It’s 9am. The dawn of a new day. Your lesson has just begun and you’re quietly optimistic that this will go just as you planned. Then a student in the fourth row starts rocking on their chair.
Within a few minutes, the whole thing has escalated. Forget the lesson: you’re now playing a game of behaviour-management chess with a defiant opponent. It’s the latest in a long line of incidents with this young person.
You have to get them over the line academically, but it feels impossible given their current attitude. What’s a teacher to do?
This is a scenario that I’ve quite often been faced with, working in some incredibly challenging schools across the country, both as a teacher and as a deputy head supporting other colleagues.
The approach we should take is simple: look at behaviour through the lens of psychology. What it means to be human is a complex and fascinating thing. We not only have multifaceted, distinguishable personas, but we’re also bound together as a species.
I encourage teachers and leaders to see their most difficult students as humans before anything else. If they can appreciate what makes the trickiest characters among them tick, they will also be able to uncover what stands between them and great learning.
Cognitive psychology is revolutionising the way we teach, and I am confident that human psychology has the potential to revolutionise the way we manage behaviour. Here are my top three approaches for managing tricky behaviour at a whole-school level, based on research and some tried-and tested methods:
1. ‘Let me show you how it’s done’
This story is from the November 01, 2019 edition of TES.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
This story is from the November 01, 2019 edition of TES.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Try not to get hung up on linguistic convention, chic@s
Languages are like water – they take the easiest route. And, like gender, they are fluid. That is why, as world languages evolve to reflect cultural change, a revolution is under way in the use of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ terms, writes Heather Martin
Three simple psychology tips for better behaviour
When a pupil is acting up, their motivations are often hidden from view. It’s possible that teachers themselves are partially at fault for setting the wrong tone in their interaction with others, writes Lekha Sharma, who suggests ways to remodel a school culture
This research could be music to your ears…
Schools should resist putting additional time and resources into yet more English and maths lessons and instead give children’s learning a research-evidenced boost by encouraging them to join a band or an orchestra, says Martin Leigh
Minority (school) report
Predictive technology – powered by increasingly complex algorithms – is finding its way into schools, promising to pre-empt misbehaviour, violence or mental health issues before they happen. But does it work, and is its use ethical, asks Simon Creasey
Giving school a spin again
In a bid to improve parental engagement, one Edinburgh school is putting parents in their children’s shoes to experience a typical modern school day – and the results are breathtaking, finds Emma Seith
Averting Pupils' Social Stigma By ‘Poverty Proofing'
Do your school policies unintentionally ‘out’ children from disadvantaged backgrounds? One charity says such occurrences are all too common and have proposed ‘poverty proofing’ as the solution. Lucy Edkins investigates
A Plant-Based Diet Of Learning
Aware of the mental health benefits of green-fingered working, Nigel Cox helped to set up an outreach course at his college to support people recovering from substance abuse and other personal challenges
Social And Emotional Skills In The Early Years
Children who are able to focus their attention, manage their behaviour and interact positively with others from a young age experience better learning outcomes later in life, finds Irena Barker
How Centralised Detentions Get Pupils' Attention
By adopting a consistent whole-school approach to rewards and sanctions, we achieved a marked improvement in attitudes to learning – and reduced teachers’ workload, says Calvin Robinson
Homework Truths
With some studies claiming that homework has little or no impact on pupil achievement, schools have been tempted to cut back on it or ban it altogether. But we shouldn’t write homework off, warn two gurus of UK education research. Steve Higgins and Lee Elliot Major argue that the evidence on homework has been misrepresented – and out-of-school study can, in fact, have a major impact on learning outcomes
Secrets to a healthy summer
Easy ways to dodge warm-weather health sappers—fast!
When She Was "It" – The 90s
You could find the "It" girls... dancing at the Roxy and the Tunnel, sliding down the slide at Club USA, trying to get into Bungalow 8 and Spy Bar and Moomba to see Lea and Puffy, complaining about the cabaret laws, brunching al Coffee Shop, hanging out in the Hamptons at Conscience Paint Inn, getting their frozen yogurt from Tasti D-Lite, working out at David Barton, reading the New York Observer and paging through Manhattan File, hanging out with the skaters in Washington Square Park and at Max Fish, buying their baby tees at Liquid Sky, using their parents' credit cards at Scoop and Calypso St. Barth.
When She Was "It" – The 80s
You could find the "It" girls .... Dancing with Madonna at Dancelaria before she got big, then sitting at the next table over from her at the Odeon a couple of years later, going to AREA and the Palladium and, before it went all bridge-and-tunnel, Limelight (but not the briefly rebarn Studio 54); working out at the Vertical Club, hanging out at Elaine's and Indochine; shopping at Charivari and the Antique Boutique; staying up with cocaine and coming down with Quaaludes, (barely) eating macrobiotically; ordering Absolut on the rocks; reading about themselves in Michael Musto's column and Stephen Saban's and Liz Smith's after they turn up at the same East Village parties as Basquiat, Keith Haring, and (still) Andy Warhol.
When She Was "It" – The 70s
You could find the "It" girls... visiting Halston at his salon in Olympic Tower and his house on East 63rd Street, shopping at the Biba counter at Bloomingdale's and the Courrèges store on 57th, after hours at Maxwell's Plum and Max's Kansas City or coupled up on Fire Island or at a New York Dolls show at the Marcer Arts Center, dancing at Studio 54 (ar Xanan, if it was just too hard to get in that night), getting one of the dozen burgers served every night at Raoul's, having lunch with their mothers at La Côte Basque or La Grenouille, where they discussed Fear of Flying.
When She Was "It" – The 60s
You could find the "It" girls... at the Peppermint Lounge as teenagers before they moved on to the Scene a couple of years later, shopping for minidresses at Paraphernalia and Betsey Bunky Nini, getting up with Obetral and down with Valium, rooming at the Barbizon Hotel, popping in to see Andy Warhol at the Factory on 47th Street, pearing at the vintage racks of Limbo, buying their makeup at Cambridge Chemists, attending Be-Ins in Central Park, slopping for a 2 a.m. omelet or shrimp-and-lobster salad at the Brasserie on Park Avenue.
When She Was "It"
In April, this magazine celebrates its anniversary (it’s our 55th) with a “Yesteryear” issue. This year’s looks back at a particular New York phenomenon, the “It” girl: who anointed them, what it was like to be them, and where they are now.
ANKO ITOSU
YOU MUST DECIDE IF KARATE IS FOR YOUR HEALTH OR TO AID YOUR DUTY
More Than 1 Million Acres Burn in Chilean Wine Regions
Hundreds of fires raged across several southern provinces in Chile in February, burning more than 1 million acres, destroying more than 2,100 buildings and killing at least 25 people.
A Daughter's Promise
Italy's first woman rabbi tells what drew her back to her father's hometown
Bright & Fit Alice Veglio All Set for the New Year
Alice Veglio is considered one of the most prominent international personal trainers and women empowerment activist in Italy and internationally. In addition she has walked down the catwalk at the most important fashion shows and posed all over the world for brands and photographers in prestigious locations such as Paris, Dubai, Rome, Maldives and Qatar just to give some examples. Her face is known for having presented important events broadcasted nationwide in Italy, having appeared in some of the most famous fashion weeks in the world and in numerous advertising campaigns and music videos including that of The Kolors and Shade in 2018.