A newly qualified teacher (NQT) has a major black-spot in her week: her mixed-ability Year 9 modern foreign languages (MFL) group. Behaviour expert John Bayley provides practical advice in this classroom-management resource.
Despite Jemima Riley's tireless attempts to quieten her pupils and get them focused on learning, each Key Stage 3 lesson becomes a frustrating battle to create order, control disruptive behaviour and manage a number of easily distracted boys.
John films Jemima in the classroom and, having reviewed the footage, encourages her to: adopt a more positive attitude to pupils; be more generous with praise as a strategic device for getting them on side, particularly the boys; modulate her voice more; and make her whiteboard presentations easier to read.
Jemima then puts John's pedagogical advice into practice at Chiswick Community School in west London, and for the first time she finds teaching her nightmare secondary class a positive and even rewarding experience.
