Three Simple Rules
I have been thinking a lot recently about rules. Every school has them, although we call them things like "the behaviour ladder" and "classroom expectations". When I first became a teacher, I was given all sorts of advice about rules and routines - a long list of dos and don'ts for children. Don't shout out. Don't answer back. Don't turn round. Put your hand up. Underline the date and title. Keep your blazer on. Do your tie up. Don't set the girl in front of you on fire...
A few years ago, I asked a very lovely form group to reduce all the "school rules" to a few guiding principles. What, I asked them, was really important for a happy classroom? This is what they came up with:
What I find in alternative provision is that learners come with a long history of being treated with a lack of respect, a lot of negativity and that they don't know how to keep themselves safe. It's very sad and explains why they have not been successful in a mainstream environment. They have ingrained patterns of behaviour that do not fit the social norms of the school.
Joel* is 14. He is very physical with others and shouts a lot. His language is peppered liberally with profanities that would make a sailor blush. He exhibits risky behaviours like walking nonchalantly into traffic without looking and shouting at drivers who honk their horns to f - off. Try to tell home that he is in danger, and he says he doesn't care.
Joel looks brave, but he's terrified. Dig a little into his background and you find that he has been a victim of emotional abuse all his short life. The people who should love him are neglectful of him. Joel holds everyone else at arm's length so they can't hurt him and yet at the same time he is desperate for someone to intervene. He shouts because he is used to not being heard. He doesn't keep himself safe because he thinks he is worthless: he has learned that he does not matter. It's going to take a lot of time and relationship building to break his cycle of behaviours.
If the rules I have for learners are important - and they are - then the rules I have for myself and my TA are even more important. I want children to be safe, to be happy and to be successful. I tell them this regularly: it's a mantra. The order is very important.
I want learners to be (and feel) safe first and foremost because I know that they can't focus on anything else until they do. Feeling safe means that they know that it's ok to get things wrong and it's ok not to know things. No adult in my classroom will ever tell a learner that they should be able to do something or make them feel stupid for giving a wrong answer. When they are in crisis we will respond calmly and handle the situation.
When they feel safe, we can focus on being happy. Happy to be challenged. Happy to tell me what they don't know or are worried about. Happy to share stories and anecdotes. Happy to accept my feedback as information not criticism. Happy to be teased a little.
When learners are happy, they will be successful. They will make progress and they will want to make more.
To me it really is that simple, and so are my three rules for myself:
A few years ago, I asked a very lovely form group to reduce all the "school rules" to a few guiding principles. What, I asked them, was really important for a happy classroom? This is what they came up with:
- Be respectful
- Be positive
- Be safe
It took a while for them to distil the rules - in fact the process lasted several weeks - but in the end they got down to what's really important. Discussion revealed that my lovely mainstream Year 7 class shared a subtle understanding of what these words meant:
- Being respectful applies to yourself, other people, equipment, the environment and the learning process.
- Being positive means thinking that you can or will be able to do something, not that you can't and using positive rather than negative language.
- Being safe means avoiding your triggers, talking to someone when you are struggling as well as not throwing chairs across the room!
What I find in alternative provision is that learners come with a long history of being treated with a lack of respect, a lot of negativity and that they don't know how to keep themselves safe. It's very sad and explains why they have not been successful in a mainstream environment. They have ingrained patterns of behaviour that do not fit the social norms of the school.
Joel* is 14. He is very physical with others and shouts a lot. His language is peppered liberally with profanities that would make a sailor blush. He exhibits risky behaviours like walking nonchalantly into traffic without looking and shouting at drivers who honk their horns to f - off. Try to tell home that he is in danger, and he says he doesn't care.
Joel looks brave, but he's terrified. Dig a little into his background and you find that he has been a victim of emotional abuse all his short life. The people who should love him are neglectful of him. Joel holds everyone else at arm's length so they can't hurt him and yet at the same time he is desperate for someone to intervene. He shouts because he is used to not being heard. He doesn't keep himself safe because he thinks he is worthless: he has learned that he does not matter. It's going to take a lot of time and relationship building to break his cycle of behaviours.
If the rules I have for learners are important - and they are - then the rules I have for myself and my TA are even more important. I want children to be safe, to be happy and to be successful. I tell them this regularly: it's a mantra. The order is very important.
I want learners to be (and feel) safe first and foremost because I know that they can't focus on anything else until they do. Feeling safe means that they know that it's ok to get things wrong and it's ok not to know things. No adult in my classroom will ever tell a learner that they should be able to do something or make them feel stupid for giving a wrong answer. When they are in crisis we will respond calmly and handle the situation.
When they feel safe, we can focus on being happy. Happy to be challenged. Happy to tell me what they don't know or are worried about. Happy to share stories and anecdotes. Happy to accept my feedback as information not criticism. Happy to be teased a little.
When learners are happy, they will be successful. They will make progress and they will want to make more.
To me it really is that simple, and so are my three rules for myself:
- Be the adult in the room
- Know your learners
- Relax and enjoy the journey
*Joel is fictional, but his behaviours and background are very real.
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