I utilise highly effective classroom management strategies in my classroom. The strategies I utilise which focus on positive behaviour support lead to a cohesive and positive classroom environment. I have high expectations for my students’ behaviour, which I teach and model to my students.
At the start of the school year, I work with my students to establish guidelines for expected behaviour that align with the school rules and values. This enables my students to feel ownership of the classroom expectations as they are part of creating the rules and expectations for their classroom. I then display these guidelines in the classroom in a visible area and refer to them throughout the year. In addition to this, I work with my students to create a purposeful mission statement so that my students understand why they are at school and the high expectations that they have for their own learning.
I understand that using positive reinforcement of expected behaviours by using both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators is a far better way of developing a cohesive and caring classroom environment than punishing negative behaviour.
Positive behaviour is celebrated and rewarded in my classroom. To ensure that students repeat positive behaviour I regularly praise my students for the positive behaviour they exhibit. I do this using both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Some of the rewards I use in my classroom include verbal praise, stickers, prize box items, raffle tickets and Class Dojo points.
I teach my students about positive behaviour using a range of picture books, engaging activities and Circle Time. This enables students to understand what they need to do in order to exhibit the expected behaviours. In addition to this, when giving feedback about positive behaviour to my students, I make a point of discussing what that student did to receive that positive praise in front of his/her peers. This leads to more students exhibiting this positive behaviour
When behaviour issues arise, I discuss the issue with the student/s involved promptly. This enables my students to know that I’ve noticed that they aren’t following the agreed classroom expectations, to be reminded about the classroom expectations and also gives the student/s an opportunity to fix the negative behaviour they are displaying before it escalates.
I ensure that I understand and follow the schools behaviour management policy. This ensures a consistent approach across the whole school and enables students to understand the consequences for inappropriate behaviour.
I use verbal and non-verbal communication to remind my students to follow the agreed classroom expectations. This enables my lessons to run smoothly as I’m not constantly stopping my teaching to remind students about the behaviour expectations.
As I build caring and respectful relationships with my students and ensure the lessons I teach are highly engaging and differentiated my students rarely exhibit inappropriate behaviour.
If I have a student in my classroom who has experienced harm, are at risk of harm or have caused harm to others I develop Behaviour Support Plans in consultation with the student, the student’s parents and other education professionals. These plans ensure that I am supporting the needs of that student so that they feel safe, valued and connected to their school community.
Here are a number of emails I have received acknowledging my ability to build excellent rapport and authentic, meaningful, respectful relationships with my students.
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