Whoosh! Training Paul Dix - Pivotal Education · choose your behaviour. You have many options as to...

Whoosh! Training Paul Dix

Pure consistency

Emotional resilience Valued learners

Taught behaviour Calm, stepped interventions

Taking Care of Behaviour www.PivotalEducation.com 2

Agenda for today

9.30 am Transformative Consistency

Simple, consistent behaviour basics

10.15 am Consistent Calm Adult Behaviour

Human beings and the emotional v rational brain

Emotional control and emotional restraint

11.00 am Coffee

11.20 am Relentless Routines

Excellence on autopilot

Keystone habits

12.15 am First attention for best conduct

Marking moments, behaviour pegs

Attention starvation

1.00 pm Lunch

1.45 pm Scripting difficult conversations

The 30 second intervention

Fogging and diverting

3.00 pm Restorative follow up

Picking up your own tab

3.15 pm Plenary

Echoes from the day

#Pivotal30DayPledge

3.30 pm Course ends


If you are waiting....

Always Some-times

Rarely Never

I shout at pupils

I worry that I may have been too harsh on a child

I am consistent in managing behaviour

I remind pupils of the rules when working with me

I plan what I am going to say to children in conversations about behaviour

The hard working pupils seem to get forgotten

I find myself in unpleasant confrontations with students

I focus on rewarding good behaviour

I seek support and advice on dealing with students with challenging behaviour

What do you believe?

True/False T F

Poor behaviour is more nurture than nature

It is not my job to teach students how to behave

Teachers and pupils cannot be friends

Shouting in anger is never acceptable behaviour

How I feel each day affects the way I deal with pupils

Children over the age of 10 know how to behave

We should not be worried about excluding a few to benefit the rest

Human beings are mainly motivated by material reward

People learn best when they are in a trusting relationship

I believe young people were better behaved 100 years ago

Adults (because they are older than pupils) have a right to be spoken to with respect

Boys are generally more disruptive than girls


Consistency in practice

• Consistent language; consistent response: Referring to the agreement made between

staff and learners, simple and clear expectations reflected in all conversations about

behaviour.

• Consistent follow up: Ensuring ‘certainty’ through all levels of the hierarchy. Never

passing problems up the line, teachers taking responsibility for behaviour interventions,

seeking support but never delegating.

• Consistent positive reinforcement: Routine procedures for reinforcing, encouraging

and celebrating appropriate behaviour.

• Consistent consequences: Defined, agreed and applied at the classroom level as well

as established structures for more serious behaviours.

• Consistent, simple rules/agreements/expectations referencing promoting appropriate

behaviour, icons, symbols and visual cues, interesting and creative signage.

• Consistent respect from the adults: Even in the face of disrespectful learners!

• Consistent models of emotional control: Emotional restraint that is modelled and not

just taught, teachers as role models for learning.

• Consistently reinforced rituals and routines for behaviour around the site: In

classrooms, in common areas, at reception.

• Consistent environment: Consistent visual messages and echoes of core values,

positive images of learners rather than marketing slogans

“The best institutions have absolute consistency. I don't care whether the system they use is behaviourist or whether the system they use is extremely old-fashioned, the critical difference is that people sign up to it and teachers act with one voice and one message: "This is how we do it here" Paul giving evidence to the Education Select Committee Inquiry into Behaviour and Discipline in Schools 2011


Emotional resilience…….for adults

Adapted from Daniel Goleman Emotional Intelligence 1995 (with my italics).

In a very real sense we have two minds: the rational mind and the emotional mind. The

emotional mind responds rapidly and with a primitive instinct, often over-running the rational

mind. This rapid mode of perception sacrifices accuracy for speed, relying on first impressions.

Swiftness is particularly true of intense emotions like fear of a sudden threat (perhaps an angry

adult approaching). Emotional response can also come in a second wave during/after reflective

thought (‘What did that child just say to me? Right…’). The emotional mind takes its beliefs to

be absolutely true and so discounts any evidence to the contrary. That is why it is so hard to

reason with someone who is emotionally upset.

The amygdala acts as a storehouse of emotional memory. It is poised like an alarm company

where operators stand ready to send out emergency messages. It triggers fight/flight hormones

(“Right! I’m off!’), mobilizes centres for movement and activates the cardiovascular system.

The amygdala has a privileged position as an emotional sentinel, able to hijack the brain. It can

send urgent messages, which are sometimes, if not often, out of date.

The Amygdala is fully formed at the age of 24/25 years.


In terms of behaviour, what do we expect of:

All adults……

Middle leaders….

Senior leaders…


The importance of importance Giving Importance by Chris Sweeney Before I became a teacher I worked in a pub for a year. It was a "classic" country pub in an old

building with a head barman who'd been there longer than the foundations. Peter was to me the

perfect barman, he had a knack of working with people and putting them at their ease.

Whether it was the regulars who came in every day or once a week, or whether it was a new

customer who had just found the pub, Peter would make them feel that he was privileged that

they had come into the pub.

With the regulars, he would know those who liked to have a particular drink in a particular glass

and that would be poured and on the bar ready for them before they asked; he'd know those

who had something different each time and so would wait to check what they wanted; he'd know

those who always had the same drink but were worried about being predictable or boring. He

would patiently wait whilst they went through the charade of deciding what they were going to

have before choosing the same drink they had every day. He would keep up to speed with their

lives, their interests asking after weekends, spouses and families. But he would also know the

difference between those who wanted to discuss their lives in great detail and those who

wanted to keep "distance".

When new people walked into the bar he would adjust his greeting according to what he felt

would suit them best. He would get the balance right between welcoming them in without being

overpowering. He could see when trouble was brewing and would intervene early with a subtle

comment, diversion or a joke to defuse the situation.

In short Peter had the skill of making every person who came into that pub feel important.

Giving importance is an essential skill in the classroom as well. Ask yourself the question how

do you make your students feel important? I'm not talking here about the whole class, I'm

talking about individuals. Take the time to make each student feel that you're glad they came,

you're pleased they're here, they're important. This doesn't take a lot of time or effort but it has

a huge impact. Greeting students as they come in at the start of the session - with a smile; a

brief comment/question about something you know they're interested in; marking moments with


genuine, meaningful praise. Giving importance is different for everyone - we all value different

approaches and have different interests.

Sadly Peter died a few years ago. I remember going to his funeral - it was standing room only.

There were family and friends there but there were also large numbers of people who had

known Peter as the barman of their local. They came because they wanted to pay their respects

to Peter but also because he had had an impact on their lives - he had made a difference.

In schools we are immensely privileged to be in the position where we can have a huge impact

on the lives of learners every day.

Ask yourself the question at the end of each day: Have I made the children feel important

today?

10 ways to make learners feel important, valued and like they belong…

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.


Mini action research task Ask a teaching assistant or trusted learner to tally the number of positive comments against the number of negative interventions that you make. A simple column chart labelled + and – will do. In the next lesson try and remove all of your negative re-inforcers. Consider how different learners respond to this change. Try doubling the positive comments or removing them altogether and tracking behaviour and motivation. Compare your results over 5 lessons with the same group with colleagues.

Tweaking teaching to transform trouble

• Smile

• Convince your class that there is no place that you would rather be

• Find out what makes a learner feel important, valued, like they belong

• Reward learners for going ‘over and above’ expectations not simply meeting them

• Let children lead learning, share responsibility, delegate jobs

• Mark moments with sincere, private verbal praise

• Make positive phone calls home at least one every week

• Send positive notes at least 2 per week

• Write down your praise and reinforcement; mark the moment and ‘anchor’ the behaviour

• Show learners their ideas and experiences have real value

• Ensure your mechanism for positive referrals is individualised

• Catch learners doing the right thing, don’t let sleeping dogs lie

• Use subtle, private praise and reinforcement

• Differentiate the way you celebrate achievement – not everyone wants to feel famous

but everyone wants to feel important

• Class display that reeks of high expectations

• Make learners feel important for the behaviours that they can show and not for the

behaviours that they can’t.


Habits of adults who manage behaviour well:

• They meet and greet

• They persistently catch individuals doing the right thing

• They teach the behaviours that they want to see

• They teach learners how they would like to be treated

• They reinforce conduct/attitudes that are appropriate to context

• They agree rules/routines/expectations with their class and consistently apply them with

positive and negative consequences

• They sustain a passion for their subject that breaks through the limiting self belief of

some learners

• They relentlessly work to build mutual trust even when trust is broken, time is wasted

and promises are not kept. They refuse to give up

• They keep their emotion for when it is most appreciated by the learners


Assertiveness Many teachers recognise that their pattern of behaviour is to be nice or compliant for far longer than they really want, until they reach the point of no longer being able to hold it in; then they explode nastily and inappropriately all over whoever happens to be around. This can leave learners with the impression that there are only two states or behaviours their teacher can do: ‘Nice’ or ‘Nasty’. The shades in between, which are where assertiveness lies, are unused and eventually lost from the repertoire of Behaviour Management strategies. Assertiveness is not simply standing your ground, just saying ‘no’ and repeating your demand (the ‘broken record’ technique). Just as learners have choices, so you have the opportunity to choose your behaviour. You have many options as to how you respond to inappropriate behaviour all of which can be assertive actions. You might choose to record it and address it at a more appropriate time, ignore it, confront it or walk away and consider your response. Assertiveness is knowing that you can control your own behaviour and making considered appropriate choices in your response to learners. Don’t be afraid of saying ‘no’ and saying it with impact when it is appropriate. Be careful not to overuse it as it will soon lose its power and negatively impact on the atmosphere in the classroom. You risk being ignored if your repertoire of verbal responses is too predictable. (from ‘Taking Care of Behaviour’ by Paul Dix, Pearson/Longman)

Non verbal skills/attitudes that work with more challenging behaviours

• Showing humility

• Changing anger to shades of disappointment

• Being cold rather than confrontational

• Give clear cues when switching from the formal to the informal, from relaxed to business

like

• Work to create a certainty that poor behaviour will be addressed and relentlessly

followed up

• Patiently giving without ever expecting to receive

• Showing empathy balanced with a determination to help the learner succeed

• Earning respect not expecting it

• Never laying your relationship on the line on a behaviour issue

• Keeping your promises

• At times ignoring defensive behaviours in the moment but not forgetting

• Commitment to building an appropriate relationship

• Refusing to listen to the doubters and moaners; refusing to give up on any learner


Assertive structures

• Choice (closed choices)

• Using the assumed close: ‘When you meet me at 3pm make sure you bring…’ rather

than ‘I want to see you at 3pm’

• Prefacing requests with ‘Thank you’ so that the listener hears the acknowledgement

before the instruction: ‘Thank you for picking the paper up’

• Absolute belief, even in the face of overwhelming odds! ‘I can feel that this is going to be

an excellent session/lesson’, ‘I have been looking forward to this session all week…’

• Encouraging the learner's responsibility to react appropriately ‘We need to have an adult

conversation to resolve this’

Skills on show

Strip out all the ‘magic’ systems, reward catalogues, report cards and general frippery that now

seems to accompany behaviour in many schools and you are left with what really matters – real

conversations with angry learners at the point of crisis. It is these moments that lie at the heart

of good behaviour and relationship management. It is these moments that are the difference

between calm and chaos, confrontation and compliance, inclusion or exclusion. When learners

dig their heels in and tell you with passion that ‘it’s s***, I won’t do it and you can’t make me’, it

is not just your behaviour management skills that are being tested. It is your values, your

emotional resilience and your humanity that is under the microscope. By interrupting and

disrupting thought patterns quickly and efficiently, you become expert at diffusing behaviour

bombs before they blow up in your face.


30 second intervention

1. Gentle approach, personal, non-threatening, side on, eye level or lower.

2. State the behaviour that was observed and which rule/expectation/routine it

contravenes.

3. Tell the learner what the sanction is. Immediately refer to previous good

behaviour/learning as a model for the desired behaviour.

4. Walk away; allow her time to decide what to do next. If there are comments as you walk

away write them down and follow up later.

5. Look around the room with a view to catch somebody following the rules.

How to land a difficult message, softly

• Remind the learner of their previous good behaviour

• Challenge their negative internal monologue ‘You can do this, you are intelligent and

able’

• Thank the child for listening

• Position yourself lower than eye level or side on if you are standing; don’t demand

Intervention Script


sustained eye contact

• Use a soft, disappointed tone

• Remind yourself that the sanction is a consequence not personal retribution

• Walk away as soon you have finished speaking

Refocusing the conversation When learners try to argue, shift the blame, or divert the conversation you can either:

Calmly and gently repeat the line you have been interrupted in

This encourages the learner to realise that you will not be diverted from the conversation you

are leading. The more calmly assertive you are in delivering this repeat the more effective it will

be. Try slowing down the request the second time you repeat it and using gentle eye contact to

reinforce. Or…

Use an appropriate refocusing line to bring the conversation back to the script.

This allows that student to feel as though they are being listened to and avoids conversational

cul-de-sacs.

Learner Adult

‘It wasn’t me’ ‘I hear what you are saying…’

‘But they were doing the same thing’ ‘ I understand…’

‘I was only…’ ‘Maybe you were….and yet…’

‘You are not being fair’ ‘Yes sometimes I may appear unfair…’

‘It’s boring’ ‘Be that as it may…’

You are a …… (name calling) ‘There may be some truth in that….’(with follow up

served cold!)’ or ‘I am sorry that you are having a

bad day

Out-line’

If the conversation is becoming unproductive what line will you leave on? I use: “I am stopping

this conversation now. I’m going to walk away and give you a chance to think about your

conduct. I know that when I come back we can have a polite, productive conversation.”


The trickiest learners Working with the most ‘damaged’ learners demands patience, guile and cunning. It means that you need to go to them, to meet them where they are and show them the way. Sitting on a pile of high expectations and waiting for learners to climb up to reach you might meet the needs of some teachers. It doesn't meet the needs of the child. It would be very easy to declare that everyone regardless of their individual needs must follow the same rules in your classroom. Yet working with learners who struggle to keep control requires a more flexible approach. Everybody needs to accept that at different times you will make decisions that may not appear fair but are in the best interests of individuals. You can differentiate your management of behaviour just as you differentiate your teaching. Being fair does not mean being equal. I often hear teachers who complain that it is unfair that Ryan gets to work in the library, go on outward bound courses and is not excluded, daily for his crimes against language. The expectation is that despite Ryan’s immediate 'difficulties at home' he must meet precisely the same standards of conduct as every other learner, without support. It is the, 'I know that his house burned down last night but where is his homework?' attitude. Fortunately learners are more understanding than these adults. Children recognise those whose behaviour doesn't seem to fit in, they show them empathy, kindness and a 1000 second chances. They grow to understand them, work alongside them and to dodge the occasional chair. As ever, we have a lot to learn from the children.

A few of my favourite things….

• Use positive notes properly, use positive phone calls consistently

• Repair damage to relationships with skilled reparation

• Develop practice through mini action research projects

• Widen the range of strategies available for really tricky customers

• Focus conversations on learning, not behaviour

• Use a recognition board and get more of the behaviour that you notice most

• Reward learners for behaviour that is over and above minimum standards

• Directly teach the behaviours that your class need to succeed by focusing on a learning

attitude each month and reinforcing this through a targeted class reward system


First steps in restorative practice

Saying sorry? A restorative approach leads each party to a point where they can take responsibility for their own behaviour and its consequences. It must not be, however, a prelude to a forced apology. We take responsibility for our behaviour in different ways and at different speeds. Some can see the reflection of their own behaviour in an instant. For others the reflection is clouded and takes longer to come into focus. The problem is that we seek assurance from the student that they are taking responsibility and an apology seems to satisfy immediately. Perhaps a truly restorative process does not finish at the meeting or conference. With the spectre of the apology lurking the conversation is tainted, trust reserved. In conversations where mutual trust can develop the shadow of control is cast. Don’t demand an apology. Show them your humility and give them yours. Ask for nothing in return.

Reparation meeting

A reparation meeting with the pupil should take no longer than 5 minutes and cannot be

delegated to a colleague. It isn't a prelude to the learner apologising. It should be a genuine

conversation that re-chalks the lines of acceptable behaviour and repairs damage.

The meeting is to discuss the poor behaviour or incident: not the child’s character. The

discussion is structured to address what happened, reinforce expectations and reset behaviours

for the next lesson. Reparation will not give you the instant satisfaction that comes from pure

punishment. It will give you a platform to build relationships that change and improve behaviour

for the long term.

A good Reparation meeting is often structured in 5 steps:

1. What's happened?

2. What were your choices at the time?

3. Who else was affected by your behaviour?

4. What have you thought since?

5. How can we make this right now?


Three is the magic number

Three rules

1.

2.

3.

Three Consistent Adult Behaviours

1.

2.

3.

Three ways to recognise children who go ‘over and above’

1.

2.

3.

Three steps for dealing with poor behaviour

1.

2.

3.

Three ways we could be more consistent with children who really struggle with their behaviour

1.

2.

3.


Paul Dix

National Training Awards Winner. Royal Television

Society Award Winner 2011, broadcast work for

BBC1, Channel 4, Teachers TV and the National

College for School Leadership, leading author for

Pearson/Longman with 5 titles, writer for the Times

Educational Supplement, Blogger for the Guardian

Teacher Network, Advised UK Government on

Teacher Standards and Behaviour. Paul speaks all

over the world on Behaviour and Excellent

Teaching.

T +44 (0)20 7000 1735 E [email protected] W pivotaleducation.com All content © Pivotal Education Ltd 2016

Pivotal Education Ltd is an education training consultancy working across the whole of the UK and internationally. Founded in 2001, Pivotal Education has always been committed to providing exceptional training and support for teachers, school leaders and other professionals working with young people. We are the leading specialists in Behaviour Management and Safeguarding in the UK. Our aim is simple: to train adults to inspire young people. Our acclaimed in-house training team work with a huge variety of teachers and educators in diverse settings. Our live training sends consistent ripples through your teaching teams, our online training sustains changes in practice and our licensed instructors scheme embeds lasting cultural change. From highly successful institutions to those in challenging situations, from early years to post -16 learners, Pivotal training inspires, motivates and creates profound cultural change. Our work extends to 20 countries. We are COBIS (Council of British International Schools) Approved Consultants. Learn more

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Whoosh! Training Paul Dix - Pivotal Education · choose your behaviour. You have many options as to...

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Transcript of Whoosh! Training Paul Dix - Pivotal Education · choose your behaviour. You have many options as to...