Resources to support Charlie Taylor’s Improving Teacher Training for Behaviour
Behaviour Scenarios
Scenario 2: Starting a lesson in an orderly way
This Scenario has been developed for Initial Teacher Training (ITT) to enable trainees to
demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding of behaviour management
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Introduction
Behaviour2Learn has developed 17 Scenarios focusing on the 8 areas highlighted in the
Teaching Agency's document Improving teacher training for behaviour. These are:
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Self-management
Reflection
School Systems
Relationships
Classroom Management
More Challenging Behaviour
Theoretical Knowledge
Improving teacher training for behaviour has been developed by Charlie Taylor, the
Government’s expert adviser on behaviour, to complement the new Teachers’
Standards that all teachers have to demonstrate from September 2012.
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Scenario 2
Starting a lesson in an orderly way
You arrive late to a lesson after a wet lunch break.
The class are excitable and rowdy.
How do you settle them and get the lesson underway?
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Key Learning Outcomes
• Understanding of your responsibility to ensure high standards of
behaviour and establish them from the beginning of every lesson.
• Practice in the use of voice, position in the room, eye contact and nonverbal communication to gain the attention of a class.
• Recognition of the effect that teacher behaviour has on pupil behaviour.
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What do you do?
Consider these responses and choose the best one(s):
1. Enter the room and say something in a loud voice e.g. “Shush. Shush.
Shush. Settle down now”.
2. Apologise for being late.
3. Stand at the front, glaring at the class with your arms folded, and wait for
silence.
4. Turn to the whiteboard and start writing up the lesson objectives while
waiting for the class to settle down.
5. Stand where you can be seen and use a technique already established
with the class to gain their attention.
6. Pick on the most rowdy group and march up to them, telling them to sit
down and be quiet.
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What may be the best choice?
4. Stand where you can be seen and use a technique already established
with the class to gain their attention.
e.g. Raise your hand and wait for the class to respond by raising their hands.
This is one of a number of techniques for gaining the attention of a class
without raising your voice.
You need first to establish a rule with the class that, if you raise your hand,
they all do so too and that is a signal to stop and pay attention to you.
You should reinforce this by giving pupils positive acknowledgment as soon as
they respond and capitalising on their growing attention by starting to teach
as soon as quiet and order allows you to.
2. Apologise for being late.
By apologising, you are modelling the behaviour that all members of the
group should expect from one another.
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How might you prevent a recurrence?
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Remind the class at the end of the lesson that, next time, a speedy and
orderly start will be the behaviour objective for the lesson.
Establish a procedure for the beginning of a lesson e.g. assemble the
class outside, entering first and greeting as they enter your room.
Always be punctual and in the room ready to greet each pupil with a
warm-up task as they arrive.
Anticipate that changes in the environment will cause changes in group
behaviour.
If you know you will be delayed, have work ready in the room and, if
possible, arrange for a colleague to greet and settle the class.
Alternatively, if appropriate, explain in advance to the pupils and give
them responsibility for getting started. Praise them when they do so.
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Underlying Principles
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Orderly behaviour in groups is not natural and has to be learned supported by agreed and understood routines and rules.
Teacher behaviour is a major influence on pupil behaviour. Assertiveness
is not enough on its own.
It is essential to gain attention before directed learning can start.
Gaining attention, however, is not an end in itself. It is a process that
allows the real business of the lesson, the learning, to begin.
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Rights and Responsibilities
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It is a professional responsibility for teachers to lead by example and to
be punctual and prepared at the start of a lesson.
Teachers have the right to discipline pupils who disobey instructions and
delay the start of a lesson.
Teachers must have a good, up-to-date working knowledge and
understanding of a range of behaviour management strategies and know
how to use and adapt them.
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Activities to try
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Make a list of techniques for ensuring an orderly start to a lesson. Select
some that you think are appropriate for the context in which you are
working. Try them and ask a colleague to observe their effectiveness.
Ask a group of pupils what they find helps to settle a class down to work.
Apply their suggestions and see how effective they are.
Arrange to discuss the outcomes:
“What went well?” “Even better if…………”
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Conclusions
The way in which a lesson begins has a major influence on the creation of a
climate for learning. It is worth spending time establishing a clear routine for
the start of the lesson.
Avoid being late. If you are, you will disturb the routine you have established
and set a bad example to pupils.
Being in the classroom ahead of the pupils allows you to prepare for their
arrival and orchestrate their entry.
It is important to be able to gain pupils’ attention without raising your voice.
You should explore and practise techniques for doing this.
Explore the effects of standing in different parts of the room, using eye
contact, using established signals, using appropriate body language and
modulating your voice.
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