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Working with an Inconsistent Teacher; The Radar

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:27:00 +0100

First published in Teach Primary Magazine in April 2008.

Many LSAs have the experience of working in a classroom where the lead teacher is inconsistent or has poor behaviour management skills. In this case it is important that you establish your radar with the students who are sitting nearby. As children arrive inform them that if they choose to sit close to your working area they will be within your radar; you will be catching them behaving well as well as managing any poor choices in behaviour. For younger children you might place a red ‘RADAR' card on the desks in the area that you are using. Explain to the pupils that in order for you to work properly you need them to follow the rules in this area of the classroom. These may be the same as the classroom rules or in classrooms that have no obvious rules you can establish your own. With your radar established you can maintain consistency without conflict with the class teacher. The fringe benefit is that as students realise that you are monitoring their behaviour carefully those who might wish to disrupt will choose to sit further away. Enforce your radar consistently and in time you will establish an oasis of calm in classrooms where a storm is raging.

Language and the Art of Positive Manipulation: Take Control

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:53:00 +0100

First published in Teach Primary Magazine in April 2008.

Manipulation is not a dirty word! It is at the heart of successful behaviour management. Gentle, positive, kind but still manipulation. Guiding children towards appropriate behaviour and using your craft to discourage argument is PMS (Professional Manipulative Skill)

As children grow older and realise what you are doing the manipulation becomes more subtle. At times it can be laced with the expectation of reward. While most younger children will accept ‘Mrs Williams needs your help ' without question, a similar request to a worldly year 5 is treated with some suspicion, ‘So you want me to go where? To see who? For what? And you will give me what?. Mmm, can I get back to you on that one'.

Positive manipulation is more immediately effective with the majority of children. Those who expect not to find themselves following the rules. It is the children who come to you with low self image and an expectation that they will cross the lines of acceptable behaviour where your manipulative craft is really tested.

Disconnecting their behaviour with your emotion is a useful first step. Instead of ‘You are making me angry', or ‘If someone else asks to go to the toilet I am going to scream!' leave your emotional response for when you catch them doing the right thing. Teachers who wear their emotional triggers on their sleeve can end up passing control of their emotion over to a 6 year old. Behaviour should also remain disconnected with identity to ensure that your message is not confused. ‘I like you, I don't like your behaviour today' makes it clear to children that there are appropriate and inappropriate behaviours and not appropriate and inappropriate people. Tell a child that he is naughty often enough and he will believe it. Tell a child he is clever/kind/helpful/thoughtful and in time he will believe in himself.

With children who have a limiting self belief your relentless pursuit of their positive attributes can make the difference between an ok day and pandemonium. ‘Wait, wait, where are my stickers, I can feel this is going to be an excellent lesson''. Your certainty chips away at their negative assumptions and inappropriate habits. Used deliberately, day after day with hard to reach children you can interrupt the negative internal monologue that others have allowed to develop.‘You don't look like the kind of person who would take a phone out in class' is a more intelligent approach than ‘Why oh why have you got your phone out again etc...?' In more tense situations it is this assumption of good character that can help guide children away from inappropriate behaviour, ‘Clive, you have made some poor choices today (cutting Sarah's hair being just one of them) I know that you can be very helpful at tidying up, if I give you these books I am sure you will put them neatly on the shelf.

Accepting negative responses and steering away from conversational cul-de-sacs is commonly known as ‘fogging'. Pupils who are skilled at diverting you from the conversation that you want to have can be gently steered back. ‘Yes, you might think it is boring and yet...' or ‘I understand that you don't want to do it however...'

Closed requests that preface the request with a ‘Thank you', ensure that the pupil hears the ‘thank you' before the request. It is more likely to be complied with. Similarly the ‘assumed close' presupposes a positive reaction. ‘When you come and see me at break time can you make sure that you bring your workbook'. Discouraging the usual response to ‘I will to see you at break time'.

When you deliver sanctions to pupils, your PMS is evident when you land them softly and immediately reminding the student of their previous good behaviour, ‘Do you remember when you stayed behind to help me clear up yesterday? That is the kind and helpful person I know'. As you challenge their negative internal monologue, ‘You can choose to follow the rule about squirting paint, you are intelligent, able and..... multicoloured'. Don't demand eye contact, position yourself lower than eye level or side on if you are standing and use a soft, disappointed tone. Remind yourself that the sanction is a consequence not personal retribution, walk away and give the child time to decide what to do next.

With children who are skilled at arguing back and whose arguments flow with such ease it can be hard to get a word in edgeways. A quick ‘Thank you for listening' as they pause to draw breath can knock them off course for a few moments so that you can get your message across and withdraw with your dignity in tact. Similarly with children who openly break the rules and anticipate the conversation that you are going to initiate, throwing a ‘curve ball' can give you the early advantage. Our opening lines are usually the same. The child who is scratching his name on the desk expects, ‘Why are you scratching your name on the desk?' He is ready for the interaction, he may have had the same conversation many times'. Opening with ‘Did you see the hamster running under your legs?' may just give you enough space to correct the behaviour, (‘No neither did I but I did see you drawing on the desk....'), while the child is left ambushed by your diversion.

With the best interests of your pupils at heart fine tuning your language leaves you in control of even the trickiest exchanges. Manipulation is not a dirty word, ask Trevor in year 3, he knows all of them!

Passing over control of your emotions to a six year old

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:50:00 +0100

First published in Primary Choice Magazine in September 2007.

As the holidays become a distant memory (usually within three days!) check how many times you connect behaviour and emotion when talking to pupils e.g

‘You are getting on my nerves'.

‘You are making me angry'.

‘If you do that again I am going to shout/get cross/scream'.

‘I find that word particularly offensive'.

‘I am thoroughly irritated by your behaviour'

When you connect inappropriate behaviour with your personal emotional response some children will empathise. Many will take note of the power and impact certain behaviours have on your emotional state. Some may use the information to ‘push your buttons' and provoke a reaction, to divert you away from work or as ‘hand grenades' to bring the lesson to an abrupt halt. Telling pupils which behaviours provoke which reactions is an invitation to some to control your response. The behaviours that provoke an emotional reaction within you ought to be ones that you remain outwardly impassive towards.

Connecting behaviour and emotion in your speech usually occurs when we are most tired, most frustrated, most exasperated. Before passing over your emotional control to a 6 year old adjust your language and focus on rational responses to inappropriate behaviour. State the behaviour that you observe, what the consequences of it continuing will be while giving the pupil a model of their previous good behaviour. Cooly, calmy but with absolute certainty.

‘Trevor, you are chewing the curtains. (I am not going to get angry, irritated, scream, sigh, twitch etc) This is a warning, think carefully about your next move Trevor, try to make better choices like you did last Thursday when you helped me tidy up after painting. Thank you for listening'.

Zen and the Art of Hooking the Hard to Reach: The Long Game

Fri, 03 May 2013 13:41:00 +0100

First published in Teach Primary Magazine in May 2008.

Managing the behaviour of children who will happily step over each and every boundary with abandon takes time, dedication and a degree of stubbornness on your part. Alongside the daily firefight you need the drip feed of a more strategic plan to address the heart of the problem. Hooking the hard to reach requires the patience and guile of a master fisherman and the heart of a lion tamer.

There is a moment in all of our lives when we realise that the adult world is not as dependable, safe and secure as we once believed. For the majority of young people this realisation comes in the teenage years, for a lucky few their awakening is delayed further for many, many others it came during the primary school years. When a parent who promises that they will be there for you suddenly isn't it can be the catalyst for even young children to distrust the adult world. Trust issues at home can be compounded by high staff turn over at school or through too many well meaning people trying to give short term help. Put simply children who are ‘hard to reach' may have decided that adults should be given a wide berth. The barriers come up. Some try to disengage with learning, some stop communicating, most demonstrate their anger, confusion and lack of trust with behaviour that says ‘leave me alone, I am not worth bothering with'

Just under 50% of children in care had reached the national curriculum test level expected for their age compared to 82% of all children
Department for Children, Schools and Families April 2008

We recognise in children who have low self esteem and a limiting self belief a ‘negative internal monologue'. The root cause(s) may be different each child but it usually includes negative assumptions about their own ability, the commitment of adults around them and a collection of labels that they have be given along the way. We recognise this monologue in the classroom. As you present the piece of paper to Darren he rejects it before it lands on the table. ‘I can't do it' is the first thought followed very quickly with a raft of avoidance tactics designed to protect himself from further failure and embarrassment. We also recognise it when trying to give Darren praise and positive reinforcement as he immediately rejects the idea that he could have done something right.

We spend our days firefighting with every behaviour management strategy that we know yet a few children reject carrots and dodge every stick. Crashing through every boundary they seem to be headed for the cliff. Because the immediate behaviours are so disruptive and urgent we can find ourselves with little time for dealing with what is truly important. Repairing self esteem, spearing the negative internal monologue and replacing it with positive self image

If principle sounds attractive be advised, the practice is difficult and stressful. It is because it is so hard and so time consuming that we continue to search for quick fixes. The bad news is there aren't any. You can't hook the hard to reach by throwing behaviour management techniques at them or by condemning them with years of punishment and exclusion. You can't change their behaviour, attitude, anger with magic behaviour dust. Neither can you address what motivates them to disengage or interrupt years of learned behaviour, overnight. Change with the most challenging pupils does not run in straight lines. There are many cul de sacs on the way to the straight and narrow.
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The drip feed of your relentlessly positive and nurturing dialogue is the foundation of this long term strategy. Directly challenging their negative assumptions about their own ability, ‘You are not stupid because you are still learning to spell', ‘You are not an idiot because you have the wrong answer', persistently suggest alternative thoughts ‘Spelling aside this is a beautiful sentence', ‘You have a real talent for choosing the right combination of words'. Over time the waves of positive thought begin to erode the barriers to their potential. Continually attack their assumption that you are going to be like the other adults that have let them down in the past, ‘I care about you, I am here to help you and I am not going away'. Use examples of their previous appropriate behaviour to hook your judgements about their character, ‘Do you remember, yesterday, when you helped me clear up the room? That is kind of behaviour I want to see today, that is the person I know and love.' Refuse to allow them to connect their behaviour with their identity. Now make your interventions to challenging behaviour emotionless, robotic, dull, repetitive, predictable and safe. Save your emotion for when it is most needed and break the connection between their inappropriate behaviour and your negative emotion.

Now the hard work begins and you may need to go an extra few miles, at times it might be uncomfortable. Start sending positive messages home. Sandwich bad news about the day in between positive observations, phone up, send positive notes, hang it, ask the parents if you can come for a cup of tea. Proactively build a relationship with the home and with the child. Refuse to give up refuse to give in.. Expect colleagues to shake their heads and tell you that you are not a social worker. Ask for support from others but never delegate your responsibility. On a daily basis go out of your way to build positive relationships with the children many adults would give a wide berth. It is important that they grow to trust you, to like you, to lean on you.

With those foundations in place you can start fishing. Find what talent or ability has been smuggled in with the obvious emotional baggage and build on it. If it is too well hidden consider putting the hook in yourself. There are times when many of us need to be led rather than constantly be given choices. For children who are floating around aimlessly you may need to convince them that you have found a bait they like rather than wait for them to choose one they like. Once you have them interested in the bait make sure that you have other members of staff/parents/significant adults to act as ‘convincers', reinforcing this new aptitude. Plan for all of your hard work to be thrown back in your face, more than once. Plan to invest your time for no immediate reward.

In amongst the chaos of the day to day be mindful of the present moment. You are doing something remarkable, something altruistic, something life changing. Trevor may not thank you immediately for having a profoundly positive impact on his life but then teaching was never about what I can get for myself but about what I can do for others.

Call to a close

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:27:00 +0100

First published in Teach Primary Magazine in May/June 2012.

We all blame the inanimate for our failings at one time or another. I stub my toe and blame the door, beat my car for running out of petrol and, all too often, shout at the telly. These emotional responses are over in an instant and I laugh at myself as the emotion subsides. I am not cut out to be Ofsted's chief inspector. In his world, blaming the inanimate is rational, sensible, even worth making speeches about.

Blame and behaviour are old friends. Teachers take their share of blame when it is dished out. Parents take theirs too. Yet it seems the public may have grown tired of these previously popular punch bags. The search for someone else to blame has been replaced with the search for something to blame, as evidenced by Sir Michael Wilshaw's call for mobile phones to be removed from classrooms.

Blaming inanimate objects for children's behaviour works perfectly for the inspectorate and the media alike. Objects don't answer back, don't complain and don't vote.
Blaming ‘stuff' for the failings of human beings is a clear sign that the some people in education have run out of ideas. Blaming mobile phones for children's poor behaviour is like blaming spray cans for graffiti, dictionaries for sweary children or booze for bad parenting. It makes no sense.

In his 1989 report on behaviour and discipline in schools, Lord Elton must have struggled to find a reason for distracted children. Without phones to blame he talked of exactly the same low level disruption: I presume that conkers were at fault, or that dangerously subversive communication device, the pencil.

Children by their very nature are disruptive. Perhaps it would be simpler if we banned pupils from the classroom? This would at least give the disciplinarians the rose tinted silence for which they appear to be striving.

Stamping down on low level disruption is rather like stamping on a cockroach. It feels good at the time, but in truth you have seeded more problems for the future. Eradicating low level disruption is not helped by emotive (and ridiculous) ‘solutions' that involve banning.

Banning, of course, has a great track record. From the war on drugs to short skirts, it has always provided a huge motivation to subvert the rules. If prohibition truly worked then we would simply ban low level disruption. But we can't. Let's face it, we have all tried more than once.

Who's responsible?

Reducing low level disruption comes through hard work and a clear plan, not with foot stamping and throwing our toys out of the pram. We need to teach children personal discipline not simply obedience. Great teachers make themselves more fascinating than the lure of the touchscreen, clicky pen or jangly conkers. When behaviour becomes difficult, they refocus on routines and rest heavily on positive reinforcement. They do not reach for sanctions and shouting; they know that it appears desperate and out of control.

In the Netherlands, no one wears a uniform to school. Are the children rioting in the streets because they have been allowed to wear hooded tops? Has denim rotted their moral fibre? No. In fact, most schools in Europe realise that it is not how people are dressed that determines their ability to control their behaviour. Parents, educators and politicians are grown up enough to understand that what children wear or bring to school is not responsible for their achievement. Why is it that we have not reached the same conclusion?

The contradictions are obvious. While Sir Michael Wilshaw is making Pythonesque "You were lucky!" speeches, his inspection team is encouraging the use of mobile devices in school. (Ofsted criteria for outstanding leadership and management in ICT: "The school is likely to have promoted the use of mobile technologies.")

Mobile technology is being harnessed to give children control over their learning and access to information presented in a 1000 different styles. Sir Wilshaw's views represent the dying light of the last generation to leave education without being taught about or with computers. A true dinosaur of the 21st century - a Wilshawrus, if you like. In the 80s, my teachers seemed to be out of touch, from another age, another planet, some of them. They came from a world where children sat and listened and teachers threw board rubbers around for fun. A world where casual violence inflicted on children was amusing. I hated how detached and distant they were. I struggled to find any common ground. Are we not in danger of creating the same separation, the same wedge between children and their teachers by knee jerk responses to mobile technology? In attempting to ban mobile phones, don't we deliberately suppress learning, digital collaboration and external audiences for children's achievement?

Children want mobile phones because they have spent their entire lives surrounded by adults who cannot put them down. Children see, children do; so it goes. They are addictive, distracting and irritating on one hand and on the other they hold huge advantages for self directed learning, research and collaboration. The children we teach are not growing up in a world where things are banned, censored and locked away.

They are in a world where censorship has been blown away, information is everywhere and access is easy. We have a duty to keep them safe, to teach them how to use new technologies wisely and to show them what is possible.

At some point, children will need to be able to use their own tech in school responsibly. Teachers will not be able to police it. Teach personal responsibility sooner rather then later.

I refuse to blame parents, children, teachers or dangerously subversive pencil cases for pupils being disengaged in classrooms. Instead, I am going to look to what I have absolute control over: the quality of my teaching and my ability to grab and hold attention better than any screen.

Behaviour Question: Persistent Lateness

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:55:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem:

One of my pupils is consistently late for my lessons. He's on time for other teachers but not me. How do I get him to turn up on time?

The Expert View:

Latecomers can be exasperating as well as disruptive, particularly if you find out that they're waiting at the door for everyone else. If it's got to this stage, it's probably too late to nip it in the bud, but there is still something you can do, even if it means reversing your previous policy.

Acknowledging where you have gone wrong is the first step, says Jon Berry, senior lecturer at Hertfordshire University's school of education. His advice echoes that of the local sage when asked for directions: "I wouldn't start from here."

"If they're consistently late, it sounds as if the teacher hasn't made an issue of it in the past," Mr Berry says. "It can be very low key, but you have to make it clear you have recognised lateness."

This doesn't have to involve bringing the lesson to a halt while you deal with the latecomer. Instead, you can carry on with the lesson while letting them know, perhaps with a look or a quiet aside, that you have seen that they are late and you intend to deal with it later.

And you must make sure you come back to it, whether it's at a convenient point in the lesson or at the end. Forgetting, or thinking it's not worth the bother, sends a message that it is alright to be late to your class. "The key thing is somewhere you have to deal with it, because if you don't it implies consent," says Mr Berry. It is important to stick to the school's guidelines on consequences and to apply them rigorously, he adds.

The sanctions don't have to be draconian to work, suggests Paul Dix, of Pivotal Behaviour Management. "A gentle, ritualised deterrent in this situation is as effective as heavy punishment," he says. He proposes a three-pronged approach. First institute or agree a clear ritual setting out what will happen for pupils who arrive late. This could be posted on the door.

A chair with a sign-in sheet could be placed by the door - late children sit and wait until you are ready to speak to them, or invite them to join the class. Latecomers can lose their choice over where to sit, or have to speak to you for one minute after the lesson. The sign-in sheet could become useful as evidence to point out their behaviour to the pupil, or to present to parents.

Go out of your way to improve your relationship with the pupil. Be gentle, but persistent: say hello and smile when you pass in the corridor, keep your good humour even when your greeting is ignored. Exploiting shared interests and building trust can also pay dividends.

"Your professional relationship with the pupil is your greatest lever. Build a positive relationship and you can nurture a genuine motivation for them to be punctual," Mr Dix says.

Finally, randomly reward pupils who arrive on time, while occasionally swapping some of the most exciting parts of your lesson to the beginning.

Stephen Calladine-Evans, assistant principal at St Richard's Catholic College in Bexhill, East Sussex, says that while the first instinct is to blame the latecomer, this can be counter-productive, and you should look to your lesson plans. "A crisp and engaging start to lessons makes regular lateness much less attractive," he says.

Starting with the register and then the lesson objective gives a latecomer a predictable routine - and an audience.

Instead, become unpredictable. Open with images set to music, group activities, or get the pupils into a debate. Give out small prizes early - such as mini packs of sweets. Then the latecomer feels they have missed the fun, but is just in time for the register. "The carrot works more effectively than the stick," says Mr Calladine-Evans.

Behaviour Question: Pupils Taking Advantage

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 10:34:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem:

I'm an NQT and find some classes a nightmare to manage. Whenever there's a lull, pupils take advantage by talking or throwing things. How can I maintain pace so this doesn't happen?

The Expert View:

Some teachers link pace to being able to plough through a certain amount of material in a lesson. Instead, says Paul Dix, a former teacher and now managing director of behaviour management specialist Pivotal Education, it should be seen as the ability to keep pupils interested and motivated.

He knows how a drop in pace can affect pupils. "I was an awful teacher in my first year," he says. "An observer pointed out after one class that I'd talked for 35 minutes, and towards the end the children were messing about.

"We all go through that baptism of fire."

Problems tend to arise when pupils are expected to be silent for long periods. A mistake teachers often make is in thinking they have to address the whole class all of the time, he says. "Teachers can get preoccupied with delivering content and end up forgetting what motivates pupils."

To help prevent a lull, make sure anything you need to use - computers, equipment, handouts - is ready before the lesson starts. Getting pupils to distribute resources will also help you to teach undistracted.

Rather than talking for long periods, incorporate short exercises, so that pupils are active and involved, not waiting for you to finish. Asking pupils to have a discussion with a partner about any questions you pose is a good way to ensure everyone is engaged.

David Miller, an English teacher at St Ninian's High in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire and winner of last year's Guardian award for secondary school teacher of the year, suggests breaking up the class as well as the lesson: "Try some active learning approaches. Have them moving around."

Using art, music or film to take the lesson somewhere unexpected can also help.

"Music is a great classroom calmer," he says. "In my probation year, I had a class of 15-year-olds who were not as focused as I would have liked. Pupils were suddenly becalmed when they became aware of distant baroque guitar music emanating from my radio. I had been listening to it during lunch and forgotten to turn it off. This was one of those epiphany moments when I was able to chat to the class about my love for classical music. Sharing something of yourself always improves the way pupils regard and, therefore, respond to you."

However well you prepare, there will be occasions when the pace of your lesson takes a downward turn and pupils respond by messing around. When this happens, Mr Dix suggests taking a "brain break".

Don't treat it as bad behaviour, he says. Accept that their attention has waived and move to accelerate the pace to draw them back. "Brain gym and brain exercises are good for this," he says. "Ask them to do something distracting, such as rubbing their tummies and patting their heads, something weird and funny that will take their minds away for a moment." This will also give you a chance to think about how best to proceed.

Teachers need to have an "armoury of the unpredictable" for these instances, Mr Miller says. "I find talking about myself instantly brings pupils' eyes front. It's good to have a battery of interesting, reflective stories."

If your approach is not hitting the mark, do not persist, he says. "Do not persevere when the lesson is not working. Change the direction or use another type of stimulus, such as music. There is no reason why Bach's Goldberg Variations shouldn't be employed in teaching maths."

Behaviour Question: Tantrums

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:02:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

I have very loud Year 1 class that are driving me mad. One boy, who has been mothered a lot, has tantrums where he ends up sobbing a lot and upsetting the rest of the class. Should I make him sit on a special cushion when he behaves like that?

The Expert View:

Be clear, tantrums are not going to work in your classroom. You are not going to play this game. To change the behaviour you need to remove the benefits of negative attention, directly address the tantrums and teach new behaviours that work for the child and the class.

The instantaneous move to a thinking spot with a cushion, chair, mat or carpet gives the attention-seeking child all the physical cues they need to realise that something has gone wrong.

Do not speak to the child about their behaviour while they are crying. Be prepared to repeat the same lines and walk away for a minute or two, ‘I will come and speak to you when you have stopped crying', ‘Crying doesn't get you what you want here'. Obviously, we are talking about persistent, deliberate crying and not crying due to genuine upset.

When the child has stopped crying (or at least the breaths in between lengthen sufficiently), confront behaviour. Run through the same script every time. Sustain your poker face, let the child know what they have done and which rule it contravenes. Practice a routine that is predictable, safe and easily repeatable. Most importantly the same smile at the end of the conversation and make sure he knows the behaviours you are looking out for. Simple, consistent, repetitive rituals targeted at specific behaviours will accelerate change.

Re-focus your reinforcement and reward around the tantrum behaviours and take every opportunity to tell him 'on' rather than 'off'. Mark the moment with the child with stickers, stamps and smiles. Tell home at the end of the day or send a note home with the child. Let everyone know that new behaviours are welcome and appreciated.

Deal with ‘he said, she said' triggers by refusing to discuss hearsay evidence in ‘learning time'. Tell the children that they can speak to you a lunchtime if they are still worried. You may find that the clamour at the door at break reduces to a trickle by lunch.

Encourage all adults to send exactly the same message with the same words. At first the child might try to amplify and elongate the sobbing to see if this will get them what they want. Expect and plan for this. Ride through the eye of the storm and the tantruming will slow and then stop. It might still work at home, it will never work in school.

Behaviour Question: Smirking

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:59:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

How do I deal with a girl who is constantly smirking? I tell her classmate off, she catches their eye and smirks. I tell the class off, she smirks to other people and smiles sweetly at me. I feel like I am losing. What can I do?

The Expert View:

Resist the urge to "wipe that smile off her face" - it makes you appear as emotionally driven as she is. The power of the smirk elicits a disproportionate response. You need to decide if you want to play the game, or if there are bigger battles to win. You feel as though you are losing; in reality, smirking is a safe way to protest. It would be braver to complain loudly or throw a chair out of the window. Perhaps the smirk is a minor irritant, not a major concern.

Each time you respond emotionally, you confirm that her strategy is working. Each time you refocus attention on the work, compliment her for her smirking ability, ignore it or lighten the response with humour, you take the sting out of it. She will adjust her behaviour when she does not get the reaction she expects.

Arrange a time to talk to her, identify the behaviour that you want her to adjust and reset the boundaries. Explain how she appears to you and to the class. Be honest about the fact that you do not expect her to roll over obediently, but nor do you appreciate her subtle subversion. Her smirk may hide nerves at your "telling off", or be a way to gain creditability with her peer group. If you feel it is appropriate, place her on a class report for six lessons so that you can see if the behaviour has changed.

A radical approach would be "no smirking" signs or "smirking only in designated areas", practising smirking with the class as a brain break or smirking back at her. Make sure that your strategy does not damage efforts to build a positive relationship.

You mentioned "telling the whole class off". It may be worth keeping the behaviour of an individual private - this would take away smirking opportunities and allow you to deal with behaviour without an audience.

Behaviour Question: Dealing with Disruptive Students

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:03:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

I'm having issues with a Year 9 class. There are about six boys who are intent on making every lesson a disaster: they won't sit in the correct seat, they mess about and they wreck every practical I try. How can I win them over?

The Expert View:

You need some leverage with these pupils. It is tempting to imagine that you could punish them into behaving in a different manner. The truth is that pure punishment might satisfy in the short term but will not solve this problem in the long term.

Speak to the pupils individually. Even though there is history this is not the time for emotion but for simple, clear and assertive explanation. Be honest about the fact that things have not been going well. Redraw the lines. Write down your expectations for and with each pupil. Map the consequences that follow from their behaviour. Emphasise your determination to support them in choosing better behaviour. Gently reveal that you intend to closely monitor changes from this point. Record the good and bad behaviour of each pupil over the course of the next six lessons.

Make it clear that the report will be sent to the head of year, form tutor and parents. Keep this report sharply focused on three identifiable behaviours that you are going to see every lesson. Frame it in a positive light and highlight the opportunities to prove to everyone that things are changing. Send the parents a letter that explains how you are trying to address the behaviour.

Now repair any damage of trust with the pupils. Make a point of catching them doing the right thing and recognising it in your comments, marking, rewards and comments to other staff. Stop and speak to the pupils when you see them. Slowly build a positive relationship, even if they are trying to keep their distance.

Behaviour Question: Noisy Class

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:13:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

I have just started in a school and there is one class that is very noisy and easily distracted. One boy keeps shouting and two other boys act up and encourage him. How can I get them to settle?

The Expert View:

Ticks on the board and class punishments make an individual's behaviour everyone's business. Public humiliation encourages defensive reactions, creates an audience out of the class and builds up resentment quickly. Deal with the issue privately and calmly. Using fear and pure punishment might satisfy your own needs, but it will never meet the needs of your pupils. I don't want my pupils to be wary of me; I want them to be able to trust me.

Meet the pupil who is causing the most disruption and underline your boundaries with him. As you are new to the school you might choose to ask a more experienced colleague to sit in on this meeting. Tell the pupil precisely the noise level that you need. Describe it. A "three-bar voice" (from the volume setting on a phone) or a quieter "private voice".

You might choose to agree a cue for the pupil so that he knows when his volume control is appropriate and when it creeps over the limit. I have used volume crescendo bars to create a sign on the wall or a reminder on the desk that I can subtly refer to while teaching: "Clive, your five-bar voice is making my ears bleed, you need to bring it down to two bars."

Confront the behaviour and not the pupil. I once taught a pupil who would shout at full volume in private and group conversations. He wasn't seeking to disrupt, he was just loud. It was not until I visited his house and realised that eight people were living in a two-up, two-down that the penny dropped. Everyone shouted. He had learnt that unless his volume control was constantly on full, he might go unnoticed. Without referring to his home life, we managed to negotiate a diminuendo in learning time.

Behaviour Question: Unruly Students

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:42:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem:

I'm doing supply, and eight boys in my class of 30 are unruly. Although I have applied the school's behaviour policy, if I ask them to do something they don't want to do it results in kicking furniture and sulking under tables. How can I prevent disruption?

The Expert View:

Supply teachers pick up the baggage when they take over a class. Children feel let down. You will need to work hard to deal with the broken trust even though you didn't cause it. Children don't like it when adults who they thought were going to be there leave. Some are upset, others see the gap and exploit it.

You need to build trust with this group of boys while delivering consequences without flare-ups. There will be no excuse or motivation for the defensive reactions you are seeing.

You can follow policy to the letter, but it is in your practice that the answers lie. When you intervene, the pacing of the consequential steps is critical. Leap through the consequence ladder with emotion and you will appear unfair and irrational. You will encourage emotional responses. Apply sanctions softly by using examples of the child's previous good behaviour. Get down on their eye level, be utterly dispassionate, go slowly and give children time to consider their next move. Constantly encourage pupils to take a different path. Be firm and rarely angry.

Ask more established colleagues for guidance and advice. Ask them to drop in and send the boys to them when they do something remarkable. Record in detail the good and bad, then bring in parents for the trickier cases. If you need to tackle group behaviour, deal with pupils one or two at a time.

Go out of your way to make the children who are disrupting the class feel important and appreciated for the right reasons. You need to find out what interests and motivates the boys who are rebelling. Taking an interest in an individual is the first step to building an appropriate professional relationship.

Behaviour Question: Bad Language

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 13:32:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem:

I was subjected to a tirade of swearing by a pupil. Senior management seem to sympathise with him as he often does this, so he will only get a telling off. What should I do?

The Expert View:

You don’t come to work to be sworn at. The consequences need to be immediate and predictable. If you are not confident of support from senior management, a good head of department will be able to impose a sanction that fits and involves parents. Swearing at staff is out of order. Pupils know they are crossing a line, staff recognise it and even the most unhelpful parents see it. Ideally, the leadership team would hold a clear line and the message would echo through the school. If this line is not obvious, ask for it to be clarified.

Exclusion might seem the obvious response, but is not necessarily the most effective. I understand the urge to have some respite from the pupil. But if the immediate consequence is exclusion, you are giving some pupils an open door to a day of watching TV. Some pupils fear the cliff edge of exclusion; others have learnt that it isn’t really that far to fall.

The pupil needs to apologise. Even when behaviour is appalling and the natural response is to back away, it is wise to stay connected to the event. Ask for support, but don’t pass responsibility over. The long-term solution lies in your relationship with the pupil. Through this difficult incident, you may find you come to a better understanding of each other.

Pupils decide who they direct poor language at and which lessons they will try to swear openly in. With a consistent line, you will make it hard for him to choose to direct it at you.

Behaviour Question: Aggressive Pupil

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:37:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

As a cover supervisor I have had to do internal exclusion duty and was left alone with a very aggressive boy. He was rude and threatening. He has been sent in for another incident and I'll have to cover it. Can I request not to be alone with him?

The Expert View

The straight answer is yes, in the short term you can request not be alone with him. But you will need a longer-term solution that develops your relationship with this child. In the end, we have to find a way with all the children, and play the cards we are dealt.

Examine your response to children sent to internal exclusion. They often arrive angry, frustrated and aggressive. Be careful not to open a Pandora's box of emotion. Give time for the child to get back in control. Resist the urge to intervene. Take a step back.

Find a member of staff who has a strong relationship with the child. Ask them for help. Be open about what has happened and the strategies you have tried. Don't be afraid of "the behaviour conversation". Most of us had to learn behaviour management skills from great teachers. Ask for a meeting with the child, led by your colleague. But resist laying down the law. Make it clear that you understand the anger, the motivation and the rage. Confirm that the boy understands you are there to supervise, not judge. Make sure he leaves the meeting with a better opinion of you and not with a fistful of targets. When you meet him next, don't mention the meeting. Show him that even if your role is different you are first and foremost an adult modelling emotional restraint.

It is so much harder to be rude and aggressive towards someone who has shown understanding or kindness. Some colleagues might try to persuade you to call in the artillery. It is worth remembering that "children see, children do".

Behaviour Question: ADHD

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:24:00 +0000

Below is Paul Dix's answer to a behaviour question asked by a TES reader. The response was published in the TES:

The Problem

I have a pupil who has just been diagnosed with ADHD. We treat his behaviour issues as we would any other child's, but his parents don't think he is responsible for his actions. They have talked about the Disability Discrimination Act - could we be accused of treating him unfairly?

The Expert View

I agree with the parents. Yes, he may not be able to take responsibility for his actions at the moment. Yes, you will need to tailor strategies to manage and improve his behaviour together with his parents. Yes, his condition would be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.

You cannot afford to have an adversarial relationship with the boy's parents even if you find yourself at odds with their views. The diagnosis is recent and their approach may soften: in time you may be able to shift the focus from the child taking responsibility to the child developing more control. Allowing the child to blame his behaviour on ADHD/his parents/the weather is not going to help anyone to manage or improve it. If you are to have a chance of managing the condition, you are going to have to do it together.

In many ways you will treat him as you would any child: build a relationship, set clear boundaries, encourage appropriate behaviour, model emotional patience and have the flexibility to respond to individual needs. If you are persistently using high-level sanctions and nothing improves then you should look for ways in which you can refine what you do.

Where it may be different from the way you treat other children is in the time that you take to plan ways to manage and improve his behaviour, to share strategies that work and to devise an intervention plan for when his behaviour is most challenging. You will have to spend time listening, learning and negotiating with the child about how he can be helped to manage his condition. You will also have to explain to colleagues why he is different, why it matters that you are consistent and why he cannot "just go somewhere else".

Paul Dix answers Behaviour Questions: Question 8

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 09:44:00 +0000

Q: Working in FE I often find that after the census date there is precious little we can do about low level, persistent issues like poor punctuality, patchy attendance, poor commitment to handing in homework and general lack of work ethic. Myself and my colleagues use the sanctions available to us - letters and calls home, putting students on "report", reviews with tutorial managers etc as well as providing rewards to students with good studentship. However, we cannot give detentions, temporary exclusion only serves to put students further behind and is practically a reward for a kid who can't be bothered to come into college, and as retention is the major factor that impacts on our pay, continuation of our employment and general esteem within the workplace, realistically, students will not be excluded for this kind of issues. We attempt to remove any students who, after being set targets and encouraged still seem like they just can't be bothered before the census date but this doesn't entirely solve the problem at all. Any tips?

A: If punitive sanctions prevented reoffending the prisons would be empty, the police eating donuts and I would be out of a job.

It would be worth auditing the positive reinforcement that you use to see if there are tweaks that you could make. How many students, for example, have had positive communication with home since the beginning of term? Do colleagues use positive referrals? How often? Does everyone have positive notes to give? Is positive reinforcement written and held or spoken and lost? Could you tweak the culture within the department to make behaving well and turning up more attractive? How are you building positive relationships with the ‘hard to reach' students? What about the students who turn up every day, on time, prepared, determined and committed, how are they rewarded and reinforced? How is success celebrated within the department? Are displays fantastic or flopping? Is there a sense of community, belonging even? I know that the students who don't meet your expectations won' t immediately fall into line because you focus on rewarding appropriate behaviour. It does however send a clear message. It creates a consistently positive environment and sets a high expectation. Over time it is irresistible.
Think about the behaviours that are most damaging to achievement and focus on one or two over the course of the term. Give emphasis to teaching students behaviour. I know that it seems odd to teach a 17 year old how to behave but if you don't they go into HE and employment and fail. Teaching behaviour can be as important as teaching professional skills or academic content.
The truth is sanctions only work when they are designed to improve behaviour not simply to manage it. In classrooms where sanctions are used to re chalk the boundary lines, negotiate appropriate behaviour, repair trust and concrete agreements for future conduct then they can have a sustained impact. When they are personal retribution, revenge or born from an adult's emotional response they are remembered for the wrong reasons.

Punitive sanctions that satisfy the desire for mild revenge make students resentful. This includes loss of time that is delegated to others (right you are sitting next to Mr Savage for the next three weeks'), repeated sanctions that are subsumed into the student's day (‘I stay behind every day because I am naughty'), humiliating or disproportionate sanctions (‘Right that is the second time I have asked you to sit down, go and wait outside the Principal's office') don't set the right model or have a positive impact on behaviour.

You might want to consider using a Reparation meeting to hold up the mirror for the student and encourage them to take responsibility for their behaviour. If retention and engagement are the priorities then repairing trust and building relationships are worth investing time and energy in.

A reparation meeting should take no longer than 15 minutes and must be held with the adult who dealt with the original rule breaks. It isn't a prelude to the student apologising. It should be a genuine conversation. In many institutions this has been introduced in place of traditional detention systems. The change in emphasis has had a profound impact on teacher/student relationships and significantly reduced the number of students leaving courses.

Reparation will not give you the instant satisfaction that comes from pure punishment. It will give you a platform to build relationships that change and improve behaviour for the long term.

The Reparation meeting is often structured in 6 steps as follows:

1. What's happened?

2. What was each party thinking?

3. Who feels harmed and why?

4. What have each party thought since?

5. What behaviours will each of us show next time?

6. Reaffirm your commitment to building a trusting relationship

Paul Dix answers Behaviour Questions: Question 7

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 08:06:00 +0000

Q: I'm a TA in a secondary school, I work one on one with SEN students, I always have trouble keeping them focused after lunch any suggestions on some simple activities to settle them back in to lessons?

A: I often have trouble getting focused after lunch too. Try some walking and thinking. Take a walk with the student as you ponder the task at hand. Get the blood flowing and the digestion working.
Be enthusiastic, keen, and urgent. Be pleased to see them. Let your interest in the lesson and task is infectious. Almost irritating. Keep a timer on the desk and use it to break down tasks and negotiate short deadlines. Be ready to make a deal, ‘Ok, I understand you would rather be watching Loose Women, if you have a go at the first one I have an idea to give you for the second'.
How about good lesson hooks? Or small elements of competition which will encourage students to concentrate on the task at hand? Mix up the format of after-lunch lessons and present them with tasks or methods that they don't expect.

Paul Dix answers Behaviour Questions: Question 6

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:51:00 +0000

Q: I struggle with a characterful year 10 tutor group who resent tutorial time. As Michael says, they challenge the idea of it being a useful way of spending their time. But how best to address this? Suggestions welcome...

A: Thanks for your question.
Effective tutorial programmes are not bought in from a catalogue or imposed from above but created by the tutors themselves. You need to be sure of the relevance and direction of tutorial work before you can endorse it fully or teach it with enthusiasm. If you feel the material is not relevant and you cannot approach it with enthusiasm then this is quickly translated to your students. Sticking plaster courses never seem to have any real impact. Suggest to your line manager that each tutor devises 6 tutorials. Active, engaging and genuinely useful lessons. Share the lessons between the team and create a tutorial that is tailored to your school, and the needs of your students. Don't pretend that anyone is going to be motivated by a certificate. Create a rationale that is intelligent, linked with future pathways and relevant to the needs of the students.
If you have no control over the curriculum you need to make this time relevant for them without undermining what is happening elsewhere in the tutorial team. Draw out what is genuinely useful and build on it. Use the time to help them structure their independent learning, invite students to lead the tutorial, make it less teacher led and more balanced.
Change your own approach to the tutorial time. They are influenced by your perceived lack of enthusiasm. Raise your expectations of what can be achieved and be over excited about seeing them! Their disinterest may be a tactic that they use elsewhere, ‘what's the point of maths.....', ‘my dad says that History is a waste of time' etc. You need to strike a balance between making the content appropriate and not making the curriculum optional. I think that once you have revamped what you are delivering you can make a fresh start with gusto.
Good luck.

Paul Dix answers Behaviour Questions: Question 5

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:24:00 +0000

Q: As a 61 year old who started a PGCE when 57, my viewpoint on negative behaviour is that it is sometimes a truthful reaction to teachers who are trying to impose a pseudo world on the young(er), not least as a result of a lack of experience outside education. Classically we had a dreadful thing called COPE or Certificate of Personal Effectiveness, which we tried to impose on year 12 and 13. They in my view quite rightly - and in our case politely - rejected it over the year. My main subject is maths, and again I wonder at our attempted imposition of getting across the D/C boundary which is subsequently of use neither to further education nor employment, but critical in league tables for the status of the school. I wonder sometimes whether the pupils can see through it and we can't. There are so many cases, and the pupils seem to have often prematurely so much experience that what masquerades as bad behaviour is perhaps an inarticulate insistence on the truth.

However, I really liked your clip about the parents being the best to know the reward, and shall redouble my efforts at ringing home.

A: Pupils can see what is happening as clearly as teachers can. They learn the game at a young age and are taught to the test for the benefit of league tables in Primary schools. We teach them to play the game and some are surprised when they play it skillfully and differentiate between subjects that mean something and those that don't. Look at the difficulty that FE colleges are having with Functional Skills. When students see that the work they are asked to do is not examined, not directly relevant to their exams/interests and not helpful to their study they vote with their feet, or in this case with their behaviour.

I know that the C/D borderline matters for the league tables but it also matters for FE and employment. Particularly in English and Maths. These are gateway subjects. I want my students to get a C or above not because I want to satisfy the data trolls but because I know how limited choices are if you have a D or below. I understand that employers and FE complain that the curriculum is not relevant for their needs, they have done for the last 30 years. They probably will do for the next 30.
I sense that you are feeling the pressure of top down decision-making: tasks and targets that are imposed on you from above. Nobody is motivated by being told what to do. Your students are the same. When they have responsibility for their own learning, for directing their own study and controlling their destiny they are enthusiastic learners. When they are shown hoops that have no logic they are no more inspired than we are.
PS. I really like the phrase - ‘Inarticulate insistence on the truth'. It sounds like the title for a new Michael Moore movie.

Lateness, What Lateness!

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:58:00 +0000

Below is the excellent contribution that Caroline Glorioso, a Taking Care of Behaviour Course delegate, has agreed to share with other teachers. For more contributions, please visit: http://www.pivotaleducation.com/contributions/

I work in a further education college teaching level 3 Btec nationals in Information Technology and Business. Teaching in further education to a group of predominately 16-18 year old boys brings with it its own challenges but none more prevalent this past year as lateness.

I followed the college guidelines and at the beginning of the year during Induction it was pointed out that consistent lateness would be addressed by management and the disciplinary procedure. It was agreed by all the students and staff when doing the classroom contract that it would be taken seriously and addressed accordingly. The students were in no doubt that the beginning of the lesson was the most important part as the main input would be delivered and aims and objectives shared with the class so that they would be aware and prepared for the session. Alongside this all students were given contact numbers of staff specifically placed to pass on messages of lateness to staff to minimise disruption and to communicate effectively.

However with all this support I had a few serial offenders who just seemed unable to get to class on time. I did some research and it was not just my class, thank goodness, so I set about trying to change this. I am not totally naïve I have teenage kids myself and am perfectly aware of the lure of a lie in, however I thought it was more than just laziness. I arranged to meet up with these students for an informal chat and soon eliminated the most common forms of lateness: laziness, no they were often seen on the college premises before the session start. Transport, no they lived very close by and as identified above were here in plenty of time to start promptly. External distractions such as friends from elsewhere, no, didn't seem to be an issue. Was it just not cool to turn up on time?

I could not see any obvious reason why they were unwilling to turn up on time so I decided it must be me. Armed with this conclusion I began to examine the start of my classes and soon realised that they were a bit dull. I had used starter activities in the past but had never kept it up. I needed to shift the focus of my session so that students didn't want to be late and miss out.

On the whole my relationship with the group was a good one where banter was good and respectful so I capitalised on this and began to greet students at the door with an envelope and general chat about the weather and how they were. I asked them to sit down and open the envelope and then act on the instructions inside. Some were asked to set up the smartboard, some were asked to open the blinds/windows, some were asked to get out the resources required for that day. Some were asked to write the days objectives on the board etc. If any students needed to see me about something this was the perfect time as everyone else was busy. To mix it up a bit some students would do research on the business/Technology tab of the BBC website and then give the class a brief overview. So in the first 10 minutes of the session all students were either engaged in helping prepare for the session or involved in de-briefing the class on the day's news events.

The whole dynamic changed in the classroom and it didn't require a lot of extra work from me in terms of preparation as the news is different and available every day and envelopes were given out randomly so all students got the opportunity to participate. As required I put in new tasks to represent new topics covered and always adapted my conversation to incorporate relevant and current events such as football, music events and TV/movies etc and more often than not was on the receiving end of being educated myself on the latest must have technologies and gossip from the world of showbiz.

Why does it work, well it's my opinion that students like responsibility, they like to help and for the teacher to have faith in them and at times depend on them to be the facilitator and educator. My certainly do and they have all responded to this positively.
So in terms of my latecomers, well they are seldom late anymore, as one of them so eloquently said to me the other day. "I'll set up the smartboard miss, you always break it!"
It works for now, my mission is to keep it fresh.