Crazy Class

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Gents - Pay attention to rule number 8!

Ten top tips for behaviour management in the classroom.

Tip 1

Right at the beginning, behaviour/classroom management starts with you. If you know what you want your lessons to be like, and also what you don’t want, you are in a good position to start with a clear set of expectations.

Read more about the value of pupil expectations here.

Tip 2

Your kids are not mind readers. Unless you tell them of your rules and expectations there gonna have to learn the hard way and that adds to your grief. Why not train your class from the beginning by telling and showing them without doubt what you want from them. High expectations can bring out the best in all of us. In life you often get what you are prepared to settle with. Why not put up a poster showing the main rules of your class room. It can be a handy aid to reinforce your wishes and remind the students. Rules that cover general school policy and any health and safety issues need to be addressed.

Read more …..

Tip 3

Learn their names. You will get to know the bad behaved kids names really quick but what about all the kids who get on with their work. Using kids name helps to get their attention, lets them know that you value them (at least enough to got their name), and goes along way to improving behaviour of the ones who hide behind anonymity. Make sure it’s the right name! If you call them the wrong name, apologise and move on before it becomes an issue.

Start with a seating plan and tick off their names as you get to know them. You could set a target to learn a couple of new names each lesson. It will come in handy at parent evenings and report time.

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Tip 4

Use praise when praise is due. If the kids do what you want them to do, it should get some positive reinforcement. Say well done, great, good job etc. Don’t praise if you don’t mean it and do not reward bad behaviour.

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Tip 5

Have some clear cut rules in place and if they are not followed you need to b e prepared to back them up. Try not to make rules and threats if you are not going to follow them though. Its best to act quickly when things are not going how you want but remember to keep your behaviour in perspective as an over reaction can blow up in your face.

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Tip 6

If behaviour starts to move towards what you don’t want have a number of strategies that you can fall back on to deal with the issue with minimal disruption to the learning of the class. Low level disruption can often be sorted quickly but more serious problems might need some extra help. In school you should not feel that you are alone and if you need backup it should be there. Placing a kid at the back of a college’s lesson can be a quick way to remove a problem without resorting to calling SMT for help.

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Tip 7

Classroom layout. - Make sure your class is laid out in such a way to improve behaviour and stimulate learning. Think about how you’re going to arrange the desks and seats. Where is your area going to be? What displays and resources can you use to create a stimulating learning environment?

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Tip 8

Have your lesson objectives clear for your students. Write them on the board or get the kids to put down at the beginning – by the end of this lesson I will have learned……(bteotliwhl for short).

These clear objectives provide a clear guide to what you want to achieve and can be the basis of the lesson structure. A map on the board can help to show the kids where you are going with the lesson.

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Tip 9

Get to know your pupils. One of the ways that I have managed to survive with some of my roughest classes is that I took some time to look beyond their bad behaviour and find out about them as individuals. Most people only want someone to talk to and feel that someone is listening. Once you get talking you will find out lots of things about your pupils and you start to build a positive relationship that you can call upon at time when you want the kid to listen to you and follow your instructions. It’s called having some mutual respect.

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Tip 10

Try to put some humour into your lesson. Its surprising how much can be achieved by an entertaining story or joke. It also can make the class see that you are also human and not just a teacher.

Read more …..

If you want to read my routine for new classes in September…Click here

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Planning - are you ready for action?

Effective lesson planning takes a bit of thought at first but once you’ve done a couple of hundred lessons and got some routines and patter down you will not need to go through this process. By that time it should be on automatic pilot. As I said before while talking about stress, good planning can go along way to preventing lots of problems in the class.

First steps

Effective planning starts well before the lesson. Once you’ve consulted the schemes of work and you know what subject its about its time to start planning.

Work out the objective or learning outcomes what for your lesson. I like to make this into a sentence that I can later put on the board to keep me and the kids focused on our goal. For example. By the end of theirs lesson you should know……………..

Once this has been established you can think about the structure of the lesson. Most lessons will follow a set routine:

The start,the middle and the end .

Within this frame you need to fit in:

Some sort of starter or introduction

some learning activities

A summary or plenary activities.

In practice I like to be quite fluid with this framework because sometimes you need to be flexible with the clientele! Some of my lower ability groups (below gcse) are not going to settle with a starter and respond more to the routine of , come in, sit down, be quiet while I take the register. Like I said, I make up my own rules which are governed by what works for me and my individual classes. You might like to experiment with your own strategies.

Have some routines in place

If you have a good set of classroom management routines in place, you will find kids respond better than if you let them go free form. For instance I like to get my classes lined up outside the room, in silence, listening to me as I remind them of the routine for coming into the room. This sounds a bit old fashioned or dictatorial but 9 times out of 10 ,my lessons get off to much better start following this routine. The kids know where they stand.Literally! This structure can be really important particularly with behaviorally challenged pupils. I have seen some kids go into classes like a group of monkeys on acid. Their teachers then need to work really hard for their money.

Check out some of my classroom routines. Take them or leave them. Come up with your own!

Introductions

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NQT Survival tips

Its tough being an NQT. Not only are you going into a new job, with new colleagues in an unfamiliar territory but you also have to teach and be seen to teach kids at the same time.

Kids can be very unforgiving. As any supply teacher will tell you, if they think they can take advantage of someone new to their school then you can expect them to try it on.

The following tips can help you to get through to your next lesson:

1. Plan plan plan.

If you don’t have a plan in life you can be sure of one thing, there’s a good chance someone else will take over and impose theirs on you. Fine if you want a group of pubescence making choices for you but if you want to stay sane and have effective lessons then you better have a plan.When I did my teachers training, one of the other trainees said to me how he didnt have time to plan and that he would wing it. He added “their only kids at the end of the day,how hard can it be”. The next time I saw him he had had a lesson from hell and had realised “only being kids” is ample enough qualification to and screw up a lesson and fuck you off at the same time. You can reduce the risk of this happening to you by planning what to do ahead of time. (by the way, after a bollocking from his supervisor, the guy I told you about left the course). The plan needs to include all of the details of your lesson including classroom management for disruptive behaviour! For more details read lesson planning for a great lesson….

2 Establish yourself from the beginning.

Life has a habit of giving you what you will accept.If you accept slack behaviour and low aspirations from your pupils…….that what your gonna get. And that goes from all other aspects of your teaching.Its best to get it right from the beginning. If you expect a certain level of behaviour from day 1 and challenge anything else, your in the driving seat.

3 You are in charge

Your the adult, your in charge. You decide what routines the class follow and the rules that you live by.Do not let the kids take over.Getting this established from the start makes it alot easier.

4 Don’t make threats unless you will 100% follow them through.

If you say your staying in for 10 mins at the end of the lesson, don’t back-down and let them work the time off with good behaviour.This just teaches them to behave bad in the first place.

5 Stay cool

Believe me there will be times when you will be angry,frustrated,demoralised..etc. But try to keep cool.Take a few moments to take a deep breath and compose yourself.

6 If you need help, ask.

I am assuming that you work in a school where if you have a problem someone will listen and support you to work it through. Start with other teachers in department,your head of department,head of years,senior teachers,the head,the union, support staff, caretakers! You are not alone with your problem. Most teachers dont have a perfict lives so theres always someone else who has had the same problem as you and can help. For example stress is a problem for most teachers- its not just you! A problem shared is a problem…

There is a lot of experience available. A good school should have a support system to help and provide for classroom teachers in all aspects of the job.

7 Remember Rome wasn’t built in a…..

We all make mistakes and how on earth are you meant to get it all right when you first start.Some teachers still make the same mistakes day in and day out for years. Take small steps and focus on small chunks at a time. You will gradually get the bits of the jigsaw and make more sense of it all.

8 You are not there to make friends with the kids.

I know it is tempting to be nice and make friends with the kids but at the start this can be a mistake. The kids become too familiar and do not respect the boundaries.You then have to backtrack and try to get mean.The problem with this is they have already seen you behaving nice so yu are swimming against the flow. The old adage not to smile at a new class until Christmas has some good sense because this allows you to establish your authority and then if they play ball you can relax a bit (but stay on guard!). This makes the pupils think that you are firm and fair. If yiu talk to kids they always respect a teacher like this and see a nice teacher as weak and a push over. This makes your life difficult.

9 Celebrate your victories!

When stuff goes right give yourself a pat on a back. You cant always rely on someone else to tell you about the good job you did, so be your own best friend and do a bit of cheerleading. You rock. Dont forget it.

If you want more feedback than exam results etc you could ask the kids - in a round about and tactful way. If you have good times teaching its well worth logging them in your brain as it will help you get through any lows. One year I asked my year 11 class to write in a leaving book (like theirs) but for me. After the lesson I had a look at my book and the comments brought tears to my eyes….for the right reasons. The kids had been so nice about my teaching that I have looked back at that book many times when I needed some reassurance about my teaching or a boost.

It is useful to focus on what works and do more of it, and bin the bit that wasn’t so good!

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