As part of my studies for the Certificate in School Management & Leadership with Harvard University, I share my notes here from the Leading Learning module.  This particular module is about developing the school systems and culture to facilitate excellent teaching and learning. 

In terms of teaching and learning, there are three systems in schools: the instructional system, the curriculum system, and the data system. Each of these systems can be effective independently, but they are best when they work together and affect each other. Students are at the centre, as they are the reason why these systems exist.

Each of these systems work together to facilitate the education of students.

If any part of the system is weakened or misaligned, the educational leader must make necessary adjustments to get back on track.

For example, misalignment in the curriculum system might look like when activities in lessons do not match curriculum objectives. Curriculum alignment is well organised and designed to facilitate learning, free of academic gaps, and aligned across lessons and year groups.

Misalignment in the instructional system might look like teachers not having the skills and training to teach complex texts. Instructional alignment means engaging teachers in developing new skills.

When the data system is misaligned, it is not providing information for the educational leader to clearly diagnose gaps at the school. Data system alignment should collect data that will allow educators to understand the gaps at the school and take action on realigning all three systems.

When all systems are aligned as they should, every child in the school is surrounded by high expectations and skilled teaching.

Universal Design for Learning

It is a school leader’s responsibility to build flexible systems and structures that prioritise  problem-solving and equity, using all resources available to understand the needs for all groups of students.

One way a school can become such an organisation is to implement Universal Design for Learning. Universally designed systems in schools are guiding practices that provide flexibility in ways students engage, benefitting all students.

In summary, Universal Design for Learning provides a framework for guiding educational practice that:

a) provides flexibility in the ways information is presented, in the ways students respond or demonstrate knowledge and skills, and in the ways students are engaged.  For example, information may be provided in a variety of formats, such as text, audio, video, and hands-on learning.

b) reduces barriers in instruction, provides appropriate accommodations, supports, and challenges, and maintains high achievement expectations for all students, including students with disabilities and students who are English language learners.  This can mean, for example, giving students more than one way to interact with material and to show what they are learning. Students might choose between taking a pencil-and-paper test, giving an oral presentation, or doing a group project.

Universal Design for Learning is underpinned by the principle of engagement.  Teachers are encouraged to look for multiple ways to motivate students. Some ways are to have students make choices about assignments that feel relevant to their lives, allowing them to get up and move around the classroom, and providing options for movement like flexible seating and flexible grouping.

By effectively meeting the diverse needs of all your students, including students with disabilities, through individualised and innovative teaching practices, Universal Design Learning facilitates inclusive education.

In addition to Universal Design for Learning, teachers should be familiar with Bloom’s taxonomy, which is a practical tool to use, providing a framework in which to plan challenging lessons that help to ensure students’ progress is maximised – a fundamental tenet of successful teaching.  

As I explain in my article, ‘Applying Bloom’s Taxonomy to the Classroom’, Bloom’s taxonomy provides an excellent foundation for lessons, as it can be used as a framework in which to deliver appropriate activities, assessment, questioning, objectives and outcomes.

The Importance of Writing for Students

Of all the language arts skills—listening, speaking, reading, and writing—writing is the highest, most challenging, and important skill. However, writing is often a skill that students do not get to practise frequently enough in the classroom. A recent research brief by the Learning Agency Lab found that “just a quarter of students in middle school and high school write for at least 30 minutes a day, a minimum standard set by learning experts for the development of writing skills.”

As educators, it’s imperative that we ensure students are writing enough in their day-to-day activities. Writing makes students think. It forces them to take a position and defend it. It helps them develop and demonstrate the ability to understand, weigh, decide, analyse, and synthesise. It also helps them learn to persuade, to support their ideas with evidence, and to show they know the difference between facts and opinions.

In today’s digital world, where texting and instant messaging are the norm, it’s more important than ever that students learn to write clearly and logically and for different purposes and audiences. Moreover, writing helps develop our brain’s ability to focus and promotes long-term memory.

The evidence suggests that students need three things to develop their literacy skills:

• Regular practice with nonfiction texts
• Reading, writing & speaking in evidence from the text
• Building knowledge through content rich nonfiction

One of my own initiatives in school to improve students’ writing outcomes has been to set up blogs for our students. The blogs have provided each child with an opportunity to put together a purposeful collection of their best written work as well as helping to record their learning journey.  You can read more about my experience creating these blogs for students here.

The Benefits of Discourse for Students

Research has also shown that having strong discourse between students can positively impact several important academic outcomes, like increasing students’ test scores, engagement, and reading comprehension. Student discussion is also how educators can really understand and evaluate the impact of their teaching.

However, when researchers quantified how much of classroom time is actually spent on giving students the opportunity to have a discussion, the numbers were relatively low. In most classrooms, an overwhelming majority of the time is spent on what University of Melbourne professor and education researcher John Hattie refers to as “teacher talk.” Hattie found that on average, “teacher talk” accounts for “70% to 80% of the class time.” This demonstrates that despite the importance of student-level discourse, there is a gap that exists in many schools today. I have written a summary of John Hattie’s research here.

Getting students to meaningfully engage in discourse can be incredibly powerful.  This is because strong discourse is built on students’ ability to connect, respect, and understand one another.  However, for this type of connection to occur, and for these meaningful conversations to take place, students must be able to really listen to one another. 

The skill of listening, truly listening, is quite profound.  It includes several elements like eye contact, reading facial expressions, and reflecting back what one has heard in a way that conveys understanding and that checks for understanding.  And when students are able to listen deeply, this not only further
develops skills in discourse and academic discussion, but it also develops students’ capacity to be empathic and caring.

The Role of School Leaders

As school leaders, the work you do is to benefit the student, but the focus of the work is on improving and supporting the practice of adults you lead. The vision and strategy is built around a simple belief: My actions as a principal can positively impact the practices of educators so that teachers can have more impact with the students they serve.

Some teachers may prioritise the act of teaching content as opposed to focusing on ensuring that students are learning the content.  If teachers have this mindset, they will likely need support in changing it.  That is why it is the leader’s responsibility to begin pushing the conversation about learning gaps past the level of what students are and aren’t doing to look at what teachers
are and aren’t doing.

These types of conversations can be difficult, and faculty may be resistant to owning learning gaps.  Yet, these conversations must take place.

To help guide these conversations, school leaders should consider evaluation questions to gather information and reflect on what needs to improve. It also includes questions around systems and structures alignment and the work that a school leader needs to do to better support teachers to drive outcomes for students.

Examples of Evaluation & Structural Alignment Questions:

What needs to change to help all our students learn at high levels?

Do you have the data collection systems in place to get the level of information required to understand students’ needs?

What are teachers doing (or not doing) in their instruction that is helping or hindering students’ performance?

Has time been allocated for teachers and school leaders to understand and use data?

What are you doing (or not doing) as a school leader that is helping or hindering teachers’ performance?

Are instructional tools and curriculum aligned with the stated vision for the school?

There are key best practices leaders can keep in mind when facilitating data discussions: 

1) Ground the conversations in data. By using student work as evidence in data conversations, as well as an exemplar to compare it against, discussions between faculty can be focused on specific gaps instead of on personally charged assumptions. 

2) Encourage faculty to own the process of interpreting the data. Giving teachers the answers before they have a chance to reflect may cause them to feel disconnected from the process and may make them less likely to change their practices. 

3) Support faculty by modelling data analysis if they are struggling to own the process and change their practice.

4)Hold teachers accountable to changing their teaching. Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the leader to motivate, inspire, encourage, and support their faculty and do whatever is necessary to ensure instructional improvement through enhanced teaching.

Studies of high-performing schools show that there are several factors that must be in place to achieve school-wide system alignment to promote inclusive education: 

• A strong inclusive vision
• Distributed leadership
• Structures for collaborative problem-solving
• Strong relationships with parents and the community
• Reforms situated in the instructional core 
• Support for school-level universal design for learning at the school and classroom levels

Creating a Strong Instructional & Caring Culture

A culture is the integration of espoused norms and beliefs and enacted behaviours and practices, and a strong culture is one where those things are in alignment.

In a culture of caring, students are supported in caring for each other and expected to do so, including caring for those who are different from them in background and personality and other characteristics.

The way leaders can begin building a robust culture of caring is to focus on relationship development and the way that faculty and staff relate to and support students. If school staff are able to model the school’s core values and caring behaviours with students, then students themselves will be able to model it when interacting with peers and other adults.

As the school leader, oftentimes when you see a problem in the classroom, it’s really the symptom of a deeper, fundamental issue. This means you should have a defined process in place for digging deeper into the problem of practice. This process could include using tools like rubrics, conducting walkthroughs, and looking at more detailed student data.

After pinpointing the instructional gap and gaining a greater understanding of the problem, leaders can begin to engage their faculty in the process of tackling the challenge. This step is crucial, because in order for teaching and learning to improve, teachers must be engaged and held accountable for learning gaps. The conversation should shift from “what” students aren’t learning to “why” they aren’t learning. And although these conversations with faculty may be difficult, there are some key best practices to keep in mind to increase the likelihood of success: 1) Ground the conversations in the data; 2) Encourage faculty to own the process of interpreting the data themselves; and 3) Support teachers by modelling proper analysis. After going through the analysis, the key is then to move to action and actually change instruction.

When setting new goals and moving towards progress, it’s also key for leaders to be focused on how to make the work and the processes sustainable. This can be done by celebrating the small successes along the journey and letting staff and students know that their efforts and hard work are seen and appreciated.

Building a Culture of Collective Learning

School leaders have the power to create a culture of continuous improvement.

They can lead by example and role modelling, openly talking about the importance of continuous improvement, consistently asking for ideas and responding to them, and empowering faculty to make incremental improvements in their daily work.

When facing a community of teachers who have not yet bought into the goal of constantly improving student outcomes, leaders who focus on the “why” are able to build shared instructional leadership.

Involving teachers in sustained dialogue and decision-making around issues central to teaching and learning will lead to a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

Principals can establish school-wide mechanisms for faculty development that cut across all of the schools’ grades, such as a professional learning committee.

Seeking out champions is another effective strategy. Champions are those in your community who are enthusiastic about improvement, can provide input, and can become part of a group that tackles challenges.

Teacher Learning to Increase Student Learning

Creating a vision and communicating that vision are also important steps. Connect the vision to critical aspects of your school’s work like teacher development, collective learning, and staff empowerment, and communicate it frequently and powerfully.

Interdisciplinary teams in schools are powerful because they can attain a level of creativity and breakthrough that cannot be achieved by a single-discipline team.

When implementing a new system at your school, always start with the willing–faculty or staff who have demonstrated an interest in going through some kind of training or professional development.

There is often significant tension in schools between development and evaluation. School leaders need to be strategic, thoughtful, and transparent about when they are visiting a class for developmental purposes and when it’s a formal evaluation. To alleviate tensions, build a culture of trust and collaboration, and be approachable, respectful, and supportive.

When teachers are learning new practices and approaches, the school leader is responsible for creating the space for learning, feedback, and practice while holding them accountable for making changes in their teaching.

Leveraging Innovation and Technology for Learning

Leaders today have an especially important role to play in technology use in their schools, given its impact on nearly every aspect of our lives and our students’ education. It is important to ensure that teams integrate technologies and innovations with the goal of making teaching and learning more robust.

When integrating any innovation or new technology, evaluate its purpose and ask, “What’s the underlying theory of change for the implementation of this technology or innovation?” As you learned in Module 1, clearly aligning new initiatives to your mission and goals is critical.

To be most successful in implementing a new technology or innovation, use co-creation. Involve the people who will be implementing the change and make sure any technology initiative is practical and “people-centred.”

When implementing a new initiative in your school, remember the Cuckoo Effect. Coined by Peter Drucker, the Cuckoo Effect says that “any foreign innovation in a corporation will stimulate the corporate immune system to create antibodies that destroy it.” In other words, the dominant force of an organisation—its existing vision, systems, structures, and culture—tend to prevail over a new paradigm. To avoid this effect and give a change initiative the best chance for success, you can provide extra support and flexibility to the team implementing the change, freeing them from aspects of the organisation’s dominant systems and culture that may hinder their progress.

Leader as Learner

Great leaders focus on their own development and constantly seek out learning opportunities. Being a learner is about trying new things, welcoming feedback, and seeking out other points of view, even when it’s difficult. An avenue for principals to learn is exploring resources outside of school, such as a forum connecting principals in your district, or a national association for principals who are committed to the
ongoing development of school leaders.

To Model Learning at Your School:

– Spend more time in learning activities.
– Ask more questions.
– Don’t assume you know everything, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.
– Ask for feedback.
– Encourage others to experiment, take risks, and accept failure.

Family-School Partnerships to Support Student Learning

Families play a crucial role in student learning. When families and school teams work together, they can jointly support students’ education, health, and development.

Research shows that the level of family engagement within a school can have a significant impact on student outcomes. It’s linked to higher academic achievement, better student behaviour, and enhanced social skills. It can increase graduation rates, test scores, and attendance.

When it comes to engagement in your community, what matters most is that you adopt a partnership mindset—recognising that families are key contributors to the success of your students and school—and that you regularly seek out opportunities for strategic family-school partnerships that will support your students and school in achieving their goals.

Concluding thoughts…

It is the role of the school leader to ensure that all teachers have high expectations and the skills to implement those high expectations.  This requires the systems to develop, support and monitor teaching and learning in the school.  Systems and structures, in fact, are the key ingredients in making any organisation function at a high level, and strategic alignment — as well as continuous realignment of capabilities, resources, and management systems — needs to happen to maintain that level of achievement. When designing whole-school systems and structures, it is important to be flexible and keep standards high by using principles of universal design to support and serve all students.

The term “culture” can be used to describe both the instructional practices in a school, as well as the relationships between adults and students and the level of caring within a school. It is the role of the school leader to help establish and maintain a school-wide culture that supports continuous improvement. After all, building a culture of positive continuous improvement and learning
is at the heart of every successful school.

Learning never ends, and school leaders have the power to be role models by embracing the practice of
the leader as learner.

Technology, when used purposefully and in alignment with your school’s goals, has the potential to improve teaching and learning at your school and broaden experiences and opportunities for your students.

Finally, students’ families are critical partners in achieving success for your students and school, and that engaging families strategically and respectfully can positively affect academic outcomes.

One of the most impactful teaching strategies identified by John Hattie is teachers forging strong relationships with their students.  This is because good teacher-student relationships are the fundamental basis for successful behaviour management.  In fact, anything you can do to build a good teacher-student relationship will work in your favour when it comes to behaviour management.  This can include showing a genuine interest in your students’ personal hobbies, getting involved in extra-curricular activities or simply keeping up-to-date with the latest trends.     

There are many excellent books and other resources already devoted to behaviour management, so I will only outline the most successful approaches to the topic here.  Nevertheless, I have included here some common-sense strategies that have worked for me and countless numbers of other teachers who I have met.  These strategies serve to both help foster a strong relationship with students and manage poor behaviour from students when it takes place.      

To talk about successful teaching and not consider behaviour management would be downright short-sighted.  Yet, it still surprises me just how little attention is given to behaviour management on teacher training courses.  Effective behaviour management is the single most important foundation for successful teaching, and is perhaps the most overlooked.  Managing behaviour well is, after all, key to creating an environment in which teaching and learning can flourish, as well as helping students to understand about socially acceptable and appropriate choices.  Without effective behaviour management, teaching becomes a much more stressful job.  Statistics on teacher retention, for example, make for sober reading.  Almost half of new teachers entering the profession leave within their first five years, and half of them cite poor behaviour from students as one of the reasons.     

Successful teachers teach not just the curriculum, but also social and emotional skills.  This of course, goes hand in hand with effective behaviour management.  Managing behaviour well is a key ingredient for cultivating a sense of competency on the part of teachers, leading to confidence for the teacher in his or her abilities, and a more satisfying career.   

Managing behaviour well requires three overlapping qualities: emotional competence, an understanding of human thinking and organisation.    

Emotional Competence 

Managing behaviour is an emotional skill; it requires training yourself to think and act in a certain way, which for most of us, goes against how we would instinctively respond to poor behaviour from students.  This means that when a child misbehaves, you do not lose your temper and you show emotion only sparingly.  Likewise, you do not use rewards or prizes in an attempt to manipulate children to meet your minimum expectations, i.e. simply for behaving well.  While such approaches may work in the short-term, the long-term costs are too high.  Neither losing your temper nor giving out rewards helps children to build respectful relationships with adults or with one another.        

As a classroom teacher, your emotions should communicate high expectations of students in terms of both their achievement and behaviour.  Accordingly, for example, your tone of voice should be a calm, neutral and assertive tone – which communicates that you are in control and you will get what you expect.  Your body language is equally important.  Move around the classroom naturally and purposefully (like you own it), standing tall and exerting a conscious effort to make eye contact with each and every learner.  You should work to cultivate a strong sense of inner calm, remaining unfazed even when things go wrong.       

There are three key characteristics of an emotionally competent teacher: 

1. An emphasis on positive statements rather than negative statements., e.g. “We’ve got some exciting activities to do today.”  Do your best to frame everything you say in a positive light even when students make mistakes.  Highlighting the success of students (rather than focusing on mistakes) helps to build both their self-esteem and your relationship with them.  In particular, by looking for and focusing on those children who are behaving as you want, you are likely to get more of that type of positive behaviour.      

1. Regular and sustained use of praise, e.g. “As per usual, you’re working incredibly quietly Class 5, well done!” 

1. Teaching students the social skills they need to be successful.  Use ‘I expect…’ statements, to set children positive behaviour targets, e.g. “I expect you to show respect for everyone in our class, paying full attention when someone else is speaking.”  Communicating clear expectations, and sharing these regularly with your class, is a key part of successful behaviour management.  This is particularly important in your first few lessons with a new class, when you will need to define boundaries about what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.       

When you display such characteristics in your teaching, you are also more likely to have your students’ full engagement.  This is because emotional competence and ensuring full engagement on the part of your students go hand in hand; it is impossible to have one without the other.   

 In order to cultivate this emotional competence, it is necessary to regulate your internal dialogue and emotions.  The words from the influential book ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ by Norman Vincent Peale (1996 [1953], pp. 16-17), are relevant here: ‘Feelings of confidence depend on the type of thoughts that habitually occupy your mind.  Think defeat and you are bound to be defeated… Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding.’  By regulating your emotions in such a way, you will be able to project what Derington & Goddard (2008) refer to as ‘resolute optimism’, which is contagious and has an energising impact on those around you: 

‘The teacher who enters a classroom in a warm, appreciative and enthusiastic manner with obvious high expectation is likely to have this reflected back by the students.’  (Derrington & Goddard, 2008, pp. 27).   

Just like a muscle, maintaining resolute optimism requires constant training, to begin each day with a positive frame of mind.  The power of one’s internal monologue cannot be overstated.  All personal development is based on moving our inner voice away from self-criticism and negativity to a more positive and affirming self-talk.  As Beck et al. (2003) point out, this approach is grounded in a well-known cognitive therapy technique and psychotherapeutic practice in which individuals learn how to distinguish between realistic and maladaptive thinking.            

One of the fundamental messages from Dave Burgess’s book (2012), Teach Like a Pirate, is the importance of exuding passion as a way to fuel student engagement.  An interesting and insightful point that Dave Burgess makes is that this passion need not necessarily come from a love of the subject matter itself – instead, it can just come from professional or personal passion alone: 

‘For example, I mentioned that I am not passionate about railroads.  Fortunately for my students, I am passionate about developing engaging presentations for my material.  So, although I might not be jazzed about the subject, I can absolutely be inspired and fully engaged in my attempt to present the topic in an entertaining way.’ (Burgess, pp. 12, 2012).   

Finding ways to incorporate your passions into your teaching practice will energise you, ensuring that you can create powerful and engaging lessons, which are more likely to be remembered by students.  

Of course, when it comes to energy levels you also need to look after yourself.  This means taking up physical exercise after work to help relieve stress, getting plenty of rest and making sure that you stay well hydrated.  I would also recommend being careful to manage your time well.  It can be easy to fall into the trip of saying ‘yes’ to every demand on your time, particularly at the beginning of your teaching career (this is a mistake I certainly made early on), e.g. the student council, extra-curricular activities, fundraising projects, etc.  However, it is important that you learn to politely say ‘no’ in order to avoid too many demands being placed on your time.  By doing so, you will free up energy to focus on what is most important – your teaching.  

Understanding how Humans Think 

Developing the emotional skill of behaviour management also requires a basic understanding of how humans think – the things humans do to avoid what they dislike, and to get things they like.  This understanding should be used by teachers to create an intelligent system of appropriate praise and sanctions, which motivates children to behave well because it feels good to do so.  There are many options here to create such a system, including point systems, marbles in a jar, extra playtime and so on.  One of my favourite strategies is to phone home, to share some positive comments about the child.  This works particularly well for those students who are keen to please his or her parents.          

It is worth remembering too that children will follow the role model that you set for them.  If you say please and thank you all the time, for instance, then even without realising it, the children in your class will emulate your politeness and good manners.  From my own experience, I have found that establishing a climate of good manners helps tremendously in terms of building a cohesive and positive classroom.  Everything that you say and do should exemplify the expectations that you have of your students.  

By virtue of mimicking behaviour, if you get into a habit of shouting regularly, to get children’s attention, then they will learn to shout too.  This in turn tends to lead to a noisier working environment, which will only serve to heighten your stress levels and theirs.  As far as possible then, in times when you need to get children’s attention, use non-verbal signals, for instance: 

• Raising your hand in the air; 
• Ringing a bell; 
• Clapping three times. 

Once children become accustomed to the expectations you have associated with your chosen non-verbal signal(s), these should become hard-wired into their subconscious.  It should feel as though you are using a magic wand every time you use your chosen non-verbal signal, as a sense of calm and quiet should quickly descend across the classroom.   

In terms of your actual teaching delivery, as obvious as it may sound, unless the subject matter is delivered in an interesting way, children will quickly lose concentration.  As a rough guide, Sue Cowley (2012, pp. 24) suggests that children can concentrate for their age plus 2.  So, a five-year-old will only be able to concentrate for approximately seven minutes on one activity.  Even within these short timeframes, it is still necessary to ensure that you do your best to hold the children’s attention.        

Among the many options at your disposal to do this, your best tool is actually your voice itself.  You should aim to vary the tone and pitch of your voice, putting emphasis on key words.  By doing so, you will hold students’ attention for much longer.  By contrast, a monotone voice will quickly lead to boredom and misbehaviour in the classroom.  The teacher, Christopher Emdid makes an excellent demonstration of this point, in his TED Talk, ‘Teach teachers how to create magic’.  In my own experience, I have also found that sudden, unexpected pauses in the middle of a sentence helps to keep a certain suspense, which serves to make your teaching delivery more gripping.   

While on the subject of teacher voice, you should keep what you have to say to an absolute minimum.  This applies both to your teaching delivery and any general instructions that you need to give.  It is worth mentioning incidentally, that this can be one of the biggest challenges for some teachers, especially those who love the sound of their own voices!  Simply put, the less you say, the easier it is for your students to assimilate, remember and act on what you have said.  Conversely, the longer you talk, the more likely you will lose students, and after too long hearing you’re the sound of your voice, they will inevitably phase out, become bored and then misbehave.    

Organisation 

Irrespective of what a child’s home life might be like, the classroom should become a home away from home with predictable routines and structured activities.  It is within this environment that children should know the boundaries for acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.  For students, this can provide a much-needed sense of consistency and stability. 

This requires first and foremost that you explain to your students the basics, for example, of how you expect the children to enter the room, line up, leave the classroom and so on.  It may well be necessary to walk through every single detail of classroom procedure, especially for younger students.  If you are new to teaching, notes or an outline before the beginning of each new school day will help you to internalise the classroom procedures for yourself.  By having all your expectations very clear in your own mind, you will be much quicker to identify and respond appropriately to any poor behaviour.         

Seating plans are an effective way to help you demonstrate organisation and keep control of a class.  As well as helping you to learn students’ names at the beginning of the academic year, it sends a signal that you are organised, orderly and in charge.  As shown in the photos, Post-It notes are an ideal size to mark out seating arrangements. For younger children (8 years and below), I would use them on the carpet (for the introductory part of a lesson, plenary or story time) and on the floor outside the classroom to indicate where children should sit when lining up. This simply helped save time as well, as the children knew straightaway where to sit. The Post-It notes do inevitably wear away after a few weeks (even after taping them into place), but students will remember the seating plan well before then. 

An online behaviour management system such as Class Dojo can help you to further organise your classroom by providing a point system, which fosters positive student behaviours and a positive classroom culture.  It is also a great way to get parents involved, helping to ensure that they are not only aware of their child’s behaviour, but also have an idea of all the good work their child is producing.     

Likewise, it should go without saying that lessons need to be planned thoroughly.  All students should be appropriately challenged with meaningful lesson activities and have extra tasks to move onto if they finish the main piece of work set.  Even before lessons begin, it helps to have a calming activity for students when they first enter your room such as word problems or maths puzzles.  The key idea here is to make sure that there is as little downtime as possible, as students should always have something constructive to do.  

All that being said, when positive influence and organisation fails to maintain student behaviour – which occasionally it will – it is then necessary to manage the negative choices that students make.  This should be done by following through with clearly defined consequences that follow a hierarchy.  Although there is not a neat step-by-step method that fits all situations or all children, you should have in mind (and on display) a clear sequence of pre-planned consequences to carry out in the event of a student who misbehaves.   

Assuming low-level behaviour issues (e.g. shouting out when the teacher is talking), below is a suggested sequence: 

1. The first time a student misbehaves, give a warning and/or loses a class point.
2. The second time the student misbehaves, s/he will move seats.
3. The third time the student will miss 10-minutes of breaktime.
4. The fourth time the student will miss all of breaktime.   
5. If the behaviour issues continue after this point, then a meeting with the parents/caregivers should be arranged.   

There are a whole range of different sanctions that can be applied, such as loss of privileges, detentions, phone calls/emails to parents and so on.  The important point is that your sanctions should start at a low level, and gradually build up if the student continues to defy you.  Common sense is obviously required here and this sequence will need to be adapted for the situation at hand.  In the event of a student who physically harms another student or swears in class for example, you would undoubtedly escalate directly to steps 4 and 5 in this sequence.  Remember, whatever the situation, do your best to remain relentlessly calm and polite, which makes confrontations with students less likely to occur.        

Concluding thoughts…

It should be clear by now that, while in the presence of your students, behaviour management itself is a full-time job.  Fortunately, it is a skill that we can practise, and after a while, it becomes second nature.  Working to incorporate the strategies discussed will help to develop your qualities of emotional competence, your understanding of how humans think and your organisational skills – which all serve to help you manage behaviour well.