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Paul answers a question this week which was posed by a listener on Twitter. It leads him to a consideration of whether it’s better to follow the behaviour management process slavishly or to try to solve the problem.

Do you have a process-driven mindset or a problem solving mindset?

Here is the tweet Paul received:

 “Any tips? Learner refuses to participate. Tried praise, encouragement, paired tasks, grp work, indiv tasks, sweets! no avail?”

In follow-up tweets, the low reading age of the learner as well as other issues were made clearer and the context of an English classroom was added.

Questions a teacher who is obsessed with process might ask themselves when faced with a learner who refused to participate:

• Where are we at in terms of the policy?
• What’s wrong with this learner?
• What am I expected to do?
• What sanction comes next?
• What punishment is next?
• Who can I pass this problem to?
• What forms do I need to fill in?
• How can I cover my back?
• How do I speed up the process to get this learner out of my classroom?
• Why doesn’t this process work?

The focus is on what the teacher should do to make the teacher’s life easier.

Problem-solving questions are similar but have a different slant:

• Where is the learner at?
• What’s driving this behaviour?
• How can I help?
• What positive behaviours can I find immediately?
• Who can stand alongside me and guide?
•  When are we going to organise a meeting to repair restore and review?
• How can I slow down the process in order to give the learner some breathing space to make some real decisions?
• How much persistence am I going to need in order to change this behaviour?
• What can I do as an adult to change what I do to really help this learner?

So, where to start with this learner…

(Creative Commons image by Chi Tranter. Creative Commons Sound clip by Johnny Pixel Productions, Inc. – http://www.johnny-pixel.com/ http://www.freesound.org/people/jppi_Stu/)

Read the rest of the show notes on the Pivotal Education site.

What would you like to hear covered in forthcoming episodes? Let us know by emailing podcast@pivotaleducation.com

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