1. State what you want them to do calmly and clearly.  

The first thing to do is state very clearly what they are doing wrong and what they have to do to put things right.  You need to make their choices as simple as possible and leave no room for misunderstanding.  As usual there’s no need to get annoyed or raise your voice to show you’re in charge – just calmly make the statement in short, clea...

 Students arriving late: 

• Have lesson objectives clearly displayed and easily accessible materials for collection by the student with minimum disruption. 
• Have seating available for latecomers. 
• Establish and teach a routine for late arrivals. 
• Focus on what is being done right by having a reward system which recognises and rewards punctuality. 
• Be sensitive to individual pupil needs, worri...

These strategies and skills are best used in and around the school grounds with students who have – to use the technical term – ‘lost the plot’ and are becoming increasingly confrontational. The goal here is to de-escalate the situation and diffuse their anger and aggression before it becomes worse or turns into violence.   

1. Recognise the warning signs that something is wrong 

There’s always ...

Getting students to complete homework is a problem familiar to all teachers, especially with students who lack motivation. If they’re not working in class where we can stand over them, they certainly aren’t going to work at home. Here are six ways to encourage students to complete and return their homework – and none of them involve you dishing out a never-ending stream of detentions or making pro...

Once a student has actually made a start on their work it’s clear that at least two of the big de-motivators – fear (of failing or appearing to be a ‘goody two shoes’ in front of under-achieving peers) and inadequacy (feeling they lack the necessary skills to bother attempting the task) – no longer have influence. If they’ve made a start but not finished the work, then clearly something else has g...

1. TARGETS  

Overview:  

Many students find it daunting and off-putting when presented with what they perceive to be 'too much' work as part of a lesson task- particularly text-based work. The idea of 'Targets' is to give students 'chunked' tasks - an achievable amount of work which must complete in a set amount of time  

Instructions:  

Targets can be issued to students before or during t...

Let’s face it, some students seem completely unable to work independently, either because of their own perceived self-belief that they can’t do it, or because they just refuse to work alone. Of course, not every activity can be a group activity, and you can’t be holding students’ hands at every turn. So, what can we do to promote independent study?  

1. Set small, manageable tasks and praise thei...

If you struggle with chatty, noisy students, these strategies will certainly help. Teachers using these classroom management ideas can gain immediate attention in any lesson with noisy young people aged 6-16, just like these two ladies did...  

“It made my naughtiest student as quiet as a mouse!” 
 
“Thank you so much for the superbly wonderful videos! I benefited a lot from your creative secret ...

This is one of those seemingly unimportant management issues which is often swept under the carpet by a teacher who is frantically trying to concentrate efforts on more serious issues. In a lively class, when you’ve got Mary and Matilda cat fighting, Liam smoking, Carl spitting on Graham, Steven chucking text books at Johnny, and Paul making lewd comments about the support assistant’s chest – all ...

A lesson doesn’t necessarily have to be totally silent in order to be a success – unless you’re Marcel Marceau delivering his famous ‘a life in mime’ lecture – but if noise levels rise to the point where they are affecting others, it’s time to take action. Here are some things to consider.  

1. Assess your delivery.  

Have you been talking too long?  Almost all my early lessons consisted of a re...