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Signalling positive behaviour

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:08:00 +0000

Children read signs quicker than they read your intent or remember your voice. The digital child is icon intelligent. Signs and symbols guide them through new media and technology. Children use icons to plot their map of new worlds and new routines. Using them in the nursery means you can teach complex routines to very young children.

As you negotiate or impose routines agree a set of icons to represent the steps. Leave the icons on display near the activity. The signs you agree with the group help to focus the children on the behaviours that you need to see. They must be positive, affirming and engaging. Before embarking on a new activity establish the routine, draw it, display it and refer to it continually.

Teach the new rituals immediately before the task, giving examples and modeling your responses carefully. When the task is revisited it is vital that you run over the routine with the students. When the activity begins, focus on those children who are following the rules. Use praise and positive reinforcement to support their good choices: ‘Thank you, this table; you have stopped your conversations, got your pens out and are listening. That is number two on our agreement: well done.'

As you build up a series of routines every adult who intervenes with the child's behaviour has the same framework for the conversation. The consistency ripples through the group. By using same song sheet, Damien's shouting is met with the same response. Without this level of agreement a single behaviour can be addressed in many different ways. Mixed messages mean behaviour takes longer to learn. The consistency and repetition are essential as old habits are replaced with new behaviours. The consistency is further embedded as you use the icons in your non-verbal language. With the icons on display they can be used to indicate subtly to children, as a backdrop for a conversation about behaviour or as a focus for the child's attention. Without the icons the non-verbal cues are not pinned on a memory of a forgotten instruction.

Use the icons to recognize and reinforce positive behaviour. Encourage the children to reflect on their good behaviour, ‘Why do you think I have got such a big smile on my face?' ‘That is another sharing token for you, how many is that today?' Mark the moment with the child. Don't let them think your praise is just conversation. When things get wobbly later on you can bring them back to that moment and remind them how well they have done today.

Teach routines from the start. Don't wait until poor habits become second nature before you try to intervene. Teach every child precisely how to treat you, how to treat others and how to treat the resources. Children and adults thrive on routines. The world is more consistent, more predictable and feels safer with routine. For children with behaviour related conditions, ADHD, Asperger's and Autism, the icons are essential hooks. They must be clear and impossible to misinterpret. You might try using photographs of the children demonstrating the behaviours that you want to see as your symbols. Reduce the symbols to stamp size and they can also be presented and collected. Through the ritual of reinforcement the routine is kept at the forefront of the fast paced mind of the toddler.

Extend the use of icons outside the classroom. Rather than just simple rules in each appropriate area, teach the behaviours that you want to see. In detail. Using 5 or 6 steps. Formal and informal routines. The routine for the toilets, for sharing, for lunchtime, the sand pit and lining up. Display the icons where the children will see them and where staff can refer to them. Laminated to the floor, on the tables, painted in outside spaces, on the back of doors and hanging in from the ceiling. Now everyone who visits the nursery sees the consistency on display. Be proud of how you teach behaviour, it is a great way to convince prospective parents that you have high expectations for every child.

Simply telling the children the rules is leaving a lot to chance. Directly teaching appropriate behaviour with a framework of agreed icons is less of a gamble.

Pulling, punching, biting and shoving

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:57:00 +0000

This article was originally published in Teach Nursery Magazine in January 2011.

Some children bite. Some push, shove and punch. Some children pull hair, pinch slap and scratch. Some adults do too! Even with the keenest vigilance and the deftest diversionary techniques it is not possible to predict or preempt every incident. If you find yourself dealing with 3 yr olds in attack mode there are simple things you can do to protect the children, yourself and the parents (from each other!).

Some children who get dramatic responses to aggressive behaviour thrive on the immediacy and volume of attention. Your behaviour may not have provoked the aggression but it does determine the length, intensity and level of it. Your immediate response to aggressive behaviour must be planned and consistent. Fast consequences are essential. Quick, calm, assertive intervention works well. Disentangle the children. Your physical intervention must be driven by the right intention and use the minimum possible force. Send, lead or guide the protagonist away from the group. Make sure your ‘No' has impact but not anger. Leave the child alone to stew/cry/stamp/shout/write to their MP etc. Turn your attention back to the child who has been attacked. Only return to the angry child as the emotion subsides. You may have to accelerate this, ‘I'll speak to you when you stop crying/screaming/chewing the stairs' etc. Now repeat the rule. ‘Hands down' or ‘No biting'. Repeat it three times with eye contact and all the assertive energy you can muster. Now run through your ritual, why have I sat you here?, which rule did you break ? what do you need to do now. Use the same script every time. Make your response to the behaviour utterly predictable, safe, yet effective.

Before you decide if the apology will be immediate or delayed until the dust has settled, write down what happened without emotion or judgment. Do it as soon as you possibly can after the incident. How you manage the incident is likely to be examined closely. Make sure that you routinely record, report and if necessary refer aggressive behaviours that result in physical injury. Now reinforce the good behaviour of children who helped, children who stayed calm and reassure those who were worried by it. Now you have dealt with the easy bit, you need to think about dealing with the parents!

The initial shock of being handed back your child with new markings/tatoos/battle scars is enough to cause an emotional response from the calmest parents. Parents can be tempted to try and find someone to blame. Blaming the child seems unfair so the other parents, adults and organisation can all come in the firing line. When you speak to the parents of the aggressor use the same unemotional nonjudgmental tone that you used in your report. Seek a practical agreement from parents resisting the temptation to search for reason. Explain your consistent routine response to aggressive behaviour and see if this could be replicated at home. Is there a shared language that you can use? Is there a ritual that you could both agree to? Repetition and consistency works. Linking what happens at home and at school works even faster.

With the parents of the victim don't make the mistake of making light of the situation. It may be only a scratch but a scratch to one parent is GBH to another. Explain in detail exactly what happened, what you did and what you intend to do in the future. Take time to reveal the steps you will take to keep their child safe. Reassure them with your detailed record keeping, clear plan and rational thinking. Avoid being drawn into any judgment on the other child, parent or on their parenting skills. It will only come back to haunt you.

Through these early experiences many expectations are set and labels begin to form. Observing a group of 3 year olds the other day I was told, ‘That one, that one, that one and that one....trouble today and they will be trouble tomorrow'. Behaviour labels stick quickly but don't come off easily. As you try to manage the fall out from quite nasty incidents resist the natural urge to wrap identity and behaviour into one neat label. A few bitey children grow up into bitey adults. Most grow out of aggressive behaviour in weeks or months. Skilled adults separate the behaviour from the child and deal with it. They discourage labels from developing knowing that with persistence and determination the behaviour will change. They manage the most shocking behaviours with a steely assertiveness that gives leaves the bitey child with something to chew on.

Motivating Children

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:35:00 +0000

This article was originally published in Teach Primary Magazine in 2009.

Outstanding teachers do not rely on students arriving at the door of their room motivated and ready to learn. They plan to counter the demotivating effects of social and economic hardship, poor parenting, broken relationships and complicated home lives. Outstanding teachers learn not to worry about the aspects of children's lives where they can have little influence but to play the cards they are dealt and play them with flair.

Your smiling face at the door of the room is a simple yet highly effective motivator. In a moment you can counter the demotivating effects of the school run, the arguments over cereal and inevitable conflicts of busy mornings ‘No, you cannot bring the television to school etc'. A smile, kind word, perhaps a hand shake does more than just make your pupils feel happy, it gives them energy for the lesson and a consistent model to look up to. Remind your children that they are valued and welcome. Convince them that you have been waiting all weekend to see them again! Let them know how excited you are by the plans for today and infect them with your passion for learning. Teachers who sit being desks and laptops, allow children to drift in on their own and issue the inevitable ‘starter is on the board' command find it difficult to motivate themselves let alone the class.

A positive relationship with a passionate, caring, enthusiastic teacher is the greatest motivator. A teacher who retains an enthusiasm for the relationship and the child despite the lapses in behaviour, manners and fist control is a positive motivator today, tomorrow and far into the future. Children who have been been taught to view themselves through negative reference points need the drip feed of your positive reinforcement and encouragement to break the cycle.

Children who have a particular educational need and are encouraged to route everything through it find it difficult to separate this need from their identity. ‘I am stupid because I cannot read' or ‘I am trouble because I have anger problems'. The relentless counter claims from a respected teacher will separate the issues and erode the notion that difficulty in one aspect of learning infects everything else. As a teacher working with the most reluctant learners with little motivation to continue trying I would repeat the same daily mantra, ‘You are not stupid because you need help with reading, you can be angry and polite and you are more than just your behaviour.' Chipping away at negative spirals takes perseverance but has a lasting effect.

‘I wish someone had told me that how I felt as a child is how I would feel as an adult' June Brown (Dot Cotton in Eastenders)

Autonomy, choice and independence over learning is hugely motivating. Children who are machine gunned with targets, levels, objectives and outcomes sense that they are not learners with any control. Targets that fall from above in the adult world are rarely embraced with enthusiasm. So it goes with children. Children who set their own targets, take responsibility for their own learning, contribute to displays, have a role with the group tend to be engaged in the fabric of learning. They are motivated at a deeper level. Those who are ‘PowerPointed' into submission or constantly medicated with computers build an addiction to the screen but not a motivation to learn. Their motivation is on the surface, ‘Ooooo flickery screen!' and they are occupied but the learning is not satisfying and the information gleaned does not embed itself in the memory.

Motivating children who appreciate what is given to them is not difficult. Trying to motivate children who have been taught to expect everything for nothing is a tall order. Acknowledgement, praise and reward are seen as the most immediate motivators. Yet we worry about the way reinforcement is being used to bribe, to create unrealistic expectations and how over rewarding children can create over reliance of the approval of others. Techniques that were previously used to nurture self esteem with children who had severe emotional and behavioural needs are now extended to all children. Overloading children with reward and reinforcement can be confusing ‘I just sat down and he gave me a certificate' and can set up unrealistic expectations of the role of the teacher, ‘Ok, so how much will I earn for not kicking Hassan this week?'

Outstanding teachers know that it is not the value of the reward that is important but the way in which it is given. I can make you feel like a king with a smile and worthless with 20 quid. Teaching gratitude means that your students learn to reflect on the rewards in education that are being lost to the ‘big prize' generation. The rewards that are genuinely important; success, achievement, pride and opportunity. In schools with a religious emphasis gratitude is taught through prayer. In secular schools where is the space for self reflection that allows children to appreciate their place in the world? Teach some simple self reflection techniques. Start with three simple questions and ask the children to make lists, ‘What have I received from other people, what have I given to others and what troubles have I caused'. Ask the children to consider the last 24 hours of their lives. Have you received a smile, some food, a helping hand. Have you held the door for someone, helped around the house or said thank you ? And finally who have you caused troubles for? Did you speak badly about someone, leave a mess behind you or push in front? Regular rituals of self reflection help children (and adults) to interact with the world with gratitude and grace. Money, sweets, stickers and stuff can teach a hunger for a material world that we have a duty to counter. Intrinsic motivation begins with an understanding that education is a privilege and achievement a reward. Learning can be as immediately satisfying as a chocolate éclair if you are taught to appreciate it and be genuinely grateful for it.

The smallest things seem to motivate on the surface. The reveal of an advent calendar, a quiz, the spin of the tombola wheel, the chance to lead others, the whiff of challenge and the promise of competition. Yet much of this is short term, designed to manage behaviour and requires little engagement from the pupil. It hooks childrens' attention but is too frivolous to satisfy. Rapport with a trusted teacher, learning gratitude through self reflection and having autonomy in learning are not quick fixes but they give children a deeper motivation that lasts a lot longer than sparkly carrots.

Teach in Questions Challenge

Try teaching in questions. Set yourself a challenge for next week and plan a lesson that is taught entirely by questions. Stick to the same content but draw out the answers from your class. Every interaction must be a question and you should not allow yourself room for giving advice or direct teaching. Let the children feel a sense of control and reflect back the ideas that they have created, the knowledge that they have contributed and the choices they have made. Finish with ‘What do you think that I was trying to teach you?' and show them how it matches your previously hidden objectives for the lesson. Outstanding teachers have a relentless and powerful motor but are not afraid of letting others drive.

Behaviour Change, Magic Dust and False Promises

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:59:00 +0000

This article was first published on the Guardian Teacher Network blog in August 2011.

When people talk about behaviour they obsessively search for the instant solution. Some peddle magic dust or ‘behaviour systems' that glisten yet quickly fade. Others relentlessly scream for a bigger stick to beat children down with. Both extremes harbour an irresistible idea that there is a short cut to changing behaviour. Some sell the lie that you can provoke sustained behavioural change in others without doing much hard work yourself. The truth is that there is no alternative to the hard work: building relationships with those who would rather tell you to Fuck Off, resetting expectations with those who trample them, being relentlessly positive and refusing to reward poor behaviour with anger from the teacher.

As a society we pass behaviour problems through the system until there are no more punishments left. From schools, to PRUs, EBD schools, Secure Training Centres, Youth Offending Institutions. It is the same children with the same behaviours and the same issues. We pass them along the line and closer to some imaginary ultimate punishment that everyone assumes will change the behaviour. The system is based on the premise that you can beat people into submission through punishment. I spoke to a Prison officer recently who told me that what was needed was another more segregated segregation unit to house those who wouldn't do as they were told in the segregation unit. At a training day a middle manager proudly showed me a detention block he had designed (in way too much detail!) to solve all behaviour issues. The problem is that many human beings respond to punishment with extraordinary resilience. So it goes with children. Unfortunately we don't treat people who won't do as they are told, we just keep changing the environment and the adults they must rely on.

With the hardest working pupils and with the chair throwers, sustained, consistent relationships work. Relationships that don't change as the strategy changes or fail because the agency runs out of steam. Relationships are hard fought and easily lost but people change because of other people. Not because they are backed into a corner or threatened with the extra large stick.
The moaners and mutterers at the back of the staff room will try and convince you that ‘you shouldn't have to have a positive relationship with pupils'. They will bang on about lack of authority and respect, lie to you about the past ("I beat them and they thanked me for it etc") casually insulting, blaming and labelling children. These people don't just have a problem with behaviour. They often have a deeper problem, they just don't like children.

The trouble is that teachers who succeed in changing behaviour are too busy doing it to properly inform the arguments thrown in by public . So the quick fix nonsense espoused by armchair amateurs, disgruntled ex teachers or gullible politicians is taken seriously. In moments of public anger about ‘behaviour' the ‘hang ‘em and flog ‘em brigade break free from their shackles poisoning the debate with their perverse view of humanity. There are often too few available to put them back in the box. Those who really know the answers are too busy teaching (and dodging a few chairs) to contradict. Before we know where we are there are articles about corporal punishment being printed and public hangings arranged with corporate hospitality.

Working with children and young people who won't do what you tell them to means that you might have to go into the eye of the storm. There is no quick fix. Yes you can beat down the defiance with punishment for a time but when you run out of punishment what is left? Be sure that even though it will get ugly, feel personal and be chaotic there are calm waters on the other side. As the relationship builds you leave the mutterers with their, ‘Well, he doesn't behave like that for me refrain" in your wake. You are becoming that teacher that everyone wants to be. Don't leave it for tomorrow or for someone else. Start building that relationship. 'Early Intervention ' is you, today, now, with that child in front of you.

Gladwell, Dweck and Peak Performace

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:17:00 +0000

I have written before about the work of Dr. Carol Dweck. Broadly speaking, she divides people into groups who believe our intelligence is fixed (‘fixed mindset’) and those who believe it can be developed (‘growth mindset’).

The former often tend to feel the need to ‘prove’ their intelligence and so are likely to shy away from tasks they perceive as too challenging in case they fail them. From this viewpoint it would show they are not intelligent. Those with the growth mindset see themselves on a path of expanding skills and knowledge. They are happy to tackle a challenge because they believe it will develop them.

We want our students to be resilient and to see ‘failure’ for what it is: an event and not a state of being. We need to encourage them to adopt a growth mindset.
Dweck’s ideas are complemented by Malcolm Gladwell’s findings in his book , Outliers. Here he explores and accounts for outstanding success in fields as diverse as sport, music and computing.

He reports the findings of research conducted 1990’s by the psychologist Ericsson at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music. Professors divided the students into three groups. First, the stars who would probably go onto have careers as world-class soloists. Next, the good. The third group would probably never play professionally but would become music teachers. Each group was asked the same question: over your career so far, from the day you picked up the violin, how many hours have you practised?

They all started playing at around the same age and in the first few years they all practised about the same amount: two to three hours a week. By eight differences began to emerge. The best were practising more six hours a week by the age of nine; eight hours by twelve; sixteen hours a week by the age of fourteen and by twenty they were doing well over thirty hours a week. In total they had amassed about 10,000 hours. Good students had a total of eight thousand hours and the final group about four thousand hours. They found the same pattern with amateur and professional pianists. Indeed, 10,000 hours of practising seem to be the identifying marker of peak performers in a range of fields.

But the most significant finding was the busting of the myth of the ‘naturally talented’. The study found no examples of any elite performer who didn’t work very, very hard. Nor did they find anybody who put in the maximum hours without making the top rank.

This is very significant for learners to understand. It’s tempting to think that outstanding performers are just ‘born’ that way. That other people are more successful because they just have natural talent (a fixed mindset perspective). In fact, whilst a certain amount of natural talent is necessary, it needs very hard work to develop it. However, provided that the work is done, then progress will be made (a growth mindset attitude).

If students (indeed any of us) can understand this, then it can feed intrinsic motivation. There is no external limitation (your natural ability) dictating that you cannot make progress towards your goals. If you want something enough and are prepared to work (very!) hard, then Gladwell ‘s and Dweck’s work suggest that you can only improve.

Of course, knowing what we want and being able to motivate ourselves are separate issues and I shall return to these later.

Verbal Kung Fu: Fighting Without Fighting (Part 4)

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:41:00 +0000

Watch enough Kung Fu films and sooner or later you will see a martial artist practice kata. This is a rehearsed sequence of moves demonstrating techniques against an imaginary opponent.

This silent action provides the metaphor for the next piece of Verbal Kung Fu: silent actions.

For example, you are standing at the classroom door applying your MEET-GREET-CORRECT routine. You MEET the pupils, have a friendly GREETING for them and are ready to CORRECT them if necessary. Say, somebody arrives with ear phones in or chewing gum. Instead of telling them to remove said earpiece/gum you MIME the action. This signals what you expect them to do (By the way, that it is much more effective to expect compliance than hope for it). From the pupil’s point of view (we do well to keep this firmly in mind) this feels less aggressive, less like they are being told what to do, told off, singled out. They feel less threatened and more often than not will comply.

Of course, this can be used at any time during the lesson. Catch a pupil's eye and make the signal for four legs down, direct their gaze to the person they should be listening to, indicate they need to move on with their writing etc.

Frank Farrell

Verbal Kung Fu: Fighting Without Fighting (Part 3)

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:55:00 +0000

In judo, you can use your opponent's weight to overcome them. We can apply this (sort of) in our verbal king fu.

This is the WHEN...THEN strategy.

We use this when the pupils wants something, has asked for something. It could be to sit next to a friend, go to the toilet, do some research on the computer.

Now, your gut reaction might be to say ‘no' because you suspect this is a tactic to get them away from the work. You can just refuse. They may accept... or it may be a signal for them to kick off.

There's no need for a row to break out. Instead you apply your verbal Kung Fu. You simply say:

WHEN you have (whatever amount of work you see fit) THEN you can...

They can see that you are being reasonable and the onus is on them.

Best wishes,

Frank Farrell

Verbal Kung Fu: Fighting Without Fighting (Part 2)

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:41:00 +0000

We begin the next of our Verbal Kung Fu series with a scenario that plays out all too often in classrooms up and down the country. Perhaps you recognize it.

The scene. In a classroom David is turning around instead of working on his Maths.

Teacher: David, turn around and get on with your work.
David: I am.
Teacher: No, you're not.
David: (Holds his exercise book up) Dur! What's this then? I'm on number eight. How can I not be working if I am already on number eight, eh?
Teacher: You were working but you stopped. You were turning around and talking to Michael.
David: (Turns to look at Michael's book) He's only on number four. Why don't you have a go at him then? I've done more work than him and you start having a go at me.
Teacher: He's not working because he was talking to you.
David: (triumphantly) So you admit that he wasn't working either but you still had a go at me. You're picking on me again. You're always picking on me. That's bullying. I thought there was a policy against bullying in this school. Not for teachers, though...as usual. Like you can all push in the dinner queue.
Teacher: How dare you say that? I treat everybody equally. Now, you were turning round talking instead of working. I saw you.
David: Yeah, just because you're a teacher doesn't mean that just because you say it it's true. (Turns to the class). OK hands up all those who saw me turning around talking?

Class goes into uproar. Teacher into meltdown.

The teacher could have used Verbal Kung Fu Tactic 1 (‘You may be right...') immediately after David replied that he was working (even though he wasn't). Verbal King Fu 2 (‘The thing I like about you...') isn't going to be very effective here.

Which brings us to the third technique: What should you be doing?

This is a fantastic way to re-direct the pupil way from what they shouldn't be doing back to what you want them to do. More often than not they will reply, ‘Exercise 4' (or whatever the task is). You can simile and say, ‘Great. Are you managing OK with that?' They say they are so you smile and nod and they get back on task.

It's not about punishing or having the last word. That's boxing, not Kung Fu. It is about low level, discrete, subtle, interventions from a teacher who is in charge of their own emotional state. It is because we have an effective prepared script to draw on that we are able to maintain that self-control which is central to effective behaviour management.

Frank Farrell

Paul Dix answers a FE teacher's concerns about punitive sanctions

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 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? (Apologies for poor typing/phrasing! see user name!!)

Thanks,

Sophie

A: Hi Sophie

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

You know, the thing I like about you is...

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:54:00 +0000

Another great verbal kung fu tactic is 'You know, the thing I like about you is...'.

It is very difficult for a pupil to maintain a hostile attitude to you if you have recognized something good in them. The compliment must be genuine, though. I know this is sometimes a struggle but dig deep and you can usually find something positive to say.

Some useful examples:

You know, the thing I like about you is...

...you're always smiling
...you always seem cheerful
...you're always dressed so smartly/individually/creatively
...you never bear a grudge (useful for that pupil you fall out with constantly)
...you always share your ideas

Add this tactic to your armoury of fighting without fighting tactics.

Frank Farrell

Paul Dix answers a TA in a secondary school's question on how to keep students focussed after lunch

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:06:00 +0000

21 September 2010 - 11:06

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.

A Brief Introduction to Carol Dweck’s Mindsets and Their Implications

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:08:00 +0000

‘Mindset' is the term coined by Stanford University Carol Dweck for a straightforward idea she discovered a straightforward idea discovered in decades of research on achievement and success. It's a simple idea but its effect is critical.
Dweck's research findings suggested that basically people held one of two attitudes to intelligence and success. She called these beliefs ‘mindsets'.
In a ‘fixed mindset', people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are fixed traits. They spend their time recording their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success-without effort. They think they have a certain amount of brains and talent and nothing can change that. If they have a lot, they're going to be successful, but if they don't, well there's nothing to be done about it. People with this mindset tend to worry about their traits and how adequate they are. They often feel the need to ‘prove' themselves.
In contrast to this, people with a ‘growth mindset' believe that their basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. Brains and talent are just the starting point. Naturally, they're happy if they're brainy or talented but for them, that's just the starting point. They understand that no one has ever accomplished great things without years of passionate practice and learning.
Let's see some of the effects of this and in particular its implications for the use of praise and rewards (an area we look at in detail in both live and on-line Pivotal Behaviour management training)
In her most famous study, she gave more than 400 fifth graders a relatively easy test consisting of nonverbal puzzles. After the children finished the test, they received their score and were given a single line of praise. One half were praised for their intelligence. "You must be smart at this," the researcher said. The others were praised for their effort: "You must have worked really hard."
The students were then allowed to select between two different subsequent tests. They were told the first choice was a more difficult set of puzzles. However they were assured that they'd learn a lot from trying them. The other choice were easy puzzles, similar to the ones they'd just taken.
Dweck expected the different types of praise to have a minor effect. Let's face it, it was just one sentence. However, it soon became clear that the type of compliment given dramatically affected their choice of tests. Of the kids who were praised for their effort, close on 90 percent chose the harder puzzles. Most of the pupils who were praised for their intelligence chose the easier task.

Dweck's explanation for the difference is that praising kids for intelligence encourages them to "look" smart, which means that they shouldn't risk making a mistake.
Her follow up experiment demonstrated that fear of failure can inhibit learning. She gave the same fifth grades another test. This test was deliberately made extremely difficult (it was originally written for pupils three years older) but Dweck wanted to see how the kids would respond to the challenge. The students who had been praised for their effort worked hard at figuring out the puzzles. Those praised for their intelligence, it turned out, were easily discouraged. Their perceived their mistakes -which were, of course, inevitable given the difficulty of the test- as a sign of failure. They began to doubt themselves and wonder if they really were clever.
Next, the two groups of students were then given the option of looking either at the exams of kids who did worse or those who did better. Students who had been praised for their intelligence nearly always bolstered their self-esteem by comparing themselves with students who had performed less well on the exam. Pupils who had been praised for their hard work were more interested in the higher-scoring exams. Because they believed that they could improve, that their level of success wasn't fixed, they were prepared understand and learn from their mistakes. Think about the implications for this for our AfL practice.
The last round of tests was the same difficulty level as the first. Students who were praised for their effort showed significant improvement. Their average score rose by 30 percent. It became clear that these kids were willing to challenge themselves, even if it meant failing at first, so they ended up performing at a much higher level. This result was even more interesting when it is compared to the results of students randomly assigned to the smart group. Their scores dropped by nearly 20 percent. The experience of failure had been so discouraging for the "smart" kids that they actually regressed.
So, how can knowing this influence our practice?
If we praise pupils for their inborn intelligence it undermines the psychological reality of education. It encourages them to avoid the most fruitful type of learning activities: the ones where we can learn from our mistakes. Unless we experience the unpleasant feelings of being wrong the mind will never revise its models. We'll keep on making the same mistakes, sacrificing self-improvement for the sake of self-confidence.
We could share these findings with pupils and encourage them to have a ‘growth mindset'. By fostering a ‘growth mindset' through our AfL we may be able to help pupils make significant progress in their learning over time.
Dweck's book, Mindset, is filled with fascinating examples of how the two mindsets affect performance, and not just with young children and puzzles either. She demonstrates its effect at undergraduate level, too.

Small steps in Sanctions

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:42:00 +0000

My father he tried to beat the sin out of me but he only beat it further in Mr Smiley'

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Our natural emotional response to poor behaviour is often disproportionate. Reaching for the 'biggest stick to crack the smallest nut' is irrational and unfair. It might seem to work for a short time, in the moment but you are storing up problems. Use the biggest sanctions too soon and you leave yourself nowhere to go. Lead with fear and no one thinks that their behaviour is their responsibility.

What does your ladder of consequences look like? Is it planned in big steps or small increments? How fast can a child accelerate to the top? Are the consequences big steps or a thousand tiny steps in between?

True skill in the management of behaviour lies in increasing disapproval in tiny increments. Skilful shifts in intonation, verbal and physical language cues stop you relying on the big sticks. From disappointment to disapproval there are a million shades in between. The best actors only ever show part of their range. The rest is left for the audience to guess.

Verbal Kung Fu: Fighting Without Fighting

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:23:00 +0000

There's a great scene in Bruce Lee's ‘Enter the Dragon where a bully attempts to provoke Lee into a fight on board a boat. Lee ignores him but he's persistent.

‘What's your style?' the bully asks.
‘Let's call it the art of fighting without fighting' replies Lee.

The bully is puzzled and asks Lee to demonstrate. Lee suggests they row over to a nearby island and fight there. He maneuvers the man into the boat, casts him off and the infuriated bully spends the rest of the journey being towed after, much the amusement of the crew he had been intimidating.

Fighting without fighting is exactly what we do when we apply strategies to avoid being drawn into an argument with a pupil. What I call verbal Kung Fu. One of my favourite strategies is ‘You may be right.'

For example, a teacher tells a child to stop talking. S/he denies that they were talking. Teacher insists they saw them talking. They bat Yes you were/no I wasn't back and forth for a while. Then the pupil appeals to those around him for witnesses...complains about always being picked on...teacher's hackles are now well and truly up and the class have stopped working and are enjoying the show. The whole thing escalates way out of proportion to the original incident.

Here's a better script:

Teacher: Fred, you need to stop talking.
Fred: I wasn't even talking.
Teacher: You may be right. You just need to finish exercise three.

There is nothing to fight against if you have just been agreed with. So, the pupil has the opportunity to make things right and no loss of face.

More verbal Kung Fu to follow.

Frank Farrell

Paul gives a teacher ideas about how to promote a positive view of tutorial time to his group

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:51:00 +0000

22 September 2010 - 18:44

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.

Colette Littley's review of Paul Dix's One Man Show

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:31:00 +0000

"Paul Dix is an expert in children's behaviour and delivered his message, that we should be dealing with young people in a sympathetic yet firm manner, in a way that was highly original and thought provoking. He is a very accomplished performer and had the whole audience entertained all evening whilst still illustrating his passion for his subject. I am not a professional in children's issues, as many of the audience were, but have 2 teenagers and will put into practice the things that I learned from Paul. Altogether a very enjoyable evening."

Angie Martin's review of Paul Dix's One Man Show

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:50:00 +0000

"Paul's show at The Elgiva theatre was a wonderfully entertaining evening. Paul was full of energy from start to finish and held everyone's attention throughout. The theme of rewarding children with positive feedback rather than punishment was demonstrated in various scenarios which were both humorous and meaningful, including using Billy, the puppet! It certainly made me think about ways in which I could change my practice to benefit my pupils as well as myself. Paul has the ability to put his theories across in a way which makes you wonder why all educationalists don't follow this lead as he makes it seems so blatantly obvious. My husband, who is not in education, thoroughly enjoyed the show and had a great evening!"
Angie Martin (Buckinghamshire supply teacher)

Poor Behaviour in the past

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:04:00 +0000

The media frequently portray three themes about schoolchildren: (i) pupil behaviour is worse now than it has ever been (ii) it could be improved if only we could punish them more severely. (iii) modern patents support their children against schools, unlike in the good old days.

Looking at the way schools have been depicted in literature from the past can give us an insight into what schools, were really like. Often we will find them familiar.

DH Lawrence taught and drew on his experiences when depicting Ursula's Brangwen's early teaching career in The Rainbow (1915). It is well worth reading all of chapter 13 (it's free on line at Project Gutenberg), not only for the depiction of the relationships between pupil and teacher but for the depiction of the self-doubt/blame that the failing teacher often experiences and the portrayal of a divided staffroom. Teachers will recognize much of what Lawrence describes.

Ursula is working in a poor part of town. She begins very idealistically:

She dreamed how she would make the little, ugly children love her. She would be so personal. Teachers were always so hard and impersonal. There was no vivid relationship. She would make everything personal and vivid, she would give herself, she would give, give, give all her great stores of wealth to her children, she would make them so happy, and they would prefer her to any teacher on the face of the earth.

At Christmas she would choose such fascinating Christmas cards for them, and she would give them such a happy party in one of the class-rooms.

The reality soon sets in. Her first shock is to discover there are about 60 in a class and that makes for a lot of marking. Discipline problems begin on day one. It's not long before a colleague advises her:

"If I were you, Miss Brangwen," he said, menacingly, "I should get a bit tighter hand over my class."

"Because, "they'll get you down if you don't tackle 'em pretty quick. They'll pull you down, and worry you...You won't be here another six weeks...if you don't tackle 'em and tackle 'em quick."

Of course, no advice on how to 'get a tighter hand' is offered. Don't smile until Easter, probably.

Things don't improve. Ursula finds the Head constantly dropping into her room looking for things to find wrong. Naturally this makes things worse: she feels stressed and the pupils lose even more respect for her because the Head is undermining her. Lawrence is, in fact, describing bullying at work long before such an idea was talked about.

Soon the children are throwing stones at her as she walks home. Things come to a head and Ursula knows she has to act if she is to gain control and keep her job. Read the description to see that 'wild' behaviour is not new and that physical punishment solves nothing but demeans everyone involved in the process.

Ursula turned to the map again, to go on with the geography lesson. But there was a little ferment in the class. Williams' spirit infected them all. She heard a scuffle, and then she trembled inwardly. If they all turned on her this time, she was beaten.

"Please, miss, Williams--" came a sharp cry, and a boy on the back row was standing up, with drawn, pained brows, half a mocking grin on his pain, half real resentment against Williams-"Please, miss, he's nipped me,"-and he rubbed his leg ruefully.

"Come in front, Williams," she said.

The rat-like boy sat with his pale smile and did not move.

"Come in front," she repeated, definite now.

"I shan't," he cried, snarling, rat-like, grinning. Something went click in Ursula's soul. Her face and eyes set, she went through the class straight. The boy cowered before her glowering, fixed eyes. But she advanced on him, seized him by the arm, and dragged him from his seat. He clung to the form. It was the battle between him and her. Her instinct had suddenly become calm and quick. She jerked him from his grip, and dragged him, struggling and kicking, to the front. He kicked her several times, and clung to the forms as he passed, but she went on. The class was on its feet in excitement. She saw it, and made no move.

She knew if she let go the boy he would dash to the door. Already he had run home once out of her class. So she snatched her cane from the desk, and brought it down on him. He was writhing and kicking. She saw his face beneath her, white, with eyes like the eyes of a fish, stony, yet full of hate and horrible fear. And she loathed him, the hideous writhing thing that was nearly too much for her. In horror lest he should overcome her, and yet at the heart quite calm, she brought down the cane again and again, whilst he struggled making inarticulate noises, and lunging vicious kicks at her. With one hand she managed to hold him, and now and then the cane came down on him. He writhed, like a mad thing. But the pain of the strokes cut through his writhing, vicious, coward's courage, bit deeper, till at last, with a long whimper that became a yell, he went limp. She let him go, and he rushed at her, his teeth and eyes glinting. There was a second of agonized terror in her heart: he was a beast thing. Then she caught him, and the cane came down on him. A few times, madly, in a frenzy, he lunged and writhed, to kick her. But again the cane broke him, he sank with a howling yell on the floor, and like a beaten beast lay there yelling.

The Head arrives during all of this. Finally she has pleased him.

He advises: "If you settle Clarke and Letts in the same way, Miss Brangwen, you'll be all right."

This chapter another myth: that part of the problem is that modern parents support their children against teachers. In fact, the boy's mother comes into school to complain the next day and suggests she might show the marks to a doctor. Ursula thinks that she is threatening to take a charge of assault out against her or wants money. The mother insists that in future he be punished without being beaten.

And wouldn't you know it Ursula receives no support from the Head.

Poor behaviour in the classroom has always existed. So have the ways to avoid it.

Paul Dix responds to a teacher's concerns about whether negative behaviour in his class is a clever cover up by his year 12 to override assessments they don’t agree with

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 10:24:00 +0000

22 September 2010 - 14:46

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.
Michael Piercy

A: Hi Michael,

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.

Paul Dix answers a NQT's concerns about dealing with 'big characters' in the class

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:26:00 +0000

22 September 2010 - 18:25

Q: I am an NQT and my first class (year 5) has a lot of 'big characters'. Due to home life a lot of the children are needy and attention seeking repeatedly calling out or causing silliness. I also have 5 girls who are constantly falling out with each other and causing drama. I'm using techniques but don't feel there is a technique that fits the whole class. I am always whispering, clapping, praising, making examples of children, acting cross, referring to rules etc the list goes on but nothing is working for such a demanding class! Help!

22 September 2010 - 19:43

Q: Ditto! Sounds just like my class! I have introduced a positive behaviour reward to work along side the 'golden time' removal of good time. If they behave all day then the next day they get 10 mins freetime on a laptop. Worked on Monday for one and today for another.

A: If you have an unsteady home life, if you have started to mistrust adults, if people don't stay when they promise they are going to then you treat each adult you meet with suspicion. You don't have a relationship with them and that is what is at the core of your problems. The techniques that work for experienced teachers will not work for you straight away. Without relationships things don't work so well.
They are testing you. Testing to see if you will stay. Testing your patience, your determination and your commitment. If adults had lied to you at home, you would do the same. Tell them every day ‘I am here for you, I am not going anywhere, we are going to succeed together'. Tell them until they believe it and then set about getting to know them. You need to build mutual trust quickly. Above all the tips and techniques it is this relationship that will improve behaviour. It is this relationship that will provide a solid foundation for behaviour change.
It sounds as though you have a range of strategies, some of which make sense, others I would question (acting cross/making examples of children). It might be worth stepping back from the daily firefight and behaviour ‘tricks' to consider your own philosophy on behaviour. How do these techniques fit with your own beliefs?
I agree with you that there is not one technique that fits the whole class. One size does not fit all. You need to differentiate how you teach behaviour just as you differentiate teaching literacy. What works with Ashraf on a Monday may not work with him on a Wednesday. As you get to know the children better you will be more informed and more able to refine strategies for individuals.

Hold tight, it could be a rocky ride.