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Cyril Nicklin :: Blog :: TLA submission - My Learning Breakthrough - Strategies for dealing with low level disruption

September 18, 2008

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Cyril Nicklin

TLA submission - My Learning Breakthrough - Strategies for dealing with low level disruption

The start of my learning journey was being invited to present at the Hertfordshire PE Conference. One of the keynote speakers on that day was Jason Bangbala whose keynote was on Conquering Challenging Behaviour For Effective Learning In this he demonstrated a variety of strategies to deal with inappropriate behaviour in a quick, effective and non-confrontational manner. He also talked about  ways to plan for good behaviour, whilst motivating pupils to behave and minimising disruption in the first place, I found his presentation very motivating  From this inspiration I decided to look at his strategies/techniques and take some and try to embed them into my teaching toolkit and see if using the strategies had any effect on some of the groups that I teach in KS3.Once I was back in Norfolk I talked to my mentor Helen regarding the idea I had had to use some of the techniques that Jason had put forward into my teaching toolkit. Before starting though I decided to research the various ideas Jason had put forward It appears that low level behaviour is one of the most talked about and disruptive influences in the classroom, for example the Steer Report 2005, “Learning Behaviour” states“Where unsatisfactory behaviour does occur, in the vast majority of cases it involves low level disruption in lessons. Incidents of serious misbehaviour, and especially acts of extreme violence, remain exceptionally rare and carried out by a very small proportion of pupils.”  Ofsted identified the main problem in schools as “persistent low level disruption that wears down staff and disrupts learning.” “How to Tame The Rabble” TES 10/03/06 Jason also used as an example the following“Children now love luxury. They have bad manners and contempt for authority. They show disrespect for the elders and love chatter in place of exercise; children are now tyrants, not servants of their households.” Socrates 2500 years ago.To show that low level disruption was not just a modern phenomenon. In talking to both my mentor and also various colleagues they also said that their main concern was not the pupils who behaved badly irrespective of subject or teacher it was those who showed low level disruption such as talking when the teacher wanted to or while they were talking, the pupil who shouts out all the time. Bangbala and others classified the pupils into three main categories 
  • Good as Gold - Behave very well regardless of classroom environment
  • Movers and Shakers  - Behaviour dependant upon classroom environment
  • Children Beyond  - May present challenging behaviour regardless of the classroom environment
 He also in his handouts and presentation classified pupils as to how they behaved towards different members of staff 
  • Red - Always behave poorly for member of staff      
  • Amber - Behaviour fluctuates from lesson to lesson
  • Green - Behave well all the time for member of staff
 He also suggested that these were five reasons behind pupil misbehaviour theses being, 
  • Revenge
  • Attention
  • Control
  • Concentration
  • Esteem
 So it seems that the main cause for concern were the Red pupils (or children beyond) as well as the Amber (movers and shakers?) and trying to find out what was the  reason for their misbehaviours, then trying to use an appropriate technique to deal with that behaviour. Jason in his presentation and also in his handout suggested many techniques for dealing with challenging behaviour, some of which I already used as part of my ‘toolkit’ others that I thought I would try to embed into my teaching, something that I knew I would have to work on consciously as saying ‘oh that’s good I’ll try that’ and actually doing it and making it part of my teaching would require me to ensure that I consciously thought of the techniques each time I taught, and although as part of my planning I suggested that I would choose the techniques and then decide on which groups I would try them out on it would be much easier (and more effective) to use the techniques on all groups, a decision which was also made at an AfL conference by Dylan Wiliams form the Institute of Education when talking about the attention gaining 3,2,1 technique which he said took at least a year to embed into his teaching (when he taught and which he also used effectively at the conference which was full of head teachers and advisors!) So which techniques? Below I have listed the various techniques that were suggested, many of which Jason demonstrated with the audience. (those that I have marked with a * I already use)Catch Them Being GoodBody TalkPhysical Presence *Role Models     Mirror The BehaviourReinforce ExpectationsReinforce Individual ResponsibilityDiversionAssertive Instruction‘I’ StatementsSeparate The Behaviour From the PersonRefocusMaybe…but… *Thank You For The Criticism     Agree With The CriticismSearch For The Grain Of Truth In The CriticismSmile TherapyReflect and Redirect      Provide Escape Routes *HumourWithdrawal /Removal/Cool Off  Followed By Teacher Action  As can be seen there are a vast array of techniques (further explanation of them can be found in appendix 1) and to try to use all of them I felt would end in failure in trying to embed new techniques into my ‘toolkit’ so I decided to try to implement no more than four new techniques.After discussion with Helen I decided that the techniques I would try would be the following,  
  • Reinforce Expectations
  • Reinforce Individual Responsibility
  • Refocus
 In the end I decided to try only three as I thought that any more than this and I would find it hard to remember to implement what I was trying to do.  Another factor was when to use the technique(s) as each had to be used at the appropriate time or not work as a way of changing poor behaviour  The next part of my plan was to look at which groups that I would try the techniques on, but as I have already said this would mean me turning on and off the techniques and for them to become embedded I would need to use them with all groups So I decided to start using the techniques with all my groups on 19 May when we as a department started our final block of work with the KS3 groups, this meant with my two Y8 groups I would be teaching Athletics and with the Y7 and Y9 groups Cricket. In addition to the KS3 groups I would also try the techniques with both of my KS4 BTEC groups and my AS and A2 groups so using them with all of my groups All of my KS3 groups had ‘characters’ that could if allowed cause low level disruptive behaviour. (there were also others who could be classed as ‘children beyond’.What did I find? Initially I found it hard to remember to use the three techniques as they were not part of my ‘teaching toolkit’ However as the term progressed and I persevered in using the techniques it became easier to use them and choose the appropriate one. For example in a discus lesson, (possibly the most dangerous athletic activity we teach) the students tend to get excited and want to collect their implement as soon as they have thrown it! Here the ‘Reinforcement of Individual responsibility’ technique was used The students were told to throw individually on command then move back out of the throwing area, as well as being told that they would collect the discus when I told them to as a group and if they went to collect before I said, then they would be stopped from throwing as you are putting yourself in danger. After one pupil had sat out for a couple of rotations after throwing and then going to collect his discus immediately, also helped reinforce the technique. Reinforcing expectations was also used on numerous occasions for both Cricket and Athletics, the main part here I felt of the reinforcement being the saying of ‘thank you’ rather than please, assuming that the student would comply to the request Again I felt that the words ‘thank you’ also helped in the same way when using the Refocus technique and I found that I used this technique particularly at the beginning of lessons prior to talking about what we be learning and what Id be looking for and at the end of lessons when questioning students about what they had learnt. Over the course of the last block of work I found myself using the techniques more readily as they became part of my teaching toolkit Did they help in reducing low level disruption and so increase the pupils learning? I felt that as the term progressed there was less low level disruption and less time spent waiting for and dealing with low level disruptionI also felt that the children were able to learn more as any low level disruption was dealt with more quickly and effectively and they were able to move on at a greater paceHowever there is no hard statistical evidence for this just my feeling of how the students made progress as I reflected on my lessons and my practice In conclusion I felt that the learning journey has been worthwhile I feel that I have enlarged my ‘teaching toolkit’ and that it has enabled me to more effectively deal with low level behaviour. My intention is to continue to try out the various techniques and see which ones are effective for me and then continue to use them until they become embedded in my practice and second nature (like driving a car), Although I use the three techniques above they are still becoming embedded and I feel that I need to use them consciously for at least a year before I will start to use them unconsciously Recommendations – I would recommend that any teacher try these techniques out, but only try out  up to three at a time (maybe even two) so that you remember to use them. You also need to make a conscious decision to use them and persist in doing them so that they become embedded. If they don’t work on one group they may on another and they have to suit you and your teaching style. Finally if one doesn’t work then there are plenty more to try and you haven’t lost anything in using them but you have learned something.

Keywords: Conquering Challenging Behaviour For Effective Learning, jason Bangbala, Low Level Disruption, TLA

Posted by Cyril Nicklin

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