Hicham Mahda

http://umbc.uoregon.edu/eteacher/

Rabat, Morocco

E-Teacher Professional Development Workshop

University of Maryland, Baltimore County and
University of Oregon, Summer 2012
Workshop on Effective Classroom Management for
Moroccan High-school EFL Teachers
Hicham Mahda, Morocco
The present workshop project plan illustrates a one day professional development workshop which will
take place at the Faculty of Education, Ecole Normal Superieur, and the British Council in Morocco on the
20, 21 and 23 of March, 2013, during the national holiday. The publication of the workshop dates will be
through Facebook and the British Council, Morocco division. Participants will be selected on a first come,
first served basis as the places are very limited. All teachers from all parts of the country will be welcome
to apply to attend the workshop. The workshop will be about classroom management. The content of this
workshop will be based on Methods Course I: Survey of Best Practices in Teaching English to Speakers
of other Languages, an online course developed by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
in the U.S. Department of State E-Teacher Scholarship Program as well as the E-Teacher Professional
Development Summer Program at UMBC, July 2012. At the end of this workshop project, participants will
have the chance to enhance their knowledge about best practices to manage their classrooms and
therefore empower their students' English proficiency in a healthy and more secure classroom
environment. The workshop participants will be encouraged to spread what they learned for others to
benefit from: Sharing is Caring.
Host:

Faculty of Education, Ecole Normal Superieur and the British Council Morocco

Participants:

100 EFL teachers

Program:

1-day professional development workshop

Schedule:

20, 21 and 23 March 2013

Goals:

The goals of this workshop are to:

Introduce participants to the best classroom management practices;
Improve participants' ability to develop and practice classroom management
strategies; and
Enable participants to apply classroom management techniques to their large
classes.

The E-Teacher Scholarship Program was a cooperative grant agreement between the
U.S. Department of State ECA/A/L; the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and
the University of Oregon, 2009-12.

Problem Identification
If educators fail to realize the importance of creating an environment where
students feel that they belong, where they are safe, where their voice is respected
and where they are encouraged to learn, then little else is of value-the educator
will struggle to actively and meaningfully engage students in the process of
learning. When students are not involved and believe the educator doesnt care,
they are more likely to misbehave. - Bennett Smilanich
In Morocco, most of Moroccan EFL high school teachers find difficulties to manage their classes since
they are too large. Each classroom includes about 45 students, which make it difficult for them to work
effectively (lack of materials, space, administrative support, etc). This creates problems at the classroom
management level, especially for novice teachers. These problems hinder the effectiveness of such
teachers and lowers their willingness to work; therefore classroom interaction is minimized vis--vis the
students' misbehavior. Training EFL teachers on how to manage their classes effectively, and therefore
achieve their teaching goals, is the ultimate purpose of this workshop training.
Contextual Analysis
The Ministry of Education is the governmental institution which sets the Moroccan national curriculum in
all subject areas including English. The Ministry of National Education decentralized its functions to
regional levels created in 1999 when 72 provinces were subsumed into 16 regional administrative units.
Then the responsibility of the provision of education services has been slowly devolving to the regional
level. This decentralization process is expected to ensure that education programs are responsive to
regional needs and the budget is administered locally. These regional divisions have a few teacher
trainers who cover larger areas (one inspector/supervisor for each delegation). Their main function is to
observe teachers and supervise the national examination process. They conduct approximately 2 to 3
training sessions per year.
Most of the mentioned teacher training sessions are conducted in other high schools within a specific
region or delegation called Regional Education Delegation. These classrooms do not have enough space
to host larger audiences. For this reason, the present project is going to take place at the Ecole Normale
Superieur (National Training Institution, the Faculty of Education) and the British Council in Rabat,
Morocco. The training sessions and workshops will concern novice teachers (in-service and pre-service
teachers) and then appeal to others, having a multiplier effect.
Learner Analysis
Novice teachers start their first teaching contact with higher expectations for themselves and for their
students. However, we know that the first teaching experience is very difficult for most new teachers. The
early years of teaching are often characterized by "survival of the fittest" because most of the current
training programs do not provide practical solutions for Moroccan EFL teachers at the level of classroom
management. In-service and pre-service teachers still pursuing their training at the Faculty of Education,
Ecole Superieur Normal (National Teaching Training Center) in Morocco are traditionally assigned the
most difficult students, those that the most experienced teachers do not want to teach. Novice teachers
need to be ready and trained to manage their large classes effectively. This fact is based on a short
survey conducted on a number of teachers, who are members of different interest Facebook groups
related to teaching. For the mentioned reasons the training workshop is going to target mainly novice and
in-service Moroccan EFL teachers.
Content Analysis
The present workshop will include activities inspired by courses taken during the U.S. Department of
State E-Teacher Scholarship Program Methods I: Survey of Best TESOL Practices online course 2012,
mainly classroom management and classroom interaction, and the E-teacher Professional Development
Workshop sessions at University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Summer 2012. Moroccan EFL
E-Teacher Summer Institute, http://umbc.uoregon.edu/eteacher/
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teachers will be provided with practical ways to enhance their classroom management and therefore
increase their students' classroom interaction in a safer and more secure environment.

Delivery Analysis
The handouts and materials for the professional workshop will be comprised of materials taken from the
E-Teacher Methods I: Survey of Best TESOL Practices online course as well as the E-Teacher
Professional Development Workshop (Summer 2012) at UMBC. These documents and materials
provided for the participants to use in their instruction will guarantee maximum classroom interaction and
classroom management control. In addition to this, participants will have the chance to have worksheets
and activities to use to assess their classroom interaction and management. On the whole these materials
will include a PowerPoint presentation, handouts, guidelines, and references for personal readings.
Project Plan
The workshop project is planned to be implemented in the next school year, 20, 21 and 23 March,
2013.The rationale behind this date is that most of the participants will be free to attend the workshop
sessions without any constraints. This will give room for the initial preparatory stage, such as
administrative support from the Faculty of Education, Ecole Superieur Normal and the British Council in
Morocco for the implementation of the two-day workshop. After the initial preparatory stage invitations will
be published via Facebook and through the British Council. To ensure a large coverage and reach larger
audiences, the workshops will be extended to other regions of the country and will tackle other issues
related to EFL teaching.
Design
Pre-Service vice teachers must gain knowledge on how to manage their classrooms and increase their
students' classroom interaction. The main goal of this workshop is to provide participants with practical
techniques and tools on how to manage and increase classroom participation in their classrooms.
Participants will be engaged in various activities on how to develop a good controllable learning
environment where students are engaged in meaningful learning. Eventually, participants will have the
chance to apply what they will learn in their real teaching settings to maximize the use of English as well
as manage their classes effectively.
Objective

Content

1. By the end of the first

activity, participants
should be able to
adequately
differentiate between
classroom
management and
classroom discipline.
Workshop
participants should
be able to practice
classroom language
and classroom
management
techniques for
teaching EFL
learners.

Power point
presentation
including:
o Classroom
Management
o Class
Management vs.
Class discipline
Setting Up Your
Classroom handout,
retrieved from
Method's I online
Course on
Classroom
Management, UMBC

Learning/Training
Activity
To introduce
classroom
management
through a warm up
activity (comment on
the picture) followed
by a Case Study 1
and 2 and to elicit
the trainees reaction
and activate their
prior knowledge they
might have.
After the warm up,
participants
brainstorm the
meaning of
classroom
management using
think-pair-share.

Assessment
The presenter
will:Use questions to
find out what the
participants know,
understand and can
do. Questions will be:
What is the difference
between classroom
discipline &
classroom
management to
check if the
participants were able
to make the
difference between
the two, followed by
the KWL chart to fill
the third column:
What I have learned

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Objective

2. By the end of this

activity, participants
will be able to clearly
identify different
possible time and
seating
arrangements.

Content

Power point slide:

Tips on time and
seating management
as well as the role
and the importance
of the affective filter
in relation to
Classroom
Management.

3. By the end of this

section, participants
will be able to clearly
identify the best ways
to identify and score
and control disruptive
behavior inside the
classroom.

Theoretical
framework:
Disruptive behavior
Holistic Rubric for
Scoring Class
Participation and
Behavior-Ron
Schwartz UMBC

Learning/Training
Activity
Then, the presenter
provides the trainees
with a definition of
Classroom
Management to
compare it with ideas
that had been
brainstormed.
Before providing
Time and Seating
Management Tips,
participants will
share their views
(through Stand-up,
Hands up, Pair up
technique) on how
they manage their
time and if they
change the seating
for each activity they
do in class, what
grouping, seating,
and standing
arrangements are
most appropriate.
Participants will
discuss how to
arrange their
classrooms and
manage their
classroom time.
Talk about seating
conditions and their
relation to classroom
management and
learning outcomes.
The presenter
provides the trainees
with Holistic Rubric
for Scoring Class
Participation and
Behavior -Ron
Schwartz UMBC

Assessment
in small groups

In groups,
participants do a
matching activity.
They match the
seating arrangement
terms with their
correct corresponding
picture.

Participants are able

to identify / control
disruptive behavior
through a role play
activity to identify and
address disruptive
behavior in groups.
How its done:
This activity uses a 10
minute fish bowl role
play. The presenter
introduces the role
play by explaining
that we are going to
observe a role play of
a facilitation session.
The observers are to
identify disruptive
behaviors and the

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Objective

Learning/Training
Activity

Content

Assessment

4. By the end of this

section, participants
will be able to
develop effective
techniques on how to
teach large classes.

Teaching large
classes
Discussion/
brainstorming best
practices on teaching
large classes,
followed by tips on
how to teach large
classes.

To show the
building blocks of
Class Management
and provide the
trainees with the
Setting Up Your
Classroom handout.
The presenter goes
over the document
quickly and explains
its main functions/
points.

responses of the
facilitator.
Role play participants
need to be briefed on
the behaviors they
are to exhibit either
by a verbal briefing or
by been given a
printed slip of paper
with the details. In a
larger group, the
facilitator can create
additional challenging
behaviors to assign to
other role play
participants.
The role players, with
false name tags
(invented names), sit
in a small circle the
fish bowl. The
observers sit in a
larger circle
surrounding them.
The role play
commences with the
facilitator guiding a
discussion on the role
of action groups in
achieving change.
The group manifests
the various disruptive
behaviours and the
observers sit quietly.
The co-facilitator
announces time at
the end of 10
minutes.
Participants think
about a large airport
or train station or
public market area as
a large classroom.
They can even draw
a rough diagram of
the layout of such a
place. Many people
come through such
centers every day.
Have participants
form groups and

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Objective

Content

Learning/Training
Activity

Assessment

discuss the following

questions, writing
down their ideas.
How such places are
physically organized?
In your experience,
are they effective at
moving large
numbers of people
quickly? Do they
encourage people to
communicate with
each other?
How is information
about navigating
through these places
communicated, both
at the group and at
the individual level?
Is there a set of
logistics that are
common to such
situations? If so, list
some. If not, list some
that you think might
be useful.
Is there an airport or
railway station or
marketplace culture?
If so, what are some
characteristics of it
that contribute to
successful travel? If
not, is there a way
such a thing could be
established to
facilitate travel? What
would be its
characteristics?
What are some
typical traveler
behaviors that
facilitate travel or
working/shopping in a
market-place? What
are some problematic
behaviors (e.g.
navigation, disturbing
others, etc.)? What
are some of the
consequences of

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Objective

Learning/Training
Activity

Content

5. By the end of this

section, participants
will be able to
accurately adopt best
ways on how to teach
multiple-proficiency
classes.

Differentiated
instruction
Discussion/
brainstorming (thinkpair-share)

6. By the end of this

section, participants
will be able to clearly
recognize best ways
on how to
compromise with the
institutions where

Discussion through
which the trainer
elicits the major
problems that the
participants face in
their institutions
(Round Robin). Then

Introduce
Differentiated
Instruction for
address multiple
proficiency levels in
the same class
Provide participants
with six strategies on
how to improve the
classroom situation
and engage diverse
students learners
The presenter
provide participants
with some lesson
plans in which the
above-mentioned six
strategies can be
applied to facilitate
the teacher in a
multi-level ESL
Class.
To demonstrate how
teachers should
compromise with the
institutions where
they are going to
work/ where they
actually work.

Assessment
each of these types of
behaviors?
And how can we
manage these large
spaces?
Second phase,
participants try to
imagine a classroom
of 50-75 students. Do
you think some of the
answers to the above
questions might apply
to that situation?
Explain your answer.
Try to use specific
examples using what
you have learned
Source: Managing
Large Classes,
University of Oregon
http://oelp.uoregon.ed
u/shaping_read.html
Participants by giving
them a reading text and
asks them to prepare a
lesson plan for a
multiple level class

Participants make
negotiation with
reference to given
samples of conflicts in
order to show how
proficient they are in
conflict resolution

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Objective
they work.

Learning/Training
Activity

Content

Assessment

followed by
"Compromising with
The Institution tips.
A guideline
Classroom
managementGuidelines for
Success on how do
the most effective
teachers:
manage behavior
in their multi-ethnic,
multi-cultural
classrooms?
develop and use
classroom rules
and routines?
use classroom
consequences that
work?
design positive
behavioral
supports for
challenging
behaviors?
avoid career- and
health-threatening
frustration and
burnout?
Retrieved from
UMBC online course

Rationale for Sequence

The sequence for this training workshop is to introduce the basics of classroom management for novice
teachers as they start their first classroom contacts. Participants will have the chance to discover issues
related to seating, disruptive behavior, compromising with the institution, and so on for them to be wellequipped to control their classes and maximize the learning process in their own teaching context.
Development
(Training plan based on Gagnes Nine Events of Instruction)
1. Gain attention
Participants will be asked to react to a
picture based on what they see and understand. This stimulates and
draws the participants' attention to the workshop topic.

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2. Inform learners of
objectives

3. Stimulate recall of prior

learning
4. Present the content

5. Guide learning

6. Elicit performance
(practice)

7. Provide feedback

8. Assess performance

9. Enhance retention and

transfer

The presenter will provide participants with the main objectives of each
section of the workshop in order for them to keep track of the workshop
sequences. In other words, they will know what they are going to learn, the
objective of each activity (if available) and the presenter's expectations.
To stimulate the short term memory, participants will be given Case
Studies and asked to identify and reflect upon the nature of the problems
in each of the two case studies.
The workshop will emphasize classroom management techniques and
how teachers take advantage of best classroom management practices to
control their classrooms. The presenter will present the content in different
sections complied in a power-point or Prezi presentation in such a way to
catch the participants attention and maximize their understanding. Use of
humor will be also integrated to lower the participants' affective filter for
better retention.
The presenter will have multiple roles: Information provider, Moderator,
Facilitator and Assessor. He/she will guide the learning process through
group activities, role plays, and modeling throughout the workshop time
frame.
The presenter will ask questions following Ron Schwartzs (UMBC MA
TESOL Program) 'How we are doing' model. An observer will be present
during the workshop presentation to observe if the presenter successfully
applied effective questioning to stimulate the participants understanding.
Moreover, various activities will be given after each section for participants
to apply what they had learned. These activities might be modeled by the
presenter to carry out by the participants themselves.
Feedback will be provided through comments during and after each
activity by the instructor There will be a reflective moment on certain group
work activities where the presenter and participants share their opinions,
views and challenges to enhance the learning process.
As the presenter finishes presenting a given section, participants are going
to be assessed to make sure that the objective of each section is
successfully achieved. A final evaluation will be conducted at the end of
the workshop. The final evaluation is going to be micro-teaching activities
where participants simulate a mini lesson with peers taking on the role of
students, to apply one of the many aspects to classroom management
taught in the workshop. Following the micro-teaching activity, the presenter
will run an informal 4-5 minute discussion about each activity.
During the whole workshop process, participants will be given the chance
to work on classroom situations to apply what they have learned. This will
help them reflect and apply the learned materials in future classroom
situations.

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Implementation Checklist:
Items
o Refreshments
o Handouts
o Overhead projector
o Laptop
o Whiteboard
o Pens/pencils
o Notebooks/ white papers
o Flipcharts
Tasks

o Copying handouts
o A variety of seating armaments: Enemy corners, opposing teams, wheels (the outer wheel can
move round, changing pairings)

o February 01, 2013: sending emails and personally contact officials in the Faculty of Education, The
British council, and Ecole Suprieur Normal

o February 29, 2013: publishing invitations on Facebook and in the mentioned institutions to invite
teachers to attend the workshop
Evaluation
In addition to micro-teaching activities that will be used to assess the participants' performance, another
evaluation is going to take place by the trainer after the implementation of each workshop in each
institution. The final evaluation report for each session is going to be sent to all the institutions involved in
the organization of the workshop. The evaluation will be based on an online questionnaire using statistical
software named "Le Sphinx V 5". The online questionnaire link is going to be sent to participants after the
end of each workshop session, to check their overall satisfaction with the workshop content and delivery,
the gained knowledge acquired through the training, and how this knowledge is going to affect their
teaching in their schools as well as the participants feedback and suggestions to improve the training
workshop in the future.

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