There is one really big mistake we make trying to improve student behaviour.
(Especially when it comes to behaviour in the yard).
We teach students to behave well out of context.
For example we might run a mini-lesson on a Thursday afternoon about “cooperation”. We then send them into the playground hoping they’ll cooperate better because they made a class mural about cooperating.
Spoiler alert – they don’t. And that’s an hour of your time wasted.
Then in reactive scrambles, we run a 1-hour investigations of their arguments and the uncooperative behaviours exhibited. Following naturally, some kids might miss a lunchtime and that’s another 45-minutes of your time gone in supervision. Others receive a stern rebuke, lecture or reminder of our mural’s vomit-worthy slogans. Another 15-minutes evaporates.
Of course that doesn’t work either. So we put more teachers on duty, arrange more supervised lunchtime clubs, restrict free play of targeted students and shorten lunchtimes. All of which pushes our teachers back onto class before they can scoff even half a sandwich.
Every one of these interventions is a waste of teachers’ most valuable resource – their time.
“In context” time investments in student cooperation might include:
- standing nearby while they play offering unsolicited suggestions.
- providing two minutes of feedback as we stroll to the classroom at the end of lunch.
- yard duty and classroom teachers actively priming them with positive encouragements about what they’re already doing well or what you’d like to see next.
Because they ARE doing well. I’ve seen grown adults who can’t compete without an umpire. If your students are playing a game without a referee or an all-in brawl … they’re ahead of the curve.
Just notice it and help them do a bit more of it.
Keep fighting that good fight,
P.S. Just a reminder that I’m hosting a free webinar next week to give school leaders an update on our new partnership options – please join me:
An Easier Path to a Restorative Future
Hear about new Real Schools partnership options for every Australian school.
Date: Tuesday 25 February 2025
Time: 4.00pm AEDT
Cost: Free
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