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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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