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A blast of behaviour with Bill Rogers - Part 1 - PP221 - Pivotal Education

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A blast of behaviour with Bill Rogers - Part 1 - PP221 - Pivotal Education

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Paul was delighted to have the opportunity to speak at length to the world's leading authority on behaviour management, Dr. Bill Rogers. They sat down for afternoon tea together and this is the first part of their conversation. Bill Rogers is an education consultant. A teacher by profession, Bill now lectures widely on discipline and behaviour management issues; classroom management; stress and teaching; colleague support; developing peer-support programs for teachers and developing community-oriented policies for behaviour management, based on whole-school approaches. He works in every area of education (primary, post-primary and tertiary) conducting in-service programs/seminars for teachers and support staff, lecturing widely at Colleges of Education, Universities and schools, working with parent groups and students in schools. Bill's website Bill's publications on Amazon UK

[When I was at school...] the punishment was there to actually manage you - you weren't being encouraged to manage your behaviour in relationship to others, you were controlled by the teacher.

Our motto - 'How are we creating a safe, sane place and a secure place? '

...I am deeply concerned about this notion of going back to a model of teaching where you are just directing information to children and not creating a community of learners - a community of learning

You can still be calm when you are assertive - it's not easy but it's possible

Maladaptive behaviour is not just bad behaviour, it's purposeful for the child

Maybe 5, 8, 10% [of children] are much more power-seeking in their attentional behaviours

Look out for part 2 next week! To ensure you don't miss it, subscribe for free here:

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A blast of behaviour with Bill Rogers - Part 1 - PP221 - Pivotal Education

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Paul was delighted to have the opportunity to speak at length to the world's leading authority on behaviour management, Dr. Bill Rogers. They sat down for afternoon tea together and this is the first part of their conversation. Bill Rogers is an education consultant. A teacher by profession, Bill now lectures widely on discipline and ...

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The Pivotal Approach to Behaviour Management - Pivotal Education

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The Pivotal Approach to Behaviour Management - Pivotal Education

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Here's a message for you to share with parents
Pivotal start with the behaviour of adults. We shape it to reach a level of consistency that most will never have experienced. We create a platform for change based around the one behaviour we can control absolutely .....our own.

Therefore we believe all adults must be fully engaged in managing and modifying behaviour. As a result everybody is trained to an exceptionally high standard so around the site, as a result nobody walks past.

Also the behaviour management of individual teachers is rapidly up-skilled in leading edge classroom practice that eradicates low level disruption and refocuses everyone on the learning. Ultimately there is a huge shift in expectations in every classroom and from every adult.

Pivotal work with Senior Teams, Teachers and all adults to dramatically slim down policy and procedures.

Evidence based practice ripples through our curriculum and informs classroom practice as well as interventions for the most vulnerable learners.

Humiliation in any form plays no part in the Pivotal approach. Learners are respected, regardless of their behaviour. Therefore adult behaviour will never be compromised by learner behaviour. Adults strip out all negative emotion/response when dealing with challenging behaviour.

Recognition replaces reward. The Pivotal focus is on pride not prizes. Recognition systems are not individual but collective. Learners are interdependent.

Our programmes are shaped around the 95% of learners who arrive every day keen to learn and eager to please. The silent majority.

We don't believe the 5% of the most troubled learners are 'behaviour problems'; they need a different approach. One that is not based on a set of increasingly large sanctions.

Learners are never able to 'power play' with adults. There is no 'them and us' culture. Universal micro scripts are used to intervene with poor behaviour.

Learners are never passed up the hierarchy. We have innovative approaches to ensure teachers at the classroom level remain in charge of the incident.

The Pivotal Approach can help reduce detentions, segregation rooms, physical restraints or punitive punishments. Therefore adults and learners have structured restorative conversations.

the impact of the programmes on teachers with regards to Behaviour Management, learners . Our focus is on tracking and increasing learning hours for all learners. Additionally data to drive cultural change. As a result everyone can see the impact that their efforts are making.

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The Pivotal Approach to Behaviour Management - Pivotal Education

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Here's a message for you to share with parents Pivotal start with the behaviour of adults. We shape it to reach a level of consistency that most will never have experienced. We create a platform for change based around the one behaviour we can control absolutely .....our own.

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7 habits of highly effective behaviour management

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7 habits of highly effective behaviour management

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This time, the topic of the week is the 7 habits of highly effective behaviour management.

This week, Paul and Kevin discuss 7 habits of highly successful behaviour management. Like Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, these habits have the power to help you transform and maintain great behaviour management in your setting. We also have some great suggestions for habits from listeners which you can see here. Please feel free to add your own!

Paul's 7 habits:

1. Meet and greet at the door - the best early intervention in behaviour management is at the door.

2. Catch students doing the right thing - nobody wants insincere praise and it can be easy to catch children doing the wrong thing so develop the ability to catch those more challenging students doing the right thing.

3. Deal with poor behaviour privately and calmly - avoid as much as possible the public humiliation or public sanctioning of students

4. Relentlessly build mutual trust - the relationship you have with students sustains you and carries on into the future.

5. Directly teach the behaviours and learning attitudes you want to see - have a plan so that you know the behaviours you are trying to teach and the students know what behaviours they are trying to learn.

6. Talk about values - never talk about behaviours in isolation - always relate them back to the culture you are trying to build and the values and truths you have as a class and as a teacher.

7. Follow up follow up follow up - teachers who follow up are the ones the children decide to behave differently for. Write it down if you have a difficult incident with a student, then you have the control back - you can decide when and how to follow up. As usual, Paul stresses that to begin with it's best to focus on one of these habits, then move on to the next once it's had time to embed.
Events

Paul is speaking at the Babcock 4S Secondary NQT Conference on Saturday 30th November 2013 in GUildford, UK

Early notification - Improving discipline, raising attendance and boosting achievement - a conference by Teachology - 7th February, 2014, London, UK

What would you like to hear covered in forthcoming episodes? Let us know by emailing [email protected] or by leaving a comment below this post.
Get involved:
Appear on the podcast yourself by sending in a comment or question via either of the two answerphone hotlines:

Telephone Hotline - 0844 579 6949, Mailbox number 23161

Computer Hotline (SpeakPipe)

Creative Commons image by losmininos

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7 habits of highly effective behaviour management

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This time, the topic of the week is the 7 habits of highly effective behaviour management. This week, Paul and Kevin discuss 7 habits of highly successful behaviour management. Like Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, these habits have the power to help you transform and maintain great behaviour management in your setting.

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Classroom Behavior: The Magic of The Secret Student | Scholastic

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Classroom Behavior: The Magic of The Secret Student | Scholastic

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Teaching Tools | Resources for Teachers from Scholastic

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How to Best Deal with Violence or Fights in the Classroom | Study.com

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How to Best Deal with Violence or Fights in the Classroom | Study.com

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Why Must Teachers Deal with Classroom Fights?

School violence. How did those two words end up in the same sentence? Why are they now a search term? For anyone older than 30, it's hard to get past these questions. And yet, it's almost daily that we hear about another violent classroom brawl and see the video of it that was taped by students who were there.

A few decades ago, the most intimidating security fixture in most schools was the hall monitor. Today, public school students across the nation can have surveillance cameras, electromagnetic door locking systems, picture IDs, and metal detector checks as part of their daily routine.

To be sure, these heightened safety measures are the only way for schools to control students who get angry and don't hold back. Whatever inclines them toward violence -- low IQ, family conflict, gang membership, peer rejection -- many students are just not inhibited by the school environment. Instead, they'll act on their disruptive instincts in front of teachers and the class -- decking it out, throwing objects, even pulling weapons.

And the result of students' newfound boldness is a bleak picture of today's schools. Findings from the National Center for Education Statistics show that in 2014, 65% of public schools reported violent episodes. Fifty-eight percent of public schools said they'd witnessed fights and physical attacks. And during the 2013-2014 school year, 12 students were murdered at school.

The response from public schools nationwide to escalating classroom confrontations is close to unanimous. Districts are designing programs to help schools intervene before a crisis turns violent. As a new teacher, your first step is to find out whether your school's discipline policy explains what you should do when students fight in class. You should not practice any intervention technique without your district's approval.

Know Risk Factors of Violent Behavior

Because preventing violence is your goal, you must learn to predict trouble so you can stop disputes before they happen, says Kenneth S. Trump of National School Safety and Security Services. That means you should watch students throughout the day, trying to spot changes in their behavior that signal tensions could escalate. For example, you might notice that lunchtime conversations are growing louder, smiles and laughter are giving way to cold stares, or students are huddling in certain areas of the classroom. Scenarios such as these could mean trouble is brewing.

The California Department of Education recommends that teachers pay closer attention to students who:

withdraw from others

resort to shoving or pushing without being provoked

show rage when rejected by peers or when things don't go their way

were victims of violence

depict violence in writings and drawings

have joined gangs

cannot control their anger or disappointment

use drugs or alcohol

But paying closer attention doesn't mean teachers should profile students, says the department. Remember that a child might fit all of these descriptions but never lift a finger in anger. To avoid making unwarranted assumptions about a student's inclination toward violence, evaluate any of his risk factors in the context of the his overall demeanor.

Responding To A Crisis

At this point in your teacher training, you've learned that creating a positive classroom environment can calm naturally defiant students. But for some kids, even a teacher's sincere attention and generous praise aren't enough to stifle hostile instincts. When the mood in your classroom has darkened and you sense students are about to blow up, here are ways to defuse the tensions, as recommended by intervention specialist Jim Wright:

Remove agitated students from the classroom or redirect their attention to an activity they enjoy.

Move closer toward defiant students without invading their personal space or appearing that you want to overpower them.

Stay calm and avoid giving the impression that you're angry, shocked, or scared.

Take a few seconds to relax and consider the most appropriate response before reacting to a student who is provoking you.

Use nonverbal behavior such as softening your voice, sitting next to the student, maintaining eye contact, and slowing your speech.

If, despite these efforts, students do become physical, you should intervene. Try these de-escalation techniques recommended by the National Education Association (NEA):

Address students by name and command them to stop fighting.

Send another student to the principal's office for help.

Direct onlookers to disperse.

Wait for at least one other adult to arrive before trying to separate combating students.

What You Should Never Do

You might think your age, weight, and height put you at an advantage and you'd easily stop a student brawl. But school safety experts like Mo Canady caution teachers against jumping into the fray: 'It can escalate the situation. You're viewed as a combatant. There are a lot of strong kids on campus and you can get seriously injured.'

Final Thoughts

An Associated Press story in May 2016 declared that schools were becoming safer because violent crimes had declined. But it's not easy for many people to rally behind such reports when, in their opinion, school violence should never exist. And comparing the rate of school assaults to that of crime in the general population misses the mark. No matter how low on national scales school violence drops, it's always too high if even one teacher or student falls victim.

The list of suggestions here isn't definitive, but it is a start. You're becoming a teacher at a time when new-hire orientation spells out lockdown procedures in the event of a school shooting. Lucky for you, school safety is a subject drawing worldwide attention by experts in the field. This means you never have to stop searching for ways to make your classroom the safe haven it was intended to be.

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how to best deal with violence or fights in the classroom  | study.com

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How to Best Deal with Violence or Fights in the Classroom | Study.com

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School violence. How did those two words end up in the same sentence? Why are they now a search term? For anyone older than 30, it's hard to get past these questions. And yet, it's almost daily that we hear about another violent classroom brawl and see the video of it that was taped by students who were there.

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The Australian Society for Evidence Based Teaching

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I came across Bill Rogers ' work on behaviour management early in my career.

I started working in some really tough schools. In some ways, it was lucky, because it made the rest of my career less challenging and prepared me for my very first principal's role in 1995 (teaching principal), at a school with a teacher turnover rate of 400% over the two years prior to my starting.

A lot of my success with challenging classes was due to the work of behaviour management guru Bill Rogers - a real teacher with extensive expertise in behaviour management.

Bill's advice cover's everything from preventative behaviour management techniques, to consequences and one-on-one programs with particularly disruptive students. I like all of Bill's work, and recommend it to all of you. However, it was his work on positive correction that impressed me most because it filled a void not covered by many other approaches.

Positive correction refers to the on-the-spot techniques you use to manage students while teaching. It assumes you have already established things such as rules, routines and relationships with your students. However, you use it before having to use formal consequences (or in some school's - being sent to the Responsible Thinking Classroom). In short, it is a set of strategies that help you nip small problems in the bud and keep everyone's focus on the lesson at hand.

Here are my favourite five strategies.

Bill Rogers Strategy #1 Direction With Tactical Pausing

Giving a direction involves stating what you want the student/s to do. Examples of directions could include statements such as, face this way and listening please ... Troy, working silently please ... Sam, pop that in the bin thanks. Pretty simple really. There are only three tricks to doing it well.

Gain attention, and then pause before giving the direction

State what you want them to do, not what you want them to stop doing

Speak in a firm but friendly way

You gain their attention by stating their name, pausing, and then giving the direction once they are looking at you. For example: Tony (pause) lining up sensibly please. When directing a whole class you could say: Everybody, everybody (pause) looking at me and ready to start thanks. The pause is critical, but often overlooked. Without the pause, you are halfway through your direction (or more) before the student even catches on that you are talking to them.

The second trick is to focus on what you want the students to do, not what you want them to stop doing. There are times when you can't do this, but most of the time you can. For example, it's better to say working silently than it is to say stop talking.

Finally, you need to speak calmly and confidently. Remember, the whole point of your direction is to correct the behaviour with minimal disruption to the lesson. Yelling at a student won't achieve this, and nor will speaking in a timid or pleading voice.

Bill Rogers Strategy #2 No Why Questions

This strategy by Bill Rogers is even easier. Don't ask questions such as Why are you doing that? Or, Why would you do that? These sorts of questions invite long-winded, irrelevant answers. Remember, your goal is to stop the misbehaviour and quickly move on with the lesson.

If you do ask a question, it is much better to use ones that focus directly on the behaviour:

Imagine a student hasn't got all the stuff he needs for class. It is easier, quicker and less disruptive to ask him if he needs to borrow a pen and a textbook than it is to delve into why he wasn't prepared. Remember, I'm only talking about on-the-spot reactions. You may need to delve deeper with a student who frequently doesn't have his stuff - but not 'on-the-spot', during a lesson.

Bill Rogers Strategy #3 Blocking With Partial Agreement

Some teachers struggle with this one, but it is one of the most potent behaviour management techniques you could use.

It involves blocking secondary arguments and focusing exclusively on what you want the student to do.

Imagine that a pair of students were talking to each other when they should have been working silently. You direct them to work in silence, but they respond with a whining complaint, but we're not the only ones talking. You refuse to enter the side argument, restate your direction and move away.

Partial agreement is one (particularly useful) way to block tangent-arguments from taking over. It involves using two words to sidestep the tangent - maybe and but. In the above example where two boys fire back that they weren't the only ones talking you reply by stating ... MAYBE you aren't ... BUT I need you two to work silently.

Bill Rogers Strategy #4 Conditional Permission

There is a time and place for everything, and Bill Rogers recommends that you use conditional permission to reinforce this.

The when-then structure offers you an easy way use conditional permission. When you have finished your notes, then you can search for suitable images for your assignment. When you have eaten your fruit, then you may go to play.

You can also use the yes-when structure to answer students as they ask for permission. Yes, we can have the air-conditioner on, when it's hotter than 24°C.

There are other words that you can use (e.g. after-then), but the principle remains the same.

Bill Rogers Strategy #5 Forced Choices

Students choose how they behave. The forced choice technique is a way of highlighting this, while clarifying what the choices are. You often use it after, or in combination with other strategies.

For example, you may direct Sarah to work silently. Soon after, she starts chatting again. You then force her choice by something like, Sarah, you can choose to work silently, or I will have to move you.

Tony provides another opportunity to force a choice when he is playing with his music player in class. You can force the choice by saying something such as, Tony, you can put that away or on my desk - you choose.

Sometimes, choices may be more serious. Shenae, you can choose not to wear makeup again, or I will call your parents.

There are various ways you can force a choice, but the keyword is always or.

Forced choices work well, but only if you consistently follow-through when needed. When forcing a choice:

Only give options that you can realistically follow-through on

Start with small consequences

Talk in a calm but confident manner

Don't wait for an answer, move on with the lesson

Only intervene further if needed

Books by Bill Rogers

General Behaviour Management

Supply Teaching

Early Childhood

Difficult Students

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I came across Bill Rogers ' work on behaviour management early in my career. I started working in some really tough schools. In some ways, it was lucky, because it made the rest of my career less challenging and prepared me for my very first principal's role in 1995 (teaching principal), at a school with a teacher turnover rate of 400% over the two years prior to my starting.

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Whether you have just secured your first post as an NQT or worked as a teacher for many years, having a presence in the classroom is a crucial quality that helps you project confidence and inspire others to feel confident in your ability to teach.

For Kathryn Lovewell, founder of the Teacher Sanctuary, having a presence in the classroom "is when a teacher stands centred, confident, and certain, so they create and generate an ambience of safety, set boundaries and are mindful".

She continued: "A mindful teacher is fully present in the moment, paying attention to their students and they are non-judgemental and compassionate."

Having classroom presence is "partly innate" suggests Jo Palmer-Tweed, course director at the Essex and Thames Primary SCITT. She says that when recruiting for teacher training "one of the things we're looking for is for people to have a natural presence".

She explained: "We're looking for people who are able to hold children's attention, someone who can walk into a classroom and people gravitate towards them like iron filings to a magnet."

For teachers, having presence is important as "a solid classroom presence helps to manage behaviour", Ms Palmer-Tweed continued, but presence "can't be a performance - it has to be built on natural ability".

Having presence also means students will "want to listen to you", according to Julian Stanley, chief executive of the Education Support Partnership. He told SecEd: "Students will feel a sense of security that you are the person managing the classroom and in control. This means they not only get the best out of a particular topic but also feel they are in a safe and positive space."

Ms Lovewell added that a teacher needs to have a strong presence because it will "create, make or break the learning opportunities and possibilities and also the relationships in the room between teacher and student and between other students."

And while presence cannot be created, it can be refined, according to Ms Palmer-Tweed: "In terms of training you can take what presence the teacher has naturally and then give them core skills to enhance their presence," she said. With this in mind, here are some techniques and strategies that you can use to help you develop your presence in the classroom.

Enter a classroom with confidence

An immediate way of establishing your authority as a teacher is to enter the classroom with confidence. "If you come into the room feeling worried and fearful, students will pick up on this and take advantage," said Mr Stanley.

He recommends that teachers enter the classroom looking self-assured, in command of themselves, and giving an air of confidence about what they are going to do in that lesson: "Greet the class, settle the room down, stand tall, and look comfortable."

Voices

Different voices prompt different responses. Teacher presence is tied in with ensuring the voice gives the same messages as the words. Ms Palmer-Tweed explained: "The voice creates a subtext for whatever someone is saying. Using one voice all the time is no good for teaching.

Teachers need different types of voices to elicit different types of responses from students."
Different types of voice include a "firm voice to grab the attention of the classroom very quickly", and "a comforting, advisory voice that is soothing", for example.

Having a calm, deep voice, rather than having a high-pitched tone or shouting, can help to give a sense of authority. "A deeper voice demonstrates you are grounded in your body. Avoid high pitched hysteria - it doesn't work and students won't want to listen to you," Ms Lovewell said.

A calm, measured pace, is preferable she believes, and it is also important to vary the tone, "to play with the natural rhythm (of voice and tone), so if something is exciting move your voice faster, and if something you're saying is really important you can speak slowly, and sometimes take a pause".

Simple warm up exercises, such as humming before you go into work can help you to control your voice as well, Mr Stanley added.

Body language speaks volumes

The skills that involve developing a presence in the classroom and body language go hand-in-hand.

"When you enter the classroom, the physical decision about how you stand when opening a lesson sends a very powerful message about whether or not you can get control of the class," Mr Stanley explained.

Ms Lovewell recommends that a teacher's stance should involve "being centred and making sure you're grounded in your body and not your head".

She continued: "This means not worrying about what's going to happen in the lesson. You are fully present in the moment and paying attention to the way you're standing and moving."
Crossing legs is "a way of giving away power" she warned, so she advises teachers to stand tall, with their shoulders back, but in a relaxed position. Facial expressions need to match the body too. "Smiling rather than frowning," is an easy way to connect with the class.

Making eye contact is also a powerful tool, according to Mr Stanley: "It helps to look at every member of the class throughout the lesson - it's a way of engaging individuals and makes them feel that you recognise and know who they are."

Make the most of classroom space

Making the most of classroom space will help you to develop your presence as a teacher and manage student behaviour. Although it may be tempting to stand at the front of the class to stamp your authority, Ms Lovewell advises teachers to "always move around the space". She said: "Teachers who are always standing at the front of the room lose half the class."

Mr Stanley suggests that thinking about where you can gain the most presence in the room at different points during the lesson will help to engage students.

"If you're 'chalking and talking' all the time you don't have time to pause and reflect on where the energy is - and isn't - in the room," he explained.

Ms Palmer-Tweed added that by constantly standing at the front of the class, teachers can give off an impression that they "know all the answers" which can deter students from taking risks in terms of their learning, and make them afraid to make mistakes.

Learn from others

A large part of learning how to develop presence in the classroom is by observing outstanding teachers and decoding what they do.

"Beginning teachers should be encouraged to observe their experienced colleagues and to look at the mechanics of what they are doing in terms of their presence that makes their lessons impactful," Ms Palmer-Tweed said.

Thinking about ways to develop your presence "can help you improve and reassess your own particular style", according to Mr Stanley. He advised: "The beginning of each term is a great opportunity to think about what's working well for you and what you can improve on. And the more you develop your presence, the more you will garner respect in the classroom."

Kathy Oxtoby is an experienced freelance journalist and former secondary teacher.

Further information

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Whether you have just secured your first post as an NQT or worked as a teacher for many years, having a presence in the classroom is a crucial quality that helps you project confidence and inspire others to feel confident in your ability to teach.

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Marble Jar Reward System - The Teacher Toolkit

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Marble Jar Reward System - The Teacher Toolkit

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Marble Jar Reward System - The Teacher Toolkit

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This tool encourages on-task behavior. With the Marble Jar, teachers can frequently and easily reward desired behavior. Each time students exhibit a desired behavior, the teacher places a marble in the jar. Use marbles to support the behaviors that need the most attention. Once the jar is filled, the class earns a group reward.

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Brilliant Behaviour by @TeacherToolkit | TeacherToolkit

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Brilliant Behaviour by @TeacherToolkit | TeacherToolkit

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As a follow-up to our weekly CPD sessions, last week we revisited our CPD behaviour vision with all our staff. To put this all into context, last year, the school reworked our Behaviour for Learning policy with a buy-in from all staff, students and parents and relaunched our school consistencies. These will be shared throughout this blog, as well as the resource - which you can download in full - that I shared with staff.

This blog is all about behaviour (and my first on the very topic).

Over the past few weeks, you can preview the other CPD sessions and their associated resources:

1. Power to the People - Something CPD for everyone.

2. Let's Talk About Teaching

Consolidating Behaviour:

High-quality behaviour for learning is underpinned by relationships, lesson planning and positive reinforcement and rewards. In 2013/14 we developed our school consistencies for every teacher and every student within the school. These are:

1. Be ready, respectful, safe.

2. Model positive behaviour and build relationships

3. Plan lessons which engage, challenge and meet the needs of all students

4. Ensure praise outweighs anything negative by at least 5:1 ratio

5. Meet and greet at the door

6. Be calm and give 'take-up-time' before going through the steps. Prevent before sanctions.

7. Follow up every time, retain ownership and engaging in reflective dialogue with students

8. Never ignore or walk past students who are behaving badly.

We have @PivotalPaul to thank for helping our school move forward with our strategy. You can read my earlier working with Paul Dix here at a previous school.

This blog is very school-specific, so our approach may not be applicable to you and your students in your school, but at least this will serve as a useful overview of revisiting your own Behaviour Policy and one to consider when re-visiting your own school CPD (behaviour) programme.

As staff arrived to the session, this pep-talk by Kid President was playing. It was purely for motivational and settling purposes.

Stressed!

We then gave every member of staff a stress ball as part of our drive to equip staff with teaching and learning resources for their classroom. We suggested that this piece of equipment may be used as a questioning tool e.g. throwing the ball across the room to question and answer; or to use a facilitator tool e.g. you can only talk when you are holding the ball; and finally as a stress reliever for teacher and student when times are testing and time-out is required.

Consolidation:

4 or 5 weeks ago, I introduced staff to one of my favourite literacy techniques in the classroom. Snowball! This technique, coupled with an I PEVO visualiser, is a simple strategy which is perfect for re-visiting prior knowledge and subliminal introduction of keywords in every lesson. Each of the 9 keywords I introduced during this session was taken from our behaviour policy; all but one, self-regulation which I will revisit shortly. You can see the order of the slideshow below in order to curate this for yourself in your own classroom. Students love it!

I promise to record the Snowball activity the next time I showcase this technique in class or in CPD. The concept is simple, yet incredible powerful to engage learners (staff and students) and would be better explained in video.

Self-Regulation:

It was at this point we introduced the idea that our vision was to ensure all our students could begin to learn to self-regulate.

Self-regulation is a critical competency that underlies the mindful, intentional, and thoughtful behaviours of learners. The term self-regulation refers to the capacity to control one's impulses, both to stop doing something, if needed (even if one wants to continue doing it) and to start doing something, if needed (even if one doesn't want to do it). Self-regulation is not to be confused with obedience or compliance; when learners are truly self-regulated they behave the same way whether or not an adult is watching.

It was at this point, I introduced the excellent blog by @ChrisHildrew - whose idea I have modified for our own context - called, Limits Assembly introduced the idea that the physical ability of a flea can be limited by one really simple intervention; that if you put fleas into a jar with a lid on for three days, they will only jump half the height they are capable of. In that time, they will learn that this is how high they can jump and then - even if you take the lid off - they will only every jump the height of the jar until the day they die, even though they are physically capable of jumping at least twice as high.

Click the slide below to watch the video.

Pygmalion Effect:

Now, we do not wish to limit our students full potential, but for our students to self-regulate, we want to modify certain aspects of behaviour in order for students to adjust their boundaries. The feedback was palpable and allowed teachers to share what can be achieved by sharing ideas and collegiality.

Following this, we then used ClassTools to spin the wheel and asked staff 'how do you self-regulate student behaviour?' Following this, I introduced the Pygmalion Effect which I have blogged about before, which is based on a play by George Bernard Shaw, and named after a Greek mythological character. My Fair Lady was a play, first presented on stage to the public in 1912, in which Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility..."

Following the context, I then introduce the Pygmalion Effect study by Dr. Robert Rosenthal, which explains how student are transformed (or limited) by teacher expectations. You can read more about this in detail here in an earlier blog, #Pygmalion teacher, expectancy-effect. It simple says, students are limited by our expectations of them and is backed by academic research, conducted by Harvard professor Rosenthal et al in the 1990s.

Relationships:

Following this, we shared how we can ' change a behaviour ' with a multitude of factors; one of the most fundamental being the relationship between teacher and student. This video by Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like." I would advise you to disregard the rest of this blog and make this video your one takeaway moment. It's inspiring!

Every day, every lesson:

How can we individually, get students to be self regulators at all times? After posing this question, we sent staff off into mixed departmental groups for 30 minutes to brainstorm and feedback in any style they felt comfortable. In many ways, and almost accidentally, we have made this CPD session a in-house TeachMeet show-and-tell. The feedback was vast, powerful and fulfilling. It proved to me (The Pygmalion Effect) that our staff are definitely ready for a @TeacherToolkit internal and public TeachMeet!

Our staff then provided feedback in groups. Some ideas were theoretical, practical and others that re-enacted scenes which had us all laughing out loud with laughter. Personally, it was the most fulfilling CPD session I've led.

So, how can we individually, get students to be self regulators at all times? Well, here are some of our key proposals:

Make your expectations known

Give honest feedback

Make sure you offer a choice

Don't tell them what to do, they decide

Be patient

Help them understand their cues

Allow for small mistakes - that's how we all learn.

The 5-Minute Behaviour Fix:

Print and scribble your way to an improved, student behaviour strategy!

One year ago, I introduced The #5MinBehaviourPlan with @LeadingLearner and have since modified this resource to suit our own school consistencies and behaviour policy. You can preview this resource below and download The 5-Minute Behaviour Fix template here.

Remember, this has been designed to suit our school context.

Summary:

In summary, to encourage our own students to become self-regulatory of their own behaviours, we believe the key to student success is with the following 8 suggestions. The power of teamwork and consistency can really move a school community toward mindful, intentional, and thoughtful behaviours. I will keep you posted as we move into our new building next term.

Resource:

You can download my full CPD resource by clicking the image below. The Powerpoint file is 50Mb in size, so it may take a moment to download.

.

Copyright Licence:

For The 5 Minute Behaviour Fix:

A huge thank you to Paul Dix (@PivotalPaul) for his strategy, training and resources to support staff, students and parents moving forward with our new behaviour for learning policy. Highly recommended from me!

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Brilliant Behaviour by @TeacherToolkit | TeacherToolkit

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As a follow-up to our weekly CPD sessions, last week we revisited our CPD behaviour vision with all our staff. To put this all into context, last year, the school reworked our Behaviour for Learning policy with a buy-in from all staff, students and parents and relaunched our school consistencies.

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The Six Characteristics of Effective Praise

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The Six Characteristics of Effective Praise

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By Barbara R. Blackburn
Most teachers regularly use praise in their classrooms. However, students can interpret praise positively or negatively. Let's look at six characteristics of effective praise, using a simple acronym:

Praise Is Positive

First, praise should always be positive. That may seem to be self-evident, but I've observed teachers who said they were praising students, but it was done in a sarcastic manner, with the corresponding body language. This snarky approach undermines any positive effects of the praise.

You may think sarcasm is an effective tool to use, particularly with older students. I respectfully disagree. My experience is that, although students won't show it, deep down sarcasm reinforces any negative comments they've heard in the past. Again, too often, they experience enough sarcasm at home and from their peers. They need us to be encouraging and appreciative.

Praise Reinforces High Expectations

Next, praise should reinforce your high expectations. Notice I said HIGH expectations. If we praise something that is too easy for students, we can actually undermine their confidence. For example, let's say we give students less rigorous work so they can "finish it easily and build their confidence," and then praise them for that work.

It's a strategy sure to backfire. They recognize they didn't do the same level of work as their classmates, and when we praise them, they understand that we are just trying to make them "feel better." In that case, rather than encouraging them, we are actually sending them the message that they aren't "good enough" to do the real work, and it undermines their confidence.

Praise Is Appropriate

Praise should also be appropriate. This encompasses several specific behaviors we should use. First, praise may be public or private. Sometimes students don't want to be recognized in front of other students. Choose whatever best fits your students' needs.

Next, praise may come in different forms. Sometimes you can praise students verbally, and other times you may want to use written praise. Written praise is particularly effective, as many students will share your words with their families or keep them to look at later.

Lastly, praise needs to focus on what students do, not who they are. If we praise students for being the sister of a particularly strong student, we aren't encouraging growth, we are simply acknowledging the older sibling. Be sure you are praising students for the quality of their work, or their effort, rather than their looks, their family connections, or their personality.

Praise Promotes Independence

Next, praise should promote independence. If we aren't careful, students can become so attached to our praise that they can't be satisfied to simply do something well for the sake of it. We don't want them to be more dependent on us; we want them to be less so.

This means that as part of our praise, we should ask questions of our students. For example: "How do you feel about your work?" Then we can agree with their positive comments. Or, "I notice you are very successful with that assignment. What did you do?" and then praise those steps. Questions such as these encourage self-reflection and focus on the student's feelings rather than our own.

Praise Is Sincere

Effective praise is always sincere. In other words, it's not false or faint praise, which students can identify in a moment. When we say "good job" and don't really mean it, or say it too often, it devalues praise and it undermines the trust students have with us.

Sincere praise comes from the heart. You mean it. It's authentic. And that comes through to students. It's also based in reality; it's not imagined. With sincere praise, you are identifying something specific the student has done or is doing, and that's what you praise.

Whether you are praising a successful action, or their effort, students know and appreciate the reality of the praise. When that happens, praise is meaningful to students.

Praise Notes Effort and Progress

Finally, effective praise focuses on effort and progress rather than ability. Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset, provides research that supports this concept. She found that if students are praised for their ability ("you're so smart"), over time their effort and achievement decreases. But, if students are praised for their effort ("I can tell you tried hard and successfully read the paragraph"), over time their effort increases, as does their achievement. That's why it's important to consider how we phrase our praise.

When my stepson was in the sixth grade, he struggled with math. My husband was always telling him how smart he was, and that he could be successful. Then, one day, my husband heard me speak on this topic. He changed how he talked with Hunter, encouraging his efforts to learn the material. By the end of the year, Hunter was quite successful and scored above average on the achievement test.

Praise can be a great motivator

Praise can be an effective tool to encourage students and to motivate them to continue to learn. However, we must use appropriate praise in order to accomplish this. By being positive, appropriate, and sincere, reinforcing high expectations, promoting independence, and noting effort and progress, we can help our students thrive.

Barbara Blackburn (@BarbBlackburn) is a best-selling author of 15 books including Rigor is Not a Four Letter Word. A nationally recognized expert in the areas of rigor and motivation, she collaborates with schools and districts for professional development. Her latest book, Motivating Struggling Learners: 10 Ways to Build Student Success, was published in July 2015. Access free resources and sign up for her practice-oriented newsletter at her website.

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The Six Characteristics of Effective Praise

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By Barbara R. Blackburn Most teachers regularly use praise in their classrooms. However, students can interpret praise positively or negatively. Let's look at six characteristics of effective praise, using a simple acronym: Praise Is Positive First, praise should always be positive.

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Standards for Registration | General Teaching Council for Scotland

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Standards for Registration | General Teaching Council for Scotland

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standard standards revised provisional full registration memorandum entry requirements

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Standards for Registration | General Teaching Council for Scotland

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The Standard for Provisional Registration and The Standard for Full Registration are part of the suite of GTC Scotland's Professional Standards.

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Promoting Positive Behaviour In Early Years: Guide For Nurseries

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Promoting Positive Behaviour In Early Years: Guide For Nurseries

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Behaviour can have a huge impact on early years settings and your enjoyment of your role. While positive behaviour helps children to have better outcomes and improved wellbeing (as well as going hand-in-hand with personal, social, and emotional development), negative behaviour can do the opposite. As a result, it's important to set realistic expectations for the children in your care, and to be familiar with behaviour management strategies, including strategies for tantrums, biting and hitting, and refusal to cooperate.

In this article, we will look at all of the above, tying it into ways you can make effective provisions for personal, social, and emotional development, as you are required to do if you are Ofsted-registered.

How to Promote Positive Behaviour in Nursery

The EYFS framework describes 'positive behaviour' to consist of:

Emotional Intelligence: Managing feelings and behaviour (self-regulation), being able to express your emotions effectively, and being empathic towards others.

Social Skills: Being able to form positive, respectful relationships.

Cognitive Skills: Having self-confidence and self-awareness, and the ability to understand different feelings.

Before children go to school, they learn essential skills like the above through play, interaction, and discussion. Nursery plays a key role in facilitating these opportunities for learning and development.

Some broad strategies that you can use to help children develop the ability to behave in a positive way include:

Making use of activities, structured and explorative play, and games that encourage curiosity - this develops children's reasoning and problem-solving (i.e. cognitive skills). They learn best by playing, listening, watching, asking questions, and doing, so set this in motion - for example, try setting them a challenge, such as building a bridge or tower.

Using structured group play to encourage positive and respectful relationships (i.e. social development). For example, you could play games where children learn to share, such as circle games or board games where they have to take turns to roll a dice. Additionally, make sure you and other adults have a trusting relationship with the children - you can be a role model for good relationships. Strong relationships also link to emotional development, making children feel more able to share their feelings with you.

Recognising their emotional needs and acknowledging them by articulating them, to aid children's emotional intelligence. For example, you could say: "I understand it's hard for you to stop playing on the bike, but it's someone else's turn now." This does three things.

1. Aids the development of empathy.

2. Helps children to connect the dots between how they're feeling and what they're doing - spotting where emotions come from can help children develop self-awareness.

3. Triggers a soothing biochemical reaction. When a child feels understood, their neural pathway linked to emotional intelligence grows, and in time, children will learn to soothe themselves by accepting their emotions.

Other methods of developing emotional intelligence include accepting and listening to expressions of emotion, rather than shushing them, telling them to stop crying, or scolding them. Everyone should be allowed to express how they are feeling and know that it is valid. You might think that children often overreact, but this is because their brains are developing so quickly that they can be easily overwhelmed with emotion. In other words, this is natural, and should be accepted and accounted for in your setting.

What Behaviour Should I Expect From a Child at Different Stages?

Behaviour expectations are key when working with children - you should be clear about how you expect children to behave in different scenarios, and communicate this to them. For example, you might have two golden rules for toddlers (e.g. 'kind hands' and 'take turns when playing with toys'), and three rules for children who are older. You should repeat these rules every day, and have a visual reminder of them on the walls of the room (e.g. photos of children following the rules).

However, before you set your behaviour expectations, you need to consider what typical behaviour for children at each stage of development looks like. This helps you to know what is a reasonable expectation and what is not. For example, it's unreasonable to hold children to adult standards, because they're not yet ready to behave in that way - it takes time to build up the ability to do so.

Typical behaviour for each age range, based on Birth to 5 Matters guidance, looks like:

Range 1 (roughly birth to 6 months)

Range 2 (roughly 12-18 months)

Range 3 (roughly 18-24 months)

Range 4 (roughly 24-36 months)

Range 5 (roughly 36-48 months)

Range 6 (roughly 48-60 months)

You can find out more about typical development using the Birth to 5 Matters guidance . It might be useful to display the above information in an age-appropriate behaviour chart within your nursery, as a reminder to all staff, as well as giving it out in a parent-friendly format.

Creating a Positive Behaviour Policy or Procedure

Every early years setting should have and follow a set behaviour policy or procedure. This does not always need to be written down, but all staff should know and be aware of it. This promotes positive behaviour and ensures a safe, secure, and effective learning environment where incidents are always dealt with fairly, consistently, and proportionately.

You can use your policy or procedure as a selling point - it demonstrates your commitment to the Early Years Foundation Stage framework and to child development. This document sells your values, ethics, and principles to parents wanting to find excellent childcare.

Your behaviour policy or procedure will set out expectations for everyone's behaviour in the setting (including the adults), as well the strategies that will be used to guide children's behaviour - both rewards and consequences. You can also include your commitment to families within it (e.g. 'We will make sure that your child is taught right and wrong in a gentle way'). It is important for parents to be on board with the policy or procedure, because consistency is key - all adults need to take the same approach to behaviour management in order for it to be maximally effective.

You can use the information given in this article, including the strategies that we will discuss in the next section, to create your behaviour policy or procedure.

Strategies to Manage Difficult Behaviour

We have collated eight strategies that you can use to manage challenging behaviour in early years. These strategies should be useful for all kinds of behaviour issues, but we have also put together a specific guide for behaviours such as tantrums, hitting and biting, and refusal to do something.

1. Ask for the behaviour you want.

It's always better to have a positive approach - frame your rules by asking for the behaviour you would like to see, rather than the behaviour that you wouldn't. For example, rather than saying 'no hitting', ask for 'kind hands'. When a child is displaying difficult behaviour, remind them of the rule in a positive manner and give them time to process and follow it - don't overload them with too many sentences.

2. Reward good behaviour.

Whenever children are behaving well, reinforce them (e.g. 'Well done for showing us kind hands, Sam!'). Make sure that praise is specific - what exactly did they do that you liked? This helps children to understand what is expected of them and choose their actions accordingly. You could also have a reward chart to add an incentive to behave - this might be a traffic light or weather board system, where you move a child's name to a different part of the board based on their behaviour. You could also give out stickers, which might add up to an even bigger reward (e.g. a certificate, a small toy, or a class party).

3. Make the consequences clear.

When children don't follow your expectations, give them a second chance to correct the behaviour by reminding them of the rules - but if they still don't correct themselves, there should be an age-appropriate consequence. Consequences are most effective if they are immediate, logical, and decided in advance - you should set out in your behaviour policy which consequences you might give for different behaviours. They might be as simple as moving a child's name on the behaviour chart, or you might decide to use methods such as thinking time (also known as time-out, though this can have a negative connotation).

If you do use thinking time, keep it for more challenging behaviours, and make sure that you sit with the child throughout - don't abandon or isolate them. It should be an opportunity for them to calm down and sit in a quiet space, which should last for roughly one minute for each year of their life (two minutes for a two-year-old, three minutes for a three-year-old, etc). You could use a sand timer to show them how long they will be there for. After thinking time, it should be a fresh start for the child: the incident has been resolved.

4. Take note of triggers.

Certain children might display challenging behaviour regularly, and it is useful to observe what triggers this behaviour in them. You could use an to monitor what happened directly before and after the behaviour, and see if you can spot any patterns. This will help you to fix the problem. For example, you might find that a child displays challenging behaviour whenever it's time to tidy up - this might suggest that they struggle with transitions. As a result, you could put strategies like visual timetables in place to make it easier for them.

5. Talk about feelings.

Discuss your own feelings with the children in your nursery to make them aware that everyone has them, as well as labelling what you think they're feeling when they behave in a challenging way. Research has shown that labelling feelings reduces the negative effects they are having, helping the child to behave in a more positive way. You can find out more in our article .

6. Be a role model.

Children learn how to behave by watching others. As a result, it's important that you stay calm and level-headed, never raising your voice, and follow your own behaviour expectations at all times. Additionally, don't shame or humiliate children for their actions - this can be very damaging to their long-term mental health, and is not an effective behaviour management tool. As we've discussed, consequences like time-out are not a punishment, but simply time for the child to calm down, phrased in a positive way - in no circumstances should we ever tell a child they're going to the 'naughty step' or 'naughty chair'.

7. Look at additional needs (SEND).

Some children might display challenging behaviour as a result of special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). If you suspect additional needs, you should leave diagnoses to medical professionals, but do ask your setting's SENCo for advice, discuss your thoughts with parents, and/or get help from the Local Authority.

8. Review your strategies.

Make sure you set aside some time regularly to think about which strategies are effective for which child, and whether you need to try something different. Your behaviour management toolset should grow and adapt over time with experience, in order to be as effective as it can be.

How to Stop a Child From Biting

In response to a child looking as if they are going to bite, you could:

Try to divert or distract them before they do it - invite them to join in with a different activity or come and see something interesting.

Give them alternative things to bite on, especially if they are teething.

Talk about what mouths are used for (e.g. laughing, smiling, eating) and what they're not used for (biting other people).

Praise the child when they use their mouth to do the right thing.

If a child does bite, you could:

Say 'Ouch, hurts', with an appropriate facial expression.

Say 'Stop' firmly, with an accompanying hand signal.

Turn your attention to the child that's been bitten first. This ensures that the child that has bitten doesn't learn that they will get attention for doing this.

How to Stop a Child From Hitting, Kicking, Pinching, or Scratching

With this type of challenging behaviour, it's important to put proactive strategies in place to reduce the likelihood of it occurring. This includes:

Teaching your expectations clearly (e.g. 'We use gentle hands and feet'). You may do small group activities focused around these expectations to make sure that children know what they mean.

Modelling how to play in different situations, including sharing. Act out good behaviour in front of the children.

Reinforcing them when they do it correctly, giving them praise or attention.

Providing activities where children can express their feelings so they don't need to resort to challenging behaviour, such as puppets, circle time, and quiet areas to go to.

If the behaviour does occur:

Make sure the other child is OK.

Take the child to a quiet space for thinking time if they need it - not as a punishment, but to help them calm down and not hurt anyone else.

Let the child know you understand how they feel, but separate the feeling from behaviour (e.g. 'I can see that you're angry because Sam took the toy you were playing with, but it's not OK to bite').

Don't force the child to apologise, but wait until they have calmed down, and then discuss how you could make the injured child feel better.

Strategies for Refusal to Do Something

When a child refuses to do what's expected of them, try:

Giving them a choice of two things you want them to do (e.g. 'Do you want some banana or some apple?').

Asking them why they don't want to do it, if they are of an age where they can explain this to you.

Explaining to them why you want them to do something. This can help to persuade them that it really is necessary.

To reduce the likelihood that a child will refuse to do what you've asked, make sure that you always:

Give plenty of warning of change ? try sand timers or visual timetables.

Choose activities that they like to build up a habit of compliance.

Shorten the length of time of the activity.

Change the activity or social grouping.

Make sure that the activity is appropriate to them.

Give lots of positive attention when the child participates in adult?led tasks.

Strategies for Tantrums

Remember that tantrums are normal - it is easy for children to become overwhelmed with everything that is going on around them. When a tantrum does occur:

Try to divert or distract them, if you spot it early.

Make sure that the child is in a safe space where they can't hurt themselves.

Ask them if they want to go to a quiet space for thinking time (if appropriate).

Wait for the child to calm down, and then offer them reassurance (e.g. 'It's OK' or offering a cuddle or special toy).

Only intervene physically if there is a risk of damage to the child, other children, or property. Remember that you will need to keep a record of any times you have physically intervened with a child.

Promoting positive behaviour in nurseries is an important aspect of your practice, but all staff should remember that we can't expect adult behaviour from a young child. By keeping typical development in mind, teaching children how to regulate and express their emotions, and having pre-determined strategies for behaviour that challenges, you can ensure that your nursery is a safe, supportive learning environment for all children.
Further Resources:

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Promoting Positive Behaviour In Early Years: A Guide For Nursery Workers

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Need advice on promoting positive behaviour in early years? Our guide offers information to help develop and manage behavioural skills in children.

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(6) 😡 25 Behaviour Tips for Early Years & Key Stage 1 Teachers | From The Chalkface Teaching Tips 😡 - YouTube

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(6) 😡 25 Behaviour Tips for Early Years & Key Stage 1 Teachers | From The Chalkface Teaching Tips 😡 - YouTube

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😡  25 Behaviour Tips for Early Years & Key Stage 1 Teachers | From The Chalkface Teaching Tips  😡

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Better Relationships, Better Learning, Better Behaviour

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Better Relationships, Better Learning, Better Behaviour

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De-escalating behaviour: 8 tips for teachers | Tes News

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Do you ever stop and think about the language you use when talking about the challenging children in your school?

It was something I decided to focus on this year. Changing that language in our school would be tough - it was so ingrained and it also comes naturally from frustration - but I realised this was only half the battle.

As an Education Centre, we work closely with a number of local schools and I think we have built up some really strong collaborative working, including training, resource-sharing groups and even the green shoots of a research "club" with colleague teachers. It occurred to me that through these connections we would need to try and change the language in mainstream schools, too.

De-escalation techniques

Don't get me wrong, it is incredibly difficult to regulate your language when dealing with a heightened pupil. We have all been guilty of saying things that are not constructive, or that dehumanise the child.

I have heard teachers say all of the following, numerous times: "What will it take for that kid to actually be permanently excluded?"; "It is chosen and learned behaviour, it has to stop otherwise they cannot stay with us"; "It's a lost cause trying to get that one to change"; "That pupil is just so vile to me and I can't teach them when they are so horrible."

They can say worse in front of the child: "You're not the only one with problems you know - I've got problems of my own, but do you see me behaving like that?" and, "Other people want to learn. Just because you don't care about ending up with nothing, it doesn't mean others want to go that way."

You can see the shame creep into that child once they are no longer in front of the audience.

Behaviour management

The worst I have heard so far? "Well, I understand why your mum has given up on you. If you were my child, I would be ashamed."

This was said many years ago in a classroom where I was a learning support assistant. The teacher had no idea that the pupil had been abused by that mother for several years. That child had found out the night before that his mother had committed suicide. He had still come to school the next day. When we found out later what had happened, the teacher dropped her head. The shame crept in for her once her audience had left, too.

Even those most committed to the idea of inclusion in my school and partner schools can struggle when that heightened pupil is put in front of you. But we need to try and do better.

Emotion coaching

We have been working on some emotion coaching in the past year. As a leadership team, we have read copious amounts of neuroscience and child development papers. What we had not realised was how much practice it would take to be masters of using the right language, at the right time in those really difficult moments with children.

Some of the children who have ended up at our school have done so because one too many of these moments have happened and this has resulted in exclusions and then ultimately a relationship with school staff that seems to be untenable and irreparable. The truth is far from this.

Below are some tips that I think are useful when considering the language we use with our pupils when they are in a heightened state:

Tips for de-escalation

1. Try your best not to take the abuse personally. This can seem easier said than done, but it is so important.

2. It is so easy to validate emotions. This takes practice but can be done if you have a class of three or a class of 30. If you see a pupil struggling, validating their emotions in that moment will get you the space to deal with the issue later on. If a pupil is visibly angered or upset as the lesson starts, rather than quickly addressing them with the school behaviour policy or threatening them with a "warning", it is much more effective to say, "I can see you are uspet at the moment, but just give me two minutes to get the lesson started and I'll come and check in with you."

3. Reduce the drama. A big focus for us has been around minimising the dramatic nature of incidents through our language and actions, rather than feeding the drama further. If you really need to "vent" about a situation with a pupil, ensure that this is done out of sight of other pupils and try to choose your words carefully. The words you use about a child can often alter your own perception of that child, especially if you do not manage to resolve the issue that you had with that pupil.

4. There are boundaries around "banter" with pupils - make sure you know your pupils well enough if you are going to make any attempts to demonstrate your capabilities to "banter back".

5. If you call on a colleague or senior leader to support, do not berate the pupil in front of that colleague. If you see a colleague dealing with a pupil and it is not going well, do not be afraid to offer to support. Sometimes a new face can put a whole new spin on the situation and will allow the child to connect and regulate with a new member of staff.

6. Pupils will often struggle to be reasonable when they have moved outside their "window of tolerance". Timing is key when going back to a pupil to reflect on behaviour that may not have been favourable.

7. Do some research around trauma-informed language. I only looked at this last year and it has changed the way I think about this topic.

8. Listen to the language used by colleagues in the corridors, in the staffroom and about the school. The best practitioners select their words, tone and timing carefully and are adept at reducing anxieties and de-escalating behaviours because of how they connect with a child through the use of language.

We still have a long way to go but I think this is achievable in our school and all schools. In writing this, I am reminded of a quote that was on my wall when I first began teaching: "The way we talk to children becomes their inner voice."

For children who have come to our school, this inner voice is already established so the journey is likely to be harder, yet the importance of that inner voice work is far greater.
Leanne Forde-Nassey is headteacher of a pupil-referral unit in Hampshire

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De-escalating behaviour: 8 tips for teachers

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Do you ever stop and think about the language you use when talking about the challenging children in your school? It was something I decided to focus on this year. Changing that language in our school would be tough - it was so ingrained and it also comes naturally from frustration - but I realised this was only half the battle.

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10 Creative Approaches and Tips for Specific Behaviour Management Scenarios in Primary School

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The thing about behaviour is that there's always something new to deal with, and children who are immune to your tried-and-tested methods. But these creative ideas and specific scenarios should arm you with a few more tricks...

Added: 27th September 2018

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10 Creative Approaches and Tips for Specific Behaviour Management Scenarios in Primary School

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The thing about behaviour is that there's always something new to deal with, and children who are immune to your tried-and-tested methods. But these creative ideas and specific scenarios should arm you with a few more tricks... Added: 27th September 2018

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13 Effective Behaviour Management Strategies | All for the Love of Learning

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Throughout my years of teaching I have learnt many effective behaviour management strategies. Having worked in a range of schools, including some incredibly challenging settings, I have now got a good grip on behaviour management. Behaviour management is tough though, but oh so essential to have an effective classroom. Today, I'm sharing some of the most effective behaviour management strategies that will have a huge impact in your classroom.

Clear Expectations - This is an obvious one, but have clear rules and expectations that are understood by all is essential to ensure students know what constitutes unacceptable behaviour. The consequences for bad choices should also be clear.

Positive Relationships - Children want to make you happy. By building positive relationships with all students, they are much more likely to make better choices. Often, you learn to read a child and can anticipate negative behaviour and intervene before it happens.

Consistency - Consistency can be exhausting but it's one of the most important factors in managing behaviour. You need to address 'bad choices' EVERY SINGLE TIME! The moment you let one pass by, you begin to pass over that power. For example, if you want a child to walk in the classroom, you need to make them go back and walk every time they run, until eventually they do this automatically. It's exhausting, but so worthwhile in the long run.

Fairness - Children will never trust you if they feel that you don't like them or you are not treating them fairly. Always treat each and every child with fairness and equality.

Reward Positivity - Reward children for making good choices and strategically ignore the negative behaviour (sometimes) Children love to be praised and recognised and as children see others being rewarded for good choices, they are more likely to behave appropriately too. It's important to 'spot them being good' when this happens.

Understanding - Children all have different needs and what works for one child, may not for another. You need to be the kind of teacher who listens, knows their students well and adapts to meet their needs. Sometimes a whole class system doesn't work for individuals and they may require their own incentive. Give them this, it is your job to meet all of the students needs.

Use of Voice - Voice is so incredibly important. Children detect so much from your voice and I highly recommend you prioritise developing your use of voice as is it one of the most effective behaviour management strategies. If you use a quiet voice, children will often get quieter too, if you use a sad voice, the children will understand how they've made you feel. A good use of voice is one of your best teacher tools.

The Teacher Look - All teachers know about the magic 'teacher look' that comes with a huge amount of power. The look is the best way to put a stop to negative behaviour without interrupting your lesson or drawing attention to the behaviours. Get working on that look if you haven't already mastered it, it will serve you well!

Choices - It's nice to have choices and where possible we should give children choices, but there are times when they don't have a choice and they need to complete a request. The phrasing of the request is important in these situations. If the child has no choice, make sure you tell them what to do, rather than ask them. Asking implies that they can say no, when in actual fact, they can't. That said, politeness is always well received. Equally, if you are having a hard time getting a student to do something you have asked, you could provide them with 2 choices, one being the thing you want them to do and the other something they definitely don't want to do. They almost always choose to do the task requested.

Countdown - Counting down from 5 or 10 is. extremely effectively in getting children to do what they need to do. I'm not sure what they think happens when you get to 1, but most children never want to find out.

Visuals - Providing visuals for behaviour management is such a great aid for children. There are so many options out there, but I recommend keeping it simple. I use a simple traffic light system which is really effective. I always make children move their own name on the traffic lights as this has much more impact than me doing it for them. Class Dojo is another great visual resource.

Follow-Through - Always follow through with the things you say. This stands for positive things as well as consequences. If you say you will inform parents, you then need to do it. If you say you will give a child a sticker, make sure you remember to do so. Never threaten things that you aren't prepared to carry out. The moment you don't follow-through with something you say, your children lose trust in you and you lose your power of behaviour management. Consequences for negative behaviour should be immediate where possible, particularly for younger children.

Come-Back - Children need to know that one bad choice does not mean they are a write-off. Sure, they need to receive a consequence for a bad choice, however, once they have received their consequence they need to know that they can come back from it, otherwise what is the point of trying? Once my children have had their consequence they move their name back to the green traffic light so they get to start over and make better choices.

Parents - It's essential to have parents on board when managing consistent bad choices. I always try to manage situations at school first, particularly at the start of the year as children settle into new routines. However, for consistent bad choices, it's important that parents are well informed and there is a consistent approach to behaviour management at home and school. Parents can sometimes feel threatened when you approach them with bad news about their child so it's important to plan your approach, be understanding and recognise the positives as much as possible.

Are there any effective behaviour management strategies that you would recommend? Let me know in the comments.

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13 Effective Behaviour Management Strategies

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Throughout my years of teaching I have learnt many effective behaviour management strategies. Having worked in a range of schools, including some incredibly challenging settings, I have now got a good grip on behaviour management. Behaviour management is tough though, but oh so essential to have an effective classroom.

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Developing a Positive Whole School Ethos and Culture – Relationships, Learning and Behaviour

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Developing a Positive Whole School Ethos and Culture – Relationships, Learning and Behaviour

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Developing a Positive Whole School Ethos and Culture - Relationships, Learning and Behaviour

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How to develop positive teacher-student relationships

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How to develop positive teacher-student relationships

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Behaviour Management: A Bill Rogers Top 10 | teacherhead

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Behaviour Management: A Bill Rogers Top 10 | teacherhead

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Behaviour Management: A Bill Rogers Top 10

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Behaviour Management Strategies from Bill Rogers Without doubt the greatest personal challenge I’ve faced as a teacher was moving from the Sixth Form college in Wigan where I started teaching…

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Improving Students' Relationships With Teachers

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Improving Students' Relationships With Teachers

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Improving students' relationships with teachers has important, positive and long-lasting implications for both students' academic and social development. Solely improving students' relationships with their teachers will not produce gains in achievement. However, those students who have close, positive and supportive relationships with their teachers will attain higher levels of achievement than those students with more conflict in their relationships.

Picture a student who feels a strong personal connection to her teacher, talks with her teacher frequently, and receives more constructive guidance and praise rather than just criticism from her teacher. The student is likely to trust her teacher more, show more engagement in learning, behave better in class and achieve at higher levels academically. Positive teacher-student relationships draw students into the process of learning and promote their desire to learn (assuming that the content material of the class is engaging, age-appropriate and well matched to the student's skills).

High quality academic instruction

High quality academic instruction is designed to be appropriate to students' educational levels. It also creates opportunity for thinking and analysis, uses feedback effectively to guide students' thinking, and extends students' prior knowledge.

What do good teacher-student relationships look like and why do these relationships matter?

Teachers who foster positive relationships with their students create classroom environments more conducive to learning and meet students' developmental, emotional and academic needs. Here are some concrete examples of closeness between a teacher and a student:

A high school student chooses to share the news that he recently got a part in a community play with his teacher because he knows that his teacher will show genuine interest in his success.

A fourth grade boy who is struggling in math shows comfort in admitting to his teacher that he needs help with multiplying and dividing fractions even if most of the students in the class have moved beyond this work.

A middle school girl experiences bullying from other students and approaches her social studies teacher to discuss it because she trusts that the teacher will listen and help without making her feel socially inept.

Positive teacher-student relationships contribute to school adjustment and academic and social performance

Positive teacher-student relationships - evidenced by teachers' reports of low conflict, a high degree of closeness and support, and little dependency - have been shown to support students' adjustment to school, contribute to their social skills, promote academic performance and foster students' resiliency in academic performance (Battistich, Schaps, & Wilson, 2004; Birch & Ladd, 1997; Curby, Rimm-Kaufman, & Ponitz, 2009; Ewing & Taylor, 2009; Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Rudasill, Reio, Stipanovic, & Taylor, 2010).

Teachers who experience close relationships with students reported that their students were less likely to avoid school, appeared more self-directed, more cooperative and more engaged in learning (Birch & Ladd, 1997; Decker, Dona, & Christenson, 2007; Klem & Connell, 2004). Teachers who use more learner-centered practices (i.e., practices that show sensitivity to individual differences among students, include students in the decision-making, and acknowledge students' developmental, personal and relational needs) produced greater motivation in their students than those who used fewer of such practices (Daniels & Perry, 2003).

Students who attended math classrooms with higher emotional support reported increased engagement in mathematics learning. For instance, fifth graders said they were willing to exert more effort to understand the math lesson. They enjoyed thinking about and solving problems in math and were more willing to help peers learn new concepts (Rimm-Kaufman, Baroody, Larsen, Curby, & Abry, 2014). Among kindergarteners, students reported liking school more and experiencing less loneliness if they had a close relationship with their teachers. Further, kindergarteners with better teacher-student relationships showed better performance on measures of early academic skills (Birch & Ladd, 1997).

The quality of early teacher-student relationships has a long-lasting impact. Specifically, students who had more conflict with their teachers or showed more dependency toward their teachers in kindergarten also had lower academic achievement (as reflected in mathematics and language arts grades) and more behavioral problems (e.g., poorer work habits, more discipline problems) through the eighth grade. These findings were greater for boys than for girls (Hamre & Pianta, 2001). Further work indicates that kindergarten children with more closeness and less conflict with teachers developed better social skills as they approached the middle school years than kindergarten children with more conflictual relationships experiences in the past (Berry & O'Connor, 2009). A recent study examining student-teacher relationships throughout elementary school (first through fifth grade) found that teacher-student closeness linked to gains in reading achievement, while teacher-student conflict related to lower levels of reading achievement (McCormick & O'Connor, 2014).

What do positive teacher-student relationships look and feel like in the classroom?

This video clip shows a third grade teacher facilitating positive communication among peers by conducting a "Thoughtful Thursday" activity in which students discuss thoughtful actions or words they have experienced from classmates throughout the week. The student talks about the "safeties" (student safety-patrol members) outside the school and how they welcomed him to the school.

In this video clip, a preschool teacher is facilitating positive peer interactions by communicating with students in a warm, calm voice and making encouraging statements, such as "Very good teamwork!'

How to develop positive relationships with your students:

Show your pleasure and enjoyment of students.

Interact with students in a responsive and respectful manner.

Offer students help (e.g., answering questions in timely manner, offering support that matches students' needs) in achieving academic and social objectives.

Help students reflect on their thinking and learning skills.

Know and demonstrate knowledge about individual students' backgrounds, interests, emotional strengths and academic levels.

Avoid showing irritability or aggravation toward students.

Acknowledge the importance of peers in schools by encouraging students to be caring and respectful to one another.

In contrast, what do negative teacher-student relationships look and feel like?

Teachers who have negative relationships with a student show evidence of frustration, irritability and anger toward that student. Teachers might display their negativity through snide and sarcastic comments toward the student or describe the feeling that they are always struggling or in conflict with a particular student. Often, teachers will describe a specific student as "one who exhausts them" or "a student who leaves them feeling drained and burned out."

Negative teacher-student relationships can amplify when teachers show irritability and anger toward several or many of the students in the classroom. In these types of classrooms, teachers may find themselves resorting to yelling and harsh punitive control. Teacher-student communications may appear sarcastic or disrespectful. Student victimization or bullying may be common occurrences in such negative classrooms (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2006).

Negative teacher-student relationships are stressful for both teachers and students (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Lisonbee, Mize, Payne, & Granger, 2008) and can be detrimental to students' academic and social-emotional development (McCormick & O'Connor, 2014; O'Connor, Collins, & Supplee, 2012).

Do's:

Make an effort to get to know and connect with each student in your classroom. Always call them by their names, find out information about their interests and strive to understand what they need to succeed in school (Croninger & Lee, 2001; Whitlock, 2006).

Make an effort to spend time individually with each student, especially those who are difficult or shy. This will help you create a more positive relationship with them (Pianta, 1999; Rudasill, Rimm-Kaufman, Justice, & Pence, 2006; Spangler Avant, Gazelle, & Faldowski, 2011).

Be aware of the explicit and implicit messages you are giving to your students (Pianta, et al., 2001; Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002; Hemmeter & Conroy, 2012). Be careful to show your students that you want them to do well in school through both actions and words.

Create a positive climate in your classroom by focusing not only on improving your relationships with your students, but also on enhancing the relationships among your students (Charney, 2002; Donahue, Perry & Weinstein, 2003; Wentzel, 2010).

Be aware that you are modeling behavior for your students, whether intentional or not.

Students notice your interaction style. They notice whether you show warmth and respect toward them, to other students and to adults at your school. Often, they will model their own behavior after your behavior.

Students notice the methods you use to manage strong emotions. They notice positive strategies, such as taking a deep breath or talking about your frustrations. Likewise, they notice negative strategies, too, such as yelling at students or making mean or disrespectful jokes about colleagues (Jones, Bouffard, & Weissbourd, 2013). Be aware that students will often adopt the strategies that you use.

Don'ts:

Don't assume that being kind and respectful to students is enough to bolster achievement. Ideal classrooms have more than a single goal: teachers hold students to appropriately high standards of academic performance and offer students an opportunity for an emotional connection to their teachers, their fellow students and the school (e.g., Gregory & Weinstein, 2004; Wentzel, 2010).

Don't give up too quickly on your efforts to develop positive relationships with difficult students. These students will benefit from a good teacher-student relationship as much or more than their easier-to-get-along-with peers (Baker, 2006; Birch & Ladd, 1998; Hartz & Williford, in press).

Don't assume that respectful and sensitive interactions are only important to elementary school students. Middle and high school students benefit from such relationships as well (Allen et al., 2013; Meece, Herman, & McCombs, 2003; Reyes, Brackett, Rivers, White, & Salovey, 2012).

Don't assume that relationships are inconsequential. Some research suggests that preschool children who have a lot of conflict with their teachers show increases in stress hormones when they interact with these teachers (Lisonbee et al., 2008).

Don't wait for negative behaviors and interactions to occur in the classroom. Instead, take a proactive stance on promoting a positive social experience by including students in discussions about prosocial interactions and consistently modeling those positive interactions for them (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009).

How to cultivate positive relationships in your classroom

Know your students

Knowing a student's interests can help you create examples to match those interests.

If a student who loves basketball comes to you with a question about a math problem, you might respond to her with a problem involving basketball.

If a student who speaks Spanish at home comes to you with a question about English vocabulary, you might answer his question and then ask him what the word is in Spanish and how he'd use it in a sentence. This type of specific responding shows that you care about your students as people and that you are aware of their unique strengths (i.e., fluency in another language).

Knowing a student's temperament can help you construct appropriate learning opportunities.

If a girl in your class is particularly distractible, you can support her efforts to concentrate by offering her a quieter area in which to work.

If a boy in your classroom is very shy, appears engaged but never raises his hand to ask questions, you can assess his level of understanding of a concept in a one-on-one conversation at the end of class.

Give students meaningful feedback

Notice the way that you give feedback to your students. If possible, watch a video of your own teaching.

Are you giving students meaningful feedback that says you care about them and their learning, or are you constantly telling your students to hurry?

In your conversations, are you focusing on what your students have accomplished or are you concentrating your comments on what they have not yet mastered?

Does your body language, facial expression and tone of voice show your students that you are interested in them as people too?

Are you telling them to do one thing, yet you model quite different behavior? For example, are you telling your students to listen to each other, but then look bored when one of them talks to the class? Be sure that the feedback you give to your students conveys the message that you are supporting their learning and that you care about them.

Are you paying more attention to some students than to others?

In this clip, a third grade teacher is monitoring and assisting her students during an independent reading activity. She kneels down next to one of her students and asks him questions to determine if he comprehends the story. The teacher positions herself in close proximity to the student and speaks to him with a calm and respectful tone of voice, which conveys the message that she is here to support him.

Create a positive classroom climate

Be sure to allow time for your students to link the concepts and skills they are learning to their own experiences. Build fun into the things you do in your classroom. Plan activities that create a sense of community so that your students have an opportunity to see the connections between what they already know and the new things they are learning, as well as have the time to enjoy being with you and the other students. Make sure to provide social and emotional support and set high expectations for learning.

Be respectful and sensitive to adolescents

Supportive teacher-student relationships are just as important to middle and high school students as they are to elementary students. Positive relationships encourage students' motivation and engagement in learning. Older students need to feel that their teachers respect their opinions and interests just as much as younger students do. Even in situations where adolescents do not appear to care about what teachers do or say, teacher actions and words do matter and may even have long term positive (or negative) consequences.

How to improve relationships with difficult students

Develop positive discourse with students with challenging behavior

Think about what you say to the difficult students in your classroom. Are you constantly bombarding your more challenging students with requests to do something? Do you find yourself constantly asking students to stop doing what they are doing? No one likes being badgered and pestered, and your students are no exception.

Try to find a time or place when you can have positive discussion with the problem student.

Notice and mention the positive behaviors they exhibit.

Remind yourself that even if a challenging student appears unresponsive to your requests, she is hearing the messages that you are giving her. Her responses may not change her immediate behavior but may matter in the long term.

Make extra effort to develop and sustain relationships with difficult students

Difficult students require more energy on your part. For example, you may need to spend time with them individually to get to know them better - to understand their interests as well as what motivates them. This will not only allow you to tailor your instruction to their interests and motivation, but the time spent will also allow them to develop trust in you. Recent research on high school students who have frequent and intense discipline problems shows that when adolescents perceive their teachers are trustworthy people, they show less defiant behavior (Gregory & Ripski, 2008). Persistent teacher-student conflict throughout the elementary years increases the likelihood that children will exhibit negative externalizing behaviors (O'Connor et al., 2012), so it is important for teachers to build close relationships at an early age with children at-risk for behavioral issues.

This video clip highlights a teacher talking about how developing positive relationships is particularly important with behaviorally difficult children.

Forming positive relationships with behaviorally difficult students

These video clips show two teachers talking about the ways positive relationships with their students helps to reach and motivate them.

Theoretical perspectives to explain student behavior

Three theoretical perspectives - attachment theory, social cognitive theory and self-system theory - help to explain why students behave in certain ways in your classroom and how you can use your relationships with them to enhance their learning.

Attachment theory

Attachment theory explains how students use their positive relationships with adults to organize their experiences (Bowlby 1969). Central to this theory is that students with close relationships with their teachers view their teacher as a "secure base" from which to explore the classroom environment. In practice, students with this "secure base" feel safe when making mistakes and feel more comfortable accepting the academic challenges necessary for learning. Strong teacher-student relationships can even act as a buffer against the potentially adverse effects that insecure parent-child attachment can have on students' academic achievement (O'Connor & McCartney, 2007).

Social cognitive theory

Social cognitive theory posits that students develop a wide range of skills simply by watching other people perform those skills. Thus, modeling behavior can be a positive and effective modality for teaching (Bandura, 1986). Applied to the classroom environment, teachers play a critical role as live models from which students can learn social behaviors and positive communication skills. Social cognitive theory also sheds light on the importance of feedback and encouragement from teachers in relation to student performance. Teachers serve as role models and help regulate student behavior through interactions and relationships.

This video clip shows a 16-year-old boy describing one way his teacher is modeling behavior. Given the relationship he describes, it is easy to see the influence that this teacher has on the student.

Self-System theory

Self-System theory emphasizes the importance of students' motivation and by doing so, explains the importance of teacher-student relationships (Harter, 2012; McCombs, 1986). Students come to the classroom with three basic psychological needs - competence, autonomy and relatedness - all of which can be met in a classroom through students' interactions with teachers and with the learning environment (Deci & Ryan, 2002).

Classroom practices that foster the feelings of competence, autonomy and relatedness are likely to produce the engagement and motivation required for academic learning and success.

Competence refers to a student's need to feel capable of academic work.

Autonomy suggests a feeling that he or she has some choice and ability to make decisions.

Relatedness implies that a student feels socially connected to teachers or peers.

Positive teacher-student relationships help students meet these needs. Teachers offer feedback to students to support their feelings of competence. Teachers who know their students' interests and preferences, and show regard and respect for these individual differences, bolster students' feelings of autonomy. Teachers who establish a personal and caring relationship and foster positive social interactions within their classrooms meet their students' needs for relatedness (or social connection to school). Taken together, effective teacher-student relationships confirm to students that teachers care for them and support their academic efforts.

These video clips shows competence and autonomy from an 8-year-old child.

The students in my school have severe emotional and behavioral problems and my school has few economic resources - can good relationships really help?

Teacher-student relationships contribute to students' resiliency. Often, we assume that hard-to-change factors such as class size, teacher experience or availability of instructional supplies are crucial for predicting student achievement. In fact, these factors are not as important as having positive relationships.

In one study of almost 4,000 students (who were ethnic minority groups and from poor families), the presence of positive relationships with teachers and the experience of a positive and orderly school environment in elementary and middle school were strong predictors of gains in math outcomes - much stronger than class size, teacher experience, or availability of instructional supplies (Borman & Overman, 2004).

In another study, urban high school students with behavior and emotional problems were assigned to an intervention involving weekly interactions with teachers, monthly calls to the students at home and increased praise from adults. Those students involved in the intervention showed higher grade point averages over the five-month intervention period compared to their peers who were not receiving the intervention (Murray & Malmgren, 2005). Studies like this point to an important message - across ages and in all content areas, students will be more engaged and motivated if teachers meet students' essential need for social connection.

Can positive teacher-student relationships help to reduce the prevalence of bullying behavior in students?

The behaviors and emotions that young children display when interacting with peers play a critical role in their involvement with bullying throughout the school years. Teachers have the ability to reduce bullying behaviors that occur in the classroom by establishing a positive climate in which pro-social actions are both encouraged and rewarded (Hanish, Kochenderfer-Ladd, Fabes, Martin, & Denning, 2004). Through teacher-student relationship, teachers can assist students in understanding how to better understand and regulate emotions they are feeling. Teachers can also involve students in discussing alternative strategies to deal with social conflict and in establishing prosocial rules for the classroom (Allen, 2010; Fraser et al., 2005).

How does the importance of the teacher-student relationship compare to other important relationships, such as parent-student relationships, in students' lives?

From early childhood through adolescence, positive teacher-student relationships appear to complement the other important relationships in students' lives.

For young students, increased parental engagement (i.e., warmth and sensitivity, support for autonomy, involvement in learning) is associated with greater social bonds with other caregiving adults, including teachers (Sheridan, Knoche, Edwards, Bovaird, & Kupzyk, 2010).

In middle school students, the perception of their teacher (whether they felt that their teacher was supportive toward them or not) predicted students' interest in learning and their engagement in the classroom. At this level, parental support plays a complementary role by predicting youths' motivation in school (Wentzel, 1997).

In high school, parent and teacher supportiveness (combined with parent and teacher monitoring and high expectations) contribute to gains in mathematics achievement (Gregory & Weinstein, 2004). At this age, parent and teacher monitoring of behavior as well as high parent and teacher expectations play an important role in achievement.

This video clip is of a teacher talking about the complementary role that her relationship with the child and the family plays in managing a child's behavior in the classroom.

What are the factors contributing to positive teacher-student relationships?

Multiple factors determine teacher-student relationships: teacher characteristics and student characteristics each play an important role in predicting the quality of interactions that teachers have with individual students. Although less well-studied, other factors (school social climate, school policies, etc.) also contribute to the quality of these relationships.

Will more positive teacher-student relationships improve the peer relationships in my classroom?

Yes, positive teacher-student relationships can promote improved peer relationships in your classrooms through direct and indirect approaches. Teachers can directly promote positive social behaviors by orchestrating the relationships within a classroom in a positive manner (Battistich et al., 2004). Teachers can use positive teacher-student relationships indirectly to promote peer relationships as well. Students tend to be more accepting of peers who show engagement in the tasks of school (e.g., show attention, participate in classroom activities), and positive teacher-student relationships enhance students' engagement. Positive teacher-student relationships improve student-to-student acceptance in both current and future years (Hughes & Kwok, 2007).

Are positive teacher-student relationships easier to form in some situations than others?

Some situations (such as in elementary school, where each teacher is assigned only twenty or so students) provide more opportunities for the development of close teacher-student relationships. Other situations (such as the middle school or high school levels, where teachers routinely provide instruction to four or five groups of twenty-five or more students) make it more difficult to form positive teacher-student relationships with all students (Feldlaufer, Midgley, & Eccles, 1988; Meece et al., 2003), and thus, it takes more effort.

It is also easier to focus attention on positive teacher-student relationships in schools where the administrators believe that trust and positive relationships are important for improving students' performance (Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010 ). A distinguishing characteristic of schools with high performing students is the presence of an adult school community that works together in a coordinated manner to create a social environment that supports teachers' efforts to establish good relationships with students (Allensworth & Easton, 2007).

If teacher-student relationships reflect both characteristics of the teachers and characteristics of the student, how stable are these relationships over time?

The quality of teacher-student relationships is surprisingly stable over time. In other words, if a kindergarten teacher has a conflictual relationship with a student; it is likely that the child's first and second grade teachers will also experience conflict in their relationship with that same child. This stability is more evident when the relationships are conflictual rather than when the relationships are close or dependent (Howes, Phillepsen & Peisner-Feinberg, 2000; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). Most likely, the stability stems from the "internal working model" that students create in their mind about how relationships with adults typically ought to work.

Here is a video clip of a 16-year-old boy talking about a high school teacher. The teen talks about a teaching method that complements his learning style and motivates him to ask questions. The teacher allows students to question his thinking, a type of questioning that fosters learning, as the student describes. The quality of this give-and-take between the teacher and students provides one example of a teacher-student interaction that appeals to adolescents and enhances the teacher-student relationship.

Are there any unintended consequences associated with creating positive teacher-student relationships?

Ideally, classroom environments need to be nurturing while at the same time holding students to high academic standards (Curby, LoCasale-Crouch, et al., 2009; Stuhlman & Pianta, 2009). Classrooms that focus on nurturance without offering opportunities for academic learning do not produce increases in students' achievement (Allensworth & Easton, 2007; Lee & Smith, 1999).

Do positive teacher-student relationships work for all school subjects?

Positive teacher-student relationships play an equally important role in students' success across all subjects (McCombs & Miller, 2006). Students' social and emotional needs are present throughout the day and the year, regardless of the subject area.

Can positive teacher-student relationships support students' self-control?

In the past decade, there has been increased interest in methods to support students' development of self-control. Executive functioning is one component of self-control that refers to students' working memory, ability to direct attention, and the ability to control their responses in different situations. Through their relationships and interactions with students, teachers can help to develop and improve students' executive functioning skills and the behaviors that emerge because of those skills. For example, a higher degree of emotional support provided by the classroom teacher is associated with a reduction in students' off-task behavior (Rimm-Kaufman, Curby, Grimm, Nathanson, & Brock, 2009). Additionally, students with low effortful control perform similarly to children with high effortful control (i.e., the ability to substitute an automatic or immediate response for a more appropriate one, such as raising one's hand instead of calling out) on tests of reading and mathematics if they experience positive relationships with their teachers (Liew, Chen, & Hughes, 2010). Teacher-student relationships help students develop executive functioning skills regardless of whether they are low or high in these skills in the beginning of the school year. (See Willingham, 2011, for more useful information.)

This video clip provides an example of how a teacher's supportive interactions with an eight year old boy helps him get back on track and show more self-control in his behaviors.

How do you evaluate teacher-student relationships?

Several common and readily available instruments have been developed to assess teacher-student relationships. Although used primarily for research, these instruments can also serve as diagnostic tools to identify strengths and weakness in your own teaching. Some of these instruments rely on teacher reports of relationships, others are observationally-based measures of teacher-student interactions in the classroom, and yet others rely on students' reports of their relationships with teachers. One particularly innovative technique to use with young children relies on children's drawings of their teachers.

There are less formal ways to assess your relationships with students:

Invite a school psychologist into your classroom to observe your interactions, take notes and reflect with you about the child with whom you have a challenging relationship.

Set up a video camera and analyze your own interactions with the student who is causing you difficulty.

Give your students anonymous questionnaires (on paper or on-line) or ask small groups of students about how they feel while they are in your classroom.

Through this process, it is important to realize that even the best teachers have difficulties with a few students from time to time. The reasons for these difficulties are numerous and getting help from a collaborating teacher, the school psychologist, or a supportive administrator may offer you an outside view of what is occurring and help you improve your relationships with the challenging students in your classroom.

Are positive teacher-student relationships a "magic bullet"?

No, positive teacher-student relationships are only one part of a teachers' repertoire of classroom management and discipline strategies. High quality relationships complement high quality classroom management. Furthermore, it is not possible to develop positive relationships with every student. As a teacher, you can strive toward accomplishing that goal but realize that having an ideal relationship with each student may be unobtainable.

How are positive teacher-student relationships linked to classroom climate?

Improving teacher-student relationships constitutes only a first step toward creating a classroom community that is conducive to student's social and academic development.

Several student characteristics are risk factors for problematic relationships

Boys typically have more conflict and less closeness in their relationships with teachers than girls (Baker, 2006; Howes et al., 2000; Hughes, Cavell, & Wilson, 2001).

High levels of teacher-student conflict may affect girls and boys differently. For example, teacher-student conflict appears to affect math achievement more negatively for girls than for boys (McCormick & O'Connor, 2014).

Students with more internalizing problems (e.g., depression, anxiety) show greater dependency on their teachers than their average counterparts (Henricsson & Rydell, 2004), whereas students with more externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, problem behaviors) show more conflict with teachers (Murray & Murray, 2004; O'Connor et al., 2012).

Students who exhibit more problem behaviors at home and school tend to develop more conflictual and less close relationships with their teachers (Birch & Ladd, 1998; Murray & Murray, 2004; O'Connor et al., 2012).

Students with emotional disturbances or mild intellectual disability have more negative relationships with teachers than students without these problems (Murray & Greenberg, 2001).

Bold preschool students with poorly developed language skills are perceived by their teachers as having more conflictual relationships. Shy preschool students with better language skills are perceived by their teachers as more dependent upon them (Rudasill et al., 2006).

For students at risk for problematic teacher-student relationships, teachers needed to make extra efforts to offer the social and emotional support likely to help them meet the challenges they face in school.

Teachers vary in their ability to create positive teacher-student relationships. Some teachers simply have an easier time developing positive relationships with students - personality, feelings toward students, their own relationship histories may all play a role. A few personal characteristics of teachers have been identified as important predictors of positive teacher-student relationships in elementary schools. Research has found that preschool and kindergarten teachers are more likely to develop close relationships with students who share their same ethnic background. In contrast, it was found that Caucasian pre-service teachers working in their 10-week field placement sites perceived African-American and Hispanic students as more dependent than these same teachers perceived White students. Asian-American and Hispanic pre-service teachers perceived African-American students as more dependent upon them as compared to Asian-American or Hispanic students (Kesner, 2000).

Pre-service teachers who recall their own upbringing as caring and nurturing were also more likely to experience closeness with the students in their field placement classrooms (Kesner, 2000). Teachers' beliefs and the types of practices that teachers prefer also appear to be important. Kindergarten teachers who use more age-appropriate, student-centered teaching practices reported less conflictual relationships with their kindergarten students than those who use more didactic, teacher-centered strategies (Manticopoulous, 2005). Much less is known about the teacher characteristics that contribute to positive teacher-student relationships at the middle and high school level.

Measures of teacher-student relationships

Student-teacher relationship scale (STRS; Pianta, 2001) is a teacher-report instrument designed for elementary school teachers. This instrument measures a teacher's perception of conflict, closeness and dependency with a specific child. Another instrument designed for teachers of middle and high school is the teacher-student relationship inventory (TSRI, Ang, 2005). It measures teachers' satisfaction with their students, the help they perceive they are offering to their students and their level of conflict with their students.

Classroom assessment scoring system (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro & Hamre, 2006) examines the presence of supportive relationships in the classroom. This system measures teachers' sensitivity as well as positive and negative climate in the classroom. Different forms of this instrument are available for preschool through twelfth grade.

Assessment of learner-centered practices (ALCP) is a set of validated survey instruments designed for teachers and students. These surveys, each designed for a different age group (grades K-3, 4-8 and 9-12), provide teachers with tools for self-assessment and reflection (McCombs, 2004). The emphasis of this work has been to identify discrepancies between teacher and student perceptions in order to assist teachers as they reflect upon and change their practices (McCombs & Miller, 2006). The ALCP process focuses on student learning and motivational outcomes, as well as the classroom practices that contribute most to maximizing these outcomes.

Feelings about school (Valeski & Stipek, 2001) examines young children's perceptions of their relationships with teachers and their overall feelings toward school. Young children's attitudes about school can also be assessed by having a child draw a picture of him/herself and his/her teacher at school and analyzing the picture for signs of negativity (Harrison, Clarke, & Ungerer, 2007).

Loneliness and social dissatisfaction questionnaire for young children (Cassidy & Asher, 1992) evaluates students' feelings of loneliness and discontentment with peer relationships in elementary school.

Teacher treatment inventory (Weinstein & Marshall, 1984) is a self-report measure that can be used with middle and high school students to rate their perception of the frequency of specific teacher behaviors. This measure can be used along with an adapted measure of perceived social connection.

Teacher-student relationships and the classroom climate

How do teacher-student relationships relate to classroom climate?

When first grade teachers use practices that demonstrate caring toward students and practices that foster interpersonal skills among students, students are less likely to reject one another (Donahue et al, 2003). In addition, aggressive students who have positive relationships with teachers are more likely to be accepted by peers than aggressive students who lack positive relationships with their teachers (Hughes et al., 2001). Ultimately, constructive teacher-student relationships have an important positive influence on the social skills of difficult as well as typical students (Zins, Elias, Greenberg, & Weissberg, 2000). Such findings suggest that enhancing individual teacher-student relationships has beneficial and cumulative effects for other aspects of classroom life.

Improving teacher-student relationships is only the first step toward meeting students' emotional and relational needs. A teacher should also work on producing a caring community of learners. Such efforts improve the nature of interactions among students and promote students' engagement in school (Hamre & Pianta, 2005; McCombs, 2004; Meece et al., 2003; Weinberger & McCombs, 2003).

Interventions

Studies have examined the effectiveness of interventions designed to create more caring school and classroom communities; each has resulted in specific recommendations for improving teacher-student relationships as well as peer-relationships.

1. The Child Development Project (CDP) focuses on fostering caring peer relationships, including students in decision-making during classroom meetings, and teaching students to better understand the feelings, needs and perspectives of others. The goal of CDP is to promote positive development among students and build upon their strengths. Students exposed to this intervention feel more positive about school and are more motivated (e.g., showed more task orientation and greater intrinsic motivation) than their counterparts not receiving this intervention in elementary school (Solomon, Battistich, Watson, Schaps, & Lewis, 2000). Likewise, CDP appears to have some long-lasting effects; students enrolled in the CDP elementary schools were less antisocial and more prosocial in middle school as well (Battistich et al., 2004). Further, in a district that pressed for high achievement, CDP was linked to positive effects on achievement outcomes as well as gains in socio-emotional skills.

2. The responsive classroom (RC) approach is a classroom-based intervention designed to integrate social and academic learning. When RC was examined to determine whether there were links between the use of its approach and the quality of teacher-student relationships, it was found that teachers using more RC practices had closer relationships with students in their classrooms (Baroody, Rimm-Kaufman, Larsen & Curby, 2014; Rimm-Kaufman & Chiu, 2007).

3. The RULER approach is another school-based social-emotional intervention that is designed to teach students critical skills related to emotions (labeling, expressing, regulating, etc.). This intervention was developed to align with the language arts curriculum in grades K-12. Investigations of RULER'S effectiveness have revealed that students whose teachers utilize more RULER approaches in the classroom demonstrated improved social skills and emotional intelligence (Reyes, Brackett, Rivers, Elbertson, & Salovey, 2012).

4. Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS) is an additional intervention intended to strengthen the social-emotional learning skills of students in pre-K through grade 6. Primary goals of the intervention include building problem-solving skills, developing conflict-resolution strategies, forming positive relationships, and increasing self-control and self-awareness. Teachers who implemented the PATHS curriculum in the early elementary grades reported increases in prosocial interactions and higher levels of academic engagement in their classrooms (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2010).

When does the strategy work?

What developmental differences are associated with teacher-student relationships?

Teacher-student relationships are as important to adolescents as they are to younger students. Feeling a connection and sense of relatedness to a teacher represents an essential need of all children and teens (Gregory & Ripski, 2008). However, it is worth noting that the nature of positive teacher-student relationships changes depending on the age of the student involved. In other words, the precise behaviors that might be perceived by a kindergarten child as nurturing and caring (e.g., a doting smile, a one-armed hug), in contrast, might be perceived by adolescents as over-involved and cloying. It is also important to realize that in the early years of school, students' perception of their relationship with teachers and teachers' perception of those same relationships are quite similar. As children grow and develop, the gap between their perceptions of teachers and teachers' perception of them grows and widens (McCombs & Miller, 2006).

Students experience stressors as they grow and develop. Positive, healthy relationships can help students with the developmental transitions they experience.

Do good teacher-student relationships work better for some students than others?

Teacher-student relationships are important to virtually all students. However, high quality teacher-student relationships appear to be most significant for students who are at risk for school problems based on early behavioral and learning issues (Baker, 2006; Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002). In one study, high quality teacher-student relationships appeared to be better predictors of classroom adjustment, social skills and reading performance for students showing initial externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, hyperactivity), internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, depression) and learning problems (e.g., attention problems) (Baker, 2006) than for students without these initial risk factors.

In another study, sensitive and supportive relationships proved to be more important in predicting increased self-reliant behavior and less off task, negative and aggressive behaviors in the kindergarten classroom for bold, outgoing children. (Comparable levels of sensitivity and support of the teacher played less of a role in children's classroom behavior for shy, hesitant children [Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002). Teacher sensitivity and emotional supportiveness played a greater role in predicting children's academic achievement gains in first grade (after taking into consideration children's earlier achievement) for children "at risk" for school failure than for those without these risk factors (Hamre & Pianta, 2005).

Similarly, a recent study on children from rural families found that high emotional support provided by teachers was associated with increased behavioral self-control and lower levels of aggression in first grade students. This study also found that attending an emotionally-supportive classroom was equally important for students regardless of whether they were from families living with poverty or not and whether they were from families headed by a single parent or two parents (Merritt, Wanless, Rimm-Kaufman, Cameron, & Peugh, 2012).

In another study, poor teacher-student relationships correlated with a reading achievement gap between African-American and White students, all of whom initially demonstrated below average literacy skills. Specifically, when Hughes and Kwok (2007) studied a group of low achieving readers, they found that first grade children who had poorer relationships with their teachers were less engaged in school and had lower academic achievement in second grade. It is very important to note that Hughes and Kwok found that African-American children had poorer relationships with their teachers than children of other ethnic backgrounds (i.e., Caucasian, Hispanic). This suggests how important it is for teachers to develop the best possible relationship with all students, regardless of their ethnic background. Taken together, such findings suggest that high quality teacher-student relationships can partially compensate for disadvantages in other facets of students' social-emotional lives.

Student and teacher stressors

Student Stressors

Positive teacher-student relationships can offset some of the normal stressors that students experience as they grow and develop. The transition to middle school can be a stressful time for children; middle school students often show declines in motivation, self-esteem and academic performance (Feldlaufer et al., 1988).

Students who perceive greater support from their teachers experience less depression and have more growth in self-esteem between the sixth and eighth grades (Reddy, Rhodes, & Mulhall, 2003).

Students who perceive their teachers as respectful, eager to support their autonomy, focused on setting realistic and individualized expectations for performance, and offering nurturing and constructive feedback are more motivated in school (Wentzel, 1997). More specifically, if a student believes "my teacher trusts me" or "my teacher calls on me to give the answer," he or she is more likely to be interested in class, more likely to conform to the positive social norms of the classroom, and more eager to master the academic material being taught (Wentzel, 1997).

Teacher Stressors

Like other professionals in demanding roles, teachers may experience depleted energy and increased stress or "burnout." Physically and emotionally exhausted teachers struggle to sustain strong relationships with students (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Teachers are developing people and their psychological health is crucial to their success in the classroom, especially their ability to create high quality relationships with students (Rimm-Kaufman & Hamre, 2010). Teachers need to take time to care for themselves and receive support from others to improve their capacity to work with students.

During difficult times, an important source of support for teachers is the adult community within the school (Bryk et al., 2010). Increased collaboration and communication among teachers and other educational personnel can provide the social support needed to reduce feelings of stress and to renew teachers' energy. Teachers who feel positively about their own ability to cope with challenging situations and to form close relationships with others are more likely to provide higher quality environments that improve student outcomes (Brown, Jones, LaRusso, & Aber, 2010). There is a growing body of research showing how important it is for teachers to tend to their own psychological health and well-being.

In this closing video, teachers and students describe qualities that make a great teacher.

Where can I get more information?

Several books designed for teachers may be useful in promoting teacher-student relationships. Most of these books address the needs of children in early and middle childhood:

Charney, R. (2002). Teaching children to care: Classroom management for ethical and academic growth, K-8. Greenfield, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children.

Howes, C. & Ritchie, S. (2002). A matter of trust: Connecting teachers and learners in the early childhood classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.

Pianta, R. C. (1999). Enhancing relationships between children and teachers. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Several research briefs and blogs about teacher-student relationships and social emotional learning in pre-K, elementary and secondary grades:

Allen, K. P. (2010). Classroom management, bullying, and teacher practices. The Professional Educator, 34(1), 1-15.

Allen, J., Gregory, A., Mikami, A., Lun, J., Hamre, B., & Pianta, R. (2013). Observations of effective teacher-student interactions in secondary classrooms: Predicting student achievement with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System - Secondary. School Psychology Review, 42 (1), 76-98.

Allensworth, E. M., & Easton, J. Q. (2007). What matters for staying on-track and graduation in Chicago public high schools. Consortium of Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. Retrieved from https://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/07%20What%20Matters%20Final.pdf

Ang, R. P. (2005). Development and validation of the teacher-student relationship inventory using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The Journal of Experimental Education, 71(1), 55-74.

Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Baker, J. A. (2006). Contributions of teacher-child relationships to positive school adjustment during elementary school. Journal of School Psychology, 44, 211-229.

Battistich, V., Schaps, E., & Wilson, N. (2004). Effects of an elementary school intervention on students' "connectedness" to school and social adjustment during middle school. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 24(3), 243-262.

Berry, D., & O'Connor, E. (2009). Behavioral risk, teacher-child relationships, and social skill development across middle childhood: A child-by-environment analysis of change. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31(1), 1-14.

Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1997). The teacher-child relationship and early school adjustment. Journal of School Psychology, 55(1), 61-79.

Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1998). Children's interpersonal behaviors and the teacher-child relationship. Developmental Psychology, 34(5), 934-946.

Borman, G. & Overman, L. (2004). Academic resilience in mathematics among poor and minority students. Elementary School Journal, 104(3), 177-195.

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Volume 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.

Brown, J. L., Jones, S., LaRusso, M. D., & Aber, J. L. (2010). Improving classroom quality: Teacher influences and experimental impacts of the 4Rs program. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 153-167.

Bryk, A. S., Sebring, P. B., Allensworth, E., Luppescu, S., & Easton, J. Q. (2010). Organizing schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Cassidy, J. & Asher, S.R. (1992). Loneliness and peer relations in young children. Child Development, 63, 350-365.

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2010). Effects of a multiyear social-emotional learning program: The role of student and school characteristics. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78(2), 156-168.

Croninger, R. G., & Lee, V. E. (2001). Social capital and dropping out of high school: Benefits to at-risk students of teachers' support and guidance. Teacher College Record, 103(4), 548-581.

Curby, T. W., LoCasale-Crouch, J., Konold, T. R., Pianta, R. C., Howes, C., Burchinal, M., Bryant, D., ...Barbarin, O. (2009). The relations of observed pre-k classroom quality profiles to children's achievement and social competence. Early Education and Development, 20(2), 1556-6935.

Curby, T. W., Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., & Ponitz, C. C. (2009). Teacher-child interactions and children's achievement trajectories across kindergarten and first grade. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101 (4), 912-925.

Daniels, D. H., & Perry, K. E. (2003). "Learner-centered" according to children. Theory Into Practice, 42(2), 102-108.

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2002). Overview of self-determination theory: An organismic dialectical perspective. In E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 3-33). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.

Decker, D. M., Dona, D. P., & Christenson, S. L. (2007). Behaviorally at-risk African American students: The importance of student-teacher relationships for student outcomes. Journal of School Psychology, 45(1), 83-109.

Donohue, K. M., Perry, K. E., & Weinstein, R. S. (2003). Teachers' classroom practices and children's rejection by their peers. Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 91-118.

Ewing, A. R., & Taylor, A. R. (2009). The role of child gender and ethnicity in teacher-child relationship quality and children's behavioral adjustment in preschool. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24(1), 92-105.

Feldlaufer, H., Midgley, C. & Eccles, J. S. (1988). Student, teacher, and observer perceptions of the classroom environment before and after the transition to junior high school. Journal of Early Adolescence, 8(2), 133-156.

Fraser, M. W., Galinsky, M. J., Smokowski, P. R., Day, S. H., Terzian, M. A., Rose, R. A., & Guo, S. (2005). Social information-processing skills training to promote social competence and prevent aggressive behavior in the third grade. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73(6), 1045-1055.

Gregory, A., & Ripski, M. (2008). Adolescent trust in teachers: Implications for behavior in the high school classroom. School Psychology Review, 37(3), 337-353.

Gregory, A., & Weinstein, R. S. (2008). The discipline gap and African Americans: Defiance and cooperation in the high school classroom. The Journal of School Psychology, 46(4), 455-475.

Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2001). Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of children's school outcomes through eighth grade. Child Development, 72, 625-638.

Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2005). Can instructional and emotional support in the first-grade classroom make a difference for children at risk of school failure? Child Development, 76(5), 949-967.

Hanish, L.D., Kochenderfer-Ladd, B., Fabes, R. A., Martin, C. L., & Denning, D. (2004). Bullying among young children: The influence of peers and teachers. In D. L. Espelage, & S. M. Swearer. (Eds). Bullying in American schools: A social-ecological perspective on prevention and intervention (pp. 141-150). Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Harrison, L. J., Clarke, L., & Ungerer, J. A. (2007). Children's drawings provide a new perspective on teacher-child relationship quality and school adjustment. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22, 55-71.

Harter, S. (2012). The construction of the self: Developmental and sociocultural foundations (2nd. ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

Hartz, K., & Williford, A. P. (in press). Differential susceptibility to sensitivity: Maternal and teacher influences on children's kindergarten behavior problems. Infant and Child Development.

Hemmeter, M. L., & Conroy, M. A. (2012). Supporting social competence of young children with challenging behavior in the context of Teaching Pyramid model. In R. C. Pianta, W. S. Barnett, L. M., Justice, & Sheridan, S. M. (Eds.), Handbook of early childhood education (pp. 416-434). New York: Guilford Press.

Henriccson, L., & Rydell, A. (2004). Elementary school children with behavior problems: Teacher-child relations and self-perception. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50(2), 111-138.

Howes, C., Phillipsen, L. C., & Peisner-Feinberg, E. (2000). The consistency of perceived teacher-child relationships between preschool and kindergarten. Journal of School Psychology, 58(2), 115-132.

Hughes, J. N., Cavell, T. A., & Wilson, V. (2001). Further support for the developmental significance of the quality of the teacher-student relationship. Journal of School Psychology, 39(4), 289-301.

Hughes, J., & Kwok, O. (2007). Influence of student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships on lower achieving readers' engagement and achievement in the primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 39-51.

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Jones, S. M., Bouffard, S. M., & Weissbourd, R. (2013). Educators' social and emotional skills vita to learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 94, 62-65.

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Lee, V., & Smith, J. B. (1999). Social support and achievement for young adolescents in Chicago: The role of school academic press. American Educational Research Journal, 36(4), 907-945.

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McCombs, B. L. (2004). The learner-centered psychological principles: A framework for balancing a focus on academic achievement with a focus on social and emotional learning needs. In E. Zins, R. P. Weissberg, M. C. Wang, & H. J. Walberg (Eds.), Building academic success on social emotional learning: What does the research say? (pp. 23-39). New York: Teachers College Press.

McCombs, B. L., & Miller, L. (2006). The journey to learner-centered practices: A series for teachers and administrators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

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Improving students' relationships with teachers

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Improving students' relationships with teachers has important, positive and long-lasting implications for both students' academic and social development. Solely improving students' relationships with their teachers will not produce gains in achievement. However, those students who have close, positive and supportive relationships with their teachers will attain higher levels of achievement than those students with more conflict in their relationships.

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How Teachers Build Great Relationships With Students

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How Teachers Build Great Relationships With Students

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The best teachers are capable of maximizing the learning potential of each student in their class. They understand that the key to unlocking student potential is by developing positive, respectful relationships with their students beginning on the first day of the school year. Building a trusting relationship with your students can be both challenging and time-consuming. Great teachers become masters at it in time. They will tell you that developing solid relationships with your students is paramount in fostering academic success.

It is essential that you earn your students' trust early on in the year. A trusting classroom with mutual respect is a thriving classroom complete with active, engaging learning opportunities. Some teachers are more natural at building and sustaining positive relationships with their students than others. However, most teachers can overcome a deficiency in this area by implementing a few simple strategies into their classroom on a daily basis. Here are some strategies to try.

Provide Structure

Most kids respond positively to having structure in their classroom. It makes them feel safe and leads to increased learning. Teachers who lack structure not only lose valuable instructional time but often never gain the respect of their students. It is essential that teachers set the tone early by establishing clear expectations and practicing class procedures. It is equally critical that students see that you follow through when boundaries are overstepped. Finally, a structured classroom is one with minimal downtime. Each day should be loaded with engaging learning activities with little to no downtime.

Teach With Enthusiasm and Passion

Students will respond positively when a teacher is enthusiastic and passionate about the content she is teaching. Excitement is contagious. When a teacher introduces new content enthusiastically, students will buy in. They will get just as excited as the teacher, thus translating to increased learning. Exuberance will rub off on the students in your classroom when you are passionate about the content you teach. If you are not excited, why should your students be excited?

Have a Positive Attitude

Everyone has terrible days including teachers. Everyone goes through personal trials that can be difficult to handle. It is essential that your personal issues do not interfere with your ability to teach. Teachers should approach their class each day with a positive attitude. Positivity is transcending.

If the teacher is positive, the students will generally be positive. No one likes to be around someone who is always negative. Students will in time resent a teacher who is always negative. However, they will run through a wall for a teacher is positive and continuously offering praise.

Incorporate Humor into Lessons

Teaching and learning should not be boring. Most people love to laugh. Teachers should incorporate humor into their daily lessons. This may involve sharing an appropriate joke related to the content you will be teaching that day. It may be getting into character and donning a silly costume for a lesson. It may be laughing at yourself when you make a silly mistake. Humor comes in several forms and students will respond to it. They will enjoy coming to your class because they love to laugh and learn.

Make Learning Fun

Learning should be fun and exciting. Nobody wants to spend time in a classroom where lecturing and note-taking are the norms. Students love creative, engaging lessons that grab their attention and allow them to take ownership of the learning process. Students enjoy hands-on, kinesthetic learning activities where they can learn by doing. They are enthusiastic about technology-based lessons that are both active and visual.

Use Student Interests to Your Advantage

Every student has a passion for something. Teachers should use these interests and passions to their advantage by incorporating them into their lessons. Student surveys are a fantastic way to measure these interests. Once you know what your class is interested in, you have to find creative ways to integrate it into your lessons. Teachers who take the time to do this will see increased participation, higher involvement and an overall increase in learning. Students will appreciate the extra effort you have made to include their interest in the learning process.

Incorporate Story Telling into Lessons

Everyone loves a compelling story. Stories allow students to make real-life connections to the concepts that they are learning. Telling stories to introduce or reinforce concepts bring those concepts to life. It takes the monotony out of learning rote facts. It keeps students interested in learning. It is especially powerful when you can tell a personal story related to a concept being taught. A good story will allow students to make connections that they may not have made otherwise.

Show an Interest in Their Lives Outside of School

Your students have lives away from your classroom. Talk to them about their interests and extracurricular activities that they participate in. Take an interest in their interests even if you do not share the same passion. Attend a few ball games or extracurricular activities to show your support. Encourage your students to take their passions and interests and turn them into a career. Finally, be considerate when assigning homework. Think about the extracurricular activities occurring on that particular day and try not to overburden your students.

Treat Them With Respect

Your students will never respect you if you do not respect them. You should never yell, use sarcasm, single a student out, or attempt to embarrass them. Those things will lead to a loss of respect from the entire class. Teachers should handle situations professionally. You should deal with problems individually, in a respectful, yet direct and authoritative manner. Teachers must treat each student the same. You cannot play favorites. The same set of rules must apply to all students. It is also vital that a teacher is fair and consistent when dealing with students.

Go the Extra Mile

Some students need teachers who will go that extra mile to ensure that they are successful. Some teachers provide extra tutoring on their own time before and/or after school for struggling students. They put together extra work packets, communicate with parents more frequently and take a genuine interest in the well-being of the student. Going the extra mile may mean donating clothing, shoes, food or other household goods that a family needs to survive. It may be continuing to work with a student even after he is no longer in your classroom. It is about recognizing and assisting in meeting student needs inside and outside of the classroom.

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10 Ways for Teachers to Build Positive Relationships With Students

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The best teachers are capable of maximizing the learning potential of each student in their class. They understand that the key to unlocking student potential is by developing positive, respectful relationships with their students beginning on the first day of the school year. Building a trusting relationship with your students can be both challenging and time-consuming.

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The behaviour management strategies and techniques you use impact on:

Your students' success

Your own sanity

However, you may not be sure which behaviour management strategies and techniques have the most impact.

When behaviour management strategies are talked about in many schools, the conversation focuses on the:

Importance of rules and routines

Appropriateness of punishments or consequences

Need for 'admin' to do something about it

You may be surprised to learn that while it is true, that all three of these behaviour management techniques help to reduce misbehaviour, there are simpler strategies that have far more impact. In fact, if you look at the five strategies that have the largest impact, you will not find anything about rules, routines, consequences, punishments or the principal. All of these things are important. However, if you want to run a well-disciplined classroom, you need to know which techniques are even more effective.

Here are the top ten research-based behaviour management strategies in reverse order according to their impact. These have been updated for the start of 2020.

Behaviour Management Strategies With a Moderate Impact

10. Punishments

The first behaviour management technique involves giving punishments for misbehaviour. Note, it is the first strategy in the list, not the first strategy you should use.

Students need to understand there are consequences that flow from the way they behave - in this case, misbehaviour. Sometimes, consequences:

Flow naturally (e.g. you have no hat so you can't play in the sun)

Include formal punishments

While punishments should be a last resort, you must deal with repetitive and serious misbehaviour.

Punishments can include time-outs, working by yourself, detentions and alike. Yet, no matter which specific punishment you use it is critical that you keep it proportional to the crime (Strategy 9 helps here). It is also important is that you explain the link between 'the:

Student's choice of behaviour

Consequences' that follow

Managing misbehaviour can be an emotional ordeal. However, you have more impact when you remain cool, calm and collected. When you are composed, you can:

Keep things in perspective

Deal with them quickly

Get back to your main task - teaching your students

To help you do this, it is important to remember that students are people too - they want to have fun, and even difficult students are not all bad. Try not to take things personally, try to see the funny side of sticky situations and always be well organised.

The next behaviour management strategy involves setting rules. Establishing rules formalizes the expectations in your class. There are a few tricks to harnessing the full power of rules. You need to:

Keep the number of formal rules to a minimum

Explain the reason behind the rules

Frame the rules in a positive way, where possible but sometimes don't ... rules are appropriate

By limiting the number of rules, you help your students to remember them. And, your students do not feel overwhelmed.

Explaining the reason behind rules:

Helps students see them as being fair

Allows for some negotiation (e.g. can they modify the rule while still achieving your underlying goal).

And, framing the rules in a positive way clarifies what students are meant to do (not just what they aren't allowed to do).

Behaviour Management Strategies With a Moderate-High Impact

On average, students spend 15% of their class time following routine procedures. These procedures include things such as entering the classroom, getting books out and stopping work to pay attention to the teacher. You establish these routines at the start of the year, and in the words of behaviour management guru Bill Rogers, you establish, what you establish (i.e. it's hard to change later).

Your students are far less likely to misbehave during these routine actions when you have clarified your expectations and turned them into habitual ways of acting. Research shows most teachers state such expectations, but it is the teachers who get students to practice them (while correcting along the way) that succeed in turning them into habits.

Individual reinforcement involves rewarding the desirable behaviour and penalising the misbehaviour of individual students.

Rewards can include tokens, such as points, stickers and alike. Yet, rewards can be as simple as good marks, comments to parents and praise. In a similar vein, students view penalties such as informing parents and discussions about their behaviour as being effective.

Penalties are really a form of consequence (strategy 1) but tend to be less severe.

Research shows there is no 'best' ratio of positive to negative reinforcement. However, the same research also shows that the more genuine positive reinforcement you use, the better your students behave.

Behaviour Management Strategies With a High Impact

Reinforcement involves rewarding good behaviour while discouraging undesirable behaviour. Group reinforcement involves rewarding or penalising whole groups. These may be small groups within the class, or the 'entire class group'.

For an example of small group reinforcement, you may reward one small group for being the first to be ready for the lesson with a point beside their group name, or you may penalise a small group for not focusing on their work by taking a point off them. A

s an example of 'whole class' reinforcement, you may elect to supervise the whole class for 5 minutes of extra play if they are lined up well and ready to go after their lunch break for 5 days in a row.

Group reinforcement works well because of the pervasive power of peers. Yet, to be fair to individuals, penalties should either be tokens (e.g. taking a point off the group) or involve not receiving a reward.

Most misbehaviour can be dealt with quickly and easily. You can do this by correcting minor infringements on the spot and then moving on with the lesson.

On-the-spot corrective actions include things such as: making eye contact with a student, moving closer to a student or group, reminding them of a relevant rule or simply telling them to get back to work.

There are also some subtle but important tricks to the way you go about such corrections.

There are many aspects to good teaching, but some of them have more impact on classroom behaviour than others.

When teaching a new class, or struggling to gain control of a tough class the following aspects of teaching are absolutely critical: clear lesson goals, never asking students to do something they don't know how to do, judicious use of group work and holding them accountable for the work they have done (either as an individual or in a group).

Behaviour Management Strategies With the Highest-Impact

Students are far less likely to misbehave when they know their teacher notices every little thing going on in the classroom. Students need to think that you have eyes in the back of your head.

Start the year by setting up your room in a way that maximises visibility. Then, do simple things such as positioning yourself so you see all of your students, continuously scanning the room to see what is going on and limiting times when you have your back to the class can make a big difference. With-it-ness is also essential to the fourth behaviour management strategy in this list.

Teachers who have strong relationships with their students find it much easier to manage their students' behaviour. You forge strong relationships by being both firm and caring - while also expecting your students to do their very best at school.

Research & Readings On Behaviour Management Strategies

I strongly recommend the books:

You can also download a list of research studies this article is based on here.

SHAUN KILLIAN
(MEd., MLead.)

Shaun Killian (me) is an experienced and passionate teacher, as well as a past school principal. After a heart transplant and having both my legs amputated, I am not yet capable of returning to work. Yet, my passion for helping students succeed has led me to use my time to research teaching and associated practices. I then share what I find in practical ways through this website. The greatest compliment I have ever received from a past student was I never left any student behind. That is mission of most teachers and I hope you find the information on this site useful.

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10 Potent Behaviour Management Strategies

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The behaviour management strategies you use affect your students' success & your own sanity. So which techniques work best? Discover 10 proven & practical ..

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Hello all, I have set up this padlet page for you all to access and share resources related to Behaviour Mangement for your future development in teaching.

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Hello all, I have set up this padlet page for you all to access and share resources related to Behaviour Mangement for your future development in teaching.

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This is also a great platform to make each other aware of new methods, current terminologies used and pedagogical ways to enhance behaviour management in the classroom more effectively.

Best wishes

Paul

@PaulCowie

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Teaching Without Using Rewards | Responsive Classroom

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Teaching Without Using Rewards | Responsive Classroom

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Children build on their strengths, and to do that building-to grow academically and socially-they need us to recognize and encourage their positive efforts. But what's the best way to offer that recognition and encouragement?

For some time, I used rewards-tickets that I gave out when students met expectations. But something felt wrong: Although students would often change their behavior, at least temporarily, they seemed more focused on the tickets than on learning and building a classroom community.

After a lot of reading and reflection, I put the tickets away and settled on a new strategy for motivating students: language, specifically Responsive Classroom reinforcing language. Rather than giving students tickets, I'd give them words that told them exactly what behavior was working well, and why. After teaching and modeling classroom expectations, I might say to the whole class, "I see many people walking in line with hands by their sides and voices quiet. That helps students in the other classes keep learning." Or to an individual student I'd say, "Taylor, you waited until Axel finished speaking. That showed him respect and let him share his whole thought so we could all learn from it."

When I taught expectations and then used words in this way, students knew I believed they wanted to and could learn. The difference in their learning-and their behavior, motivation, independence, and stamina-was amazing. Still, it took me a while to complete the transition from rewards to words. Here's my story.

Poor Long-Term Results With Tickets

My ticket system was a way to reward students when they chose positive behaviors. Sometimes, when the entire class walked safely and respectfully in the hallway, I'd put a ticket in a jar. Other times, I would notice individual students completing work efficiently or working cooperatively and give them a ticket to place in the jar. Once the tickets in the jar reached a number I'd pre-designated, the whole class earned a prize, such as extra recess.

The system seemed to be working alright. But then I noticed that as students became more proficient in routines, procedures, and skills, they were still expecting tickets. A typical scenario: One day when the class was walking safely and calmly in the hall, a colleague passed by and commented how quiet the children were. When we reached our destination, Luna asked me if I was going to put a ticket in the jar because not only were they quiet in the hallway, but another teacher had noticed.

This sort of thing happened frequently, with children asking if they would receive a ticket for meeting expectations such as sharing materials, picking up trash, and completing tasks on time. Students had become more focused on receiving tickets-on being rewarded for their actions-than on understanding how and why to choose actions that would help them learn, stay safe, and respect others. They weren't developing their motivation or their learning muscles.

That's when I realized that although the ticket system did seem to work in the short run, in the long run it was working against my ultimate goal-developing intrinsically motivated students. I needed to reconsider how to recognize positive behavior. I'd heard about reinforcing language and decided to look into it.

Moving to Words

At first, ending my reward system seemed like a daunting task, and I had many questions and concerns. Could students really be kind to each other or complete their classwork without receiving tickets? Could I manage the classroom and nurture positive behavior without a quick, convenient system that required me to think and say very little? How could I teach efficiently while also carefully choosing words that would help students develop into strong, independent members of our learning community?

But then I remembered my own learning experiences, the ones that had the greatest impact on me. What made certain teachers of mine so powerfully motivating? One characteristic that stood out was the specific feedback they gave to let me know exactly what I was doing well. Because my teachers' reinforcing language had helped me develop my academic skills-and become a responsible community member-I was confident that using reinforcing language with my own students would have a similar impact. And I decided that if I allowed myself to learn this language slowly and steadily, I could eventually master it.

I began this learning at a Responsive Classroom summer workshop. We studied the characteristics of reinforcing language-clear and direct, genuine and respectful, and specific-and practiced using it. Afterward, I read The Power of Our Words: Teacher Language That Helps Children Learn. I then felt much more prepared to replace my ticket system when school started that fall.

Scaffolding My Learning

Here are some of the things I did that helped me leave rewards behind in favor of reinforcing language:

Posted this quote from Responsive Classroom on my computer screen: "Children, like all of us, need to feel recognized for their positive contributions and accomplishments. And they need ongoing information from the teacher about how they're doing." Each time I saw this quote (many times a day), it reminded me that students needed me to support their learning and positive behavior with reinforcing language.

Created multiple cue cards-sheets of construction paper on which I wrote reinforcing language sentence starters for myself, such as "I see you followed our rule on _____" and "You did _____. That helps us all be better learners." I hung these cards so that I could see one from anywhere in the classroom.

Practiced observing all my students carefully, looking not just for spectacular successes but also for the small yet important steps children take as they learn skills and behaviors. "Alva," I might say to a struggling writer, "I see that you ended three of your five sentences with a period or question mark. These punctuation marks will help your audience read your story more fluently."

Made sure to use reinforcing language with every child. Even when a student's behavior or work isn't where we want it to be, we can see positive efforts and growth if we observe carefully. To keep track of whom I've used reinforcing language with, I checked names off a list, keeping the list private to avoid provoking competition or anxiety among students.

Focused on giving specific information about behaviors that were helping students learn. This helped students become more aware of what they knew, what they could do, and how they'd progressed. With those ideas and images in their minds, they could pull up their positive behaviors to repeat and build on. Some examples of how I changed my language:

Good job on
your math!

You tried several different ways to solve that problem. That kind of persistence really helps you learn!

I love how you worked in the library.

You used your very quiet voices in the library. That helped the other students keep their learning going.

You're doing better with your writing.

I see that you included vivid adjectives. That helps readers really "see" what you're describing.

Gave myself permission to make mistakes-and I made plenty! For example, I'd say, "Good job!" or "That's awesome!" When that happened, I would follow up with specific feedback. For example, as I was conferring with James about his reading, I said, "Great, James!" because I was ecstatic that he was independently book shopping. As he gave me a blank look, I remembered to follow up with, "When you book shopped alone today, you chose books that are just right for you."

Staying Flexible

Gradually, reinforcing language has become my main tool for recognizing and encouraging students' positive behaviors. But that doesn't mean never using rewards. Some students with an entrenched negative behavior, such as habitually calling out during group discussions or speaking sarcastically to classmates, need that extrinsic support for a short time while I help them recognize and grow their capabilities and build their intrinsic motivation.

Before moving right to an external reward, though, I first try a tangible tracking system. A small chart taped unobtrusively on a child's desk enables us to check off how many times she remembers to raise her hand before speaking, use kind words, or walk quietly in the hall. Having a tangible tracking system to prompt self-noticing-and to show that I am also noticing-is often enough to motivate children to engage in positive behavior.

Fewer Misbehaviors, Less Stress, More Learning

That first year I used reinforcing language, students misbehaved less frequently, so I was less stressed and more able to interact positively with the class. And with their attention drawn to specific things they could do to meet expectations, students learned more, both academically and socially. Reinforcing language was a win-win for all of us.
Tracy Mercier taught grades three, four, and five for twelve years in diverse classrooms.
Tags: Challenging Behaviors, Classroom Rules, Misbehavior, Redirecting Language, Reinforcing Language, Reminding Language, Responsibility, Revisiting Rules, Rewards

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Children build on their strengths, and to do that building-to grow academically and socially-they need us to recognize and encourage their positive efforts. But what's the best way to offer that recognition and encouragement? For some time, I used rewards-tickets that I gave out when students met expectations.

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Tear Down Your Behavior Chart! - Educational Leadership

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Tear Down Your Behavior Chart! - Educational Leadership

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Mr. Hill stops reading aloud to his 4th grade students and turns to Anisa. "Anisa, you're off task. Change your clip. I asked you once and you are still digging in your desk. Walk over and change it now."

Anisa stands and walks across the classroom. Several of her peers make condescending comments under their breath. Anisa moves her clip from green to yellow and returns to her desk and puts her head down. Her nonverbal behaviors indicate that she's angry, hurt, and frustrated.

A few minutes later, Josh raises his hand. Mr. Hill calls on him and Josh responds, "Anisa is off task again."

Mr. Hill looks at Anisa and says, "Again? Please change your clip to red. One more problem and it will be another call home. You have to learn to pay attention."

A Practice That Harms

Scenes like this are common in schools today. Pass through the halls of almost any elementary school and you are likely to at some point hear "pull a red ticket" or "you're on yellow now." Behavior charts-and their variants-are standard in elementary schools throughout the world. They represent a practice long overdue for retirement.

In thinking about this strategy for managing student behavior, we challenge you to ask yourself a question: Why are you are an educator and why do you continue to be an educator? Did you respond with, "to show students who's boss?" or "to help the students who are already doing well to succeed?" Of course not. Your response was probably some version of, "I want to make a difference" or "I want to be the teacher students need in their lives." We posed this question because we can't move forward in the argument we're about to make until we share a strong understanding of our ultimate goal as educators. Most of us are in education to make a difference in our students' lives and help them become their best selves-aspirations that, in our view, aren't compatible with behavior charts.

In working with students, we've often seen adolescents display challenging behaviors that have evolved over years. We've wondered to what extent their behavioral paths could have been corrected in early-childhood classrooms rather than exacerbated by stigmatizing practices like behavior charts. Braithwaite's shaming theory (1989) highlights the connections between stigmatizing shame and later delinquency. According to Braithwaite, "shaming means all societal processes of expressing disapproval which have the intention or effect of invoking remorse in the person being shamed and/or condemnation by others who become aware of the shaming" (p. 100). Although the relationship between shame and later behavior is complex, empirical studies provide enough evidence to compel us to stop shaming young children and instead build strong relationships and seek alternative methods to promote prosocial behaviors.

We present here three reasons to abandon behavior charts. If such charts are used in your school, we encourage you to have an open mind as you consider our reasoning. And we hope you take down those charts tomorrow and consider trying the alternatives we propose to foster positive behavior.

1. Compliance Isn't Our Long-term Goal

Behavior charts do an excellent job of teaching children that they will be punished if they don't comply with directions or rules. Although this may work in the short-term to make some students compliant, compliance shouldn't be our end game. We can shoot so much higher than that! We want students to be engaged and excited about learning, to persist when their work is hard, and to interact with others in ways that will lead to positive social and academic outcomes in the future.

Art Costa and Bena Kallick (2000) have done beautiful work organizing and describing the skills and behaviors educators should cultivate in all our students, what they term habits of mind. These lifelong skills-like persisting, managing impulsivity, and listening to others with empathy-improve students' competence, confidence, and ultimate success across the curriculum and in life. Such skills are arguably more important than the content we teach; the content is merely a vehicle for teaching them. Solidifying these habits is what teachers should aim toward. Otherwise, we run the risk of creating what William Deresiewicz (2015) called "excellent sheep"-students who play the game of school but lack true engagement and critical thinking.

2. Behavior Charts Can't Teach Self-Regulation

Teaching the whole child is our responsibility. If we are to be effective in our work, faculty at all levels must be able to teach habits of mind such as self-regulation, a key skill for shifting toward more positive behavior. Simply rewarding and punishing behaviors is not what helps students learn such habits and skills. It's particularly ineffective with self-regulation.

Punishments work to reduce behaviors by immediately following a behavior we don't want to see with a consequence that the child doesn't like (Alberto & Troutman, 2002). Thus, behavior charts can reduce a student's problematic behavior if the student dislikes negative public attention-or public shaming. This is a questionable strategy to begin with since it's based on stressing out the student rather than cultivating new aptitudes. But for many students, negative attention is something they've gotten used to, or worse, something over which they feel they have no control. Their identity has become "the kid who is bad." Have you noticed that most of the time the student who is "on red" today is the same one who was "on red" yesterday and the day before? And is likely to be "on red" all year long? What does it tell us if the intervention being put in place doesn't lead to a change in students' behavior? Clearly, the strategy isn't working. Why would we continue to use any strategy that isn't working?

Decades of research have led to a body of evidence on how educators can effectively support and teach key skills like self-regulation (Heckhausen & Dweck, 2009). Nowhere in the literature do researchers recommend that we shame children into being compliant.

3. Charts Hurt Students!

The most compelling reason to abandon behavior charts is this: They risk harming our students. Lee Ann still remembers the painful effect of the color behavior chart a teacher used when her son, Spencer, was in 1st grade. Spencer was a sensitive "people pleaser" as a young child. He preferred to do what he needed to do with little public attention, but he valued personal relationships. He was kind to everyone around him and worked hard in school. One afternoon, Spencer came home from school distraught because he'd had to "move his stick." He'd gone to school without a paper signed by Lee Ann and, in front of the class, his teacher reprimanded him and asked him to move his stick from green to yellow. Spencer felt as though he had failed and let his teacher down. He was embarrassed and affected by the event for days.

Fortunately, Spencer's experience was a one-time event. But consider the inner voice of the student who is "on red" nearly every day. When we reprimand a student in front of their peers, we risk changing that student's inner voice, shifting their identity to the "bad kid," isolating the student from peers, and disrupting their relationship with their teachers. At worst, we risk making a student feel unloved. Imagine the devastating effects for a child who gets most of her or his love at school.

Instead of using charts, we could just as effectively reduce undesirable behaviors by dumping ice water on a student or inflicting corporal punishment. Did you furrow your brow at that thought? We would never do that! We would never use physical punishment on a student in an effort to shape behavior-or even want a student to learn to avoid certain behaviors out of fear of physical harm. So why don't we have the same visceral reaction to emotional punishment?

Consider who this practice harms the most. Not the student who has a handle on self-regulation and performs well in school. It's the students who need us the most who we are hurting. Behavior charts are a way to excuse ourselves from the hard work of meeting a student's self-regulation and behavior needs. The fact of the matter is, when we use behavior charts, we are sacrificing student dignity in favor of teacher convenience.

Alternative to Sticks, Clips, and Charts

Perhaps we've convinced you to stand up right now, run down the halls of the school, and tear down the behavior charts. But before you jump out of your chair, you might be asking, "What do we do instead? If I don't have consequences in place, my classroom will be chaos." As we advocate for avoiding punitive approaches within schools, we often hear rumblings that alternative disciplinary strategies are too soft and "touchy-feely." Dominique has even heard restorative practices-that is, those based on reconciliation and understanding-referred to as the "hug a thug" approach.

Rest assured, we don't recommend removing structures or accountability. We advocate for putting behavioral structures in place, just not punitive ones. We want students to be held accountable in more natural ways and to have a chance to learn the impact of their actions on others. We want them to build empathy, persistence, or whatever skills they need to behave appropriately-and for those positive behaviors to become internally driven.

There are effective, humane, growth-producing ways to teach students that their behaviors impact others. True, there may be a bit of an adjustment period when changing to a new system. But our students' self-worth and long-term success are worth any temporary disruption we may encounter. To move away from the reactive approach of behavior charts, we recommend teachers put into place three proactive strategies.

1. "Take Ten" for Each Learner

Set aside 10 minutes each day to sit with one student (focusing on each of your students in turn). Talk about something non-school-related that's of interest to that child. When educators build strong, caring relationships with their students, each student naturally wants to protect that relationship and avoid anything that might damage it. Students' behaviors and approaches to learning in the classroom are then driven by relationships, not fear.

Teachers need to know as much as possible about what makes each student unique and special-her personal interests, what excites him, what delights her, what he fears. We need to understand much more than their academic strengths and needs; we need to know the whole child-who they truly are-and allow them to know our true selves, too.

Students should feel that teachers are on their side. Imagine how differently the opening anecdote might have turned out if Anisa's teacher had built a strong relationship with her.

2. Keep It Off-Stage

Stop making discipline for poor behavior visible. Students tend to react negatively when they're called out in front of others. Instead, when a student's inappropriate behavior needs to be addressed, have a one-on-one conversation with the student, staying calm but firm. When possible, avoid publicly calling a student aside for this talk: Publicly-and perhaps angrily-telling a child to come talk with you can have the same humiliating effect as a behavior chart. Instead, after class invite that student to have a conversation with you or quietly ask them to talk with you at a time when other students are otherwise engaged.

Be calm and supportive in discussing the behavior. To maintain your relationship with the student, always conclude by ensuring the student understands that although you are unhappy with the behavior, you still care about them and are there to support them in their growth.

3. Hear Students Out

Before acting on any student behavior, try to understand why it happened. When a student needs a corrective conversation, first ask to hear his side of the story. Generally, students prefer to have a conversation with a teacher rather than having a teacher conversation happen to them.

There's always a reason why students are acting as they do. Stop asking "What's wrong with that student?" and start figuring out what happened to that student. This may mean asking questions that prompt the student to reflect on the behavior and its effects on others. Students often have a hard time knowing why they acted in a certain way. It's only once their emotion has calmed-and through a guided analysis-that they can identify the reason.

Once a learner understands the underlying reason, we can guide him or her to consider alternatives for next time and discuss any consequence that needs to follow. Even students who are caught in a pattern of disruptive or harmful behaviors-perhaps especially those students-benefit from being heard. Certainly, there are times when we must intervene and stop a behavior, such as if it is causing harm or severe disruption. We may need to remove the student from the situation immediately to restore a calm, safe environment-and later teach that student the self-regulation skills needed to prevent such behavior in the future. The key is that the subsequent conversation should be private and should be about the behavior rather than the person.

Students Deserve Better

Imagine how much better things might have turned out if, in the opening scenario, instead of scolding Anisa, Mr. Hill had tried some of the techniques described here. He might've noted that Anisa was having difficulty remaining engaged in the reading and lesson and, after finishing the group read-aloud, approached her while everyone else was gathering their things and moving to stations for the next lesson. Imagine if he'd said, "Anisa, I saw you were having trouble staying with me today. I'm worried that if you aren't paying attention to the lesson, you'll miss something important to your learning. What was going on today?" Mr. Hill might have found out that Anisa was actually looking for a pencil to write down ideas that occurred to her as he read aloud. He might then have affirmed, "That seems to be happening a lot lately-trouble finding your pencil and other materials. Let's find some time today to see if we can come up with an organization solution, OK?" With such a response, Mr. Hill would've acknowledged the need for a change in Anisa's behavior, but not stigmatized Anisa as a "bad kid;" rather, he would have helped her develop a solution.

All students deserve this kind of supportive response. We are calling out the practice of behavior charts for what it really is: public shaming of children into compliance. We have many good strategies available for teaching self-regulation; humiliation isn't one of them. Let's stop "managing behaviors" and instead guide and support engagement, persistence, and positive interactions. Let's build relationships that promote growth of the whole child-and the skills each student needs for a lifetime of positive interactions and success.

Now, go tear down some charts!

Authors' note: All teacher and student names are pseudonyms.

Guiding Questions

› How does your approach for addressing student behavior issues square with your personal answer to the question Jung and Smith propose: "Why do you continue to be an educator?" Does how you deal with "problem" students fit your central purpose?

› What challenges might you or your school face in adopting Jung and Smith's three strategies for teaching positive behavior? What steps could you take to address those challenges?

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Mr. Hill stops reading aloud to his 4th grade students and turns to Anisa. "Anisa, you're off task. Change your clip. I asked you once and you are still digging in your desk. Walk over and change it now." Anisa stands and walks across the classroom.

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Managing the Difficult Class - YouTube

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Managing the Difficult Class - YouTube

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Dr Bill Rogers - Managing the Difficult Class

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Students who just say "NO" - YouTube

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Students who just say "NO" - YouTube

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Dr Bill Rogers - Students who just say "NO"

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Tactical ignoring: Addressing the issue - YouTube

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Tactical ignoring: Addressing the issue - YouTube

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Dr Bill Rogers - Tactical ignoring: Addressing the issue

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Dealing with distractions confidently - YouTube

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Dealing with distractions confidently - YouTube

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Dr Bill Rogers - Dealing with distractions confidently

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Colleague Support: Talking as a Team - YouTube

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Colleague Support: Talking as a Team - YouTube

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Dr Bill Rogers - Colleague Support: Talking as a Team

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Ensuring a settled and focused class - YouTube

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(6) Dr Bill Rogers - Ensuring a settled and focused class - YouTube

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Dr Bill Rogers - Ensuring a settled and focused class

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(6) Bayley on Behaviour: Establishing the ground rules (Teachers TV) - YouTube

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(6) Bayley on Behaviour: Establishing the ground rules (Teachers TV) - YouTube

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Bayley on Behaviour: Establishing the ground rules (Teachers TV)

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(6) Classroom Management Strategies That Make Kids Listen - YouTube

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(6) Classroom Management Strategies That Make Kids Listen - YouTube

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Classroom Management Strategies That Make Kids Listen

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(6) Behaviour Management Strategies Every Teacher Should Know - YouTube

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(6) Behaviour Management Strategies Every Teacher Should Know - YouTube

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Behaviour Management Strategies Every Teacher Should Know

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(6) Classroom Strategies For Managing Difficult Behaviour - YouTube

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(6) Classroom Strategies For Managing Difficult Behaviour - YouTube

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Classroom Strategies For Managing Difficult Behaviour

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(6) Behaviour Management Mistakes - And Strategies To Avoid Them - YouTube

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(6) Behaviour Management Mistakes - And Strategies To Avoid Them - YouTube

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Behaviour Management Mistakes - And Strategies To Avoid Them

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Restorative practice in schools helps pupils resolve conflict, build trust and prevent harm. In these films, young people share how restorative practice has helped them deal with conflict and improve relationships, inside and outside of school. These films are part of the RJC's Voices of Young People film series, sponsored by Mishcon de Reya.

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We believe that human beings are instilled with the need to connect and grow with each other, but not the methods. Here at the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP), we provide our students with the tools they need to effect change within their own lives as well as their schools, their organizations, and their communities. Through intimate learning communities of faculty and students, we teach together, we learn together, and we strive to effect real change. Together.

Restorative practices is a field within the social sciences that studies how to strengthen relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities. Learn more

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IIRP Graduate School :: Institute for Restorative Practices

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The International Institute for Restorative Practices is the world's first accredited graduate school that specializes in studying the field of restorative practices, providing education, research, and consulting services.

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Why use restorative approaches?

Many people may believe that children and young people who bully others must be punished for their behaviour. This type of response can be ineffective, dangerous, breed resentment and make situations worse as a child or young person can be resentful of punishment rather than reflective of their actions. Children and young people require the opportunity to hear about and face up to the harm and distress they have caused others.

Restorative approaches are built on values which separate the person from the behaviour. They promote accountability and seek to repair any harm caused in a situation.

Research - Restorative Practices in Three Scottish Councils - shows that restorative approaches help schools create peaceful learning environments for children to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.

Exclusions from school can only be carried out when an incident meets the legislative criteria. All schools have a responsibility to protect those being bullied but also to educate all pupils including those who bully or those with behavioural problems.

What are restorative approaches?

Schools may use restorative approaches as part of a planned response to relationship and/or discipline difficulties. This is a more effective response than traditional punishments. Restorative approaches can change the emotional atmosphere in a school and lead to more positive relationships between pupils and between pupils and staff.

A restorative approach may include having a 'restorative conversation'. These conversations may happen during the school day and practitioners will use restorative language and questions to allow children and young people to understand the impact of their behaviours.

More serious incidents may require practitioners to hold a formal meeting and involve parents or families where appropriate. Examples of questions used in a formal meeting include:

What happened?

What were your thoughts at the time?

What have been your thoughts since?

Who has been affected by what happened?

How have they been affected?

What do you need to happen now?

Appropriate training is available for adults to support the restorative approach. This will include developing listening skills, empathy, use of language including body language and understanding situations from another person's point of view.

Through the help of trained practitioners who facilitate the process in a carefully scripted approach, pupils accept responsibility for their actions, recognise the harm and upset caused and are supported to find restorative responses to harmful actions. Developing positive, supportive relationships is key and these can be developed through activities such as circle time and peer support.

As part of the restorative approach, schools will decide on an appropriate timescale to review incidents, check that issues have been resolved and that children and young people are happy and progressing well.

What is peer mediation?

Many incidents in schools are low level and do not necessarily require the intervention of an adult. Peer mediation is a process where children and young people are offered the opportunity to act as peer mediators. The peer mediator takes responsibility for supporting younger children in the school to find a solution to their issue. Children or young people who volunteer to become a peer mediator will receive appropriate training and support. They will learn invaluable skills and contribute to more positive relationships between pupils.

How can I help?

If your child's school is using restorative approaches you can support them by:

talking to your child about how their school manages pupils' behaviour

understanding that children learn developmentally, including how they behave and how their behaviour affects others

understanding that everyone learns best when they feel good about themselves. Punishments, whether right or wrong, can make children feel bad about themselves. This can hinder their ability to engage in their learning, including about their behaviour

encouraging your child to see things from other people's points of view

encouraging your child to be a good friend

supporting your child to be a peer mediator

learning more about children's rights, including their right to human dignity, regardless of their behaviour

learning more about shame and the impact of shame on children's readiness to learn.

Although appropriate action will be taken by practitioners, it is important that parents work with their child's school to help resolve situations in the best interests of their child or young person.

Related links
Transforming conflict International Institute for Restorative Practices Shame and its effect on children's reading UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

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Many people may believe that children and young people who bully others must be punished for their behaviour. This type of response can be ineffective, dangerous, breed resentment and make situations worse as a child or young person can be resentful of punishment rather than reflective of their actions.

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Video examples of restorative approaches

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Video examples of restorative approaches

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Video examples of restorative approaches

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Restorative practice in primary school | Kids' responsibility | Primary school discipline | TheSchoolRun

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Restorative practice in primary school | Kids' responsibility | Primary school discipline | TheSchoolRun

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At some point during their primary school years, all children - even the very best behaved - are likely to find themselves in hot water after committing some sort of misdemeanour.

How these incidents are handled will vary from school to school, and also within schools, depending on the severity of the behaviour.

And while many schools still use traditional punishments, such as keeping children in at breaktime or sending them to the headteacher, a growing number are adopting restorative practices to improve the behaviour choices of their pupils.

What are restorative practices?
Restorative practice is a set of principles and practice that encourages children to take responsibility for their behaviour by thinking through the causes and consequences.
'In a rules-led system, the tendency is for the teacher to tell the child what they've done wrong, and how they're going to pay for it - for instance, by sending them out of the classroom if they're disrupting the lesson,' says Chris Straker, a former headteacher and interim Chief Executive Officer of the Restorative Justice Council.

'The problem with this system is that children don't learn about the responsibility they had in that situation and how it affected other people, because an adult has intervened and told them what they've done wrong.'

Restorative practice, on the other hand, involves helping the child think through their behaviour, its consequences and what they can do to make it better.

' It's all about developing, maintaining and repairing relationships, building a community based around empathy and self-learning, where children take responsibility for their behaviour,' Chris says.

Primary school restorative practice in action

Restorative practices centre around a set of key questions that help children think about their behaviour and understand how they can correct it:

What happened?

What were you thinking and feeling at the time?

What have you thought about it since?

Who has been affected and in what way?

How could things have been done differently?

What do you think needs to happen to make things right?

For example, Max has hurt Sam in the playground. They sit down together with a teacher, who helps Max think through the above questions:

What happened? 'I tripped Sam up in the playground.'

What were you thinking and feeling at the time? 'I was angry because he laughed when I fell over playing football.'

What have you thought about it since? 'I'm still cross that he laughed but I feel bad that he got hurt.'

Who has been affected and in what way? 'Sam grazed his knees and it made him cry. He had to stop playing football because it hurt too much.'

How could things have been done differently? 'I could have told Sam that I was angry that he laughed at me and asked him not to. I could have walked away and found someone else to play with.'

What do you think needs to happen to make things right? 'I need to say sorry to Sam and try not to lose my temper next time.'

Sam is also asked the same set of questions. This helps him identify his part in what happened, and communicate how Max's actions affected him.
In another situation, Joanne was continually chatting and distracting the children on her table during a maths lesson. After the lesson, the teacher asks:

What happened? 'I was talking too much in maths.'

What were you thinking and feeling at the time? 'I was bored because I don't like maths.'

What have you thought about it since? 'I'm sorry I disturbed the class but I didn't understand the work.'

Who has been affected and in what way? 'I stopped my friends from doing their work and I made you [the teacher] cross because you had to keep stopping to tell me off.'

How could things have been done differently? 'I could have put my hand up and asked you to explain the problem to me.'

What do you think needs to happen to make things right? 'I need to say sorry and ask you to show me how to do the work.'

'Exactly what restorative practice looks like will depend on the children's age; for example, with very young children, teachers might use puppets to encourage them to talk about their feelings in a safe way,' says Chris.

'The important thing is that you're not pointing the finger of blame, so children don't get defensive.'

How schools use restorative practices

'Primary schools are a great context for restorative practices, with exercises like Circle Time where children can discuss incidents that have happened and the consequences they had,' says Chris.

Some schools have chosen to formalise restorative practices using the Restorative Thinking Toolkit, which is endorsed by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the Department of Health.

This involves six two-hour sessions, implemented over half a term, often in PSHE lessons.
It gives pupils the skills to manage conflicts, strengthen relationships, and take responsibility by developing empathy and emotional literacy.
'We even see Year 5 and 6 children acting as peer mediators and helping younger children work through playground conflicts, which is a great way to model restorative practices to the rest of the school,' Chris adds.

What are the benefits?

Restorative practices in schools have a number of proven benefits. Children show:

Improved positivity, resilience and responsibility-taking

Better behaviour management

Greater respect and courtesy towards teachers and each other

Increased empathy

An understanding of how to make wrongs right.

Schools that use restorative practices have also reported significant reductions in the number of detentions and exclusions.
Headteacher Diane Gallaher of St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School in Preston commented on how, following restorative practice training, the children in her school were putting their new skills to good use:

'I could hear a Year 6 child trying to sort out a tiff between two Year 1 children. She went through all the restorative questions... All sorted, no adult needed.'

The skills children learn in primary school are also transferable to life outside school, including within their families, and to secondary school and beyond.

Is there a place for 'traditional' methods of discipline?

Chris emphasises that restorative practices shouldn't be seen as a 'soft option.'

'We're not explaining away or excusing behaviour, but trying to stop repeat offending,' he says.

'Once we've encouraged children to take responsibility for their behaviour, it becomes a lot harder for them to repeat the harmful behaviour.'

Chris explains that traditional methods of discipline can also be counterproductive. 'If a child doesn't like maths, and they get sent out of the room every time they disrupt a maths lesson, there's no incentive for them to change their behaviour,' he says.

'They'd rather be outside in the corridor than taking part in the lesson.

'Restorative practice encourages them to think about what their problem is with maths, and what triggers the behaviour.'

Of course, schools do still need rules, and in some cases formal punishments are still necessary.
What matters is that the child who has caused harm and the child they harmed are given the space to hold a restorative conversation.
'This is so much more powerful than a simple "Sorry," and allows children to understand responsibility and develop empathy for others' feelings,' says Chris.

And in many cases, restorative practices lead to long-term and lasting improvements in behaviour and an improved culture of learning.

'Often, having to sit down and hear how your behaviour has affected someone else is much harder than being kept in at playtime, and leads to much more noticeable changes that can last a lifetime,' Chris says.

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Discipline in primary schools: restorative practices

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At some point during their primary school years, all children - even the very best behaved - are likely to find themselves in hot water after committing some sort of misdemeanour. How these incidents are handled will vary from school to school, and also within schools, depending on the severity of the behaviour.

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Getting to Know Students Deeply | Edutopia

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Getting to Know Students Deeply | Edutopia

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Teachers can improve outcomes and build equity in the classroom by listening closely to their students. Here are six ways to do that.

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Amy Cuddy: Your body language may shape who you are | TED Talk

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Amy Cuddy: Your body language may shape who you are | TED Talk

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Please [contact us](https://www.ted.com/contact) and let us know what happened.

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6 Strategies For Getting To Know Your Students

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6 Strategies For Getting To Know Your Students

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The First 6 Weeks: Strategies For Getting To Know Your Students

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The better we know our students, and the more they know and trust that we know them, the more invested they become in their learning.

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A good article covering some tips from teachers to limit stress. Some strategies will be relevant, some will not. What do you think about shaking hands with each child as they come in? Another strategy one teacher uses is to have their best performing students, in a particular area, help the struggling children. I wasn't sure as to the impact this would have on those struggling in terms of how this would be viewed by their classmates but after some discussion with other PGDE students, they've heard good things. Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this?

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'I feel completely in control': stress-busting teaching strategies for 2018

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We asked teachers for the tried and tested tricks that have dramatically improved their time at school and at home

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Two options:
1. Using a small beanbag, ask the class teacher to throw it to you (softly). When you catch it, you state your name (Mr/Mrs etc.) and something about you. This could be a hobby, interest or a fact. You then throw the beanbag to one of the children and they follow the same idea. One option from here is for them to throw it back to you, providing you with the opportunity to ask them a question about their interest. You then throw it to the next child. Or you could ask the first child to throw it to their classmate and continue process until all children have had their turn. Might be tricky to remember all their info!

2. Second idea is to prepare a drawing, Plasticine model, Lego model etc. of one of your hobbies. (Example, for me, I could draw me playing football). I then have it ready for when the children come into class along with my name on the board. I introduce myself and show my drawing. With each of the children sitting in their seats they are given a post it note and asked to write their name and stick to table. They can then draw/sculpt/build their own hobby. I will walk around chatting to each of them about their interest and introducing myself individually. I would also be taking notes at the same time.

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Our group thought fact files of each pupil was a good way of getting to know the class.
Small books would be made by each child and they would be asked to fill it with interesting facts about themselves or drawings describing themselves or the things they love. Anything they want really.
Prompt questions might be useful to help get them started

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Our group thought this would give them a hook and get them thinking.

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Our group thought this would give them a hook and get them thinking.

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Rogers, B., (2006) Cracking the hard class : strategies for managing the harder than average class 2nd ed., London: Paul Chapman.

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Rogers, B., (2006) Cracking the hard class : strategies for managing the harder than average class 2nd ed., London: Paul Chapman.

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Rogers, B., (2007) Behaviour management : a whole-school approach 2nd ed., London: Paul Chapman.

Cowley, S. (2013) The Seven C's of Positive Behaviour Management. London: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Hook, P, & Vass, A (2011) Behaviour Management Pocketbook : 2nd Edition, Management Pocketbooks, Alresford. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.

MacGrath, M. (2013) Art of Teaching Peacefully: Improving Behavior and Reducing Conflict in the Classroom. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.

Porter, L. (2007) Behaviour in Schools: Theory and Practice for Teachers, 2nd edn. Maidenhead: OUP

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Lesson Plan  - 1st Lesson - Get to know your class

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An example from group 1

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Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion | TED Talk

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Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion | TED Talk

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Rita Pierson: Every kid needs a champion

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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like.'" A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

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Start with a photograph of yourself at the age the children in your class are and get them to figure out who it is and how we change. Then place 2 pictures of ears, 2 pictures of mouths and 2 pictures of eyes on  a dice. If the dice lands on an ear the child can mime something about themselves. Mouth describe something and eyes draw something. This could be done by the child themselves or by a partner to the rest of the group

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Behaviour in Scottish schools: 2016 research - gov.scot

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Behaviour in Scottish schools: 2016 research - gov.scot

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Behaviour in Scottish schools: 2016 research - gov.scot

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This report is from the fourth (2016) wave of behaviour in Scottish schools research, first undertaken in 2006.

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15 of the Best Behaviour Management Strategies and Ideas for Early Years

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15 of the Best Behaviour Management Strategies and Ideas for Early Years

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We've rounded up a selection of expert opinion pieces and advice articles to help your nursery run smoothly and let all children get on with learning and having fun...

Added: 05th September 2018

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15 of the Best Behaviour Management Strategies and Ideas for Early Years

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We've rounded up a selection of expert opinion pieces and advice articles to help your nursery run smoothly and let all children get on with learning and having fun... Added: 05th September 2018

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Pivotal Pillars Playlist - The Early Years - PP211 - Pivotal Education

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Pivotal Pillars Playlist - The Early Years - PP211 - Pivotal Education

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Ollie Frith guides us through some of the earliest episodes of the podcast which cover aspects of the Five Pillars of Pivotal Practice:

1. Consistent, calm adult behaviour

2. First attention to best conduct

3. Relentless routines

4. Scripted interventions

5. Restorative follow up

The episodes he refers to are:
Restorative Practice - PP3 Scripted Behaviour Interventions - PP10 Managing Your Own Behaviour - PP12 Rules, Routines and Rituals - PP25
We also mention the audio book version of Paul Dix' book as our Tweet of the Week:

Today we are very excited to launch the audiobook for #AdultsChange, narrated by @pauldixtweets and available exclusively from our website! https://t.co/mpXHeBh4Wd pic.twitter.com/Px1SveYNQs

- Crown House Publishing (@CrownHousePub) November 12, 2018

Pivotal Pillars Playlist - The Early Years - PP211 was last modified: by

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Pivotal Pillars Playlist - The Early Years - PP211 - Pivotal Education

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Ollie Frith guides us through some of the earliest episodes of the podcast which cover aspects of the Five Pillars of Pivotal Practice: Consistent, calm adult behaviour First attention to best conduct Relentless routines Scripted interventions Restorative follow up The episodes he refers to are: Restorative Practice - PP3 Scripted Behaviour Interventions - PP10 Managing ...

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Identifying the behaviour I expect at the beginning of the lesson. Making it clear what the rules are and ensuring everyone understands them.

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- Praising pupils for following instructions and good behaviour; - Encouraging pupils to get started on a task using positive language and tone of voice; -Making expectations clear at the beginning of the lesson; - If pupils are not following instructions, asking them to stop and to remind you what the expectations are.

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Getting to know the children and what levels they worked at really helped. I was able to to give them work at a level that would keep them engaged. This helped hugely with behaviour management

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Getting to know the children and what levels they worked at really helped. I was able to to give them work at a level that would keep them engaged. This helped hugely with behaviour management

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Getting to know the children and what levels they worked at really helped. I was able to to give them work at a level that would keep them engaged. This helped hugely with behaviour management. Being able to complete the work gave them a sense of achievement and this positive attitude could be seen in other work that they did.

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Using different techniques to quieten the class. Favorite was standing next to a table and saying quietly "touch your chin if u can hear me. Touch your head if u can hear me. Clap one if you can hear me!" Can take a min but got the class to the silence I was after

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Using different techniques to quieten the class. Favorite was standing next to a table and saying quietly "touch your chin if u can hear me. Touch your head if u can hear me. Clap one if you can hear me!" Can take a min but got the class to the silence I was after

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Informing the class of acceptable noise levels at the start of the lesson. Noise levels you expect and will allow

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Informing the class of acceptable noise levels at the start of the lesson. Noise levels you expect and will allow

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Using positive behaviour strategies like naming pupils who were ready and using embellished countdowns

Waiting for silence rather than talking over any pupils.

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Following guidance I had been using the children’s names to ‘bring them back’ when I could see their focus was drifting however my mentor pointed out that they are hearing their names but not knowing what I wanted from them. She described it as being like training a puppy where you keep saying it’s name but not telling it what to do which then confused it so when I noticed a child was not focussed I would use their name, quickly followed by what I expected from them.

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- Getting to know the pupils quickly really helped behaviour management. Finding mutual ground between me and the pupils.

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- Getting to know the pupils quickly really helped behaviour management. Finding mutual ground between me and the pupils.

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- Using pupil names to bring back  focus from that pupil.
- Using a looks like/sounds like/feels like board to set out expectations at the start of the session

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I was really lucky with the class I was part of when we were in the classroom. The gym hall was a totally different thing however, they went feral! To combat this at the start of every gym session we went over the rules and why they were important (to be safe, to keep each other safe, to get the most out of the time) and what the consequences of breaking these rules were. I used a ‘benching’ technique, where children who broke the rules were asked to sit on the bench with the timer for two minutes, with their backs to the class, and they lost a house point. This was effective as no one wanted to miss out or have their house points docked! The kids started to self police this routine after the first two sessions which made my life easier!

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Tactical ignoring of secondary disruptive behaviours.
Take up time for children who lose focus easily.
Using 'thank you' instead of please when asking a child to do something.
Acknowledgement of good behaviour instead of focusing on the bad or disruptive behaviour.
Positive reinforcement when children worked hard -high fives.

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Paul Dix, When adults change everything changes.

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Paul Dix, When adults change everything changes.

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Most of my posts are about teaching strategies, the curriculum or the odd political rant. I have written very little on the subject of behaviour management. I considered why and decided that as I began my blog, as a teacher of nearly a decade, in a good school, with good behaviour systems (note all good schools invariably have good behaviour management systems at their heart), I wrote about what I was interested in. I therefore took the topic of behaviour management for granted. The problem is that lots of teachers and school leaders take the issue for granted when it remains a critical matter that can cloud the working day for too many teachers.

This week we have seen the release of the OFSTED summative report of the year. Whilst their data and judgments are clearly imperfect, they recognise the significant problem of low level misbehaviour in schools. OFSTED figures suggest that as many as 700,000 pupils attend schools where behaviour needs to improve. Regardless of the accuracy of that figure, to suggest behaviour isn't a prominent issue for teachers would be to sweep it under the carpet. This is one of the main problems with the whole subject of misbehaviour and behaviour management. As my colleague, Helen Day, stated when we discussed this blog: "It is ok to come out as struggling with differentiation, but to be seen to do the same for behaviour management would be interpreted as weak." Helen can confidently talk about the issue knowing she has few problems, but many people bury the issue and are driven by fear. We need to recognise the reality and support one another.

This post is therefore for teachers like my teacherly self of only a few years ago whose daily practice was characterised not by confident teaching, but by gaining consistent control in the classroom. It is also for the teachers who, like me, struggled for longer than they would care to admit with troublesome students. It is for teachers who are struggling within a school that has ineffective behaviour management systems. It is for teachers, regardless of status and experience, who will likely have a euphemistically titled 'tricky class' or more in the future.

In my fourth year of teaching I had such a 'tricky class' for their English GCSE. I toiled daily with every bit of knowledge I had accrued in my relatively short career to keep them onside and to have them show some vague appetite for learning. It was a war of attrition and based on their GCSE grades nobody won. I have forgotten that class in an act of kindness to myself; however, they taught me a great deal about managing student behaviour. I likely learnt as much from them than they did from me. For those who have yet to experience such a trial, or who are stuck in the mire with such a group, hopefully these tips are of some use to you.

1. Meet them at the pass. Students are incredibly quick in forming judgements about teachers. If you have read Daniel Kahneman's ' Thinking Fast and Slow ', or have simply taught any truculent teens lately, you will know that their minds work with such quick, automatic responses that can change with the flicker of a computer screen. This means all the small details of meeting them at the classroom door matter. Positive, open gestures, direct eye contact, smiles and assertive body language all matter. Be at the doorway - even when you are desperate to set up the computer or whatever else - be at the doorway. You can meet and greet your students with defiant optimism! Subtly assert your authority over the classroom by confidently allocating jobs: 'lower the blind'; 'move the chairs'; 'hand out the books' and so on. Move about the room and get them working pronto: shift bags and sweep around the room with unstinting confidence. Before they know what has hit them they can be learning stuff.

Here is a useful short video by behaviour guru Bill Rodgers on settling the class here.

2. Confident leadership (and faking it if necessary). Every group needs a leader. If the teacher doesn't lead then students will quickly fill the void. Your tone and body language matter. Any teacher who strains to shout has invariably lost the leadership of the group. Calm discipline is most effective. A calm, deep and sonorous voice conveys control. Like the proverbial stillness in the eye of the storm, responding with assertive equanimity brings true command. Move about the room plotting a confident path that can manage the little details that matter. Create your own consistent path around the room: tread those boards consistently. Great teachers seamlessly weave their way around the room diffusing low level misbehaviour before it even happens. Jedi-like, with a tap of a hand they stop the budding pen drummer, or with a quick, severe look students are set back on back on track.

3. Sweat the little details. We all have tired, interminable days when the merest effort of dealing with a difficult student fills you with dread and loathing. Those days are when we need to sweat the detail. We need to follow through with every sanction. If we are challenged in the corridor we need to follow it through. A missed homework - follow it through. You get the picture. Stop the snowball of misbehaviour at the source. Maybe letting some small, seemingly insignificant misbehaviour - a rude comment or a missed homework - go would be the path of least resistance. But beware - seeds are sown in the collective consciousness of a group. On the long, dead days teacher reputations are grown by sweating the details.

4. One rule to rule them all. No-one speaks whilst the teacher is speaking. When a student is speaking the same rule applies. To everyone. No compromises. No let up or allowance for low level chatter or the smallest of distractions should be accepted. You may have to teach them his over and over, but it is the one rule that you cannot compromise on.

5. Silence is golden. In an age of OFSTED-appeasement, many teachers are made to feel guilty if students aren't always wholly 'engaged' at every moment - or in OFSTED-speak - exhibiting a "thirst for knowledge". Only, the fundamental error is that students don't necessarily have to be talking or moving to be ' engaged'. Think about the last time you were rapt, or in awe. There is a good chance you were sitting and listening to someone, some music or watching something deeply moving. Our brains can be buzzing with activity as we sit and listen. We are not passive, we are just not moving much! The same is true of the classroom. Too easily ' mental engagement' is often mischaracterised as ' physical activity ' and it does not represent real learning. Students need not be silent throughout the lesson. Debate, drama and talk are all integral to learning and consolidating their knowledge. I am saying that we should consider in every lesson where are those spots to time when students will work in tranquil, golden silence. Let's make every effort to build their capacity to work in those conditions.

6. Make good behaviour visible. When dealing with students, particularly our most challenging cherubs, we too easily forget those quiet, more introverted students who plough on regardless of distraction. These quiet heroes not only need praise for their commitment, but they can play a crucial role in improving the behaviour of everybody in the group. Put simply, praise those modelling good behaviours more than students exhibiting bad behaviours. Celebrate the quiet heroes. We all know them - let's make them as important as the class clown. When we leap to chivvy a slow starter, we can praise the student already rolling.

7. Avoid conditional language. The small details of our language and instructions have a potent impact. Clumsy, vague instructions can beget misbehaviour and distractions of our own making. To combat this we can each develop our own shorthand language. Those phrases that signal to students a whole list of responses in just a single word or phrase. For me, ' active listening' is a key trigger phrase. It means ' put your pens down, look this way, don't have anything in your hands, stop speaking and listen'. Only ' active listening' is much more concise and more effective! We should not fear being assertive with our language. We shouldn't use ' can we all be quiet please? ' - when we can use ''. Less polite in the short term perhaps, but it does not signal any disregard for our students. We want them learning - that shows our highest regard. What are your shorthand verbal triggers? Don't have any? Develop some.

8. Teach them to listen, communicate and behave. Every teacher should have the highest expectations of students. It should be at our core as professionals. Too often, however, we forget that our expert assumptions about how we and others should behave isn't so automatic for many of our young students. Ask yourself: have you shared your expectations with the group? Do they understand how to listen actively? Do they know and understand how they should speak to one another? In group work activities, what are the parameters of their role? They need training in how to learn. Don't assume students know exactly ' how' they should behave. Make the implicit explicit. Spend some time establishing the ground rules: you could involve them by getting them to create an ' ideal student '. Give this character a name and refer back to that character with ceaseless consistency. They will actively forget. Teach them to listen again!

9. The Three Rs: Rigorous, relentless routines. I have talked little about teaching strategies and how important behaviour for learning is in reality. We of course need to develop learning routines. Take asking questions when they are stuck. We need a routine to stop the chaos of shouting out indiscriminately. Expect them to write down questions on a post it, rather than shouting across the room for help and support. Build that strategy up as a regular routine - train your students. If they shout out answers when you are conducting oral feedback then train them in the ABC feedback routine ( Agree with; Build upon; Challenge) whereat feedback is accepted, but in a structured, routine fashion. Students love routines. Repeated teaching strategies help students feel secure. Following through on routines (like checking rigorously for homework) also makes students value their learning more. Ask yourself: what are my routines?

10. Relationships matter. Behaviour management is about routine and establishing control. This doesn't equate with not valuing students. We create calmness and control because we value our students more than anything. No one individual student has a right to detract from the learning of others. When we establish firm parameters and high expectations we can focus upon developing great relationships. We can laugh and joke and digress knowing that we are in a position of calm safety. Ignore the tired cliche of not smiling before Christmas, but you don't need to be their friend either. That is not your role. You want to command their respect as a leader. Friendliness, warmth and unmitigated regard can indeed develop. Crucially, a trusting, positive relationship can follow once you have taken a confident, assertive lead.
Further reading:
Try Tom Sherrington's great behaviour management top ten here.

This compendium of Tom Bennett's behaviour articles and resources is brilliant - see here.

For more videos from Bill Rodgers try here.

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Most of my posts are about teaching strategies, the curriculum or the odd political rant. I have written very little on the subject of behaviour management. I considered why and decided that as I began my blog, as a teacher of nearly a decade, in a good school, with good behaviour systems (note all good schools invariably have good behaviour management systems at their heart), I wrote about what I was interested in.

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I found that working closely and collaboratively with PSA Staff  to be extremely beneficial as the placement went on. If my PSA was to request a certain expectation then it worked well if I, as the class teacher, reiterated this to the pupil(s). The pupil(s) then responded better and would usually cooperate when this joint approach was used.

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The Pivotal Approach to Behaviour Management - Pivotal Education

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The Pivotal Approach to Behaviour Management - Pivotal Education

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Here's a message for you to share with parents
Pivotal start with the behaviour of adults. We shape it to reach a level of consistency that most will never have experienced. We create a platform for change based around the one behaviour we can control absolutely .....our own.

Therefore we believe all adults must be fully engaged in managing and modifying behaviour. As a result everybody is trained to an exceptionally high standard so around the site, as a result nobody walks past.

Also the behaviour management of individual teachers is rapidly up-skilled in leading edge classroom practice that eradicates low level disruption and refocuses everyone on the learning. Ultimately there is a huge shift in expectations in every classroom and from every adult.

Pivotal work with Senior Teams, Teachers and all adults to dramatically slim down policy and procedures.

Evidence based practice ripples through our curriculum and informs classroom practice as well as interventions for the most vulnerable learners.

Humiliation in any form plays no part in the Pivotal approach. Learners are respected, regardless of their behaviour. Therefore adult behaviour will never be compromised by learner behaviour. Adults strip out all negative emotion/response when dealing with challenging behaviour.

Recognition replaces reward. The Pivotal focus is on pride not prizes. Recognition systems are not individual but collective. Learners are interdependent.

Our programmes are shaped around the 95% of learners who arrive every day keen to learn and eager to please. The silent majority.

We don't believe the 5% of the most troubled learners are 'behaviour problems'; they need a different approach. One that is not based on a set of increasingly large sanctions.

Learners are never able to 'power play' with adults. There is no 'them and us' culture. Universal micro scripts are used to intervene with poor behaviour.

Learners are never passed up the hierarchy. We have innovative approaches to ensure teachers at the classroom level remain in charge of the incident.

The Pivotal Approach can help reduce detentions, segregation rooms, physical restraints or punitive punishments. Therefore adults and learners have structured restorative conversations.

the impact of the programmes on teachers with regards to Behaviour Management, learners . Our focus is on tracking and increasing learning hours for all learners. Additionally data to drive cultural change. As a result everyone can see the impact that their efforts are making.

The Pivotal Approach to Behaviour Management was last modified: by

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The Pivotal Approach to Behaviour Management - Pivotal Education

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Here's a message for you to share with parents Pivotal start with the behaviour of adults. We shape it to reach a level of consistency that most will never have experienced. We create a platform for change based around the one behaviour we can control absolutely .....our own.

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Behaviour management top tips | Education Support Partnership

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Disruptive pupil behaviour is a frustration for many teachers. In fact, 70% of teachers told us they had considered quitting the profession over poor behaviour. (Teacher Support Network and Family Lives Behaviour survey 2010)

Poor behaviour is a barrier to learning and can easily threaten the health and wellbeing of teachers. On top of other pressures that can occur, the result is lost teaching days, unhappy teachers and failing students.

Our top tips outline four basic approaches found to improve classroom behaviour:
1. Rules and procedures
Classrooms become more orderly places when rules are clearly stated and perform even better when rules have been negotiated, discussed and justified.

Here are 10 steps to improving rules and procedures:

Create rules and express them positively. It shouldn't just be a list of don'ts

Justify rules and rehearse them! "because I say so" is not a persuasive justification

Discuss rules with the class. Explain their purpose, i.e. to improve learning

Negotiate with the pupils to get commitment. Ask for suggestions and remember to justify and compromise. Make posters and get them to sign up!

Regularly review the rules together

Encourage pupils to devise rules and take ownership of them

Remind pupils of any relevant rules before a potentially disruptive activity or if you are aware of "something brewing". This kind of response can drastically reduce inappropriate behaviour

Encourage and develop team working (team rules for success)

Regularly get pupils to self-assess their own behaviour set against the rules.

Link the rules to the five broad areas of low level disruption

2. Teacher-pupil/student relationships
Think about the style of relationship you have with your pupils or students. Your relationship will, of course, depend on the class or group, but a balance between a dominant and cooperative style is regarded as the most effective way to improve classroom management.
How do you increase your dominance and assertiveness?
Dominance and assertiveness is about effective leadership, having a clear path to learning goals and good behaviour, pursued with vigour and enthusiasm. It should also be pupil - or student - centred. Here are a number of tips to increase dominance and assertiveness in the classroom:
For the class or group

Negotiate ground rules

Set goals and assessment criteria

Set learning objectives

Set specific behaviour objectives

For you

Be authoritative - in your speech and in your body language

Fake it until you make it - be absolutely confident and in control even if you don't feel it

Get out of the habit of sitting behind the desk

Try the PEP approach:

Proximity: Walk around the classroom, stand by a pupil that may be about to misbehave. Stand a "little too close for comfort" but don't invade personal space. A difficult judgement sometimes. You don't want to come over as aggressive or intimidating.

Eye contact: holding eye contact expresses dominance. What you say will be taken more seriously if you can maintain eye contact before, during and after speaking.

Posing questions: rather than telling a pupil off, pose a question, such as "Why have you not started your work?

These actions are often more effective and far less exhausting than getting angry or shouting and will make you appear in control (even if you do not feel it).
How do you increase cooperation and collaboration?
We all know how challenging it can be to cooperative with badly behaved pupils. How many times have we or our colleagues talked about that class or that year group.

Sometimes a cycle can develop between the teacher and the students that makes things even worse: the pupils misbehave more, you dislike them more, you are less positive and friendly, they dislike you and your classes more, they disrupt more and so it goes on. The cycle needs to be broken.

The next time you have a class with a particularly difficult student or a challenging group, why not try the following:

First try focusing on putting negotiated and clear rules in place. This will often require a great deal of emotional generosity and patience or restraint! The main aims are to be more positive, friendly and fair.

Then:

1. Meet and greet pupils by the door. Get off to a good start.

2. Catch them doing the right thing and comment positively in private. A lot of inappropriate behaviour is attention seeking.

3. Give the pupil in "intensive care". Smile, use their name positively, ask for their opinion, make a point at looking at their work, comment favourably about genuine effort or achievement. Talk to them, be patient and helpful, have high expectations and keep calm. Show that you value them. But don't overdo it! Be fair, use this approach with your well-behaved pupils as well.

4. Learn their names. This is especially valuable when you are new to a school.

5. Engage pupils in an informal way. Let them know you don't just see them as pupils but as individuals with interests, hobbies, and lives outside of school.

6. Use eye contact and proximity.

7. Collaborate and problem solve together. What's the problem here? What can we do about this?

8. Build team and group work.

9. Have high expectations and let them know what those are.

10. Develop flexible responses and teaching styles.

11. Give responsibilities to particular pupils.

12. Avoid sarcasm. What you might think is light may be damaging your teacher-pupil relationship.

13. Check for understanding, reinforce learning goals and expectations.

14. Be a good role model for your pupils by acting in the way that you want them to behave.
3. Disciplinary interventions

Think back again to how you respond to inappropriate behaviour in the classroom.

Are you reactive?

Do you wait for problems to happen and then respond?

Are you consistent?

Are you fair?

A proactive approach to improving behaviour is usually much more effective. Remember managing behaviour is not just about responding to inappropriate behaviour. It is about creating conditions that encourage positive actions.

Try the following approaches:

remind pupils of the rules before activities take place

reinforce appropriate behaviour. Use tokens and symbols which can be used for privileges

encourage pupils and students to self-assess their behaviour and award themselves appropriate tokens/points

use individual, group and whole class rewards. To receive these, there needs to be very clear success criteria

mild punishments: what's important is the consistency and fairness of the punishment. Its success is also dependent on the assertiveness in which it is given. It means being firm, unemotional, unapologetic and confident. It does not mean being hostile or aggressive

In our 2010 behaviour survey over 60% of respondents said that additional training for teachers on challenging behaviour and using restraint and search powers were essential to improving pupil behaviour.
4. Mental set
Although, you are not solely responsible for improving pupil behaviour improving your attitude to classroom management can have dramatic effects. There are two parts to this:
Knowledge
This 'with-it-ness, a term first used by educational theorist Kounin in the 1970s, means an awareness of what is going on in all areas of your classroom and having a quick response to actual and possible disruptions. It's a "nip in the bud" approach that stops inappropriate behaviour spreading.

Think about how you will respond to disruption and not letting your emotions lead the way.
With-it-ness strategies

Invest time getting to know your classroom and pupils

Understand the physical, social and psychological settings that you and your pupils and students find yourselves

Find out where the "hot spots" are. Run a behaviour audit or make this part of classroom observation

Position yourself so you can scan regularly and make eye contact with as many of the class as you can

Intervene promptly. Make your pupils know straight away, or even before it happens that their disruptive behaviour will not be tolerated

Combine eye contact and proximity approaches as mentioned earlier. Early identification and intervention is an essential factor in successful behaviour management

Use of names combined with eye contact and a sharp tone

Use a silent and still approach. Stop what you are doing and remain silent. Maintain eye contact until you get the response you want, then continue

Non- verbal reminders and commands. These are quite traditional but are still effective e.g. finger to lips to ask for silence, standing straight with hands on hips to signal displeasure, clicking fingers to signal "stop it".

Be organised. Prepare your classroom and have materials ready!

Use reminders and warnings about rules before an activity

Walk about with plenty of eye contact

For more information, please download our full guide to Managing Pupil Behaviour.
Seek support
You do not need to suffer inappropriate behaviour alone. You can get support from within your school or college and outside of the workplace, but it is important to recognise your own feelings. Talk things over with a friend, family or colleague, your union or contact our 24/7 confidential helpline.

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Disruptive pupil behaviour is a frustration for many teachers. In fact, 70% of teachers told us they had considered quitting the profession over poor behaviour. (Teacher Support Network and Family Lives Behaviour survey 2010) Poor behaviour is a barrier to learning and can easily threaten the health and wellbeing of teachers.