Okay, so I’ve done a lot of stuff about the edges and the background and the effects of Strictly Positive Teaching, but it all starts with Strictly Positive Behaviour Management. So it’s time for a few posts from the beginning. Strictly Positive Behaviour Management This is absolutely the heart of Strictly Positive Teaching, and […]
“I’m sorry I wrote you such a long letter; I didn’t have time to write a short one,” said Blaise Pascal back in the 17th century. And he didn’t have to limit himself to 140 characters. I’ve finally taken up my courage and decided to pitch the concept of SPT to agents and to Unbound, a […]
I try really hard here not to get too political which, as anyone who knows me will agree, is REALLY difficult for me. But I had to add something to the education funding debate, something to which not enough people are explicitly drawing attention. When Michael Gove originally came up with his new (or ‘repro’, […]
Objective setting is one of those areas where official advice changes with head-spinning rapidity. And don’t get me started on learning outcomes v learning objectives. The strictly positive teacher wants students to know when they come in the room what they are going to learn, and to know that they have learned it when they […]
In our classes we are still dealing, effectively, with puppies. Puppies need to be exercised regularly or they will vent their frustration in a less positive way.
I’ve mentioned before my loathing of the ‘good!’, ‘good job!’, ‘well done!’, ‘awesome!’ style of praise of students, which is usually linked to an obsessive need to describe in detail any misdeeds which occur. I’ve also mentioned my belief in differentiating praise, so that you are praising a student for something which they normally have […]
As teachers, although it may be counter-intuitive, we have to be positively aware that when every time we change position – standing, sitting, leaning, crouching, facing, beside or behind a student – we send out complex messages and influence the way our students behave. Our choice of position will depend on a number of factors: […]
So you’ve kept Joe, or Leah, or Sam back after a lesson where they pushed you to the point where you had to issue a detention. You didn’t engage in discussion about it in the lesson, but now is the time. This is the point at which you have an opportunity a) to confirm that […]
Fear is of no avail in education…
Students don’t arrive at your door bright-eyed and bushy tailed, eager for the spark of learning to be ignited into a flame. They get there hot and sweaty from PE, redolent of Lynx to mask the smell, or angry because they’ve been excluded from a discussion about a party which will be happening this weekend, […]
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