience, you’ll need to find a compromise on what you would normally do back home with how things are run in your new school.

And before we get started, if the behavior in your classroom is getting to an extreme, your co-teacher should be stepping in. If this is not happening, please speak with your bilingual coordinator!

First off, what is classroom management?

Classroom management is the term we use to very literally manage the behavior in a given classroom. That means making rules, consequences and rewards. That means making those three things clear and transparent. And it means making sure that your students understand how to do what you expect. This isn’t a guessing game. They need to know exactly where their behavior stands.

All this in turn, makes your life easier and allows you to teach.

But, I’m not supposed to discipline my students!

Very true, and your “consequences” will not be what the full-time teacher’s consequences are. Your consequences will be smaller, do-able, less “discipline-y” versions of what the “actual” teachers do.

No, you can’t take away recess, or lunchtime. You can’t hold students in class for a few minutes before their next class. (Plus they stay in the same classroom anyway, so that won’t work). You can’t give pluses or minuses, detention, or referrals. You won’t talk with parents or write in their agendas. That’s all reserved for the teacher.

But, you, as an aux do have some power in the classroom to associate unwanted behavior with a given reaction.

So, what can I actually do?

Classroom management as an auxiliar means creating rewards and consequences that are completed in the classroom and within the time period that you are teaching. My classes were mostly 45-minute periods, and I reserved the last 3-5 minutes as reward time.

What were your rewards?

My rewards were things that the students chose, were easy to implement, and could be completed in the last five minutes of class.

That meant simple games like Simon Says, Heads-Up 7-Up, Telephone, or Hangman.

Surprisingly, even my 6th graders enjoyed and repeatedly chose Simon Says. Who knew?

The important takeaway: It was always a choice.

If the class earned their reward, I would choose two or three games and have the class vote. I made sure this process was done quickly otherwise it interfered with their playing time. If they were too slow, that was on them.

Did you do personal or group consequences/rewards?

I almost always did group consequences and rewards.

Why?

Because as an aux with 20 plus classes, it’s too hard to manage all of this on an individual scale. Did that mean that sometimes the good kids got punished? Yes, but sometimes it had to happen.

On the flip side, if there was a child who egregiously misbehaved then they would not be allowed to participate in the whole class’s reward. But it had to be something BIG.

How did the class earn their reward?

Simple: Write the word “GAME” on the board (or whatever word you choose). When the class is misbehaving, slowly head over and erase a letter.

If the behavior continues, erase another.

If all the letters are erased by the end of class, then they lose their reward. But if there’s even one letter left, then the reward is earned.

I personally chose to give them a minute of reward time per letter that was left on the board at the end of class.

I also felt that it was important that the class could gain letters back for good behavior. So it was possible for the class to bounce back after having zero letters.

Did this work?

Yes! It wasn’t a magic cure-all, but it really helped me out.

Once students see you walking over to the board, they will immediately start getting quiet and telling their friends to stop talking.

They will start to police themselves which means you don’t have to.

Why is this effective?

Look, the sad reality of classroom management as an auxiliar is that we don’t have that much power over student behavior. But this these tips are a visible way for students to see where they stand, and it gives them an immediate reward or consequence that takes place during the same class period.

Wait, where’s the consequence?

Two things: the immediate consequence in itself is having letters erased as the unwanted behavior occurs. The latter consequence is not being able to play a game at the end of class.

Alternatively, you could state that if all letters are erased during the class period then whatever class activity you are in the midst of doing is immediately stopped. Then have students copy vocabulary words, or something similarly boring. The important thing is they are still working on their English, just in a less exciting way.

How can I adapt this for other age groups?

You can change the word you write on the board for one that’s shorter or longer. You can adapt the rewards for whatever your students like. They are the “choosers” of their own reward. You can also extend or shorten the reward time at the end of class.

Will this work with my school’s discipline approach?

Yes, but you have to figure out how to combine both things.

My school’s school-wide classroom management policy was to give a color based on behavior after each class period. Different colors had different point values. At the end of the month, a certain number had to be met for that class to earn their school-wide reward.

I combined both methods by assigning a certain amount of letters in “GAME” to certain colors. The more letters left, the higher value color was earned.

I found that this worked well because it ensured that my system connected with the school’s. It made it so that my system was also taken seriously.

But, let’s go back. Is that considered discipline?

Not really.

My technique is absolutely within the bounds of my responsibilities as an aux. It didn’t step on the toes of the teacher in the room with me.

I could easily implement my technique because it didn’t depend on having internet, a color chart, or any other supplies. I needed a piece of chalk and chalkboard.

See what works for you!

Classroom management as an auxiliar doesn’t have to be overly complicated. In fact, there are tons of ways to go about keeping your class in line. This is what happened to be the simplest and easiest for me.

I could start class, write “GAME” on the board, and go.

Want to know more about schools in Spain? Check out What Schools in Spain Do Right and 5 Typical Spanish Classroom Quirks.