Behavioural Strategies for the classroom

Yesterday I had the pleasure of facilitating Behavioural Strategies for the Classroom with a wonderful group of educators. 

We started with one idea: every behaviour is a message from a child who cannot yet put it into words. "This is too hard." "I need you." "I cannot cope in here." That doesn't excuse the behaviour. It means we treat it as information. And behaviour that keeps happening is behaviour that works, so our job is to find out what it's working for.

To put that into practice, teachers worked in groups on two activities. In Spot the Function, each table sorted real classroom scenarios under four headings: Escape, Attention, Tangible and Sensory. The rule was to look for the clue. When does it happen, and when does it stop? Some of the best conversations came from the cards where tables disagreed. In Behaviour Detective, groups worked through a learner's case using a recording sheet, looking at what happened before, during and after, then agreed on a likely function and one change to try.
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The heart of the session was our approach: Prevent, Teach, Respond, Repair. So often our energy goes into how we respond in the moment. But respond gets most of our attention, while prevent, teach and repair do most of the work. We prevent by setting children up for success. We teach the skills they're missing. And we repair the relationship when things go wrong, because that's what makes the next day possible.
Thank you to every educator who gave their time and their honesty. The children in your care are lucky to have teachers who want to understand them, not just manage them.

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Respond gets most of our attention. Prevent, Teach and Repair do most of the work.