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A great website for designing question activities on a video resource. Super easy to use as well!

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Edpuzzle assignment. Make video delivery an interactive experience. Students watch the lesson while answering the quizzes. The teacher gets the powerful hassle-free analytics.

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How do you deal with disruptive students?

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How do you deal with disruptive students?

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Food for thought!

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It is a bitterly cold Yorkshire morning and outside a school in Barnsley staff are involved in the most important part of the school day.

"All right, Kyle?" asks Dave Whitaker, the executive principal of Springwell special academy. "Morning, Kenzie. I saw some lovely writing of yours last night."

One by one, the children are greeted by staff with a warm smile and a personalised hello. The teachers' enthusiasm, however genuine, is rarely reciprocated. Some students scowl, others grunt a "hello", almost all hunch their shoulders. One 11-year-old girl, Whitaker recalls, responded with a curt "Fuck off!" every single morning for a year.

That particular response would be met with instant isolation, detention or expulsion in many schools - but not at Springwell. "She was living in a house where there was violence, drug abuse, swearing - that was just commonplace and no one was nice to her," Whitaker says. "So when she comes to us and we're nice to her, she couldn't cope with it."

Instead of disciplining her, teachers paid the girl more positive attention in an attempt to understand the angst she was bringing from home. Within a year, she had stopped her morning outburst and got along with school staff. And that, the school's principal, Verity Watts, explains, is why the daily greeting is essential: it allows teachers to spot which children are arriving in a foul mood. "You're sussing out where the child is at and how they're feeling," she says.

Springwell is a special school for nearly 100 children, aged five to 16, with a range of social, mental and emotional health (SMEH) issues. Many have diagnosed anger-management problems, a lot are from "broken homes" or have attachment disorders. A depressingly large number of the pupils have suffered abuse, neglect or poverty before they arrive at Springwell. All have been deemed unsuitable for mainstream education.

But there is something else unusual about this gleaming new school. Its teachers vow to approach every child with what they call "unconditional positive regard" - or in Whitaker's words, they "batter the children with kindness".

It's in sharp contrast to the "no excuses" approach used in a growing number of schools, which enforce a super-strict behaviour code, never mind the child's individual story.

The concept of "unconditional positive regard", which also seems to be growing in popularity - and in mainstream schools as well as special ones like Springwell - dates back to the 1950s and the work of the psychologist Carl Rogers, when it was applied to therapists and counsellors in the treatment of their patients. It means treating every human as equal instead of "saying someone is good only if they behave a certain way, or if they fit in certain boxes," explains Professor Laura Winter, an expert in educational psychology at the University of Manchester.

At Springwell, Whitaker says, it means rewarding children for the smallest things - like being kind to fellow pupils - and not punishing bad behaviour. "I could have a kid that spits in my face today and tomorrow I'll be OK with them," he says. And if a pupils throws over a table and swears at the teacher? "The teacher would be really nice to them, talk nicely. It would be dealt with by the care team and that child would be looked after, taken out of the room for a calming period and then welcomed back into the classroom."

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Trampolining at Springwell. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Right on cue, an 11-year-old boy storms out of a classroom, shouting "fuck off!" as he tears off down the hallway, leaving an upturned table in his wake. The school's care team barely bat an eyelid. The boy's home life is complicated, they explain, and his behaviour has become more erratic. Luke Mitchell, the school's head of behaviour, says the pupil would be taken to a quiet room filled with cushions and sensory lights to calm down, before being spoken to by staff and eventually returned to class. Throughout the school, the ambient notes of piano music are played to relax the students.

Mainstream schools are also finding success with this approach. At Passmores academy, best known for starring in Channel 4's Educating Essex, Vic Goddard, the headteacher, says there is a commitment that no child will be left behind. In a system driven by exam results, Goddard says schools are increasingly at risk of abandoning the "naughty kid" as they focus all their attention on others.

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Vic Goddard, headteacher at Passmores academy. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

"If a young person fails with English or maths, we put an intervention in place. We give them extra small group work, or an extra member of staff," he says. "Whereas if they make a mistake with behaviour, we kick them out." Not at Passmores. If a child kicks off at the start of every class, he adds, it is probably because they're not getting attention in any other aspect of their life. Instead of ostracising that pupil for being disruptive, Goddard says they should be "given as much attention as they want right at the start of the class" to satisfy the child's emotional needs. Instead of a school behaviour policy, Passmores has a "relationship charter" that "seeks to affirm rather than condemn, to reward as well as challenge". There are sanctions, starting with a student being spoken to and a "restorative justice experience", but permanent exclusion is deemed a "drastic and unwanted penalty" used in only extreme cases.

Crista Hazell, a teacher in a mainstream secondary school in the south-west of England, found the approach worked with a "really quite challenging" French class when she simply stopped telling them off for failing to bring their pens, pencil or books into her lesson. "I will challenge them on things if they are taking the mickey, I'm not a doormat," she says. "But confrontation is something that doesn't happen now. Kids don't learn from teachers they don't like, do they? We could be the first person that says something positive to them that day, or that week, depending on what their home circumstances are."

It is the zero-tolerance schools that more often hit the headlines. The Great Yarmouth Charter academy, for example, where students must be punished if they fail to smile and thank their teacher after class. Or the Michaela school in north London, where detentions are given for forgetting a ruler, or for turning round in class. Others, such as the Gorse Academy Trust in Leeds, espouse a "positive discipline" approach based on rewards for good behaviour and "really harsh" punishments for indiscretions.

Where does Tom Bennett, the government's behaviour tsar, sit on the debate? In a report for the government last March, Bennett said there was a national problem with pupil behaviour, in part because teachers believed telling students what to do was "oppressive". Speaking to the Guardian, Bennett says he is "very, very for" unconditional positive regard but that it is essential that pupils are taught self-discipline: "There are certain things all schools need to do to have good behaviour - have high expectations, consistency - but how those themes are enacted in a school are often incredibly contextual."

The way Michaela uses unconditional positive regard, he adds, is by being "absolutely on the pupils for micro-behaviours". "I think unconditional positive regard can be understood in lots of different ways."

Back at Springwell, the children are being "settled in" before beginning their lessons. For Key Stage 1 pupils, this means five minutes of yoga and quiet play. Older children munch toast and listen to a story, or watch Mr Bean's Holiday on a projector fastened to the wall. At 11am, the children gather for a weekly singing assembly. This week they sing the Friends theme song, I'll Be There for You, as music teacher Maria Roberts plays along on the piano. When it was first introduced, the singalong rapidly descended into a chaotic frenzy of "kicking-off and throwing chairs," says a teacher on the sidelines. Today, at least, the children behave impeccably.

In his sparse office, Whitaker bristles at the suggestion his school has no rules. Some of the indiscretions that go unpunished at Springwell might merit isolation or worse elsewhere, he says, describing the zero-tolerance approach as "barbaric". "Those systems of rigid consistency, with no flexibility, I think it is verging on bullying."

Goddard says every school is entitled to take its own approach to pupil behaviour. He fears, however, that disciplinarian schools are "consigning certain children to the dumpster" by refusing to address their needs. "Taken to the nth degree, zero-tolerance means there's no capacity for children to make mistakes and if they are making mistakes they're removed," he says. "The potential for long-term damage for that removed child is massive."
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'We batter them with kindness': schools that reject super-strict values

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It is a bitterly cold Yorkshire morning and outside a school in Barnsley staff are involved in the most important part of the school day. "All right, Kyle?" asks Dave Whitaker, the executive principal of Springwell special academy. "Morning, Kenzie. I saw some lovely writing of yours last night."

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I'm trying this with my students. It's not going very well so far :)  - I'm not particularly good using Insta. Perhaps we can get some students to run a workshop for us!

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by Claudia Pesce 44,423 views

Ah, the Internet and the endless slew of social media sites and apps it continues to spawn. We have only recently come to terms with the need to use technology in the classroom. And now we have to add social media to the mix? Sigh.

But what this teacher has seen is a golden opportunity, a chance to use something your students are excited about for educational purposes, our main purpose being, helping them improve their English communication skills. But what is Instagram and how can you capitalize on its appeal to engage your ESL students?

Instagram 101

Launched in October 2010, Instagram is basically a mobile app that allows its users to share photos and 15-second videos with their followers. With Instagram, you can apply a variety of filters to photos and videos, and add captions. A very interesting feature of the video recorder is that you can delete specific portions of the video - there is no need to do it all over again. Finally, users have the option to share their photos or videos on Facebook, Twitter, email and other social media sites.

You and your students may adjust your visibility settings so that your photos and videos are not public. You'll need to follow a user to be able to see their stuff. I recommend reading Instagram's policy regarding privacy and familiarizing yourself with its settings.

Be sure to use hashtags for each specific assignment or project so that they are easily searched and found by everyone in the class, for example, #ESLmyfavethings or #msgarciasclass.

Instagram is available in 25 languages, so chances are your students may navigate the app in their own native language. Encourage them to switch their language settings to "English" for an added benefit to using the app.

8 Awesome Ways to Use Instagram in the ESL Classroom

1. Caption It!

And while on the subject of captions... There are lots of fun writing activities you can do with your class. Post an interesting photo and have them caption it in the comments; the best caption wins a prize! Or have your students share photos and caption a classmate's.

2. Pronunciation Plus

Is there a word or phrase a student has a hard time pronouncing? Record yourself saying it and share it with this particular student for extra pronunciation practice.

Instagram was launched just four years ago and skyrocketed to popularity, reaching 100 million users in less than two years.

Ninety percent of its current 150 million users are reportedly under 35. The potential is there. It's up to you to capitalize on it. No, I wouldn't force a group of students to use it if they have no interest in this app. Don't use Instagram for the sake of using technology in the classroom. But if you happen to have a group of youngsters who are very much into social media, Instagram may be another great way to engage them.

* This question was sent in from a real ESL teacher, just like you! If you need any advice on a particular topic, share your question in the comments below. Or tweet your question to @busyteacher_org with the hashtag #ESLTeachersAsk. Your question might get picked and featured in an article!

P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow our Facebook page where we share more about creative, non-boring ways to teach English.

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8 Awesome Ways To Use Instagram In Your ESL Classroom

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by Claudia Pesce 44,423 views Ah, the Internet and the endless slew of social media sites and apps it continues to spawn. We have only recently come to terms with the need to use technology in the classroom. And now we have to add social media to the mix? Sigh.

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12 of the Most Popular Trends in Learning

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30 Of The Most Popular Trends In Education

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What about the most popular trends in education heading into 2021 specifically? Well, that’s a tricky question.

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Teaching Methods for Inspiring Students of the Future

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Teaching Methods for Inspiring Students of the Future

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Teaching Methods for Inspiring the Students of the Future | Joe Ruhl | TEDxLafayette

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by TeachThought Staff

Like anything else that you'd like to see happen in your classroom, promoting critical thinking skills is a matter of planning and priority.

While teachers are often admonished to push students towards higher-level thinking activities, beyond Bloom's Taxonomy (or one of TeachThought's own learning taxonomies), there are precious few models and frameworks that are accessible, comprehensive, or universal enough to be used on a daily basis.

In was in that light that we found the above model by Duran, Limbach, and Waugh ( 2006) useful. And better yet, it (more or less) parallels Hunter's basic lesson design that has been used for years as a model for lesson planning, making it far more accessible to most K-12 teachers without having to shoehorn one more thing.
5 Steps To Plan For Critical Thinking
Step 1: Determine learning objectives

Step 2: Teach through questioning (Might we recommend the QFT strategy?)

Step 3: Practice

Step 4: Review, refine, and improve

Step 5: Provide learning feedback (Note: You can find our post on 20 Ways to Provide Effective Learning Feedback here.)
Using It
While pretty basic, this model is practical and thus probably worth a look for most teachers (which is why we've shared it here)

The idea of defining target behaviors and actions from students is especially helpful, essentially asking you, as a teacher, to decide what the kind of critical thinking you're hoping and designing for might "look like" in a given lesson or activity. Then you plan backwards from that.

Using this in your planning doesn't require you to fill out yet another template on a daily basis. Rather, the simplest path to using it is likely at the unit design level.

Once you've selected your learning standards-and prioritized them-you can design an assessment, performance, or project artifact that requires students to demonstrate mastery of those standards while emphasizing the role of questioning in the learning process. (And perhaps modeling why questions are more important than answers.)

You can also bring a copy to your next Data Team/PLC meeting and see what colleagues think about its simplicity and potential function.
Planning For Critical Thinking: A 5-Step Model
Experienced Teacher Middle & High School

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Planning For Critical Thinking: A 5-Step Model

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by TeachThought Staff Like anything else that you'd like to see happen in your classroom, promoting critical thinking skills is a matter of planning and priority. While teachers are often admonished to push students towards higher-level thinking activities, beyond Bloom's Taxonomy (or one of TeachThought's own learning taxonomies ), there are precious few models and frameworks that are accessible, comprehensive, or universal enough to be used on a daily basis.

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What if students controlled their own learning? | Peter Hutton | TEDxMelbourne