Using language of choice

[Mike Temple]

There are many excellent ways of persuading students to make choices rather than giving them directions. I would love to have a collection of your best and most successful interactions that allow children to make choices within teacher set parameters.

I came across this great example from Elona Hartjes who runs the excellent Teachers At Risk blog

She's been looking at underachievement and had this statement highlighted in 'This is not a punishment' post

This isn’t a punishment, but I’ve been noticing that you’re having difficulty focusing on the task at hand. Since I want you to do the best you can in my class, I want you to move away from the group and work here for a while where you’ll be less distracted and be more able to your best.

[Ed Whittaker]

Before I left teaching last July, it was part of my job to coach initial teacher training students in classroom management. I would often start a session by asking how many planned their starter activity for a lesson - all hands go up. I ask how many planned the teaching objective for the lesson - all hands up. Who plans their plenary activity? - all hands up. Then I ask how many of them plan what they will do when (not if) they encounter misbehaviour - not one hand has ever gone up!!

Once it was pointed out, they could see the advantages of planning how to deal with off-task behaviour in advance. As part of the course I would encourage them to think about the language they would use. I would stress the importance of creating a positive environment in the classroom and a big part of this is the positive use of language. Here are some of the examples I use:

'Look at me' is better than 'stop looking out of the window'.

'What page are we on, David?' is better than 'David, turn round and shut up.'

Offering a choice avoids confrontation by giving the child some control over the outcome; 'You can pop that comb in your bag or put it on my desk please, Jane' , 'You can choose to stop chatting or come and sit at the front with me'.

One of the best phrases for defusing confrontation is 'That may be true, but....' as in;
'Maybe David was doing it too, but you are the one I saw'
'Maybe you were talking about the work, but I need you to get on now.'

I would be interested to learn of any phrases others have found useful.