Welcome to this week’s episode! If you missed last week, head back and catch up, because this is week 2 of digging into pillars from my new book, It’s Never Just About the Behaviour, which is available for pre-order and will be released at the end of June/start of July. 

In this episode, I'll be focusing on Pillar 2: Be Calm. One of the most impactful tools in our classroom management arsenal is maintaining a sense of stillness and calm, even in a chaotic environment. A strong teaching presence is built on the foundation of regulation—what we want from our students, we need to model ourselves.

I'll be discussing:

• Strategies to stay regulated in a dysregulated environment.
• How to craft a strong, calm teaching persona.
• A 5-step non-verbal roadmap to respond to low-level behaviours.

I'll also delve into the importance of awareness in avoiding the vicious cycle of reactive classroom management. Drawing from my early career experiences, I’ll share how frantic and heated responses only led to more chaos and how many teachers, lacking proper training, fall into this reactive cycle.

Breaking this cycle starts with us. We need to be the calm conductors in our classrooms. I’ll provide insights into how to recognise signs of dysregulation in ourselves and techniques to regain control, such as pausing, deep breathing, and relaxing our shoulders. Additionally, I’ll highlight the value of mentorship in identifying and addressing these signs.

Tune in to learn how to mitigate challenging behaviours through self-regulation and establishing a calm, effective classroom environment.