SLA Weekend Conference Behaviour Management Workshop annikedase@gmail.com

Plan for this session: Behaviours: the good, the bad, the ugly … and the unbearable! Identifying behaviours Factors affecting behaviours Building relationships through communication. Transactional Analysis – role plays Effective strategies Make your plan!

Activity Think about the one problem that makes your life really difficult. Write this on your record card. Now think about common misbehaviours that occur in your library. Write these on post-it notes. You will find some post-it notes with examples on your table. Now put these post-its on the big sheet. Think carefully which column they should go into.

Could it also be the day of some of your students? Does your day look like this? You get up early and sort your family out. You’ve not had enough sleep. You rush to work and just make it in time. You realise you’ve forgotten something important at home and become worried. You do a million things. Whenever you start something you are interrupted. You work and work and work … and work some more… without any recognition or thanks. So called ‘breaktimes’ are the most stressful times of the day. You don’t eat lunch. Neither do you drink enough water. You find out that people didn’t like something you did. When school is finally over, you need to stay later to catch up with more work. (Not that you could ever get everything done!) Once home you look after your family. You’re too tired to really listen to them. After a really long day, you think you deserve a treat and watch a movie. You fall asleep before the end.

Factors affecting our behaviour drugs Boredom One in four teachers reported children being bullied because their classmates knew they were poor. Hormones Academic pressure Mental health: Surveys show that around 13% of boys and 10% of girls aged 11-15 have mental health problems. The most common problems for boys are conduct problems. For girls they are emotional difficulties. STRESS! Home life Weather Peer pressure

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs What is the effect of unmet needs on behaviour?

Things I cannot change There is a degree of acceptance involved here: you will not be able to completely turn around this particular problem because you cannot control the factors that cause this behaviour. However, you are still faced with the effects of this behaviour and something you can definitely influence is your response.

Things I could address if I had help Think practical (but realistic) solutions here: can you get help at stressful times? Perhaps from other staff members or students? Is it possible to control the number of students in the library? Is the school’s sanction system working for or against you? Can you alter the library space?

Things I can deal with – but how? 1. Understanding factors that influence behaviour – yours and theirs. 2. Creating an environment that minimises some of those factors. (library space, signage, distraction activities…) 3. Building good relationships through effective communication.

Positive communication: Transactional Analysis Parent: critical and nurturing Adult: rational Child: dependent and emotional “You should do this quiz to help you with your reading.” “I’ll do it even though I don’t want to.” “What kind of quiz is it?” “Would you like to do a quiz?” “I don’t want to do your stupid quiz and I don’t need your help with reading!” “Please do my quiz!”

Effective communication: Be the adult! Be rational, not emotional. Talk in a calm voice. Whenever possible, get down to the student’s eye level. Stay focussed on the current issue. Be aware of your body language. Have a look at the signs in your library.

Role Plays Turn to the person next to you. One of you will be the librarian, one the student. Try the following role plays, using the scenarios on your tables: Librarian: ‘parent’ – student: ‘child’ Librarian: ‘adult’ – student: ‘adult’

Success strategies Look after yourself. See the person, not the behaviour. Build relationships through effective communication. Create a positive environment. Break negative cycles. Focus on moving on. Forgive and forget.

Finally… Have a look at your record card and the problem you have identified in your library. Do you feel you now have some ideas about addressing this issue? Talk to the others on your table about what you’re going to do. Make a plan. Thank you for attending this session. Please get in touch if you have any questions. annikedase@gmail.com

Resources Mind.org.uk – for all things mental health Also search for teenage mental health, Transactional Analysis, Maslow, positive communication techniques … There is loads of information out there!