Behaviour management or “classroom management” was something I found particularly challenging when I first started teaching. While I would certainly not consider myself an expert at this now - I am 8 years into my teaching career and I still feel that I have lots to learn - there are a few tricks I’ve picked up over the years that have really transformed my classroom management. Some of these tips may be glaringly obvious to a lot of my colleagues, but hopefully someone will be able to take something from it. I should point out also that I am lucky to work at an excellent school in which the students are generally very polite and well behaved, so while these things work for me and my students, they may not work for other people. Be consistent, firm and fair You are not being cruel by being firm. I would argue that you are being the complete opposite in fact. By having high expectations of your classes, you are showing your students that you want what's best for them and that you care. They may even thank you for it later down the line. It’s vital that you know the behaviour policy inside out – especially if you are new to the school – as it shows students that all staff are singing from the same hymn sheet. If you’re new to a school or new to the profession, don’t be afraid to ask your colleagues/Head of Department if you’re unsure of something. Our school behaviour policy is basically as follows: Verbal warning > Second warning (and a lunchtime detention) > Third warning (removal from lesson, phone call home to parents, after school detention). Usually I write a name on the board alongside the first verbal warning and a tick next to it for the second warning and sometimes I will use these behaviour cards that I will place on the student’s desk as a reminder. Use your voice and look after it As a bit of an introvert, I like to have a quiet classroom, but I know it can be tricky to get the class’ attention back on you after an activity, particularly if you are naturally quite shy like me. To do this I count down from 5 (in the target language if it’s an MFL lesson). I tend to start off speaking very loudly, so that my volume at least matches theirs and in order for as many of the students as possible to hear me. I may remind them what it means when I’m counting down and praise any students who act on any instructions straightaway (“FIVE…I need you to finish off what you are doing and face this way…thank you Chloe and Deepash…thank you Dexter, thank you Harry”). I continue counting down, gradually becoming quieter and quieter, bringing the noise down to an appropriate level. I find that if I talk fairly quietly, students are more focused as they have to listen very carefully to hear what I'm saying. (“FOUR…three…two, you should all have stopped what you’re doing by now…I said two, thank you Sarah, thank you Mike…aaaaaaand one”). Occasionally I will have to repeat a number, otherwise I may be stuck at zero with a still very chatty and unattentive class. When you have finally achieved silence don’t be afraid to hold it for a few seconds, as it can be so powerful. If you talk over even one or two students, you are basically sending a message to the rest of the class that what you’re saying isn’t important, and that it’s okay for them to talk over you as well. Make sure you drink water regularly too. I used to lose my voice all the time as I wasn’t taking care of it properly. I now always keep an emergency supply of Jakemans throat sweets in my bag and they tend to do the trick. Make use of non-verbal cues as I’m about to explain… Use non-verbal communication Tap on the desk, raise a brow, use a countdown timer, put your finger to your lips, stop talking and simply give them the teacher stare. You don’t always have to be talking and it’s best to save your voice where possible. I used to have a set of maracas that I would use in Spanish lessons when I wanted my students to finish the task that they’re working on. Although I haven’t used these since I came out with the classic line, “and when I want your attention, I’ll shake my maracas at you”. All 30 year 7 students erupted into fits of laughter, while I stood there horrified by what I had accidentally just said – some of them still enjoy reminding me of this now, five years later. Luckily, I can now see the funny side. Set the tone Maintain high expectations from the very start of lesson right to the end. Where possible I like to have students lining up quietly outside the classroom at the beginning, with me greeting them at the door (NB: this may not be possible due to COVID19 restrictions and keeping our students safe should be the priority here). I deal with any issues before they come into the room e.g. uniform, chewing gum. (“Morning Katrina, I’ll just let you pop to the back of the queue to give you time to sort your uniform out before you come in, how are you?”. “As lovely as that hoody is Nicola, it needs to be away in your bag before you come into the classroom, thanks”. “Ahh you weren’t subtle enough I’m afraid, Carl, chewing gum in the bin, thank you”.) While you’re dealing with the students outside, the ones in the classroom should have something to be getting on with. I personally love to start off lessons with Kate Jones’ retrieval practice challenge grids and I wrote about how these can be adapted for MFL on P123 in my book of MFL ideas (Amazon store link). Question Cards are also a good way of engaging them at the start and a nice opportunity for students to show off what they know, practise their speaking and earn an MFL point (in my department 3 MFL points = House Point). Know the students Have a seating plan from the start. I used to use Mega Seating Plan to create these as you can easily move students around if you want to change things up, however our school started using Classcharts last year which offers the same tools and I’m a big fan! At the start I like to have a copy of each seating plan printed off and I can keep referring to this until I've learned all of their names off by heart. Learn their names as quickly as possible, especially the quiet ones! This is one thing I'm going to make a conscious effort to do this year as it always takes me way too long. Jamie Thom shares some excellent advice on learning students’ names and writes about why this is so important in his fabulous book, 'A Quiet Education: Challenging the extrovert ideal in our schools' (Amazon store link). Catch them doing something good Praise them when they do something good and don’t underestimate the power of a positive phone call home. Parents really appreciate this too and it’s a great way to build up relationships with both students and parents. Hope you've managed to take something useful from this post. If you have any top tips for dealing with behaviour, particularly the so-called "low-level" disruption, I'd love to hear from you. Dannielle x
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AuthorYorkshire lass living down South || Part-time teacher of MFL || Proud wife, and mummy of the best boys || Sharing MFL teaching ideas and resources || Creator of @morganmfl || Author of 100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers: Outstanding MFL Lessons. Archives
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