Habits of Success – Harry Fletcher-Wood – A Review and Reflection

I wrote a review and reflection about Harry's Responsive Teaching which you can find here. As teachers and leaders, we often think and talk about what goes on in the classroom in distinct categories. This is helpful because it gives us a way to talk the same language as others in a busy environment.  When…

The Essence of ‘Classroom Culture’: Five Elements

We can't find good answers in education unless we ask the right questions. These five elements of classroom culture have helped me ask the right questions about what makes highly effective learning environments day in day out.

The Essence of ‘Classroom Culture’

What does it feel like for students to be part of our classrooms? Is it a safe place for them to be themselves? I mean really be themselves, in a place where learning is the most important thing, not compliance; a place where rules and expectations you set make sense all the way down and…

Dealing with Defiant Behaviour: ‘The Language of Choice’

In this post, I suggest one strategy for dealing with defiant behaviour effectively. To explain and illustrate this, I want to go back to Mr Blake’s classroom, the first time we visited is here. This time we’re going to meet someone new from his class*. Roxy Mr Blake had just started his Year 4 Maths…

Working with children who ‘hurt’ inside

I was on duty at break time. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a little boy hobbling across the playground. It was Leo in Year 2. He reminded me of a footballer hobbling off the pitch to see the physio (me) for treatment. I turned to look at him. “Sir, I’ve…

On Defiant Behaviour

  Defiant behaviour - we’ve all had to deal with it as teachers. I want to offer one humble insight here, building upon a few experiences i've had over the past few years. To do this, I’ve amalgamated a few stories into the one I’m going to share… A critical moment... Mr Blake takes his rambunctious…

(3) Classroom Relationships and The Power of Warm/Strict

This comic has been used with kind permission from Scott Hubeny. My last two posts (found here and here) have been a bit too theoretical. Here's for something a bit more practical... Stretching over three decades, research conducted by Wubbels (2013) suggests that teachers who combine maintaining high expectations for learning with ‘friendly’ characteristics (such…

(2) What makes a great teacher – pupil relationship?

In my previous post, I discussed whether teacher pupil relationships have an impact on learning outcomes. What was evident from some of the research out there is that it is essential for productive student engagement, which leads to high motivation in pupils to learn. In a nutshell, it is a fundamental component of the ‘precondition(s) for…

Seating students for engagement – what does (some of) the evidence say?

In my last post, I raised three issues with group seating as standard in the primary classroom. Of the three considered, only two had any sort of pedagogical value. The arguments related to group seating supporting group teaching and collaboration both assumed that the configuration of furniture should support teaching. Although this is an excellent…

3 issues with ‘group seating’ in the classroom…

      Two days ago I set up my tables and chairs for the new school year. It took me a lot longer and more thinking time than I originally planned. Two years ago I was told to always have my tables set up so that children were in groups of four or six.…