Running the Room: The Teacher's Guide to Behaviour

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Like many people Luke turned to running during COVID and has been hooked ever since. He saw a massive change in his own physical and mental health, as well as the positive changes that outdoor exercise was having on the wider community during a tough time. The premise was simple: could an individual from one area pass as proficient in another, as judged by an expert panel? A vicar 'became' a car dealer, a house painter a conceptual artist, a bicycle courier a polo player, and so on. I don't think they ever tried to turn someone into a teacher, but at the time I was waiting for that programme to be made. 'Running the room', is the title of Tom Bennett's new book ('the teacher's guide to behaviour'), and it would have been fun seeing the trainers preparing a total novice to ‘run’ a classroom. For experts, this is second nature; for anyone else, it can be a terrifying prospect: It’s all presented in a very amenable fashion. He is clear up right up front: “ None of this makes me any better than a good teacher in any school.” He also shares brilliant anecdotes from his time on the front line, like this one:

From his interest in strengthtraining, Will received his qualification as a Strength and Conditioning Coach from the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association. This helps him program strength training in and out of the gym to help his clients become stronger and more resilient. Create a class culture where it is the norm for students to behave in a way that lets them and others learn. Be organised and plan ahead so that it is easy for students to behave and hard for them to misbehave. Tom writes and speaks beautifully and with flair, and can make any topic come to life with humour and flow. This is very much the case in his latest book, “ Running the room”. Where his DfE behaviour report was about the behavioural principles at a whole school level, there is more focus in this book on what goes on inside the individual classroom. Bennie Kara discovers an excellent, practical guide to behaviour management that sometimes misses the mark with its commentary

We must act respectfully towards the vast plurality of value systems from which our students emerge ... it does mean teaching them to appreciate that the classroom - your classroom - has its own culture, and that here, if nowhere else, these specific values and beliefs should be held, and demonstrated through behaviour. It is specific to the space in which you teach.' The book talks a lot about how people’s behaviours can be different when they are by themselves and in different group situations. A classroom and a school are large group situations and teachers need to create and sustain a culture where it is the norm to do the right thing. His approach to treatment is very much tailored to the individual, drawing on the most up to date evidence whilst always ensuring he is outcome focused, both on a patient's own goals and, on clinical objective measures, as he wants people to know how they are progressing in his care. The value of 'scripts' (preparing in advance what you want to say, so that you can lean on these when under pressure, such as when phoning a parent for a difficult conversation). In many ways, there is nothing revolutionary here. What is important is the emphasis on behaviour needing to be taught, not told. Bennett maintains this is a systematic process like any other transference and retention of knowledge. He makes the allegedly intangible, tangible; asserting (correctly, in my opinion) that this approach takes the guesswork out of behaviour management and facilitates better learning for all. New teachers are far too often left to discover independently how to run the room, which leads inevitably to exhaustion and disillusion – and ultimately, poor retention of teaching personnel.

Below are some of the routines for my Year 7 class, which I have further adjusted after reading the book, such as specifying the number of minutes that students must arrive to class after the bell (so there are no misunderstandings).The danger of over-focussing on poorly-behaved children: 'I've seen schools where coaches have been hired for students as a reward trip to some theme park, and every seat is occupied by a little rascal/pirate, and all the well-behaved children left behind are gazing at them through the window and thinking 'Who do I have to punch to get on that?'' I’ve always been a big fan of routines and Running the Room reaffirmed this practice for me. Explicit routines prevent behaviour problems from arising and helps create the class culture and norms. My classes have routines for starting a lesson, ending a lesson, entering different classrooms, how to transition between activities, etc. I have sometimes thought I was going overboard with the routines in terms of their detail and how we actually acted them out. E.g. We would practise how to line up, enter the classroom, etc. We go through these routines and practice them at the start of every term. He is an extrovert and part of the reason he loves the profession so much is that he gets to communicate with people from all walks of life. He has an empathetic ear and is always willing to listen. He is always looking to expand his growing networks and build relationships within a multidisciplinary team to improve his practice but more importantly his patient care.