Welcome to Behaviour Bites . One quick tip per week that you can put into action immediately to help you crush your classroom management . This is your host , Claire English , and this is your Bite of the Week . Hello , welcome to your Behaviour Bite of the Week . And your Behaviour Bite this week is let the visual do the talking , not you . And this is for you .
If you feel like you're constantly reminding your students the same students of the same things reminding , re-explaining , repeating instructions or expectations day after day , it can be exhausting , but over time it can start to feel personal , to both you and to the student .
And as soon as it feels personal , as soon as students feel like maybe they're being picked on or whatever it might be , you might find yourself being caught in a cycle of confrontation and disconnection that will never get you the results you're hoping for with your classroom management .
So here is a simple shift that can make a huge difference when it comes to redirecting behaviors . Depersonalize your requests by using a visual .
When you redirect behavior by non-verbally pointing to a visual cue on the wall , like a poster that represents the class expectation or a visual checklist of steps , it takes that you versus me dynamic out of the equation completely Suddenly . It's not about you telling them what to do .
It's about reinforcing the external expectation that everyone can see and that everyone follows . And this approach it changes the whole tone . A visual on the wall becomes a shared , neutral , reference point . It's not about one student feeling singled out .
It's not about them feeling like they're disappointing you or disrupting the class or being picked on or anything that might get their back up about it . Instead , it's helping them realign with clear , visible expectations that everyone is responsible for following . And this is why it's so powerful .
When a request feels less personal , students are more open to receiving it . Think about when you've been given feedback in the past that you're not exactly happy to be receiving . You might get defensive , you might feel called out .
So students are less likely to feel defensive , less likely to feel called out personally , because the visual shifts the focus from you're doing this wrong to here's what we're all aiming for , and because visuals work as gentle , non-verbal nudges , you're not draining your energy repeating the reminders and you're helping to build student independence by getting them to
reflect and get back on track by themselves . So next time you're about to give that same reminder , try a visual with a quick gesture towards a visual .
You're saying this is a standard I know you can meet it and over time , students start to internalize these external cues and that's when you see real growth , more independence , more responsibility and a calmer , more respectful classroom environment for everybody .
And if you don't have a visual for it , but you're constantly talking about the same thing , think about creating one . Here are some examples of visuals that you can use in your classroom . Well , the first and most obvious one that I always use is literally pointing to the board if they're supposed to be reading something .
Another one could be a classroom norm poster . It could be something that says like stay in your seat or raise your hand before speaking , or whatever your classroom norms are . It could be a voice level chart , so you have a representation of the different voice levels expected for different tasks , with a little pointer that says we're at this part of the lesson .
It could be a steps for success visual . So you know it serves as like a self-check guide , like steps like get materials , start your work , check your work , or anything like that , to help students get back on track If they're , you know , struggling with certain things . It could be a hand signals poster .
I know a lot of teachers out there use hand signals to indicate different questions or different requests . It could be a timer up on the board to signify how much time remains for each activity .
So if students are struggling and you can see that they're looking at the wall and kind of like looking around and twiddling their thumbs , you could meet their gaze and you could point up to the board where the timer is and that is a non-verbal signal for them to get started . It could be a learning map for the lesson .
When you use a learning map , it can be a great way for students to get back on track just by pointing to the part of the lesson or the resource they're using .
It could be a what to do if poster , like a you know three before me or whatever you use in that way , something that you know if students finish early or get stuck or need help or whatever works for you . Your context is your context . You know your students . Whatever is going to work for you and your young people .
Have a think about what will make your life much easier when it comes to talking to students about their behavior or addressing behavior . So your action step for this week is just take note of what expectations and instructions you seem to be constantly needing to repeat . Are there any visual cues you could use to ? You know ?
Communicate that to students instead of having to repeat those constantly . Just take note of that and maybe just start to create one . Teach the students explicitly and start to use it . That was this week's behavior bite , one small , quick behavior win to help you make consistent change to run your room confidently and calmly .
It's all about controlling what we can control , and this is one of them . I look forward to seeing you next time .
This behavior bite was brought to you by the behavior club , my wonderful membership for teachers , where every single month , I'm releasing training around a focus area , quality resources to lighten the load in every sense of the word , a brilliant community that I'm in daily answering questions and giving personalized support , and just so much more .
So consider this my personal invite to come on in , take a look around , and I absolutely can't wait to see you there . Help you feel confident , help you feel capable and just crush classroom management . Head to the-unteachablescom forward , slash TBC or find the link in the show notes .
Me and my behavior clubbers are popping on a cuppa and pulling up a seat as we speak .