Classroom Behaviour: A Practical Guide To Effective Teaching, Behaviour Management And Colleague Support

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What we actually say in discipline contexts has a direct bearing on children’s awareness of their behaviour and the likelihood that they will co-operate with us (Rogers, 2011). The following examples, drawn from my work as a mentor teacher, illustrate how we can use discipline language in a way that seeks to: BR: It is important to make it explicit, even with secondary students to explicitly explore with them in that critical first meeting what the right to feel safe involves. In a sense, the right to feel safe and the right to learn and the right to fundamental respect and fair treatment, those rights are not negotiable. You don’t begin the year by saying to older children or even upper primary children ‘what rights do you think you have?’. You begin by coming from those rights and discussing within those rights what a safe environment looks, sounds and feels like; what a respectful environment looks, sounds and feels like; and what it feels and sounds like to have a learning environment where we support one another – and that includes everything from noise level to reasonable sharing during class discussion and even allowing healthy disagreement. But also pointing out that in class discussions that disagreement has to be conducted respectfully so that if you disagree with one another about something we’re sharing you give reasons for that, you don’t simply mouth off at another student because you disagree with them. Some teachers struggle with this one, but it is one of the most potent behaviour management techniques you could use.

When we give a direction to a student it is important to focus our language on the expected behaviour. For example, consider a scenario in which several students are calling out in whole-class teaching time and the teacher says, “Don’t call out please!” This only tells the class/individual what we don’t want them to do. Some teachers will also use the pointless interrogative, such as “Why are you calling out?” Or, equally unhelpful, “Are you calling out, Travis?!” Two students who are supposed to be working silently are chatting. When you instruct them to work silently they respond by complaining, stating that they are not the only ones talking. Ignore their statement, restate your instruction and move away. So, we begin with the right and then look at the basic behaviours that ought to express that right in an age appropriate way. If a student hasn’t got a pen in the first few lessons, I provide him with what he needs. If after several lessons it’s clear this is more than forgetfulness, we will need to work with the student on a one-to-one plan to enable his responsibility (see Rogers, 2011). In the classroom itself we never argue about why a student hasn’t got the necessary equipment. During the last inter-term break, a group of over 200 educators from four different schools (Australian Christian College Marsden Park, Australian Christian College Singleton, Medowie Christian School, and Brightwaters Christian School), each operated in NSW by Christian Education Ministries, gathered at the Waterview Conference Centre at Homebush to learn together the 'why' and the 'how' of leading for behaviour management from the world-recognised expert, Dr Bill Rogers.And lastly, of course, our leadership is coming across by default or by design and we try to establish that leadership consciously and with an awareness that we’re beginning a journey with our students. So, the quality of our leadership is essential to think about in that establishment phase as well. In this Third Edition of his bestselling book, Bill Rogers looks at the issues facing teachers working in today's classrooms. Describing real situations and dilemmas, he offers advice on dealing with the challenges of the job, and how building up a rapport with both students and colleagues can support good practice.

Be an Assertive teacher: This teacher expects compliance but refuses to rely on power or role status to gain respect. The teacher plans for discipline, uses clear, firm direction and correction, but acts respectfully, keeping the aims of discipline clearly in mind. BR: You’re most welcome and I wish my colleagues all the best for a fresh new year with their students. Whoever happens to listen to this and read, I wish you all the best for your teaching journey this year. Marzano has states outcomes for teachers through reading The Art and Science of Teachingand these are: Following the full day program, school leaders also report that their staff group are taking their own initiative in staff meetings to support each other in adopting common language and strategies, and for revisiting and reviewing their own practice against the recommendations they all heard together from Dr Rogers.Do we actually want to know ‘why’ a student is being attentional, distracting or disruptive? Even if they could tell us, would it help? After all, infants often don’t know ‘why’. When we use an interrogative form of question like this (“Why?” or “Are you…?”) it can breed incipient annoyance, potential conflict or it can easily invite the student to fabricate ‘the truth’, particularly with older students.

James, you can go next door to work with Mr Anderson or you can work sensibly with Andy as I’ve asked. This is probably the Bill-based-belief that many teachers find it hardest to embody. From our own school days we are used to getting pulled up for these such transgressions ourselves, so it seems only natural to try to clamp down on ‘disrespectful' behaviour in our own classrooms. It has helped me to consider the fact that, just as it's hard for us to implement these new behaviour leadership techniques (as we are trying to overwrite our natural impulses much of the time), so is it difficult for our teenage students to overcome their conditioned response of an eye roll or huff and puff. These behaviour leadership techniques could be thought of as similar to a martial art, something that we need to practice the fundamentals of over and over again so as to ensure that the above techniques become reactions that are embodied and ingrained to the point of automaticity (a process that Josh Waitzkin writes inspiringly about). After watching Bill Rogers, I found myself saying ‘thanks’ all the time.. and it makes a difference. He has written a number of books on behaviour management, discipline, colleague support, and teacher stress. Bill Rogers has a strong line on teachers being able to model the behaviour they expect. This includes not wanting the last word. Partial Agreement is an essential strategy for avoiding or resolving conflict. It means teachers not trying to have the last word, or asserting their power in a situation when a student disputes their judgement.I mean, right from day one the more distracting and disruptive students who tend to be attentionally insecure do need a fair bit of guidance from their teachers about their behaviour, both in the public sphere of the classroom itself and also following up with students one-to-one who’ve been particularly difficult in those first few lessons. And again, there’s plenty of very clear research that effective and positive teachers follow up with students one-to-one away from their audience, where they’re able to have those behaviour conversations respectfully about the way in which that student has affected the rights of others in the room. And it might even be on the first few days that the teacher will be following up with one or two students who are the more attentionally insecure students. That balance between the public behaviour leadership and the private behaviour conversations are crucial in those first few weeks. Even that is part of building relationships with those more challenging students. This approach raises a student's behavioural awareness but also makes your expectations clear and provides an opportunity to reinforce them. The theories and models for behaviour management that have been popular throughout the years and are effective in many different scenarios are: Bill Rogers has a strong line on teachers being able to model the behaviour they expect. This includes not wanting the last word. Partial Agreement is an essential strategy for avoiding or resolving conflict. It means teachers not trying to have the last word, or asserting their power in a situation when a student disputes their judgement. The 10 questions to ask when planning a unit of instruction from The Art and Science of Teachingare:

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. To nip such an interchange in the bud, Bill suggests partial aggreement (PA) through a sentence starting with ‘Even if…'. Students are in the bubble of their own a lot of the time. Just because you start talking, doesn’t mean they hear you. Make a deliberate pause between gaining a student’s attention and a direction to ensure they have had sufficient ‘take up’ time. Eg. “Michael pause…David…pause…could you face this way and listen, thanks”. Written jargon-free in Bill's accessible and empathetic voice it includes in-depth strategies, practical examples, case studies and pragmatic hints and tips to put in to practice. This will make for informative and inspiring reading to all thoseinvolved in educating our children and young people. 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.

JE: That’s fantastic, it’s been brilliant speaking to you today – thank you for your time and have a successful 2017. It would be great to catch up with you again at some point during the year, but in the meantime, Bill Rogers thanks very much for sharing your expertise with Teacher. Challenging behaviour refers to the behaviours that are considered as unacceptable in the environment they occur in. Within an educational environment, challenging behaviour is commonly considered to be the actions of an individual or group that endanger or harm the students or others and interfere with the students' academic success (Hyde, Carpenter & Conway, 2010). In The Art and Science of Teaching, these questions are broken up to chapters of the book to provide the most knowledge in each of the sections and further enhance knowledge.