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Session 2. Relationships and Prevention: Stop Problems Before They Start
Objective. Plan five prevention habits for your next lesson: greeting, specific praise, scanning and moving, seating, and a starter task; and read a pupil's behaviour for its likely reason.
Most teachers can name a class that 'behaves' for one colleague and not for another. Often the difference is not strictness but what happens before any problem: how pupils are greeted, what they are noticed for, whether they have something to do at once, and whether the teacher can see the whole room. These habits cost little and give you a quieter lesson without a single reprimand. This session turns them into a short list you can try in the next lesson.
Key ideas
Relationships are the foundation
- Pupils work harder for a teacher who knows their name, greets them and shows interest. Warmth and high expectations go together; one does not replace the other.
- Greet pupils at the door by name. In a class of 38 this takes about a minute and also lets you see who arrives tired, upset or late.
- Learn one small thing about each pupil over a few weeks, such as a sport, a sibling or a favourite subject, and use it kindly.
Notice the right behaviour: specific praise
- Praise names the action: 'Aziz, you started at once and checked your answer twice.' Pupils then know what to repeat.
- A common rule of thumb is about four positive comments for each correction. Count for one lesson; most teachers are surprised.
- Never compare one pupil with another, and praise effort and method more than talent: 'You tried three ways' is more useful than 'You are clever'.
Design the room and the minutes
- Kounin's research in the 1970s described 'withitness': the teacher who scans the whole room and shows pupils that nothing is missed. Look up every minute or so, including the back corners.
- Plan a path through the room so you can reach every pupil. Seat pupils who need more support nearer to where you often stand, and seat friends who distract each other apart, without announcing why.
- Put a starter task on the board so pupils begin the moment they sit. Empty minutes at the start and at transitions are where most trouble begins.
Ask: what is this behaviour telling me?
- Before reacting, think of reasons: the task is too hard or too easy, the pupil did not hear the instruction, is tired, hungry or cold, has been helping at home or in the fields, or wants attention from friends.
- A reason is not an excuse. It helps you choose the right response: a clearer task, a seat nearer, a quiet question after class.
- If a pupil seems frightened, withdrawn or in pain, do not treat it as bad behaviour. Follow your school's child-protection steps and speak with the head teacher or school counsellor (see Session 4).
Five prevention habits
| Habit | What it looks like | Time it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Greet at the door | Name, a smile, a quick look at mood | About 1 minute |
| Specific praise | Name the action you saw | 5 seconds each |
| Scan and move | Look up each minute; walk the path | Built into teaching |
| Seating plan | Every pupil reachable; support nearby | 10 minutes once |
| Starter task | Written on the board before the bell | 2 minutes to prepare |
Reacting late or preventing early
Reacting late
After trouble starts
- Hear the noise, then stop the lesson
- Many corrections, little praise
- Pupils wait with nothing to do
- Teacher stays at the front
Preventing early
Before trouble starts
- Greet at the door, task on the board
- Notice and name the right action
- Every minute has a job
- Teacher scans and walks the room
Praise that teaches
Praise is information. 'Good' tells a pupil you are pleased; 'You wrote the units in every answer' tells the pupil what to repeat. The second is also harder to fake and easier to believe. Aim at the action, the effort or the method, not at the person's cleverness, and say it near the pupil when possible so that it does not become a performance.
Public praise has a second use: it shows the rest of the class what you want. When you say, 'Row 3 already has pens down,' other rows look at their desks. Do not praise to manipulate, and do not praise the same few pupils every time. Make a quiet tally for a week and notice who you have not mentioned.
Reading the pattern
Behaviour happens somewhere, at some time, after something. For one week, jot a three-column note when a problem occurs: what happened just before, what the pupil did, and what happened after. You will often see patterns, such as trouble in the first five minutes, or after a long explanation, or in the same corner. Then the fix is a change of task, seat or timing, not a lecture.
Some patterns point outside the classroom: hunger, cold, tiredness after family work, or worry. You cannot solve these alone, but you can respond with kindness, a quiet question and, if needed, the school counsellor. Treat sudden or severe changes in a pupil seriously and follow your school's child-protection steps.
Examples from the classroom
The first two minutes
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 7 geography in Tashkent. His class of 38 used to spend the first five minutes talking while he set up. Now he stands at the door, greets each pupil, and the board already has three questions about last week's map. By the time he reaches the front, 30 pupils are writing. He uses the other minute to ask Jasur about his football match.
Insight. A starter task and a greeting remove idle time, the place where most trouble begins.
Counting the praise
Scene. Dilnoza teaches Grade 4 in Bukhara. On a Tuesday she asks a colleague to tally her comments. She made 14 corrections and 2 positive comments. She decides that for one week she will name three things each lesson that pupils did well, with names. By the end of the week she notices that two noisy pupils have started to raise a hand before speaking.
Insight. Counting shows what we really pay attention to, and specific praise shifts it.
Monday morning
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 6 in Samarkand. Every Monday a pupil puts his head on the desk and does not begin the task. She used to correct him in front of the class. This time she stops by his desk and asks quietly, 'Tough start? Do the first line and I will come back.' Later she learns he helps in his family's market stall on weekends. She keeps the Monday task short.
Insight. Asking why, privately and kindly, gives you a response that fits the real reason.
Common pitfalls
- Praising with 'Good' or 'Clever' and nothing that names what the pupil did.
- Praising only the best pupils, so that quiet effort in the middle goes unseen.
- Treating a reason, such as tiredness or hunger, as an excuse to do nothing instead of a clue to a better response.
- Arranging seats to separate pupils and telling the class why, which shames them.
Praise, Scan, Prevent
- In pairs (10 min): in the Activity Kit, sort 8 teacher comments into 'specific praise', 'vague praise', 'correction' and 'comparison or label'. Rewrite each vague one as specific praise.
- In groups of four (15 min): read the three 'behaviour reason' cards. For each, write two possible reasons and one response that fits each reason, without blaming the pupil.
- Alone (10 min): draw a simple plan of your own classroom with desks, your walking path and the likely trouble spots. Mark where you will stand when you give instructions.
- In pairs (10 min): show your plan to your partner and write the starter task you will use in your next lesson. Your partner gives one suggestion and one thing that already works.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which comments in the sort were the hardest to place, and why?
- Which reason on the cards would you have missed in a busy lesson, and what would you have done instead?
- What one change to your seating or path can you make before tomorrow?
Reflect
- How many pupils did you greet by name in your last lesson?
- Which pupil gets most of your corrections, and when did you last notice something he or she did well?
- Where in your classroom can you not see or reach? What would you change?
Try it tomorrow
- At the door of your next lesson, greet at least ten pupils by name and put a three-question starter task on the board.
- Say five specific praise sentences in one lesson and write down who received them.
- For one pupil who often disrupts, note for three days what happened before, during and after the behaviour.
Further reading and links
Most problems are cheaper to prevent than to fix: know names, praise specifically, scan the room and start every lesson with a task.