BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT

I believe that behaviour management is one of the most important skills of a teacher.
This is due to the fact that without kids being controlled and disciplined, the class is
always being interrupted, distracted and behind schedule.

For my first and second practicum I have worked in schools with the Positive
Behaviour Learning Program (PBL) in place. I found this program to be great as it is
adopted by the majority of classes and has full support of the principal which allows
the rules and expectations to be known by all students. The PBL program is
measurable with proven success and it allows each staff member in the school to be
aware of the behaviour of individual students.

What really stuck with me is the fact that students of all ages can smell fear in a
teacher. When you're a casual teacher for the day you need to be confident and
organised to show students you mean business and that you're there to teach (it's
not a muck up day because their normal teacher is away). I believe that to get
respect from students you first have to let them trust and respect you as you're only
a stranger to them. A great way to achieve this is to play a game first up to get to
know a bit about everyone and for them to get to know you.

Above is an example of a poster you can hang up in the classroom. I like this poster
as its simple yet effective and easy for students to remember. When students are
playing up or breaking the rules they can be asked are they showing the "three keys"
and what can they do in order to change their behaviour in order to do so. This gives
student’s accountability for their actions and some easy steps to follow. If this does
not work for students, then extra steps should be put in place such as writing their
name on the board etc. Students should also be rewarded verbally or with things
such as stickers or stamps for always following the rules.

I believe that in order to have a well-managed classroom, you need to have the
following;

 A set of rules that are thoroughly outlined to all students at the beginning of
the year
 Have a heaps of different rewards and positive reinforcements
 Have sanctions set for when students misbehave
 Have a repertoire of different options to deal with different types of behaviour
for particular students
 Have well planned lessons
 Repeatedly encourage respect and positive relationships both in and outside
of the classroom

For rewards to be effective they should be:

 Immediate
 Consistent
 Achievable
 Fair

The types of rewards should be;

 Social (Praise and recognition such as a positive phone call home to parents)
 Tangible (Materialistic such as the use of tokens)
 Activity (Physical rewards such as allowing students to play their favourite
sport or a subject they really enjoy)

Some more examples of effective rewards include;

 Raffle Tickets
 A class party
 Certificates
 Free time
 Position of responsibility e.g. line leader
 Lucky dip
 Phone call home
 Extra play