Deputy Principal (Kelly Anderson)

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Private Dialogue

The final low-key strategy we will explore is Private Dialogue. Most students don’t like it when the teacher points out their poor behaviour in front of their peers. Sometimes this can set up a power struggle where the student talks back to save face, and the situation escalates.

One strategy you can use to manage the situation in a calmer way, is to ask to speak to the student privately. This usually means going outside, but it can mean just speaking quietly far enough away from the main group.

Private dialogue is usually employed when the rest of your low-key strategies have worked for most of the class, and you just have one or two students who still aren’t complying.

The process would look like this:

1. Ask the student to speak with you privately
2. Stay calm and outline the behaviour you have observed
3. Explain the impact this behaviour has on the learning of the other students
4. Explain the behaviour you would like to see
5. Ask them if there is anything you can do to support them to get back on track
6. You may decide the student needs to separate from their allies – you may tell them they need to sit in a different seat, designated by you, when they return to the group
7. Explain the consequence of continued misbehaviour – ie withdrawal from the class
8. Invite the student to return to the group

Keep this strategy in mind if you find yourself about to go to battle with a student in front of their peers – see if you have more success when using private dialogue to reason with the student.

Remember to ask your experienced teaching colleagues to observe your lessons and give you feedback. Teaching is a skill that takes practice, practice and more practice!

Harmony Week and Intercultural Understanding

In the Western Australian Curriculum, intercultural understanding is one of the general capabilities schools are tasked with developing in students.

Students develop intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and the variable and changing nature of culture.

The capability involves students in learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect.

In developing and acting with intercultural understanding, students:

• investigate culture and cultural identity
• explore and compare cultural knowledge, beliefs and practices
• develop respect for cultural diversity
• communicate across cultures
• consider and develop multiple perspectives
• empathise with others
• reflect on intercultural experiences
• challenge stereotypes and prejudices
• mediate cultural difference

HARMONY WEEK 15 – 21 March is an opportunity to foster students’ intercultural understanding. You have been emailed a range of resources to share with students, including this video below.

Thank you to our Media and Marketing Officer, Ellie Mackay, for her terrific work at creating this video and the map that shows the many cultural backgrounds of our students.