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, […]
Interesting article from the Guardian on how to stay positive and help your own wellbeing. Nothing revolutionary, but wise counsel nonetheless.
‘Hands up’ means that all the keen, able, confident kids in the room put their hands up and their names go up on the smiley side of the board and accumulate lots of ticks against them. They get loads of praise, and their sense of self-worth is reinforced. Then the others, who realise that they will probably not […]
At the end of the day today, when you’re tidying your desk and getting ready to go to the pub, or to football, or home, or whatever your thing is on Friday, take a moment before logging off your school management system. Look through your registers and find three kids who have properly earned your praise […]
So you have your classroom set up for Positive Behaviour Management. The students understand your system. You have greeted them at the door, and you have managed to find some good behaviour to commend by noting someone’s name on the positive side of your board. As you hasten over to write their name on the board you […]
I’ve talked quite a lot about the benefits of Positive Behaviour Management and about its effectiveness in the classroom, but I haven’t yet gone into details about the nuts and bolts of how it works. It is essentially simple, but there are many strands which work together; I’ll go through all of them in the […]
strictlypositiveteaching.org 