My Behaviour Management

Philosophy
Rebekah Gilliland

Introduction
The responsible thinking room, detention and litter duty are some of the
most popular consequences a student could face for misbehaving at
school. Whilst I would consider these consequences to be very useful and
beneficial in the management of student behaviour and safety, a teacher
cannot depend solely on the existence of these devices to manage a
classroom. The behaviour management process needs to begin long
before the student misbehaves. It involves careful planning, a professional
demeanour, an understanding of your students, the content and effective
learning and behavioural strategies.
It is my belief that the first step in the development of a successful
classroom management plan is determining what discipline means to you.
Determining what discipline means to you will determine the amount of
success you have. Will you teach good behaviour, or punish bad?"
(Morrish, 2012) There are a number of different behavioural theorists who
suggest a variety of different strategies regarding how to manage a
classroom most effectively. Despite their differences, the theorists I have
researched all have one consistent ideology which is that a classroom

management plan should aim to prevent misbehaviour rather than simply

punish it. After thorough theoretical research as well as through practical
teaching experience and observation, I have constructed a behaviour
management philosophy that I believe to be highly effective in a
secondary context.

Influences
My philosophy has been influenced greatly by Ron Morrish, Fred Jones and
William Glasser. Anyone familiar with these theorists approaches would
be aware that they have some obvious differences. On one hand, Morrish
discusses the importance of teachers having authority whilst on the other
hand, Glasser discusses the importance of students having a choice. After
careful consideration it occurred to me that these elements could easily
be combined. A student can still have freedom and feel respected if a
teacher has authority. By morphing the strongest elements of these three
approaches together, I have surely stumbled across a super-breed of
classroom management plan that I am excited to share with you.
I have also included strategies suggested by Phil Foreman and Michael
Arthur-Kelly in the text book Inclusion in Action (Foreman, P. Arthur-Kelly,
M , 2014). I believe that students with diverse needs should be thoroughly
considered in the development of a behaviour management plan. As the
Professional Standards for Teachers state in subheading 4.1 Support
Student Participation, teachers need to support and implement inclusive
strategies (AITSL, 2014). Foreman and Arthur-Kelly suggest many
strategies that promote inclusivity and are designed to help certain
students exhibit appropriate behaviour and feel comfortable in the
classroom.

The Three Stages: Teaching, Training and Managing

I think the simplest way to construct your behaviour management plan is
to divide it into the three steps. Morrish suggests these steps be called
teaching, training and managing (Morrish, 2012).

Teaching
Teaching is the first step in your behaviour management plan. It involves
explicitly telling your students what you expect them to do, instead of
allowing them to do what they want. With the exception of some year
eleven and twelve classes, I have never observed an entire class of
students choosing to do the right thing. They will talk, waste time, be
passive, ask meaningless questions and sleep (Charles, 2011). This is
because they are young and are still in need of guidance. By telling
students what is expected, you can help to develop their sense of
responsibility and their attitude towards school. The teaching step does
not involve dictating absolutely everything in a bossy or angry manner. It
involves structuring rules that will help minimise the aforementioned
disruptions and teaching the students why rules are important in a calm
and confident manner.
EXAMPLE:
I am about to take a year eight class for a drama lesson. Before the lesson
begins I tell them that they need to line up outside of the classroom. I tell
them that when they enter they need to do so quietly, they need to put
their bags at the back of the room and then sit quietly in a circle. If the
students do not listen the first time, they will be asked to try again.
By telling the students how to enter the room and where to sit I am
eliminating their choice and in turn, minimising the amount of students
that would choose to come into the room talking and playing. I have also
saved time I would have wasted on telling students where to sit and to
settle down.
Once the students are in the classroom I talk to them about expectations
and what kind of behaviours I would expect to see in a classroom. I ask
them what they think my expectations might be and by including them in
this process, I appeal to their need for power and a sense of belonging

(Charles, 2011). I then tell them what I expect from them. My

expectations would include students not talking when I am talking,
students participating and students respecting each others work and
personal space. I would repeat this every lesson in a brief manner,
particularly for students in younger grades.
By teaching a student what is expected in this explicit manner, the
students have no excuse for behave incorrectly. If the student does end up
with detention, they know exactly why it happened and how it could have
been prevented.

But how do I make sure the students will listen?

It is important to consider points raised by Jones and Glasson. Glasson
states the importance of having a positive student-teacher relationship by
being helpful and encouraging. Jones suggests some strategies to achieve
this relationship. He highlights the importance of seeming friendly but
confident in the classroom, which can be achieved through correct posture
and the manner in which you speak. Foreman and Kelly refer to this
positive teacher-student relationship as empathetic engagement. Glasson
and Jones discuss the idea that classroom behaviour is generally better if
students are motivated and engaged in what they are doing. This means
that as the teacher, you would need to have a strong knowledge of
content and learning strategies to create an interesting and fast-paced
learning environment that will encourage self-discipline from students. You
would also need to authentically communicate with your students to
discover the ways they like to be taught, in order to ensure that you
appeal to their needs (Foreman, Arthur-Kelly, 2014).
EXAMPLE:

Most students enjoy practical activities in a drama class. If I am teaching

activities that students find engaging, I minimise student passivity and
other off task behaviours.

What happens if students still dont abide by your

expectations?
Training
This brings me to step two, training. In order to train students to be
responsible people who follow directions, you must develop a set of
disciplinary actions. Most importantly, you must follow through with the
actions you have set. Empty threats teach students that they do not need
to listen to you and your behaviour management system will be much less
effective.
EXAMPLE:
Instead of repeatedly saying Jimmy, I will move you if you keep talking
you would need to follow through and say, Jimmy, I said no talking while I
am talking. I need you to move over here where you will be lest
distracted. Excessive warnings lead to students pushing boundaries.

What is a good set of disciplinary actions?

I particularly like a three step system that was inspired by my first
practicum placement at St Francis College in Crestmead. The system is as
follows:
Step One: Reflection. If a student is breaking a rule such as talking
when you are talking, you can use subtle cues such as making eye contact
with that student or saying their name to get them back on track. This
technique gives the student a chance to reflect on their behaviour, realise
that they are doing something wrong and self-discipline.

Step Two: Redirection. If a student continues to time waste you would

then redirect their behaviour by moving them or monitoring them more
closely.
Step Three: Relocation. If a student still continues to break your rules,
you would re-locate them in accordance with your school policy. This could
be to the RTC, detention, the corner of the room or to a buddy classroom,
depending on the extremity of the behaviour.

Managing
My final stage is managing. The managing stage can occur when
classroom behaviour is highly functional and disruptions are minimised. In
the managing stage, you allow your students to make more choices
because they understand what is expected of them and have developed a
sense of responsibility and integrity. The choices you let your students
make may include allowing them to form their own groups for group work.
By giving students this choice, it proves that you trust them to do the
right thing. This enhances their sense of belonging and freedom, which is
important to their overall well-being and their ability to self-discipline
(Glasser, 2010). If you give students a choice and they behave in an
inappropriate manner, you would still enforce your system of disciplinary
steps. You would also inform the students that they could not choose their

own group again until they could do so whilst adhering to the classroom
behavioural standards (Morrish, 2012.)

Modify Approach for Senior Students

By grades eleven and twelve, students usually have a firm understanding
of how to behave in a classroom and are often more engaged in your
lessons because most of them want to do well. With senior students,
expectations and rules do not have to be taught as explicitly as they are

in the middles years and trust and encouragement are used as tools to
promote self-discipline in the students. Following through is still necessary
with senior students and reflection, redirection and relocation can still be
used as forms of disciplinary action.

References
AITSL. (2014). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers Standards List.
Retrieved from
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-forteachers/standards/list

AITSL. (2014). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers Overview. Retrieved

from
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-forteachers/standards/overview/organisation-of-the-standards
Amaze (2011). Understanding People with Autism. Retrieved from
http://www.amaze.org.au/discover/about-autism-spectrum-disorder/what-is-anautism-spectrum-disorder/
Coghill, D. D. (2014, August 14). What is ADHD? Retrieved From
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/adhd/whatisadhd.htm
Charles, C.M. (2011). Building Classroom Discipline (10th Edition). London:
Pearson

Foreman, P. Arthur-Kelly, M (Eds). (2009). Inclusion in Action. South Melbourne,

Australia: Cengage

Jones, F. H. (2014). Tools for Teaching: The Fundamentals of Classroom

Management. Retrieved from
http://www.fredjones.com/
Morrish, R. (2012). What is Real Discipline? Retrieved from
http://www.realdiscipline.com/whatisrealdiscipline.php
The William Glasser Institute. (2010). The Glasser Approach. Retrieved from
http://www.wglasser.com/the-glasser-approach