Developing classroom presence- are you born with it or can you fake it until you make it?

[WiltingSunflower]

I'm working with a NQT who's really struggling.

On bad days I'd say she's just not meant to be a teacher but at times I think she's trying.

I am a naturally loud person who sings and is usually accompanied by a selection of musical instruments and puppets. I also worked with younger children a lot from the age of 14 up, did a BEd and am bloody ancient so I am probably not the best one to give advice on developing presence.

NQT is much more quiet than me so I suggested she observe one of our old-school infant teachers. This woman is magic- she never raises her voice but every child in that room is following her instructions. I think she was more demoralised than inspired though- she just said blankly 'but they don't do that for me'.

Any ideas? I'm really trying but it's very hard.

What year is she teaching? Are her class particularly difficult or anything? Is it their behaviour, their focus or their respect that is the issue?

I have certainly got more presence with experience.

Y1. They're not particularly difficult but she has let them develop bad habits and they're now all feeding off each other. Sometimes I think she's a bit clueless and doesn't know how to step in, at other times I think she's given up.

e.g. we were all at assembly. She told them they were allowed to sit with a friend to 'keep them company' and then ignored them all when they unsurprisingly started to chat. We have SLT leading assembly and picking out the odd bit of behaviour, but our class teachers sit at the side and if needed, go and intervene. A few different class teachers did this, so she wouldn't have looked out of place or anything.

I think you're made for teaching a certain level or you're not. I'm an early years teacher and have always been comfortable with that age group. I would say my presence has grown with experience and confidence though. Put me in with a child over 6 and I'm a fish out of water!
I once worked with a new teacher who just didn't have it. She was adamant she wanted to be a teacher and loved the job but just couldn't grasp the concept of Early Years. Not sure she would've done better in older primary.

Sometimes you can develop it but mostly if you haven’t got ‘it’ then you never will. I mentored NQT’s for about 20 years and only twice had to suggest to people that they might try a different career. It is the hardest thing to do - one of them came from a whole family of teachers and there was such pressure on her to do well.

My class had an NQT last year who made a lot of mistakes with them. I am now having to put in a huge amount of effort to correct this with them.

The assembly thing sounds like a very naive move. I thought it was a standard that you know the children don’t sit with someone they’re likely to talk to. Mine know not to try that now as they will be moved.

After a 3 year teaching degree and 4 terms of supply, I never got it. No matter what tips my mentors gave me, I just didn't have that classroom presence needed.

Expectations innit? She's expecting them to misbehave and for her interventions to be ineffective. She needs to change the routines (buddies for assembly obviously a bad plan, sit them boy girl, etc) and then stick to her guns, without going too strict and them totally rebelling.

• from someone who was a shit NQT at secondary last year because I let them walk all over me (I've cracked it now they don't see me as 'the new one' though, and I'm not unsure when they try to quibble about behaviour policy!)

Expectations innit? She's expecting them to misbehave and for her interventions to be ineffective.

You've hit the nail on the head here, this is exactly the situation.

You can definitely fake it. I’m nothing like my teaching persona.

What it sounds like for this NQT though is not that she lacks presence, but that she hasn’t established classroom routines and expectations.

It’s a major issue with PGCE teacher training (assuming she took that route) that student teachers take over a class that have already been trained in routines and so they inherit those expectations and think that the kids do it naturally.

They won’t ‘do it’ for her, because she hasn’t trained them to. It needs practice and reinforcement.

What is her signal for silence? How do they line up for assembly? What are their getting stuff out and putting stuff away routines? Has she thought about this stuff or is it all a bit chaotic?

Some people have a different approach to teaching. I could never be the teacher to stand up and sing to my class. That’s just not me. I’m straight talking and my class know where they stand. If they misbehave, my reaction will be X. Every time. Consistency.

Mine know to appreciate when I let them choose a partner because it won’t happen again if they ruin the opportunity with silliness. They aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination but they’re a huge amount better than they were.

The assembly thing sounds like a very naive move. I thought it was a standard that you know the children don’t sit with someone they’re likely to talk to.

She does so many things like that and looks so dejected when someone (even gently) points out it's a bad idea. 'No one told me' is a frequent refrain.

I've seen good classes to go pot and be very hard to rein back in after poor teachers too.

I don’t think you have to be loud. I think you can fake it.

I think presence is a very personal thing. It takes time to get a style that works for you and NQTs are right at the start and finding their vibe. Presence I think comes from that quiet confidence that you own the classroom and are secure in what you're doing.

Classroom management is a bit different though. Without good classroom management a teacher is relying on a personality contest and likeability, which is problematic.

To me, it sounds like the struggling NQT needs to have clear routines and expectations that they follow through with consistently. With clear rules and consistency and praise, they should be able to win most battles. They won't be most liked or cool, but they'll get that basic respect from the students. From there they can build further.

A lot of it sounds like she’s lacking some common sense. If you sit a child with their friend, they’ll chat. If you sit an adult next to their friend, they’ll chat.

How is her actual teaching? Is it just her behaviour management that needs work?

What is her signal for silence? How do they line up for assembly? What are their getting stuff out and putting stuff away routines? Has she thought about this stuff or is it all a bit chaotic?

She veers between exceptionally complicated systems that I struggle to track, never mind your average child, and ineffectual instructions. I keep telling her to simplify and be consistent.

This has been so helpful. I need to take my DC out but I'll be back later. Thanks all.

I think she needs to have one focus. She can’t fix it all in one go so focus on the most important thing first. If you give her too many focuses, she’s understandably going to feel overwhelmed and like everyone is getting at her.

It comes from within. She can't be loud if it isn't her way. She has to build on her quiet approach.

But it's all a case of 'preach faith until you have it'. She needs to believe she's the one in charge in that room.

She sounds a bit drippy tbh. I taught for a bit but don’t think I had ‘it’. I really struggled with behaviour management. I am naturally fairly introverted, a bit people pleasing and can be lacking in confidence. Teaching brought this out in me and I found it exhausting having to fake a persona. I still feel utter relief that I don’t have to face an unruly classroom, it definitely wasn’t for me.

One simple thing she could do is to be more mindful of her body language. Adopting a confident power pose - such as hands on hips with feet apart - can have a surprisingly big influence on the way people feel about themselves and how others react to them.

www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are?language=en#t-1231890

I don't do fake fun. I'm enthusiastic but I'm not comical (this was a major bone of contention with my 'quirky' mentor) it's not me. I don't think you have to, but you do have to be consistent, last year it all went to pot because everyone was like 'have you tried...' with my 'problem' classes and I was changing the goalposts all the time.

Like, last year I let them put bags and coats under the lab benches, then someone said 'ah, you need a routine so they are all away' so I was trying to change the rules (aaand other science teachers don't all make them put them away), I was still arguing about bags ten minutes into lessons at Christmas. This year they went away from day one and I've not had any issues.

But... she should be reflective enough to realise when something doesn't work, like the assembly thing, and tell them, 'you were talking - now you sit where I put you'. Shouldn't need that pointing out.

I don't do primary but does she give 'first to settle' rewards? We do that with KS3 and it really motivated them to sit down and shut up!

I'm a quiet person but I have an outgoing teaching personality. With colleagues as well as the children. I do find it exhausting to keep it up all day but my oresence is necessary to teach well.

You don't have to be loud but you do have to put on a bit of an act and you have to believe you are in charge. I was an Early Years teacher for 30 years and this worked for me but when I retired I started doing gcse and A level invigilation. I was a bit worried about it at first but soon realised it wasn't that different - given that I didn't have to plan their lessons or entertain them obviously.

How much flexibility does she have in terms of setting up her own systems for her class? I think I'd encourage her to prioritise two straightforward things e.g. responding to her silent signal and a lining up/assembly order or other day to day issue, provide some hand-holding so she gets these set up and tell her to go OTT on the noticing of children who do the right thing straightaway e.g. 'thank you Luca and Evie, I can see you're ready...' She doesn't need a complicated system to do that and younger children often respond well to their names being used to identify positive behaviour for others to copy. In turn, it wouldn't do any harm to have colleagues notice when she does something well even if it's noticing that the new assembly line order led to better behaviour.

Even as an experienced teacher I have to remind myself sometimes of the excellent (I think it’s Tom Bennett) mantra “what you tolerate, you condone”. It brings me right back into focus when I notice a class sliding into homework laxness or chattiness and reminds me to get back on it.