As schools return from the holidays, teachers may find themselves questioning whether they can still manage behaviour. After a long break, even the most experienced among us can face a crisis of confidence in this area.
The reality is that there are no silver bullets; there is no one trick that works every time. We can probably all agree that the ideal is for every child to be taught in an environment that is disruption free. However, we won’t all agree on how to reach that utopia.
Whatever your views on behaviour, though, there are some practical steps that teachers can take to put themselves in the best position possible in the first weeks of term.
Set your expectations
First and foremost, take the time to consider what your expectations are. What is it that you want from pupils? What are the norms, values, routines, systems, processes and rules that your classroom environment is to be built upon? What do they look like to the children and to you? If you don’t know the answers to these key questions, you are swiftly going to land yourself in hot water.
Personally, I would spend the same amount of time considering these questions as I would the academic curriculum. I plan what I want to see. Unless your classroom rules are prescribed explicitly by the school, I would advise you to keep to three clear expectations. Ideally, you should link these to the school’s values as this will support you in narrating the “why”. In general, I would focus on:
- Students respecting you and following your instructions
- Students arriving to lessons on time and ready to learn
- The natural state within lessons (in other words, students giving their all and working either in silence or talking to a partner as prescribed by you).
I would also take the time to develop a clear entry and exit routine for classes, so students know precisely what to expect. The more certainty and consistency you can offer, the better.
Teach students how to follow the rules
Once you know what you want, it is key that you communicate this. It all comes back to planning. If you want children to walk into your room single file and sit alphabetically, filing in from the front, you need to show them how to do this. This means you need to build in the time and space to teach, practise and repeat it.
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Just as with teaching subject content, you need to revisit this learning multiple times and build in reboots at crunch points in the year so students are reminded of what you want and why. When you plan your reboots, consider carefully how you will execute the delivery. Personally, I would teach this explicitly, using an “I do, we do, you do” approach. In other words, you need to explicitly model what you want to the class, and they need to practise this with you before you then ask them to do it themselves.
Always explain why you are asking for these behaviours: this is critical if you want students not just to understand what you want but to really buy into it.
Set the tone
Then it is up to you to ensure that you start as you mean to go on. My advice would be to weave your expectations, routines and approaches into your curriculum delivery so the academic and behavioural curriculums become entwined and interlinked. For example, you may want students to answer questions by raising their hands and not calling out. In this situation I would weave this approach into my first ever question-and-answer session with a class by explicitly narrating my expectations to them. If a pupil does not adhere to this then you need to correct that behaviour.
Neither the academic nor behavioural curriculums should serve as a bolt-on to the other. Both should complement and work to each other’s benefit. This will allow you to set the tone far more effectively and swiftly with your students and, crucially, allow you to build a rapport with them that shows, ultimately, that you are their champion.
Sam Strickland is principal of The Duston School in Northampton and author of The Behaviour Manual: An Educator’s Guidebook.
He will be speaking at the Schools North East Summit at St James’ Park, Newcastle on 19 October. Tes is the official media partner for the event. For more details or to book your ticket visit the Summit homepage.
