The biggest mistake educators make when managing classroom behaviour

Sarah Cordiner|14 December 2015

What is good behaviour, and how do you get a certain group of people to behave in a certain way that allows for teachers to teach, and learners to learn in the most productive ways possible? These questions have been asked for many years, and there are many oppressive theories behind resolutions to ‘bad’ behaviour.

What is ‘bad’ behaviour anyway?

Behaviour is any action, namely interactional in groups, where you will see what we deem as productive or good behaviour, or unproductive or bad behaviour. Bad behaviour tends to be anything that transgresses the expectations and the behaviours of a specific group. And so we make rules to provide guidelines around how people can ensure they meet these expectations by behaving in a certain way. But here’s the problem with rules. They are formed on a generic local and societal opinion of what the majority in that group subjectively believe is ‘acceptable’. What is that all about?

When I was teaching in a prison I met a group of guys who believed it was entirely ‘acceptable’ to enforce their local ‘rules’ with violence. They believed that ‘being polite’ to your equally aggressive neighbour would get you and your family killed. When I was a (rebellious) teenager at school, I was endlessly being frog-marched to and from detention because my low self-esteem didn’t allow me to adhere to the very strict school rule of ‘no make-up’. How the hell was mascara going to stop me from learning? If anything, NOT wearing make-up impeded my learning because my confidence had been stripped from my face! So who’s right? …… (I would love to open this up for discussion below)

We need to check whether our classroom rules are meaningful, or just a matter of opinion.

For example swearing or littering in the streets could simply be a matter of culture. Are they aligned to cultural prohibitions or individual norms, values and expectations? Are they a wider application of rules such as human rights that are universally applicable?

Practical advice:

Firstly, immediately STOP using the term ‘bad’ behaviour. Replace it with ‘unacceptable’ behaviour. You cannot call someone bad, if he believes he is doing good. It is the breaking of the local rule that is bad, NOT the individual. Are you sure they even KNOW and understand the rules? It can’t be bad behaviour if somebody doesn’t know the rules. Secondly, explain to them why this rule that has been broken is important in that environment. It cannot be bad behaviour if somebody does a bad thing but is not corrected about what they did.

How can we influence behaviour?

Schools, colleges, universities, training companies and trainers – they all actively go about changing behaviour through reward and punishment; right and wrong; good and bad. Prisons do the same through punishment and rehabilitation. Therapists even can change people’s behaviour through insights, relaxation and medication. Schools that have NO rules (yes they exist) teach through freedom and exploration. Doctors control behaviour using medication and treatment. We manipulate our behaviour using drugs and alcohol – some reading this will have themselves, or know others who have sipped on a ‘cup of courage’ before a night out, a date or a big event. On the extreme end, the inflection of pain is used in some cultures to mediate certain kinds of behaviour. We have to consider what the beliefs behind these systems are morally, and scientifically and why we have the right to make rules anyway.

Practical advice:

So instead of inflicting pain, or getting our learners drunk – I believe that just one method we can use is to establish an appropriate vocabulary for behaviour. Educators are CONSTANTLY using vocabulary to describe learner progress, behaviour and contributions – but MUST remember this:

You can use words on a sheet or a list to describe a person’s behaviour, but THE biggest mistake educators make is using a list of words to describe an individual.

When you are dealing with ‘bad’ or rather, ‘unacceptable’ behaviour, describe what ACTION was unacceptable; not what your feelings are about the situation or the person conducting the behaviour. e.g. saying somebody is irritating, is about your feelings. It just says that you are feeling irritated by something they are doing; when in fact what is it that’s irritating you is the behaviour. Getting this distinction right makes a huge difference to whether you get a productive classroom or a disaster-class!

I would love to hear your experiences and techniques for overcoming challenging classroom behaviour…

Sarah Cordiner Social Links 🌐:

Website 🖥️: www.sarahcordiner.com
Tekmatix Website 🖥️: https://www.tekmatix.com/

Social Media 📱:

Facebook Page 👍: Sarah Cordiner
Facebook Group 🤝: Entrepreneur to Edupreneur
Personal Facebook Profile 👤: Sarah Cordiner
YouTube 📹: Sarah Cordiner’s Channel
LinkedIn 💼: Sarah Cordiner
TikTok 🎵: @sarahcordiner
SlideShare 📊: Presentations by Sarah Cordiner
Twitter 🐦: @Sarah_Cordiner
Instagram 📸: @sarahcordiner_
Pinterest 📌: Sarah Cordiner’s Boards

Blogs and Resources ✍️:

Blog 📝: www.sarahcordiner.com/blog
Free Course Creation & Business Resources 🆓: Free Stuff by Sarah Cordiner
Sarah’s Online Courses 🏫: Sarah’s Academy
Sarah’s Books 📚: Sarah Cordiner on Amazon

How Sarah Cordiner Can Help You Scale Your Business with Tech, AI, and Automation

Tech doesn't have to be hard or scary. I help you make it easy to learn, fun to implement, and even better to see the amazing results that you can get with some simple tech tools and strategy.

Here are all of the different ways that I can help you scale your business, streamline your operations, and make your bottom line full of joy using tech, AI, and automation (as well as traditional methods) as your secret weapon.

< class="bb_boot_card_title">FREE: Workshops & Resources

I have a number of freely available workshops and training that you can access on my free resources page.

Get The FREE Training

Book a Call with Me

If you have a number of questions, want one-on-one tech help or would just rather have a chat and guidance from me directly, you can book a call with me here.

BOOK NOW

< class="bb_boot_card_title">The Legends Lab

Monthly live masterminds, monthly Q&A sessions, access to over 100 micro trainings, and a lively community of business owners growing their business with tech.

BECOME A LEGEND

< class="bb_boot_card_title">In-Person Events & Bootcamps

I run regular boot camps and in-person tech get it done days where you can get results fast in these intensive hands-on experiences with Sarah Cordiner personally.

JOIN CONCEPT TO COURSE

< class="bb_boot_card_title">Tekmatix Business Platform

Tekmatix is an AI-powered all-in-one business platform that includes your website, funnels, CRM, courses, memberships, social media scheduling, email marketing, AI agents, AI employees, calendar and appointment booking system, automations, and much more.

TEKMATIX

My FAVOURITE Business Software in the WORLD: Tekmatix all-in-one business platform..

TekMatix is the market-leading all-in-one business platform, CRM and course creation platform.

Business Owners, Course Creators, Coaches, Speakers & Service Providers: Looking for a platform to run your business??

Tekmatix is the solution you've been waiting for!

Tekmatix is an all-in-one business platform that combines all of the features of over 21 different software - in ONE place, for ONE price.

With Tekmatix, you get:

💜 AI Employees, Bots and AI Voice Receptionists
💜 Websites & Funnels
💜 Courses and memberships
💜 CRM & Client Records
💜 Tap and Pay (EFTPOS) on your phone
💜 Unified inbox - all your emails and DMs in one place
💜 Calendar appointment booking
💜 Social media scheduler
💜 Kanban boards
💜 Task manager
💜 Automations & AI workflows
💜 Project management
💜 Communities
💜 Email marketing
💜 SMS & phone
💜 Invoices and quotes
💜 Contracts and signed docs
💜 Affiliate program
💜 Forms & quizzes
💜 Blogging
💜 Sales pipeline management
💜 Ecommerce & physical goods
💜 Mobile App
...and MUCH MORE!

You also get:

- FREE account set up
- 24/7 FREE customer support
- FREE daily live training calls
- The most awarded all-in-one business platform in based Australia - with customers in over 18 countries

....and the largest GHL-based platform in Australia... (and WAY MORE than 'just a whitelabel').....

We've built funnels, automations and websites specifically for course creators, coaches, speakers, membership site owners and service providers GLOBALLY.

All the hard work done for you.

We even have a FREE TRIAL available for you to check it out with no obligation;
....and our plans are available in AUD, USD and GBP!

GET A FREE DEMO CALL AND TRIAL HERE: Tekmatix.com