See slides on Westgate.
See Jenny Moseley: guru on behavior management.
Also 'Getting the buggers to behave' - Sue Cowley.
Initial Thoughts
Managing learning so that behaviour stays in place.
Not just kids' behaviour but yours also (it will affect them).
Give off an air of confidence.
Know your children.
Consistency (school-wide policies). BE EXPLICIT: establish boundaries with the kids.
Giving children ownership: negotiate rules with kids.
Proliferation of rules is troublesome: don't have rules you are not prepared to consistently uphold (otherwise the message is that rules don't matter).
Make sure the rules are written in positive language ('Be kind' instead of 'Don't be nasty').
10 things to think about (given to us in the summer):
1. Believe you're a teacher,
2. Get to know your kids as individuals,
3. Develop relationships, expect to give respect,
4. Ensure focus always on learning,
5. Know school policies, rewards etc,
6. Discuss w/ class teacher how you're going to work together on it,
7. Think how you'd react in a challenging situation,
8. Be prepared to observe and reflect on behavior management,
9. Be proactive rather than reactive,
10. One more!
Some introductory ideas
Learning, Behaviour and Teaching are inseparable issues. Core purpose is learning, therefore behavior is crucial. Consistency is vital.
We can do a lot to prevent behavioral issues, but it is not necessarily the case that if everything is in place, behavior is 'fixed'.
Respect is a much misused word these days. Children need to see proper respect modeled to everyone.
We should be equally concerned about those that are quiet in the corner as much as those that are in your face and being disruptful. The goal is to ensure a healthy learning environment.
Health and safety: stay within school policy limits (give a bag of sweets to children as reward and trigger an allergic reaction and your school won't be able to defend you. Consider your own health and safety too!
'Golden Rules': Be kind, be generous (umbrella, school-wide rules) with different classroom rules in place too. 'Golden Time': time at the end of the week when kids can do whatever they want, but they infringe on this time with poor behavior throughout the week.
Following the video featuring Sue Cowley
Peer mediation ('Buddy system', 'Playground Police'). Does it work…? Who mediates the mediators? Is it rotational or must it be inclusive (in which case, must you include bad kids who wouldn't necessarily have good judgement?).
Where does Common Sense fit in? If you're being kind to everyone, then you don't have to have 14 rules about what kind of behavior is allowed and which isn't. Does this mean kids have to read between the lines if there are only 4 rules to which we apply 'common sense'?
Promoting Positive Behaviour
Know the children AND their parents: being put down in front of the children by their parents will not support your case. Know the children to whom staying in at break time as a punishment is the reverse (those who perhaps don't like going into the playground).
High Expectations. Need to be absolutely explicit with the kids about these. If you're setting targets, you need to make these very clear and achievable. Type them up, make boxes to tick for the kids. Nothing breeds success like success: it will have a knock-on effect.
Choices. Powerful to talk about choices with the kids. Make them aware they are in charge of their own fate.
Positive Reinforcement: catch them being good, but handle carefully. If one is on a bad/good roller coaster and you praise them highly when they're good, you're sending the wrong message to all the other kids. Must be for all kids. Go into an assembly hall and highlight the positives by saying, 'You're sitting up nice and straight aren't you!', and watch the others (hopefully) sit up straight as well. Make sure you notice the quiet ones who maintain perfect behavior but very subtly.
Mystery Zebra / Secret Pupil (announced that there is one at the beginning of the day).
Class picks 3 people at the end of half term who haven't been hitherto rewarded but the class feels warrant reward. Kids love choosing someone. Kids love being chosen by their peers too.
Building self-esteem: don't make empty praise by highlighting work that clearly isn't up to scratch in comparison with others'. Be specific with praise and make sure you use their name when praising.
Organisation of resources. Think ahead and anticipate problems so that children don't have to push/jostle past each other and destroy a calm atmosphere. Anticipation of flash points is important.
Make sure the level of challenge is appropriate for each child. If the work is too easy, you'll have problems. If the work is too hard, you'll have problems. You don't lose face with friends so much as if you opt out of an activity and be an ass as if you attempt it and fail. Make sure you have an extra challenge built in for the more able and make it accessible for the less able. Scary Stat: around 80% of inmates are on the dyslexia spectrum.
Lead by example! Be on time, walk in the corridors.
Use your voice wisely. Shouting never works. Quieten slowly to reduce the volume- they must be able to learn you. HAVE THE CONVICTION to wait until all of them are quiet before you begin. However, you might end up waiting a long time: use a sand timer. Any time taken waiting is taken off break time. Use something visual (point to the clock, red card, sand timer).
They think you can't hear them when your back is turned or when you are talking.
Learning about Behaviour
By example (adults, other children)
Assembly
SEAL
PSHCE
Circle Time
Why do things go wrong?
Learning difficulties:
Ritaline (for ADHD) is Class A!
Know about conditions such as ADHD, the Autistic spectrum etc. Children such as these do not like changes in routine, in personnel, lots of people, big spaces, things that are outside their control: Prepare children on the ADHD spectrum with visual cues so they know what is coming and aren't upset by change (e.g. we're going to mass at church tomorrow- show them a picture of when you did it the lat time around). There are ways of minimizing the problems for them.
Bad experiences in school so far.
Low blood sugar levels: irritability before meal times. Be careful of onset of diabetes here.
Home problems. Shortness of sleep, inadequately dressed, distressed by family situations.
Dealing with difficult behaviour
Always remain calm. In a quiet and confident manner. Act well. Keep it relative. If they're just muttering while you talk, it's pretty low-level.
Keep your voice low.
Assertiveness training: 'broken record technique'. I'd like you to sit down please. I'd like you to sit down please.'
Don't get drawn into an argument. They will always win.
Avoid public humiliation. Speak to child privately where possible. Long term public humiliation will bite you on the arse.
Humour used well can diffuse the situation sometimes (never sarcasm).
Separate the person from the behavior (I do not like that behavior, that is not acceptable).
Children have a huge sense of what is fair and what isn't. They are also very sensitive to the needs of their class mates. If there is a child with SEN they will understand if
you treat that child differently. They will often defend them too.
You can't allow the same level of behavior infringement to be punished differently on different days (because it's a Monday morning when you have a headache, perhaps).
Never make empty threats. Be careful about making threats in the first place. DELAY if you're not sure what to do. (I am so upset I am going to have to think about this. Let them sweat it out for a while). Don't be afraid to say you will be discussing it with Mr so and so.
Ask the kids if there is anything you can do to help their behavior (it might be someone else that winds them up craftily). Put the responsibility on them.
There must be consequences. They need to know they won't get away with it.
Mixing classes each year changes the image of the class. If there are problems with a class, it dispels that. Parents may moan when their kid is split from their favorite friend, but schools work on the basis that they get to know their entire year group very well.
Be flexible: have them write a letter of apology at break time in school so they don't get the sympathy vote at home, or have them do it at home and get it signed so they have to explain themselves.
Involve parents early in proceedings: they will be upset if they are told 6 weeks later that their child has been behaving badly for 6 weeks. Parents have much better sanctions! (e.g. taking away Playstation).
Simple strategies for children who want attention (because maybe they're not getting at home). Get in and give them attention on your terms before they start being disruptive in order to get attention.
Rewards can be small: 5 minutes extra TV, not a new bike for doing his homework. Play a board game with them for a bit. It doesn't have to about money.
You need your focus absolutely on what you're going to teach them. If you go into the room worrying about how you're going to control them, you're on a slippery slope. Consult help: experienced colleagues, SENCOs, educational psychologists etc.
Tasks
Do it when you're not teaching! You will learn all kinds of things about these children. Look for patterns about what triggers children relationships that don't work
Put together the activities to make on activity and tick a few boxes together (you can pick 'Focus' kids to double up and build a better picture).
a. Observations
Timed observation: every 2, 3, 5 minutes you write down what they're up to, over a lesson. If they're being good then you know what works for them.
ABC observation: Definitely use for a child there is a concern about. Consequence for the child (i.e. full attention of the teacher, then the sanction). Just one child for this and between 2-4 incidents.
Not necessarily the same kid with both systems, but try both systems.
b. Weekly Log (keep a log over one week)
Choose one kid and make note of significant issues (good and bad) for a kid.
c. School Policy
Also, read School Policy and discuss with Mentor.
Standards
Q31: collecting evidence for this, discussing behavioral policy with mentor and getting them to sign and date it; then show reflection- having discussed it with my mentor I went away and e.g. having done an ABC observation of a child I realized x was the trigger and I then applied y and z of the school policy for this behavior.
Reflections
There is an existing system in school and perhaps I am not the one to change that: I must be compliant with the school system and on a more local scale, with the behavior management policies of my classroom teacher. As the lecturer said herself, we are guests in our classroom teachers class.
