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    The Calm Classroom: 50 Key Techniques for Better Behaviour: 50 Key Techniques, #1
    The Calm Classroom: 50 Key Techniques for Better Behaviour: 50 Key Techniques, #1
    The Calm Classroom: 50 Key Techniques for Better Behaviour: 50 Key Techniques, #1
    Ebook153 pages2 hours

    The Calm Classroom: 50 Key Techniques for Better Behaviour: 50 Key Techniques, #1

    By Sue Cowley

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    About this ebook

    In 'The Calm Classroom', best selling education author Sue Cowley offers you 50 key techniques for creating calmer and better behaviour in your early years or primary school classroom. For each technique, she offers thinking points for you to ponder, along with a series of practical tips, ideas and activities for you to put into practice. As with all Sue's books, 'The Calm Classroom' is written in her much-loved practical, honest and realistic style. The ideas she gives are strategies you can put into practice right now, in your classroom, to make your working life feel more relaxed and enjoyable. Her techniques will help you achieve a happy class, full of relaxed children, who are well behaved and ready to learn.

    If you enjoy this book, you might also enjoy reading the next book in the series, which is now available: 'The Creative Classroom: 50 Key Techniques for Imaginative Teaching and Learning'. The first edition of this book (in print version only) was originally published by Scholastic as 'You Can Create a Calm Classroom', but has now gone out of print. This ebook is an updated second edition of the original text.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSue Cowley Books Ltd
    Release dateSep 15, 2015
    ISBN9781516354009
    The Calm Classroom: 50 Key Techniques for Better Behaviour: 50 Key Techniques, #1
    Author

    Sue Cowley

    Sue Cowley is a writer, presenter and teacher trainer, and the author of over 25 books on education, including How to Survive your First Year in Teaching. Her international best seller, Getting the Buggers to Behave is a fixture on university book lists, and has been translated into ten different languages. After training as an early years teacher, Sue taught English and Drama in secondary schools in the UK and overseas, and she also worked as a supply teacher. She now spends her time writing educational books and articles, and she is a columnist for Teach Nursery, Teach Primary and Nursery World magazines. Sue works internationally as a teacher trainer, as well as volunteering in primary classrooms, and helping to run her local preschool. You can find Sue on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@Sue_Cowley

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      Book preview

      The Calm Classroom - Sue Cowley

      Introduction

      You can ... be a calm teacher

      1.You can ... use volume more effectively

      2.You can ... use tone more effectively

      3.You can ... use language more effectively

      4.You can ... use the power of the pause

      5.You can ... make the most of your hands

      6.You can ... manage your stress levels

      7.You can ... take care of yourself

      8.You can ... keep your temper under control

      9.You can ... achieve a work/life balance

      10.You can ... manage your time

      You can ... have calm children

      11.You can ... achieve a calm start to the day

      12.You can ... use breathing exercises

      13.You can ... take account of body clocks

      14.You can ... build your children’s self-discipline

      15.You can ... help your children learn how to co-operate

      16.You can ... build respect and positive relationships

      17.You can ... develop your children’s concentration

      18.You can ... set up a nurture group

      19.You can ... help your children manage their anger

      20.You can ... end the day in a calm way

      You can ... create a calm classroom environment

      21.You can ... explore the link between colour and emotion

      22.You can ... make use of all the senses

      23.You can ... create a calm zone in your classroom

      24.You can ... make the best use of space

      25.You can ... manage equipment, resources and displays

      26.You can ... have calm corridors

      27.You can ... create a calming staff room

      28.You can ... hold calming assemblies

      29.You can ... create a calm playground

      30.You can ... plan and build a wildlife area

      You can ... have a calm year

      31.You can ... have a calm first day of the year

      32.You can ... keep it calm at Christmas

      33.You can ... put on a calm school show

      34.You can ... have a successful sports day

      35.You can ... keep it calm at the end of term

      You can ... plan and deliver calm lessons

      36.You can ... balance your lesson activities

      37.You can ... manage noise levels

      38.You can ... manage group work effectively

      39.You can ... use focus exercises to calm your class

      40.You can ... use circle time more effectively

      41.You can ... maintain calm by giving clear instructions

      42.You can ... use meditation to build a feeling of calm

      43.You can ... get the children moving calmly around your room

      44.You can ... use the role of the expert to build calm

      45.You can ... take a journey into the imagination

      46.You can ... keep it calm at story time

      47.You can ... explore our likes and dislikes

      48.You can ... work well with other adults in your classroom

      49.You can ... help your children build empathy skills

      50.You can ... teach a sense of responsibility

      Introduction

      If you conjure up an image of your ideal classroom, you probably picture a group of smiling children, listening actively and responding thoughtfully as the teacher explains the learning.  When an activity is set, the children focus fully on it.  The atmosphere is fun and relaxed, and noise levels never rise too high.  An aura of calm pervades the room, and a sense of peace and tranquillity reigns.

      Sadly, the reality is often very different: the teacher struggling to get the children to listen; some pupils intent on causing mayhem; a backdrop of noise and chaos.  Of course there’s nothing wrong with some noise – it’s an essential part of the way that children learn.  But periods of silent focus are equally important, especially when you are explaining the learning, or when the children are trying to do an activity that needs high levels of concentration.

      This book is designed to help you create and maintain a sense of calm in your classroom or teaching space.  It can be done, and there are lots of relatively straightforward ways that you can achieve it.  Some of the ideas here are about what you can do as an individual teacher or as a whole school to build calmer classrooms; others are ideas for activities that you can get your children doing to help them achieve a personal sense of calm.

      As with all my writing, this book gives you plenty of practical strategies and realistic ideas that you can actually use in your classroom.  Each page gives you several ‘thinking points’ – things you might like to consider about the subject in question.  You will also find a series of ‘ideas, activities and approaches’, to use in your quest for a calm classroom.

      The children in our classes often live busy and chaotic lives.  For some, school offers a sanctuary in which they can enjoy rare moments of calm in a hectic life.  This is particularly so for those who live in a city, where traffic noise and cramped living conditions can be the cause of much stress and anxiety.  If you can create a sense of calm in your classroom, this will offer the children an oasis of peace and quiet to balance against their pressurised lives.

      Teaching is a very stressful occupation.  There are many facets of the job that contribute to our stress levels – tricky behaviour, curriculum demands, workload, administrative tasks, the looming threat of inspection, and so on and on.  One of the key skills for becoming an effective teacher is being able to balance all these demands on our time and energy, in a calm and relaxed way.  This book will help you do just that.

      The word ‘calm’ can mean different things in different situations, and it’s worth defining what we mean by the word, and why it might be important in the context of the classroom.  A calm teacher will be able to face any classroom difficulties in a careful and considered way.  He or she will make effective use of voice and body, and plan and deliver lessons that encourage good concentration and focus.

      When the children are being awkward, the calm teacher will deal with them in a relaxed yet assertive way, rather than giving in to the natural instinct to get irritated, angry or aggressive.  He or she will have a strong sense of inner calm, remaining centred and serene even when things do go wrong.  The calm teacher will also work well with other staff in the school, constantly helping to build and maintain an ethos of teamwork and community.

      Equally, calm children will have good self-discipline and a sense of inner peace.  They will enjoy the learning they do at school, approaching it in a relaxed, yet fully focused way.  They will relate to each other in a positive manner, with a strong sense of respect, consideration and co-operation.  Calm children will have a healthy level of self-esteem and confidence, and when they encounter difficulties they will deal with them using a positive and persistent approach.

      Of course, I fully understand that there will be times when your calm deserts you, and you find it impossible to stay positive and relaxed.  The challenges of being a teacher can sometimes overwhelm us, and we must never be too hard on ourselves when we cannot maintain perfection all the time.  I do hope that this book will help you find lots of ways in which to create, build and maintain a calm and peaceful atmosphere: for yourself, for your children, and for your school.

      Sue Cowley

      www.suecowley.co.uk

      You can ... be a calm teacher

      1.You can ... use volume more effectively

      The way you use your voice has a powerful impact on your children’s behaviour and on their perceptions of you as a teacher.  When you learn to use your voice effectively, this helps you maintain a calm, relaxed and purposeful atmosphere in your classroom.  Teachers often struggle to make the best use of volume: aim to achieve a calm, quiet yet purposeful teaching voice and style.

      Thinking Points:

      * Teachers often talk more loudly than is necessary for the children to hear – it can become a bad habit that you don’t notice.  Your children follow the role model that you set for them: if you talk loudly, they will learn to talk loudly too.

      * It is hard for both teacher and children to concentrate on learning if noise levels in the room are too high.  Working in a noisy atmosphere heightens the stress levels for both teacher and children.

      * When we talk loudly, it is harder to make our voices sound interesting and engaging through the use of tone, pace and pitch.

      * In the long term, excessive volume is likely to damage your voice.  Shouting rarely works as a control strategy, but unfortunately it does show your children that they can make you lose your temper!  If you decide you do need to be loud, do it from a position of emotional control, rather than when you’ve actually lost your temper.

      Tips, Ideas and Activities:

      Analyse the way you use your voice, and the effect on your children.  Ask yourself:

      * Do I often talk more loudly than is necessary?

      * In what circumstances do I raise my voice?

      * Do I talk more loudly when I’m feeling angry or emotional?

      * How do my children respond to me when I use a loud volume?

      * How often do I shout at or over the class?

      * What effect does my shouting have on my children?

      * What are the acoustics like in my room: do they help or hinder me?

      * What would my pupils say about how my voice sounds?

      A quiet volume encourages your children to listen more carefully:

      * Imagine a volume control button, like the one you get on a stereo.

      * As you teach, aim to lower the

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