Skip to main content

Focussing on positive behaviour

It's not a well known fact but I am a Fast Track teacher. I don't sell myself as one as I prefer for my actions to speak louder than my status. One of the bonuses of the (soon to be defunct) scheme is that I get to be involved with whole school projects.

This year I am leading a major change. I am planning to implement a behaviour system that rewards positive behaviour. The work is going well and I have learnt a number of lessons about manging whole school change:

  • Change needs ownership - a project is likely to fail if there isn't a 'project leader' responsible for implementation and monitoring.
  • Project management is weak in many schools - major changes need a systematic approach. Change can not be rushed through -it's better to hold off and get the detail right
  • Consultation with support staff is vital for change to be effective. My first HoD told me that you can upset anyone in the school apart from the support staff. They are the people who will make the change a reality.
  • Making change sustainable is difficult. Not only do you need the support staff on board but thinking about who will continue to lead the project is important.
  • Do not reinvent the wheel. Learn from good practice in other schools. Adapt ideas.
  • Be passionate about the change. All change needs champions who are 100% behind the idea. I have found that by being passionate, knowledgeable and approachable staff are more willing to sign up to the idea
  • Treat everyone as professionals. Ideas in education come in cycles. It's unlikely that my idea is very new or that it's the answer to all. This idea is just a tool in the box.
  • Give staff ownership. I've invited feedback in a number of ways: post-its written during the main presentation will be answered in the staff bulletin, online forum on the school VLE. Genuine consultation is vital - it's OUR system to make OUR lives better.
  • Always have two questions in mind when planning change: How will this make learning better for pupils? How will this make like, and therefore teaching, better for staff? If the answer to either of these is that the scheme doesn't, then it's time to get back to he drawing board.
The presentation shown to staff is below. The proposed system is not an original idea!

Staff Presentation 24th Oct
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge.  I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post.  I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff.  If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been ...

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey.  As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others.  Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up.  I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions.  From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment.  From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die.  How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach?  Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment i...

Banned Word Board

Today I want to share some simple ideas that I have found to be very effective in the classroom. I can't say that they are my own original ideas, although I have played around with them. The first is the Banned word Board. This is a simple display in the classroom that lists a number of words that are not allowed to be used by pupils in their written or oral answers. The effect has been an increase in the quality of written work, and I have almost made comments such as 'Sir it's simple, the stuff just affects the thing and causes people problems'. Pupils are now more able to use specific language, something that is vital especially at GCSE. I have had to make a few modifications, such as the introduction of 'Heavenly Words' This is an additional display placed on the ceiling. I found this necessary as pupils needed some stimulus in finding replacement words. After advice received after posting the idea on the SLN forum , I have also introduced semi-banned words...