3^rd October 2011

                I am thinking back to 1986. My headteacher at that time was great for using language that everybody thought was a bit cheesy, but we all knew he was right.  You know what I mean don’t you?  We never had a ‘problem’ we had ‘an interesting challenge’ ahead.  He had loads of them and as I grew through the ranks in teaching, moving to the dark side of senior leadership, I came to realise that language and the way we use it is so, so important when managing staff and students. And so it is with managing the classroom. 

My control points are all well and good but if I can’t use appropriate language appropriately, the philosophy is all but useless.  Think about it.  Analyse the words you use on a daily basis in front of children, or even record yourself; I think you’ll be surprised.  Then … add in the tone of voice you use, couple it with the variety of non-verbal behaviours you use in parallel and it’s a pretty powerful concoction that has the power to influence students positively or negatively.  So today I am going to consciously practise and even overuse the word ‘pop’.

Now you might think it’s a silly word to concentrate on.  My Mom used to use it a lot when I was young; ‘Pop up the shop for me’, ‘Pop in the kitchen and bring the chocolate biscuits’, and ‘Let’s just pop this lovely, sweet cough mixture on your tongue’.  I didn’t know then, but this word is effective because it has no emotion attached to it.  It’s not so ‘in your face’, hurtful or directive.  It’s just ‘pop’ and the receiver hears it as non-threatening. You almost want to do what they ask because it comes across as being nice!  It’s a word that helps me diffuse things; calm things down and keep the atmosphere conducive to learning.

Today’s lesson is going to involve the students completing their leaflets from last week, with a little ‘pop’ direction from me.  To make sure the girl from last week is happy, I will make the objective explicit at the start of the lesson: We are learning to create a leaflet to advise and support year 6 students in their time of transition to secondary school.  However, what I am looking for is more important; can they write and design it for the intended audience?  At this point I am not going to mention that as I want to see who does it naturally.

“Good afternoon, just sit yourselves down and pop your planners on your desks.” That’s one.

                They come in looking enthusiastic with the usual latecomers gasping on autopilot and sounding like Shergar, “Sorry I’m late sir.”

                “That’s fine, just pop yourself down and gather yourself together.” That’s two.  Consciously thinking about using words or completing any action is distracting … I must mark the register.  Sports people call it ‘chunking’.  That point in time when you have subconsciously learned a skill and you do it without thinking.  It’s now a chunk.  IT people might call it a ‘macro’.  I use the word ‘pop’ all the time and thinking about doing it for this exercise feels weird.  It’s a test of my ability.

“Pop your planners on your desk and pens, pencils in front of you too.” Three.  They don’t realise I’m doing it but I feel vaguely self-conscious as I do. 

“Your learning objective today is …”  I write it on the board and silence drifts across the room and I can hear pencil lead on paper.  “Pop the date down, write the objective and then underline it.”  Four.  As they finish doing that I know it’s a good time to dish out A4 plain paper again for their leaflet design draft.  I am walking round the outside, scanning and chatting quietly to help build relationships.  I still know all of their names and I am happy I can use them as I walk around.                On the board I go through leaflet designs and the content they can possibly use.  I am at the board and ‘teaching’ them, eliciting their information, not facilitating and it feels good.  I am eyeballing voraciously, seeking knowing nods from little faces.  They are getting this, I can just tell they are. 

“OK have I made that clear to everyone? ….. Fine, you have 9 minutes and I am going to be popping round to see your progress.”  An embedded implied warning, a presupposition and a ‘pop’ all in one sentence. That’s five. Eyebrows raise and a smile; I’ve still got it.  I remember to use transition time automatically, rooting myself to the spot and scanning whilst planning my route.  These skills are nesting together beautifully; subconscious chunking of transition time and conscious ‘popping’ – lovely.  I feel great and they are doing all of the work today with very little input from me.  Using the word ‘pop’ isn’t the only use of language and as I sit here I feel the need to some re-directing without referring to their behaviour.  When a student is off-task, the simple tactic of saying, “K … have you finished?” with a nice tone of voice and a smile is always better than referring to the behaviour I don’t like.  They understand my meaning though.

One student gets out of his seat, so as I am concentrating on behaviour management I walk over and sit in his seat.  He’s unsure what to do. Perfect. I look at his leaflet and it looks promising with a tri-fold design and nicely spaced sections offering his advice. 

“S …. Pop over here and talk to me about why you designed it like this.”  That’s six ‘pops’ and as he returns I let him sit down but keep my eyes on his leaflet to show how important it is.  He talks me through it and I am still surreptitiously glancing around the room as I listen.  I am practising my Maitre D’ skills. 

“I like your design and content. Nice. I like the way you popped that logo in just there.” Seven.

“Yes sir.”

“Let’s get going then.” I look at his eyes, as I smile and move away to the next table.  He understands and we are now on the road to mutual agreement about how he should be working.  His integrity and mine are intact, for now.

“Sir what do I have to write?”  I point to the board.  Visual redirection. A chunked skill.

“M … have you finished?” He looks as though he’s been caught again and he has, as it’s not the first time and it flashes through my mind that I may need to sit him elsewhere next week.

I sit down at the front and just look and listen as all I can hear now is students creating and chatting.  This is the first time I have really felt comfortable and it strikes me that I haven’t utilised the HoDs Powerpoint today.  I don’t feel the need to and I feel liberated which has allowed me to concentrate on the language and behaviours that help build relationships.  Another five minutes. I am still sitting here. I decide to show the videos in Espresso showing Year 6 students talking about their concerns.  They are real.  It’s control point number 5, the transition from them to me, so I ‘Biffle’ for attention and they respond appropriately.  I stand still and make eye contact by scanning and glancing quickly at them all.  Just 10 seconds to remind them I am in charge at every control point.

“Just a couple of you need to pop your pencils down and look this way for me.” Eight.  They like the videos as they are real and not a video game.  A refreshing change.

“You have 9 more minutes and I’ll be popping around to have a look in 3.” Nine.  They settle quickly as I stand still again, watching and monitoring them, just to let them know I am in charge at every point of control.  Repitition. Repetition.  Mr Ebbinghaus would have been proud of me, but more importantly, I am feeling proud of myself.

Two minutes have passed and three boys to my right are off task; again.  I need a pattern interrupt and quickly decide that it will be an end-of-lesson frame.  For now I am going to use proximity to redirect them.  As I walk over they get the message, so I simply stand there one metre away looking over their heads, across the room. Elegant.

As we wrap up I ask the 3 boys to remain behind.  I ask them to stand ready to go and position them nearer to the door than me:  A small point, but the devil is in the detail.

“Gentleman, when you continue to chat rather than work on your leaflet, I feel really irritated.  What I’d prefer you to do is create your leaflet and chat less and when you do that we’ll all get on fine.  Is that fair enough?”

“Sir,” plus nods and grunts are good enough for me.  I eyeball them all quickly and I can feel my lips pursing. 

“OK, see you next week.”  I half smile, raise my eyebrows and they turn and leave.  Elegant.  Thinking about language is good.  It keeps an atmosphere that’s conducive to learning.  Nine ‘pops’ and a sea change in the relationships today; It’s not a coincidence.