Managing behaviour: why we need to pick our battles

Children who don’t respond to punishment are likely to have unmet needs, says this teacher
6th October 2018, 3:50pm

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Managing behaviour: why we need to pick our battles

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/managing-behaviour-why-we-need-pick-our-battles
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We’ve all had that child. The one who, despite your best efforts, flat out refuses to do what you’ve asked. You’ve asked nicely, you’ve put on your firmest teacher voice and yet they are still saying “no”.

You’ve even given them a “Now, Next, Then” chart and that hasn’t worked, either.

So what do you do? Escalate punishments?

The chances are that this child has an either unidentified or unmanaged need. It’s our job to help the child cope and give them strategies to get through the day as unscathed as possible, not to roll our eyes and say we give up or just keep hammering them with the behaviour policy.

Behaviour challenges

I’ve had many of these children over the past few years. They’ve had a range of needs: ADHD, ASD, ODD, and some just needed a bit of structure and love. These are the children who shout, “No!” when you give them an instruction. The ones who say, “You can’t tell me what to do!” or leave the class without permission. They might get under the table, they might tip the table over. They need boundaries, but they need some reasonable adjustments along the way, too.

Over the years, I’ve come to realise (by making many, many mistakes) that there are no quick fixes and there is no single magic solution for every child.

My strategy is one that has worked with most of the children I’ve taught. I have my ultimate end goal and I have small, more manageable goals.

The end goal

The ultimate end goal is usually something I’ll have agreed with the sendco or the headteacher. For some children it might be that they can sit and do their work with the rest of the class every day. For others, it might be getting them to write for 20 minutes before they need a break. These are personal goals that have a reasonable deadline.

The deadline might be the end of the term or the end of the year or even the end of the key stage for some. It’s something you’ll work towards. It’s not something that will happen overnight.

The small goals

Next are the small goals. They are everyday goals that move their learning along and decrease the number of confrontations. This is where I learned to pick my battles. You’ll need a supportive SLT and a TA (if you’ve got one!) who understands what the small goal is for that lesson or for that day.

One example of a small goal would be where a child works: they’ve taken their book and pencil off to the book corner and they’re sat on your comfy chair with a cushion. But they’re working. They’re not working where they should be but 10 minutes ago they were refusing to work at all.

When I started teaching, I’d have demanded that child go to their table and work there. Now, I pick my battles. I know what I want out of this lesson - I want them to get the work done. So why rock the boat and disturb them?

Often, once the work is done you can have a chat about what would be better next time. Alternatively, your small goal might be for that child to be sat in their seat for the whole lesson. You might be willing to compromise the work if it means they’re sitting where you’ve told them to.

Ultimately, these children need support. We have to pick our battles and we have to know what we want out of each situation. And if we do that, we can make small steps to big success.

Shannen Doherty is a Year 4 teacher in south London. She tweets @MissSDoherty

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