I recently read an article about the current Bridezilla phenomenon. The American documentary series of the same name explores what happens to seemingly ‘normal’ girls once they are planning a wedding- on the TV show they often become uncontrollable, bullying, emotional and use whatever means necessary to get what they want. All this to plan what is supposed to be the happiest day of their lives!!
To get the most out of your students, it is important that you get the most out of yourself first. You can do this by modelling high standards in your lesson preparation.
Here is a good way to think through how to develop routines that work for you and your students.
What it usually means is that the teacher has invested time and energy into teaching the students the routines that they need to follow. This means that the teacher has decided on the behaviour they want to see in the classroom and designed processes that will work for the particular class.
How well you listen can impact your relationships greatly. Here are 6 areas where better listening can create a shift in your effectiveness in and out of the classroom.
Much off task behaviour and disruption could be prevented through the use of relevant, engaging curriculum and interesting pedagogy. If you consider how long you can sit still in a meeting or professional development and remain focused it is not that difficult to understand why students can be off task and unmotivated.
A technology teacher at one of our workshops raised an ongoing issue he was having with students who don’t bring appropriate clothing to his subject. This is a safety concern as well as a behaviour issue – students cannot participate in the lesson without correct footwear.
This makes extra work for the teacher, taking him away from the rest of the class while he finds work for these students and manages their behaviour.
Teachers often come to me bemoaning the fact that while they know the strategies to use for one off-task student, but they don’t know what do they do when there is more than one student misbehaving.
This situation can feel overwhelming and you may need to look outside the box for answers to this dilemma.
Have you ever taught a student who made you dread going to class? The student who won’t engage no matter what you do? Who made you wait expectantly for the bell at the end of the lesson even more eagerly than the students?
I know I have!
A student who won’t engage with the learning, who refuses to follow directions, who disrupts the class and with whom you feel you cannot connect can really undermine your confidence.
Don’t despair. There are ways to relieve your stress levels and improve the situation.
We know that a student displaying constantly inappropriate behaviour and not effectively accessing the learning is a cause for concern.
When the student doesn’t respond to your whole class expectations, reinforcements and consequences you may decide to work with them to develop an individual behaviour contract.
Depending on the severity of the problem, parental support can also be enlisted to implement the plan.
Have you ever decided to use group work in one of your classes only to have it very quickly turn to chaos?
When I first started teaching Year 1 I had just this experience. I was so excited to use group work because I had read all the literature on how students learn better in social situations. I was convinced my students were going to benefit so much because of this wonderful cooperative learning strategy.
Of course what ended up happening was just a mess! There were kids rolling around on the floor, some of them were bossing the others around and some went off on their own to read in the reading corner. It was an unmitigated disaster!