Be Human Face to face contact outside of the classroom is one of the most important wins a teacher can have. Being at school for the morning meet and greet. Get outside as the students group together. Get involved. Say hello. Ask questions about their weekend, a forthcoming event or about their day ahead.
At first, the students will be on their back foot. Smile at colleagues and students you meet. Be positive. Challenging students will often be surrounded with challenging circumstance. Added to the swathes of hormones, it makes for a complex and reactive human being. Smiling and being human will break down defences and build relationships. Why invest? The students, including the challenging students will do as you ask when you ask it. They know you care, they respect that you care, they follow your instruction, they respect your instruction.
Because you respect them. So now, be consistent Once you have developed a climate of respect. Always be positive, always show your students respect, always challenge appropriately. In turn, students will mostly respond positively.
Always be consistent. Consistently positive. The problem with managing sanction systems. Not a smile and a welcome. Some students are met with sanctions e. As if, the expectation by the teacher is that there will be consequences. There will be names on the board, come what may. Flip it to Positive Reinforcement Instead of sanctions, meet students with praise.
Have a positivity wall or tick chart. Meet and greet with a happy face and a positive comment. Train the students i. They want and need positive reinforcement. The best side for my rule that day it was the quickest side to put their hands on their head. No prize offered, they just wanted to impress, to be the best. An example One of the toughest students came to me with his card. He was elated. He was grinning from ear to ear. This was also in the company of member of staff and his after school football session.
