The Unteachables Podcast

On today's episode I dive into how our beliefs and assumptions about our students have a direct correlation with either their success, OR their failure.

These are the Pygmalion and Golem effects. The self-fulfilling prophesy.

The 1968 Rosenthal and Jacobson study concluded that when a teacher expects a student to excel, that student is more likely to perform well, while students who are expected to struggle or underperform, often do so.



Listen in to hear about:

• The things that we do as teachers that unknowingly stop students from succeeding or progressing in the way they could.
• The challenges and barriers to actually believing in the success of all of our students (because it's not as straight forward as just saying 'I believe in you'
• How we can use this as a powerful tool for increasing student academic success and helping even the most 'unteachable' students break barriers and succeed.

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

If you would like a printable cheat sheet of the steps found in this episode, click here.

Have you ever had to address comments from students that were homophobic, racist, misogynistic, ablest, or problematic in any other way?  If you're a teacher, it's likely the answer to that question is yes... Annnnd it only seems to be getting tougher. With male 'role models' in the social media space such as Andrew Tate, we are seeing a rise in students expressing these damaging misogynistic views, young boys in particular. 

It can be so tough to know what to say or do as teachers, especially because these things can be so deeply personal and triggering. Oftentimes when we DO address it,  students will say "it is a joke", or, "I am entitled to my opinion". 
 
So teachers are left simply remarking, "that's inappropriate" and moving on.

However this isn't good enough. It is so crucial we address these things seriously to ensure that we are teaching our students better, and creating a safe space for everybody in that room.

But how?

This is your step by step guide.

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

In this episode of The Unteachables Podcast, I talk apologies, and the conundrum of forcing them. It feels like a knee-jerk reaction when a student has done something harmful... "What do you say?" or "Say sorry."

It makes sense why we do this. As the teacher we want to get to a resolution. We want to make things better! However simply forcing a student to say sorry is definitely not a solution to challenging behaviour and conflict... in fact, it's a big 'out' the allows accountability to go down the drain. 

Toady I cover:

• The missed opportunities of forced apologies: What we really need to be doing when things go wrong.
• The role of dialogue and reflection: Explore how engaging in meaningful conversations can repair relationships and nurture vital social and emotional skills.
• Practical quick swaps that you can make right now to foster greater reflection and accountability during these challenging conflicts
• The key components of Transformative Talks: The crucial piece of the puzzle with authentic resolution.

 

Check out the Masterclass: Real Consequences Real Change

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

Join me in this week's episode of The Unteachables Podcast as I dive into the power of an actionable approach to restorative practice. Through this ep I will help you to discover how accountability, reflection, and restoration can transform those frustrating behaviour challenges into golden teaching opportunities.

Get ready for a refreshing approach that focuses on respect, support, collaboration, and meaningful discussions. I share my top foundational consequences, tailor-made to authentically right the wrongs and foster student accountability. No more one-size-fits-all punishments—these consequences gain maximum buy-in from your students and mitigate future challenges. 

Restorative approaches are not about letting students get away with their behaviour or taking a soft approach. Quite the opposite! Discover why this method demands even greater accountability and reflection, empowering you to become a more skilled and effective teacher for all your students.

I also unravel the secrets behind Jane Nelson's 3 Rs of logical consequences, and delve into why they're essential guideposts on this transformative journey. I’ve got your back as I unpack these Rs to ensure your consequences hit the bullseye.

Most importantly, I introduce you to the heart of my restorative teaching practice—the transformative talks. I spill the tea on how these talks are your secret weapon to building connections, resolving challenges, and restoring relationships. I’ll explore the goals of these talks and when to unleash their power in your classroom.

So, download for your commute, and get ready to explore **actionable** restorative practice.

Referenced in the pod: Teachers or Taunters: The dilemma of true discipline for direct care workers with children. Lorraine Fox

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

In this episode, I take you on a mini pod journey as I unravel my tips for setting expectations with students. Join me as I explore:

- The drawbacks of traditional rules and the power of expectations in fostering collaboration and connection.

- Why expectations are more effective in gaining student buy-in and creating a productive learning environment.

- Practical strategies for effectively setting expectations, including dedicating explicit lessons and encouraging student input.

- The importance of modelling accountability and creating a culture of trust and shared responsibility.

- How to keep expectations alive throughout the school year and integrate them into daily classroom routines.

- Why you, as a teacher, are a living embodiment of the expectations you set for your students.

Listen along as I provide you with the tools and inspiration to establish a classroom culture where students feel respected, valued, and motivated to meet expectations. 

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

This episode is a BIG ONE!

The incredible Laura co-founder of The Kindness Curriculum visits the podcast to talk all things mindfulness (and beyond!) 

Listen in to hear us chat about...

• Why classroom management is all about regulation, not about just firefighting behaviours.
• What's the big deal with mindfulness?
• The complexities and barriers to using mindfulness in the classroom (hint... teaching is a bloody stressful job).
• How we can bring mindfulness into our classrooms to help with behaviour and classroom management.
• How we can make mindfulness a genuine part of the mainstream school culture.
• Bringing mindfulness into school detention systems
• AND MOST IMPORTANTLY.... The importance of self-compassion and kindness as teacher.

If you would like to hear more from Laura, or to check out Kind Minds, go hang out with her on Instagram @thekindnesscurriculum  

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

"Have you ever experienced the quiet calm that sweeps over the room when you ask your students to copy the work off the board, write down definitions or do a word search?

If you teach students with social, emotional and mental health needs, I would almost
guarantee the answer to that is yes. When it comes to classroom compliance, this style of pedagogy works. Which is why it is no surprise that it is common practice in schools where there are high proportions of students who exhibit challenging behaviours.

It is called ‘The Pedagogy of Poverty’, and it is inconspicuously stealing our most vulnerable students’ opportunities for success."

This episode of the podcast explores the concept of the pedagogy of poverty, explains what it means for teaching, learning, behaviour, classroom management, and everything in between. Of course, I then give you a little insight into how to tackle it through your practice.

The above excerpt is from my article "The Hidden (Disim)power of Pedadogy" in the Everyday. Journal. If you would like to check it out,  head to www.everyday.org.nz

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

On this week’s episode I get to have a chat with the incredible Danica, an educational mentor and consultant and the woman behind Little Bloom Consultancy. Through her work, she helps educators and parents transform how they support children’s behaviour and emotional development. Her work is firmly rooted in the values around teaching and respecting the whole human being, empathy, understanding.

We discuss a wide range of things, including her series on ‘what to do when a child says no’ where she value-bombs the podcast by going through 4 practical steps to approaching challenging behaviour. 

Teachers, you just wait for the mantras that she gives us mid-way, they are absolutely transformative for our mindset and practice in the classroom!

Keep your eyes peeled on Danica’s socials @littlebloom.consultancy - soon she’ll be releasing all of the juicy details about a free masterclass where she’ll be sharing some of the ‘what and why’ behind guidance as well as three strategies you’ll be able to implement straight away. She’ll also be releasing information shortly about a mini-course that takes you step-by-step through bringing guidance to life in your space. 

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

Are you ready for an open house tour into That'll Teach 'Em?! 

13 years ago I stepped into the classroom with no confidence and no clue.

I was plonked into a chaotic classroom with 30 ‘unmanageable’ and ‘unteachable’ students

And then another, and another, year after year, and I had no option but to learn how to swim. It started with a little doggy paddle, and now I am on a pretty smooth freestyle, but it wasn’t an easy journey.

Now, looking back from the other side, I know how desperately teachers need (and freaking deserve) quality support, training and mentorship. This sink or swim culture in teaching needs to freaking end (imagine just handing a surgeon a scalpel and telling them to cut without them seeing how it's done first?! That’s teaching)

So I took all of my training, incredible mentorship, every single lesson (good and diabolical) and observation, all of the ‘constructive feedback’, my own research, and my years spent developing teams of teachers. All 13 years of it.

Then… I broke it down into an 8 week course that gives you the roadmaps, strategies, knowledge and support to nail classroom management.

And I am officially accepting enrolments into The April intake of That’ll Teach ‘Em (but not for long)

So… if you’re a teacher (or one in the making) and you’re wanting to learn how to mitigate, address and resolve challenging behaviour in a way that leaves a legacy of kindness with every one of your students, then come and join me! 

Say goodbye to... 

✕ Feeling overwhelmed and defeated by challenging behaviours in your class

 ✕ Having no idea what to do next… you’ve tried it all and those behaviours aren’t budging

✕ Feeling that anxious gut feeling going into another tough lesson, already watching that clock wanting it to be over

✕ Feeling disempowered, at the end of your tether, and out of control with your students… 

And hello to... 

✓ Walking into your classroom feeling empowered, skilled and ready to tackle whatever the lesson throws at you

✓ Knowing how to proactively plan and prepare for lessons in ways that mitigates and reduces challenging low-level and all level behaviours

✓ Being excited and re-energised to try new strategies that will not only support students who struggle with behaviour, but foster a calm and productive learning environment for every student

✓ Having the skills to resolve challenging behaviour by bringing kid on the journey, getting buy in, and actually helping them be accountable!

I can't wait to be a mentor in your corner! Doors close on April 29th, head right here for further details and enrol (OR for information on the next cohort if you've missed the cut off).

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website

On this week's episode I am going to be talking about the entire narrative around behaviour management that is getting teachers stuck in PURE survival mode. It is a trap!

And what is the trap?

Seeing  behaviour management is solely that. Behaviour management.  Just about responding to and addressing behaviour.

It keeps teachers in a viscous never-ending cycle. Particularly with low level behaviours that can't necessarily be resolved by doing anything about every little frustrating micromoment.

It isn't getting down into those mechanics. It's not asking the right questions because what the hell do we ask anyway. It is seeing resolving behaviour as a reactionary task.

And it is not really doing what we need to do... what we really need to do to effectively manage behaviours is weave classroom management into every single fibre of what we do pedagogically as teachers.

Because, my friends, it is so much more than just the behaviour.

This episode, I am going to be giving you 3 examples of proactively classroom management that will support you to shift some of those challenging behaviours.

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
• Join The Behaviour Club
• My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management 
• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
• Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'

Connect with me:

• Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
• Check out my website