Five steps to sanity: Behaviour management in the LRC Contributed by Ruth Flynn

1. Five steps to sanity: Behaviourmanagement in the LRC Contributed by Ruth Flynn I have produced this poster as an aid to behaviour management in my busy college of further education learning resource centre. We have a wide range of students, from age 15 with a wide range of abilities. Our spacious library occupies a central space in our five year old building, and has 52 'drop in' PC's. Behaviour management can be challenging here and our team of four front line staff take it in turn to take responsibility for behaviour management and this has led to some inconsistency of approach. The aim of my poster is to remind everyone of why we're here, why the students are here and what we need to do to keep the working environment calm and productive and ourselves as stress free as possible. All resources in the "Contributions" section of our resource bank have been submitted by delegates on our Taking Care of Behaviour Online course. For more information about this practical, self-paced course, please visit: http://www.pivotaleducation.com/taking-care-of-behaviour-online/

2. Five steps to sanity: behaviour management in the LRC Encouragement Have high expectations, always expect the best. Be careful to always model the behaviour you expect. Teaching good behaviour is more fulfilling than dealing with bad. Never miss an opportunity to give positive feedback and always acknowledge compliance. A “thank you" or a “well done” goes a very long way! Prevention Make rules and expectations clear. Develop positive relationships; learn names as soon as you can, take an interest in what makes students tick, share a bit of yourself, and develop a sense of humour. Use quick, friendly rule reminders. Give clear assertive statements of what you want and expect. Afford students some time to settle down to work when entering the library. Maintain a calm working environment. Consequences Always be consistent, consequences should be a certainty rather than a threat. Always emphasise they are directly resulting from a choice to overstep boundaries Don’t fire the big guns first…there’s nowhere else to go if you do. Say what you mean and mean what you say, don’t hand out lots of warnings. Know when to temporarily withdraw and when to return. Maintenance Always be seen to be consistent, fair, reasonable and in control of your emotions. Always offer excellent customer service. Ignore secondary behaviours and don’t get drawn into arguments Develop scanning techniques, always be aware of what is happening around you and react quickly, confidently and consistently to any sign of poor behaviour choices, incidents can often be diffused or deflected. Reparation Acknowledge improved behaviour. Stay friendly and courteous Separate the behaviour from the personality Do not bear grudges. Give every student a fresh start the next time they use the library.