Behaviour management in the classroom

This is it. Your class, without anyone sitting at the back. Your class, without having to justify every move. Your class. Utterly brilliant and utterly terrifying at the same time. There is, however, a fundamental problem with taking on a new class and being able to immediately manage their behaviour. You don’t know them and, perhaps more importantly, they don’t know you. This situation is not unique to the recently qualified teacher. I vividly recall moving schools six years in and being run ragged, again. The connection you make with children that builds to positive relationships takes time. In a school with a great culture and climate for behaviour, this could be three months to turn the corner. In a school in chaos, it might take you a year to build the respect that some assume teachers are automatically given. Fortunately, you will be surrounded by some true experts who you can learn from. Mrs Pearce walks into a class of marauding children and gently, almost impercepti