Reception behaviour advice

[gingerbreadice]

I posted a few weeks ago and got some really useful replies. I've been teaching for a few years now in Reception. I've always believed that you speak to children how you want to be spoken to, you explain things and that's what firm but fair looks like. It just doesn't seem to work (which really upsets me).

We're a two form school and my class is always the worst. Always.

I just find my colleagues so sharp and abrasive and I instinctively do the complete opposite. e.g. today a child came running up the corridor shouting about something. My colleague knelt down and made the stop makaton sign before repeating 'STOP. STOP. STOP' until he stopped shouting, before saying 'We do not shout. We speak. We do not run. We walk.' whereas I would have asked him why he was shouting.

Everything I read tells me I'm doing the 'right' things but they aren't giving the right results!

Your colleague is right.
You can't have 'a discussion' with a 4 yr old who is running and shouting.
Once they are listening you might have a better chance of then being able to have that conversation if you still wanted to.

However, you have sort of answered your own question "We're a two form school and my class is always the worst. Always."

Everything I read tells me I'm doing the 'right' things but they aren't giving the right results!

What are you reading?

Your colleague is right. I’d phrase it more positively, voice off now, walking now thankyou etc but getting into a big discussion about why the bad behaviour is happening in the middle of it is a bad idea.

I give choices where I’m happy with both the outcomes, eg you walk now or we can practise it at break.

Shouting and running up a corridor is not ok. Being reminded of this and then given room to explain is totally the right action here. Ignoring inappropriate/dangerous behaviour is not. How will they learn? And how would you manage 20 of them if they are all getting on like that at the same time?

I do agree with you about speaking to children how you would like to be spoken to, but sometimes reception children do need short, sharp commands first. So like in your example, a running, shouting 4/5 year old does need to stop before you can sort it, so my reaction would have been the sign for stop and saying 'STOP' giving them a second then saying 'that's better, now why did you run up here shouting?'

But a 4 year old is highly unlikely to know why they are shouting. They just are, and they need to be told that it isn't appropriate behaviour inside school. I would stop them in a similar fashion, but would always try and follow up with "Do you know why we don't run? Because we might fall over and hurt ourselves, or bump into someone else and hurt them." It is our job to keep children safe in school and sometimes this requires simple positive commands followed by simple explanations.