A few years ago, I read a news article about a woman working in a meat distribution plant who was saved from certain death after somehow managing to lock herself inside a giant walk-in freezer.
It had been this woman’s habit of saying “good morning” and “good evening” to the security guard at the plant – a routine act of kindness – that saved her life.
After everyone had left the facility, the guard, missing his usual “good evening”, went looking for the lady and thus she was saved. This demonstrates how low-level, “drip-drip” routine investment in emotional currency can benefit us in ways we cannot predict.
When a child is on the edge, dysregulated and out of control, it just might be the emotional currency that you have earned with them through kind words and a friendly face over weeks and months that will help you to reach them and find the best possible outcome.
Establishing routines
More frequently though, establishing and maintaining routines is simply about making normal, everyday behaviours automatic.
In That Behaviour Book I set out a process by which staff in schools can make this happen. Teachers need to identify the exact behaviours that they want to see, link each one to a simple, values-based rule, and establish a routine that will bring it about.
For example, at the start of Ms Jones’ science lesson, once her year 7 class has entered the lab, the established routine is that they hang up their coats on the pegs provided and go to their seats. The values-based rules “be respectful” and “keep everyone safe” are supported by this routine, which allows students adequate space and time so that an unsightly scrum can be avoided.
Do not underestimate the hard work that is involved in making this a success. It takes constant repetition and relentless reinforcement, especially in the first month or so. And yes, for those teaching a class once a fortnight the challenge is greater, but the answer is always to stick to your routine like glue and insist that your students do likewise. If you can find ways to make following the routine fun, all the better.
With some classes, it may be necessary to break a routine down into smaller steps, so for example rather than simply “Hang up your coats”, the routine might be “Pick up your coat by the lapel, find a free peg and loop the lapel over the peg”. You may find it useful to examine your own routines, to see whether any of them will benefit from breaking down further.
One Voice
In the same way, with a year 8 class, who in my experience can be very chatty, Mr Smith uses his “One Voice” routine. The values-based rules are “be respectful” and “be ready to learn”. Hearing from just one voice at a time shows respect for the person who is speaking and enables the class to learn by reflecting on what they say.
Like any other routine, Mr Smith teaches it explicitly, models it in his behaviour (by not interrupting), and establishes it over days and weeks by relentlessly reinforcing it.
Thus he can abandon “shush” or “pipe down!” or “for heaven's sake guys, can we please be quiet?” – instead, he simply reaffirms his “One Voice” routine, which reminds the class: “This is how we do things here.”
Meet and greet
Your most important routine of all is one that the security guard at that meat distribution facility would recognise – the “meet and greet”.
A penny dropped when I was on my travels five years ago. During five days of extreme freelancing that took me from North Wales to Hampshire to Edinburgh and finally Essex, as I queued for a hire car, exhausted and anxious, I was overcome by a powerful urge to feel safe and welcome.
I told myself I would happily pay an extra £35 just to receive a smile from the worker behind the desk. Then it dawned on me. If I badly needed to feel safe and welcome right there and then, in my mid-50s, how much more badly did the children in our schools, some of whom suffer abuse, neglect, anxiety, bullying or myriad other issues, need to be made to feel safe and welcome by a teacher who stands at the classroom door with a smile and who is delighted to see them?
I frequently visit schools where I am told that “staff are supposed to meet and greet”. Sometimes staff are at their laptops because the IT system has gone down or arrive late because the timetable has them teaching consecutive lessons in different time zones.
However, I often see staff who are standing at their doors as the children enter the room, making no attempt to interact. They are missing a trick. Simply standing there because you have been told to stand there won’t do. The point of meet and greet is to affect students’ brains. Convinced that you are not a threat, they will be in a more receptive state and better prepared to learn.
There are three stages to a great meet and greet. First, the smile and the friendly word. Second the routine stuff (in my case it was “coats off, bags on the floor”), and third the bit that is about today’s lesson (“your starter is under your seat”).
Your “meet and greet” and the other routines that you build into the first five minutes will have a big say in how your lesson progresses.
Final thoughts
Routines are vital. They are our simplest and most effective tool for teaching behaviour. They will work best when based on values-based rules and with endless reinforcement via constant repetition and via our own good example.
If all your pupils, even the ones we do not look forward to seeing, get a routine welcome and a fresh start every day you are on the road to better times.
- Stephen Baker spent 17 years in teaching before working with local authorities and for the National Strategies as a regional advisor in Yorkshire and the Humber. He is now a behaviour consultant and trainer, passionate about helping teachers to succeed, and is the author of That Behaviour Book: The simple truth about teaching children (Crown House Publishing, 2023): www.crownhouse.co.uk/that-behaviour-book