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Behaviour Policies Northern Ireland Schools

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Behaviour Policies Northern Ireland Schools

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https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/articles/behaviour-school

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clxJAAZQVvs

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Promoting positive Behaviour in Early Years

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Promoting positive Behaviour in Early Years

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Some ideas for our EY classes, including the importance of understanding where the Behaviour comes from, examples of rewards and strategies to follow for different times of the school day

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Classroom Management and Inquiry- Based learning: Finding the balance 

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Classroom Management and Inquiry- Based learning: Finding the balance 

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The five 'P's of positive behaviour | Tes News

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One teaching assistant explains how using more positive language in the classroom has helped to improve pupil behaviour

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Ideas for positive behaviour management

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In today's fast-paced world of quick meals before practices and quick breakfasts before the bus comes, there is not much room for children to ease into their school day, let alone think about what is happening!

In today's fast-paced world of quick meals before practices and quick breakfasts before the bus comes, there is not much room for children to ease into their school day, let alone think about what is happening!

As teachers, we must realize what our families and little ones or big ones are up against in this fast-paced world we live in.

That being said, we need to provide an environment in which kids feel safe, calm and can feel like they can be their best selves.

Pssst...Many teachers give their students morning work to complete, which is fine. However what I suggest doing, and have done over the years, is to give students a "soft landing" time. This ensures they're more motivated to learn and feel more positive throughout the day!

So here are a few tips that you can put into place immediately that will give your kiddos a relaxed, positive haven using techniques that will promote positive behavior management.

1. Morning Routines

As Students come into the classroom, greet them at the door to make them feel special.

In fact a student of mine actually told me that she loved when I greeted her at the door with a smile!

2. Provide a Soft Landing Time

Many teachers give their students morning work to complete, which is fine. However what I suggest doing, and have done over the years, is to give students a " soft landing " time.

During this time, the kiddos can:

Through my experiences, I have found that children who are given a choice integrated with their learning will take ownership of their learning, are more motivated to learn and feel more positive throughout the day!

3. Have a Morning Meeting

As soon as everyone is ready and all morning jobs are completed, hold a morning meeting where all students join you on the rug in a circle and classmates greet each other in different ways.

A Morning Meeting consists of a Greeting, quick Game, Sharing Time and a Class Message, which all provide a positive way to start the day and encourage positive classroom behavior.

4. Add Brain Breaks

Your little learners or older learners have been working for a while...you notice some children are losing their focus... and now the kids are literally just chatting about anything and everything... time for a brain break!

5. Role Model and Practice Expected Behaviors

pencils

scissors

glue

crayons

pictures of recess equipment

book bags

images of classroom routines

She might additionally use other items that might need to be used in school.

Once the item is discovered, Mrs. Gretchen models the appropriate use of the tool or routine.

She then asks questions about the item. So...if a crayon is in the box, she might ask, "When do we use crayons, where do we use them, do we use them on the tables, on the walls etc.?"

6. Use Empowering Language to support Behaviors

This encourages the student to take ownership of the action. "Hmmm," you might be saying, "sounds difficult...". Not at all. It is simply using words and phrases like:

"Johnny, show me a way to come onto the rug safely!"

"Julia, I notice you are having trouble focusing. What might be something you can do to make sure you are paying attention?"

"Brett, What kind of voice do we use during private work time? Can I hear what that sounds like?"

All of these phrases promote a more positive way to encourage better choices in your classroom and also support your students to make better choices.

These are clouds with empowering positive phrases written on each cloud that I hang in my classroom as a reminder of appropriate language to use to support positive choices

7. Have an End of Day Meeting

An End of Day Meeting simply takes a few minutes-or longer, if you choose to make it longer depending on your class size. Here's how it works.

As each child shares their to leave on a high note - not to mention s omething they enjoyed about school, it validates their feelings and allows each child how much you will learn about your students!

If used consistently...you will see a more positive classroom culture, which will support better behavior choices!!

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Classroom Management: 7 Actions to Build Positive Behavior in your Class

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In today's fast-paced world of quick meals before practices and quick breakfasts before the bus comes, there is not much room for children to ease into their school day, let alone think about what is happening!

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What's good behaviour? Well, that's obvious isn't it? Good behaviour is sitting still, doing what you're told, speaking when you're spoken to and generally following instructions. And that's great, except for the fact that students are in school to learn, not to behave.

Ever heard of behaviour for learning? Most often, all that seems to mean is that students are being quiet and respectful so that the teacher is free to impart knowledge instead of trying to make them shut up and listen. Of course shutting up and listening is important and anyone who's ever had charge of a truly dysfunctional class knows how horrible an experience it can be.

To overcome this, you'll often see lists of classroom rules fastened to classroom walls. They usually contain some variant of the following:

I. Listen when others are talking

II. Follow directions

III. Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself

IV. Work quietly and do not disturb others

V. Show respect for school and personal property

VI. Work and play in a safe manner

These are great rules for instilling "good" behaviour. Students need to know that these things are important. But they've got nothing at all to do with the types of behaviour required for learning.

We're told that most behaviour issues can be solved by well-planned, stimulating lessons that engage students. Now, it's not that I think this is wrong, it's just that there is so much more to behaviour than occupying students' minds in an effort to make them behave. The need to make students behave can be used as justification for word searches and all sorts of other pointless wastes of time which keep students busy.

It's no good bleating about "behaviour crises" if all you've got to offer is some rules to follow. Frankly, I wouldn't follow 'em. I'm a bugger for asking "Why?" which accounts for my personal struggle with recipe books: I always want to be given a reason why the onions have to be cooked for five minutes, or why the water has to be ice cold, or why you have to keep on stirring.

I'm interested in knowing the thinking behind these instructions and really struggle to follow them unless they're explained. Possibly the reason I'm bad at following recipes is also the reason why I enjoy teaching?

Robert Sylwester, Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Oregon said, "Misguided teachers who constantly tell their pupils to sit down and be quiet imply a preference for working with a group of trees, not a classroom full of young people."

All too often we get good behaviour hopelessly confused with good behaviour for learning. Sitting still, following instructions and paying attention might look superficially like every classroom's holy grail but it's worth having a look at this list of good learning behaviours from the Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL).

1. Checks personal comprehension for instruction and material. Requests further information if needed. Tells the teacher what they don't understand

2. Seeks reasons for aspects of the work at hand.

3. Plans a general strategy before starting.

4. Anticipates and predicts possible outcomes.

5. Checks teacher's work for errors; offers corrections.

6. Offers or seeks links between: different activities and ideas; different topics or subjects; schoolwork and personal life

7. Searches for weaknesses in their own understandings; checks the consistency of their explanations across different situations.

8. Suggests new activities and alternative procedures.

9. Challenges the text or an answer the teacher sanctions as correct.

10. Offers ideas, new insights and alternative explanation

11. Justifies opinions.

12. Reacts and refers to comments of other students.

How often do you see these behaviours encouraged in lessons? How important are they in your classroom? Try putting them up as a wall display to remind them (and you) exactly what good behaviour for learning looks like.

* David Didau has been teaching for 12 years and is currently Head of English at Priory Community School in Weston-super-Mare. He keeps his own counsel on his Learningspy blog and you can follow him on Twitter @LearningSpy.

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Children are at school to learn, not to behave

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What's good behaviour? Well, that's obvious isn't it? Good behaviour is sitting still, doing what you're told, speaking when you're spoken to and generally following instructions. And that's great, except for the fact that students are in school to learn, not to behave. Ever heard of behaviour for learning?

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Do we instigate challenging behaviour with our own choices?