{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"startTime":87.374,"endTime":96.38199999999999,"body":"Picture this. A classroom buzzing with energy, students deeply engaged in their learning, and a teacher confidently guiding"},{"startTime":96.38199999999999,"endTime":103.434,"body":"them through their educational journey. What's the secret sauce behind such a harmonious scene? It's none other than effective"},{"startTime":104.356,"endTime":113.389,"body":"classroom management. So join us in today's episode as we reveal 3 invaluable hacks for enhancing classroom behaviour. Welcome"},{"startTime":113.395,"endTime":120.434,"body":"to the School Behavior Secrets podcast. I'm your host, Simon Corrigan. My co host is Emma Shackleton, and we're obsessed with"},{"startTime":120.434,"endTime":127.398,"body":"helping teachers, school leaders, parents, and, of course, students when classroom behavior gets in the way of success. We're"},{"startTime":127.398,"endTime":133.442,"body":"gonna share the tried and tested secrets to classroom management, behavioural special needs, whole school strategy, and more,"},{"startTime":133.442,"endTime":140.439,"body":"all with the aim of helping your students reach their true potential. Plus, we'll be letting you eavesdrop on our conversations"},{"startTime":141.362,"endTime":148.38,"body":"with thought leaders from around the world. So you'll get to hear the latest evidence based strategies before anyone else."},{"startTime":148.386,"endTime":156.42,"body":"This is the School Behaviour Secrets podcast. Hi there. Simon Currigan here, and welcome to this week's essentials episode of"},{"startTime":156.42,"endTime":163.428,"body":"School Behaviour Secrets, a mini episode where I share with you an important strategy or idea from an earlier podcast that"},{"startTime":163.428,"endTime":171.38799999999998,"body":"can impact on how you support the children in your school with their social, emotional, and mental health needs. And this"},{"startTime":171.38799999999998,"endTime":179.42899999999997,"body":"week, we're popping back to episode 51 where my colleague, Emma, and I shared our top 5 hacks for improving whole class behaviour."},{"startTime":179.42899999999997,"endTime":187.367,"body":"So whether you're a seasoned educator seeking fresh insights or a novice teacher embarking on your journey into teaching,"},{"startTime":187.367,"endTime":195.363,"body":"this episode is your compass to navigate the seas of classroom management. Aye aye, captain. Remember, if you're enjoying"},{"startTime":195.363,"endTime":204.363,"body":"this podcast, please remember to subscribe in your podcast app so you need never miss another episode. So without further"},{"startTime":204.363,"endTime":215.44299999999998,"body":"ado, let's press play as I reveal 3 of those 5 classroom management hacks. So hack number 1 was set the tone the moment the"},{"startTime":215.44299999999998,"endTime":224.433,"body":"children walk through the door. Hack 2 is use your seating plan strategically. Now your seating plan can be one of your greatest"},{"startTime":225.355,"endTime":231.43099999999998,"body":"classroom management tools. I don't believe there's any such thing as bad kids, but my experience have taught me from being"},{"startTime":231.43099999999998,"endTime":238.43699999999998,"body":"in the classroom for years years years and having the opportunity to observe in thousands of classrooms that there's definitely"},{"startTime":238.44299999999998,"endTime":246.423,"body":"bad combinations of children, children who negatively impact on each other's behaviour. And conversely, there's also positive"},{"startTime":246.429,"endTime":252.37699999999998,"body":"combinations of children, children who impact positively on each other's behaviour. So we shouldn't be leaving our seating"},{"startTime":252.37699999999998,"endTime":260.358,"body":"plan to chance. We need to think about exactly where we are going to put our kids physically in the room to get the best out of them."},{"startTime":260.358,"endTime":267.413,"body":"Yeah. That's right. Never, never, never leave seating to chance. And don't fall into the trick of asking children to say alphabetically"},{"startTime":267.443,"endTime":276.366,"body":"either because that's pretty much as good as random. So be clever about your seating arrangements. Think carefully about which"},{"startTime":276.366,"endTime":284.355,"body":"combinations of children need to be split or split up for some of the time at least. Think about which children can cope with"},{"startTime":284.355,"endTime":291.359,"body":"some distraction, such as who will be able to manage being close to a window or close to the classroom door, for example,"},{"startTime":291.365,"endTime":298.411,"body":"or in a high traffic area, such as near the children's trays, and who needs to be closer to the teacher for the majority of"},{"startTime":298.411,"endTime":306.42499999999995,"body":"the time, or closer to the toilets, or who needs to be seated with a friend. Some children do need bodying up with somebody,"},{"startTime":306.42499999999995,"endTime":309.429,"body":"and that really helps to give them confidence in their environment."},{"startTime":309.429,"endTime":315.442,"body":"I don't know if I've mentioned this tip before, but a great way of working this out is when you meet the class for the first"},{"startTime":315.442,"endTime":322.408,"body":"time, tell them just to come in and say, you know, sit where you want, it's good to meet you, and just watch where everyone"},{"startTime":322.408,"endTime":328.408,"body":"goes, watch the social groupings, perhaps take a photo of where they've sat or draw out a little map, draw out the tables"},{"startTime":328.408,"endTime":335.44899999999996,"body":"and write the names of children, which seats they went to. Now put that drawing or photo in a photo frame and stick it on"},{"startTime":335.44899999999996,"endTime":343.356,"body":"your desk because that is the worst possible arrangement for positive classroom behaviour that you could possibly imagine."},{"startTime":343.41599999999994,"endTime":350.37800000000004,"body":"Avoid that organization of children at any costs. I'm joking slightly because what that will do is the children that often"},{"startTime":350.37800000000004,"endTime":356.399,"body":"impact negatively on each other are often drawn to each other for some reason. They form these social groups where they kind"},{"startTime":356.399,"endTime":361.41099999999994,"body":"of compound each other's behaviour. And we want to avoid that. By asking the kids to sit together, sometimes what they'll"},{"startTime":361.41099999999994,"endTime":366.41599999999994,"body":"do is they'll show us where those negative groups are. The flip side of that, of course, it will tell you about friendship"},{"startTime":366.41599999999994,"endTime":372.418,"body":"groups and it might give you some information about, you know, some kids who are shyer maybe, the kind of people that they"},{"startTime":372.418,"endTime":378.409,"body":"want to sit next to to get the best out of them, you know, in a positive way. So sometimes asking the children just to sit"},{"startTime":378.409,"endTime":385.43499999999995,"body":"anywhere can give you a lot of information about negative and positive friendship groups, which you can exploit in your strategic seating plan."},{"startTime":385.43499999999995,"endTime":393.36400000000003,"body":"And don't forget if they're available, it's really handy to talk to the previous class teacher. Ask them about which combinations"},{"startTime":393.38599999999997,"endTime":401.38699999999994,"body":"they felt were good together and which are the bad ones to avoid. You don't have to reinvent the wheel here. Use the information"},{"startTime":401.38699999999994,"endTime":406.44399999999996,"body":"that's available from any previous staff that have taught these children before. And don't be afraid to switch it up from"},{"startTime":406.44399999999996,"endTime":415.39,"body":"time to time. So once you've established your seating plan, it isn't set in stone. Sometimes we spend a long time finely tuning"},{"startTime":415.39,"endTime":423.395,"body":"a plan. We get it exactly how we want it, and then in reality, it doesn't work so well. So don't be afraid if something's"},{"startTime":423.40099999999995,"endTime":430.44399999999996,"body":"not working to have a switch up, to have a move around. And sometimes the benefits wear off. Don't be scared of having another change if necessary."},{"startTime":431.398,"endTime":439.428,"body":"Our next hack is differentiate, differentiate, differentiate. This is so important for order in the classroom to create a"},{"startTime":439.428,"endTime":447.43399999999997,"body":"productive working environment. Kids need to be able to access the work. If they look at the work and they can't access it,"},{"startTime":447.43399999999997,"endTime":455.413,"body":"what they do is they fall off task. And then it's not long until you get low level behaviour like mucking around, shouting"},{"startTime":455.413,"endTime":471.365,"body":"across the classroom, off task behaviour. Being able to access the work is everything. Kids who are directed and do the work."},{"startTime":471.365,"endTime":476.43999999999994,"body":"There's that old saying that the devil makes work for idle hands. Well, if kids feel like they can't do the work, they fall off task."},{"startTime":476.43999999999994,"endTime":484.39599999999996,"body":"And linked to that, if the work is too short or it's over too quickly or it's too easy, again, you're gonna get kids falling"},{"startTime":484.39599999999996,"endTime":491.422,"body":"off task and you will get low level behaviour rising. And that's because there's nothing else for the children to do. So when"},{"startTime":491.422,"endTime":498.394,"body":"there's a gap and they're just milling or killing time, that's when those behaviours that we don't want tend to creep in. And"},{"startTime":498.394,"endTime":504.35,"body":"that time frame where there's kind of nothing much going on and there's no expectation, that's called dead time, and we're"},{"startTime":504.35,"endTime":505.44399999999996,"body":"gonna talk a bit more about that in a moment."},{"startTime":506.422,"endTime":513.3679999999999,"body":"Some children with low self esteem or low resilience, they might look at a piece of work and think, you know, that's a bit"},{"startTime":513.3679999999999,"endTime":518.408,"body":"hard. I'm gonna make mistakes with that. I'm gonna fail with it. And if you don't have the sort of internal confidence to"},{"startTime":518.408,"endTime":526.388,"body":"be able to make a mistake and learn from your mistakes, if you see any errors in your work as evidence that you are no good"},{"startTime":526.388,"endTime":533.361,"body":"as a learner or that you're a bad person, often what those kids will do instead of taking a risk with the learning, they will"},{"startTime":533.361,"endTime":540.448,"body":"reject the work before it rejects them. I'm gonna say it again. They reject the work before the work rejects them. And that's"},{"startTime":540.448,"endTime":548.386,"body":"why it's so important for some kids that we use our differentiation really, really carefully and cannily because differentiation"},{"startTime":548.424,"endTime":554.35,"body":"is more than just about pitching the work at the level that's academically appropriate for them."},{"startTime":554.35,"endTime":561.366,"body":"And sometimes you actually need to pitch it lower than what you know that they can do because if they perceive that the work"},{"startTime":561.366,"endTime":569.354,"body":"is too hard because of their emotional state, they are gonna reject it as Simon says. So sometimes you do need to go a little"},{"startTime":569.354,"endTime":576.367,"body":"bit lower just to build up their confidence, build up their esteem, build up their resilience, and then you can bring them"},{"startTime":576.367,"endTime":579.3629999999999,"body":"up to working on work which is at the right level."},{"startTime":579.3629999999999,"endTime":584.407,"body":"And sometimes people say when we talk about this, oh, but Ofsted say that we should be stretching them. Look, the point here"},{"startTime":584.407,"endTime":590.438,"body":"is with this subset of children, the kids with low self esteem and low resilience is when you do stretch them, they're not"},{"startTime":590.438,"endTime":595.38,"body":"doing the work. They're off task. They're walking out. They're rejecting the work. Instead of all, think about the cart before"},{"startTime":595.38,"endTime":601.373,"body":"the horse, I mean, to get their emotional state right, we know to build their confidence, and then they engage in the task."},{"startTime":601.373,"endTime":607.428,"body":"We'll talk about that more another time. But sometimes for some children, for a short time, the purpose of a task is to be"},{"startTime":607.428,"endTime":614.392,"body":"on task and to be developing, you know, this sense of pride, this sense of developing an automatic habit of work and feeling"},{"startTime":614.392,"endTime":621.369,"body":"like they can achieve and succeed in the classroom. So our next hack is eliminate all dead time, which Emma started to allude"},{"startTime":621.369,"endTime":628.441,"body":"to earlier. Dead time is any time that the children aren't directed to a task or know what they should be doing. They are"},{"startTime":628.441,"endTime":635.397,"body":"awaiting without clear instruction about what they should be up to. So examples of dead time, let's imagine the kids have"},{"startTime":635.397,"endTime":641.398,"body":"been asked to line up to go out to lunch and no one turns it for 10 minutes. And what you've got is a queue of kids with nothing"},{"startTime":641.398,"endTime":647.381,"body":"to do, just sort of hanging around, and then then you start to get low level behaviour. In the classroom, that might be kids"},{"startTime":647.381,"endTime":653.373,"body":"just waiting at the tables while the teacher sorts out piles of photocopying and books and they might just be left waiting"},{"startTime":653.373,"endTime":659.359,"body":"for 2 or 3 minutes. Maybe they've completed a task, and they don't know what to do next. So they should hang around without"},{"startTime":659.359,"endTime":665.3820000000001,"body":"any clear guide or instruction about what to do next. Dead time is really, really dangerous."},{"startTime":665.404,"endTime":672.407,"body":"I think dead time is so dangerous because it just crushes any of the good order that you've managed to achieve. So you might"},{"startTime":672.407,"endTime":678.399,"body":"have really good systems in place, you might have really good routines, you've got the children listening, they're all on"},{"startTime":678.399,"endTime":685.398,"body":"task, But then once there is nothing to do and they're left hanging around waiting, where there's a gap, children will always"},{"startTime":685.398,"endTime":692.388,"body":"fill that gap. That's perfectly normal behaviour. But often the behaviours that they resort to to fill the gap are not the kind"},{"startTime":692.388,"endTime":699.402,"body":"of things that we want to be happening in the classroom. So, yeah, dead time is dangerous because it really goes against the"},{"startTime":699.402,"endTime":706.421,"body":"routines, and it goes against all of the things that you're trying to put into place to maintain good order. And once children"},{"startTime":706.421,"endTime":713.397,"body":"have slipped down that slippery slope, it can be quite hard to bring them back. So once they're being silly, once they're"},{"startTime":713.405,"endTime":719.383,"body":"out of the line, once they're turning around, once they're chatting, it can take time to bring them back."},{"startTime":722.3530000000001,"endTime":728.436,"body":"So we've shared with you 3 of our classroom management hacks for enhancing classroom behaviour. And if you want to know what"},{"startTime":728.436,"endTime":736.399,"body":"the other 2 hacks were, of course, you do. Simply click the link at the bottom of the episode description to go back to original"},{"startTime":736.405,"endTime":743.441,"body":"episode. That was episode number 51. I recommend that you do. If you found today's episode useful, I'd really appreciate your"},{"startTime":743.441,"endTime":751.4390000000001,"body":"support. It only takes you 30 seconds to sprinkle some podcast joy by rating and reviewing us. And by hitting the subscribe"},{"startTime":751.4390000000001,"endTime":759.355,"body":"button, you're not only securing your spot on the journey ahead, but you're also helping us share these valuable insights"},{"startTime":759.355,"endTime":767.368,"body":"with educators, school leaders, and parents across the globe. So drop anchor with us, and let's set sail towards brighter"},{"startTime":767.368,"endTime":774.3720000000001,"body":"educational horizons together. I promise next week, there'll be no more nautical references. Thank you for tuning in, and"},{"startTime":774.3720000000001,"endTime":778.403,"body":"I look forward to seeing you next time for more fun and games on school behaviour secrets."}]}