Although every standard is of equal importance, this standard as discussed with other professionals could be argued as the most vital in ensuring success in the classroom. I have learnt crucially that it is important to quickly understand that some children are likely to challenge your patience and integrity, but that it is important to note there are many different strategies to managing behaviour. The strategies that can be used may not work with every group of children which i have learnt is a normal process of elimination for a teacher, especially for the most challenging of classes, that you may need to try a variety of strategies before you are successful. A key application of this in my practice was understanding the impact of positive reinforcement before sanctions. Focus being on the positives of other children around the class and exemplifying this behaviour to show expectations. As with TS1, it is important to set high expectations of the children in your class and throughout the school, and being consistent to gain the respect of pupils. It is also important to be fair in the approach you take to offer praise where possible to all aspects of school life. The positive impact I feel this has had is that I have learnt how to encourage pupils to do well at all times, learning that praise, positive reinforcement and uplifting comments work more effectively than sanctions. Therefore in my future practice I will look to continue with praise and positive reinforcement to reinforce desired behaviours as I move through my career. From the experiences I have had and discussions with my mentor in phase 1, behaviour management is a strong aspect of my practice that I was able to take on board advice from more experienced professionals, developing my own techniques and strategies of managing behaviour such as enforcing a traffic light system, creating a hard worker throne, helping to develop the key relationships in the classroom.
