Videos

• Radar, Clip 53
• Radar, Clip 55
• Radar, Perch, Anonymous Individual Correction (AIC), urgent tone and a thank you: https://vimeo.com/190927842/d3fa3e0caf 

100% Technique 2: Be Seen Looking

• Be Seen Looking (BSL) works in partnership with Radar.
• Radar helps you see more, BSL clearly shows the students that you are looking making it explicit that you are looking for follow through on instructions.
• Teachers use different versions of BSL over and over again and without taking any time away from their teaching and instruction.
• You can combine BSL with your Radar and Perch positioning for maximum effect.

Summary Table of Be Seen Looking Techniques

Here are some BSL variations captured on video that you can practise and use to show your students you are always looking:

Videos

• Be Seen Looking Montage: https://vimeo.com/334908211/2ab359703a
• Perch, Swivel, Urgent Countdown, observable action: https://vimeo.com/134247795 
  
• Be Seen Looking: Perch, Swivel, Tip Toes & Invisible Column: https://vimeo.com/352009265/4c9ba1f197
• Perch positioning, Swivel, Tiptoes, Narrating the Positive, Anonymous Individual Correction, Lightning Quick Public Correction: Be Seen Looking, Clip 58 Field Guide

100% Technique 3: Make Compliance Visible

• Ensuring students follow an instruction in an immediate and visible way by setting a standard that’s better than marginal compliance
• Be judicious in what you ask for because it will uphold the standard of compliance
• As a rule of thumb, the more visible the action you ask students to execute, the easier it is for the teacher to see what students do in response and, therefore, hold them accountable for their action.
• In most cases, by making the action more visible, the students are more likely to do it quickly

An optimal sequence of teacher action to get a 100% immediate class response might look like:

1. From your Perch Position, give an observable instruction (‘pens down, eyes looking at me’) 
2. Use Radar and Be Seen Looking techniques to scan intentionally and strategically to see if the action has been completed
3. Narrate the positive follow-through of at least two students who have responded immediately
4. Correct one student if they are slow to respond to re-establish high expectations for them and the class

Videos

• Make Compliance Visible, Clip 56: clear ‘what to do’ directions – specific, concrete, sequential and observable (eg: marker cap on’, ‘show me your marker when you’re ready for it’)
• Making Compliance Visible Montage: Clear ‘what to do’ directions – specific, concrete, sequential and observable: https://vimeo.com/385114366/e4c178adc2

100% Technique 4: Least Invasive Intervention

• If, when teaching, we spend too much time dealing with the low-level disruption of a student it often results in more students being off-task when the teaching finally restarts.
• Therefore, Least Invasive Interventions (LII) are utilised to maximise teaching time and minimize ‘drama’ by using the subtlest tactic possible to correct low-level disruption / off-task student behaviour quickly and efficiently.
• The challenge is to make the LII as invisibly as possible whilst still teaching so the thread of instruction stays alive
• Catching off-task behaviour early means the correction is small and the solution is small and simple too. It also means the correction can be made in a positive tone.
• Model emotional constancy throughout – always be the adult in the room
• You can combine Radar & Be Seen Looking techniques with LIIs to increase effectiveness

Below are six useful interventions, ranked in order of invasiveness, from least to most. These interventions are not sequential but are to be used as and when the teacher feels it is appropriate with that student and class.

Ideally, the goal is to use the least invasive intervention (eg: non-verbal intervention, positive group correction, anonymous individual correction) as much as possible to diffuse any potential ‘death spiral’ situations (where dealing with one student leads to more students being off task)

Summary Table of Least Invasive Intervention Techniques and Videos

Least Invasive Intervention Montage Video, Six Teachers (all techniques apart form PIPP):              LII Complete Montage

Non-Verbal Intervention - Visible Signals

• The teacher can make the visible signals below more effective by combining them with their Perch Position (increased Radar) and Be Seen Looking techniques.
• This allows the teacher to catch any off-task behaviour early without breaking the thread of instruction.
• Make eye contact with the student(s).
• Therefore, a small problem only requires a small solution.

Additional Benefits:

• The visible signals save your voice.
• They depersonalise the intervention helping to avoid confrontation and a potential ‘death spiral’.
• They starve a poorly behaving student from public attention (which might be what they want).

100% Technique 5: Firm Calm Finesse

• Being calm and firm with your instructions, reactions and responses will help you get compliance from a class or a student without conflict
• Always be the adult in the room, even when it is difficult to do so, and maintain your poise and emotional constancy

6 tips for teaching with Firm Calm Finesse:

1. Catch it Early

• It’s usually better to fix something with a tiny adjustment very early than to make a bigger intervention later
• You are then far more likely to correct positively when your corrections feel like tiny adjustments to you as well as to your students

2. Purpose over Power

• The reason you correct behaviours in the classroom is that doing so leads to orderly and purposeful lessons which lead to all students making academic progress and improving their self-discipline
• Keep correction tight and crisp – economy of language
• For example, instead of using ‘when I ask you to sit up, you need to sit up’ could be changed to ‘I need to see you sitting upright so that I know you are ready to learn’

3. Saying ‘Thank You’ is a Strong Phrase

Saying ‘thank you’ to a student after they follow your instruction is a quietly powerful phrase to use for two reasons:

1. We are role modelling the exemplary behaviour we expect from our students – we are polite and civil
2. Saying ‘thank you’ reinforces expectations and normalises compliance in a subtle way. It reminds the rest of the class that the student followed your instruction and ended on a positive note

3. Universal Language

• Remind students that expectations are universal and not personal
• ‘I need you with me’ is fine, ‘we need you with us’ is a little better. It suggests that learning is a team sport and subtly says the rest of the class is also meeting the expectations I am asking you to adhere to

4. Bright Face

• Your Bright Face is your teaching smile – or at least your age appropriate, default expression of ‘I like this work, I like this class and I am confident that I’m in charge’
• This is very different from a teacher who may look like, through body language, ‘I’m not happy here, I’m worried about compliance or I’m waiting for poor behaviour because I am sure it is going to happen’
• Your Bright Face does not need to be a huge fake smile. It is a face that exudes a degree of positivity and confidence that matches your style and the age group of the class. For example, this might be different with a Year 7 class compared to a KS4 class.

5. Confirmation Glance

• At times it is critical to ask and then look or walk away to give the student time to process the instruction and comply and then look back (confirmation glance) after a set amount of time
• Sometimes a student just needs a bit of space/time to pull it together
• It is best to start with a small delay between instruction and the confirmation glance and then a bit longer with time as trust builds
• You can this explicitly with students: ‘I’m going to walk away, and when I look back in a 5 seconds, I am going to see you with your pencil, in your hand, writing a response’
• Of course, you will need to follow up decisively if your glance reveals a lack of follow through, but using it can intimate a calm, self-assuredness to your class

6. Steady at the Helm

• Staying calm and in control is an important skill to maser when managing behaviour in the class
• By doing this you suggest to syour students that they cannot get a rise out of you
• By inserting emotion into the process distracts students from reflecting on or adjusting their own behaviour

Videos

• Firm Calm Finesse Clip 64

• Pastore’s Perch, Check Your SLANT, no change in tone, private and helping student with understanding work too (purpose over power). Light and Bright tone:

Clip2637 https://vimeo.com/205799537/b263c6a6c7

• Thank you, bright face (with warmth), catching it early, lightning quick correction. Looked away to give student chance to correct then looked back (Sprinkler):

Clip2219 https://vimeo.com/139368584/b2b8cd42d3

100% Technique 6: The Art of the Sanction

• Please refer to the Wilmslow Way Behaviour poster below to see the different levels of behaviour/learning points and the associated incremental sanctions attached to each
• This poster is displayed in every classroom and you can find it in the Form Tutor Guide as well:

• Sanctions can be notoriously tricky and do not always have the intended effect (fixing the behaviour)
• Ensure that sanctions, when needed, are more effective by making them quick, incremental, consistent and depersonalised.
• You can also finish with a ‘bounce-back’ statement to show students that they can get back on track immediately

Four Principles of the Effective Sanction

1. Quick

• An immediate sanction is more closely associated with the action that caused it
• Ironically, giving a smaller sanction in the moment will often be more effective than larger sanction later

2. Incremental

• Sanctions that can be allocated in strategic increments lets students learn from mistakes at a manageable cost
• Generally, a small mistake should result in a small consequence
• Save your big sanctions for big mistakes and/or persistent defiance

3. Consistent

• Sanctions should be certain in students’ minds: ‘If I do X, Y will happen’
• If they are not sure then they may test you to see where the boundaries are
• Explain explicitly to your students what will be rewarded and what will be sanctioned
• The certainty of a sanction happening outweighs the severity of it. The consistent application of the Wilmslow Way is vital in achieving this

4. Depersonalised

• Judge the action rather than the person
• Avoid personalising sanctions by keeping them as private as possible (with a whisper, low tone, a one to one interaction, a non-verbal gesture etc.)
• Maintaining privacy shows consideration to the student which can go a long way to preserve the relationship with him or her.
• Privacy keeps behaviour ‘off-stage’ which will reduce the likelihood of attention seeking behaviour or a public stand-off

Principles of Delivering a Sanction

In addition to displaying Emotional Constancy, creating the illusion of privacy and ensuring sanctions are focused on the ‘why’, you might find it useful to follow these four principles when communicating a sanction to a student.

1) Tag the Behaviour

Tagging the behaviour can be a three-step process:

1. Name the student
2. Identify the behaviour quickly and simply
3. State the sanction

Example: ‘Harry. Talking during silent work. Behaviour point for ‘failing to follow instructions’ (delivered as privately as possible)

• You can then describe the solution to the problem: ‘I want to see the pen moving without you talking to anyone please’. Harry responds well. ‘Thank you’
• At WHS, under normal circumstances, this means Harry’s form tutor will keep him for 10 minutes at the end of the day (small sanction). This will process may be slightly different under COVID regulations and Year Group Zones.

2) Bounce-Back Statement

• Once you have delivered the sanction you can then make it very clear what student needs to do to get back on track (bounce-back statement)

Example: ‘Can you now get back to writing like I know you can / like you did brilliantly last lesson’

3) Maintain the Pace

• Responding to low-level disruption by lecturing or giving a speech can increase the probability of other fires sprouting up across the classroom.

Here are two tips to help Maintain the Pace when you need to give a sanction:

1. Describe clearly what the student should be doing rather than what they are not doing. Be as specific as possible. Example: ‘Sophie, I need your eyes focused on me’ is better than ‘Sophie, for the last time, stop getting distracted’
2. Use the least amount of words as possible to maximise teaching time and minimise the amount of time you are dealing with off-task behaviour.

Example:

‘Olivia, I need you looking at me immediately’ is better than...

‘Olivia, you just received a behaviour point because you decided to doodle when you were supposed to be listening to me. You should know better than this at your age. You are supposed to be a mature student and I am really disappointed in you. You are wasting my time and everyone else’s time now. I am fed up with it’

4) Get Back on Track

• When it comes to sanctions, the aim is to get in, get out and move on with the business of teaching
• Once the sanction has been delivered try to resume teaching with warmth and energy and talk to the class in a calm, relaxed manner to show the class that the interaction is over
• You can even ask the student who has been sanctioned to contribute to the class after the sanction (with your judgement) by asking them a question or acknowledging their work
• This models forgiveness and shows the students that you value them and want them to be successful

Videos

• The Art of the Sanction Clip 65: Catching it early and whispers
• The Art of the Sanction Clip 66: Delivered privately (how do we do this in a non-proximate classroom?), Emotional Constancy, Bounce-Back Statement, Tagged the Behaviour, Purpose (the ‘why’), Maintaining the Pace
• The Art of the Sanction Clip 66 Field Guide: Teacher Coaching Session: Two teachers observing each other if a student responds poorly to an instruction

The Million Pound Question: Correction or Sanction?

One of the trickiest aspects of managing a classroom is deciding when to give a sanction rather than a correction. The question is tough because teachers will need to be consistent within certain parameters and boundaries.

Here are four rules of thumb that can guide your decision making:

1) Persistent and repetitive behaviour

• When students persistently engage in off-task behaviour that they know they should not, you should err on the side of a sanction
• This is especially true when students continue despite your correction(s)

2) Degree of disruption

• If a student’s behaviour does not disrupt others’ learning, then a correction might be better
• If a student’s behaviour does distract others, give an appropriate sanction

3) Motivation

• If a student is clearly testing your expectations, give an appropriate sanction
• Tolerating defiance will corrode your authority in the eyes of the student and the rest of the class

4) And, not or

• You can give a correction and a sanction. If you do, it will be better to give the correction before the sanction
• Correcting first communicates confidence because it shows others that you do not need a sanction to achieve compliance

Videos

• The Art of the Sanction Clip 66: And, not or – correction and sanction. Delivered privately (how do we do this in a non-proximate classroom - Zoom Chat?), Emotional Constancy, Bounce-Back Statement, Tagged the Behaviour, Purpose (the ‘why’), Maintaining the Pace

Bonus 100% Cycle Technique: 3:30:30

• Blog: https://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/ideas-in-the-making-doug-mccurrys-3-30-30-rule/

3:30:30 Explanation

1. At the start of independent work, a teacher should spend the first three minutes setting expectations for work product / process / behaviour and then stand still (not actively circulating) in your ‘perch’ position where you can see 100% of students to ensure that everyone is on task. That’s the 3.

2. Then, once an orderly and productive work environment is established, the teacher should start circulating intentionally: checking-in, doing individual CFU, holding students accountable for their work and providing guidance. But the teacher should do it in 30 second bursts. This is the 30i.

3. Followed by 30 seconds of group-oriented accountability: standing up, scanning the room, using proximity and correcting.  The goal is to ensure accountability among the larger class and limit the opportunity of a single student to “draw you in” at the expense of the rest of the class (or students requesting too much help… they need to work independently!). This is the ‘30g’.

• Those are the two ‘30s’:  30i = 30 seconds (maximum) interacting with an individual and 30g = 30 seconds monitoring the group. You alternate between the two.

You can shorten the first three minutes at the point you know your class can settle quicker into focused work on a consistent basis.

This might be spending 1 minute in the 'Perch' position, standing still, using 'Be Seen Looking' and 'Least Invasive Intervention' techniques, rather than 3 minutes, to check students are 100% settled and on task before helping a specific individual student.

3:30:30 User Guide

• Some of the strategies outlined in the table will need to be adapted for teaching in our two metre box

• Using whiteboards so students can hold up their work (‘Show Me’) can help you with this