Behaviour for Learning
Each fortnight in Connect, Mark and Jo will be sharing behaviour for learning tips designed to help manage behaviour in the unusual circumstances of Covid-19.
Behaviour for Learning #14: What works for Mo?
Having recently had the opportunity to observe quite a few Pastoral Support Worker mentoring sessions with Mohammed Raja, what really struck me was how hard he finds school. He was very open about the fact he finds many of his lessons too challenging but doesn’t want to ask for help because it makes him feel stupid and embarrassed. Mo acknowledged that he isn’t particularly good at regulating the feelings that emerge when he can’t do the work which has meant he has behaved in some pretty awful ways at GHS.
During the sessions, Mo was able to identify a teacher who taught in a way that meant he could access the lesson and didn’t feel “dumb”. Mo said that Amit Pall was one of the teachers who created a classroom culture which was secure and where he could achieve. I spent 
some time trying to unpick what Amit does so that we can share these strategies with you as they’re likely to have a positive impact for many of our students who find school hard which can lead to poor behaviour.
> Breaking tasks down: keeping it simple and not giving too many instructions at once.
> Checking-in: going to speak to students individually who are likely to struggle so that they don’t have to put their hand up to say that they don’t understand or need help.
> Modelling: showing the class how to do a task step-by-step so that they can see exactly what to do, how much to write and so on.
> Scaffolding: giving the class sentence stems, key words, writing frames and anything which will help them complete the task set without just “telling” them the answer.
> Hints: as Mr Pall models, checks-in and so on, he uses lots of AfL techniques and responds to students’ emerging needs with helpful hints which keeps the students on task.
> Relationships: Mo said that Mr Pall stays calm and is warm and approachable so he doesn’t feel needled even when he does need to be told off; Mo felt that he has an authenticity and genuinely cares about his learning which he shows in the way he plans the lessons and interacts with students
We have a lot of students who find school-work difficult. Some of these students are on the SEND register but many aren’t. I hope sharing this feedback and these strategies will be helpful in terms of teaching some of our “high profile” students. Great teaching makes a huge difference to behaviour but we understand that it won’t lead to excellent behaviour in all lessons, all of the time, and needs to be part of a whole-school approach with interventions and behaviour management systems.
Please treat the information in this behaviour tip sensitively. It is difficult for a lot of students (and adults!) to open up and share in the way that Mo did.
We hope you have a great week!
Mark and Jo
From the Head
