Children listen to a new teacher politely at first, then disruption grows over time if expectations of behaviour are allowed to lessen; it is therefore vital to constantly model the high expectations of behaviours you wish the pupils to aim for and “remind them that this is how you wish them to behave” (Robinson et al. 2013) For example, I observed a teacher reinforcing the boundary that pupils could not answer questions unless they raised their hands quietly; this was stated on the “rewards and sanctions” (classroom rules) poster. This helps manage over-zealous behaviour such as shouting out or fidgeting due to a child’s eagerness to answer. I also observed that the teacher called on a variety of pupils who did not raise their hands. This indicated to pupils that the teacher was actively monitoring their involvement in the lessons and that she expected everyone to participate. Finally, when selecting a pupil who had quietly raised their hand in accordance with the classroom behaviour policy, the teacher explained to the class that she had chosen that child because they followed the rules, thereby reinforcing the high expectation of good behaviour to the whole class. This is an example of a reward (warm verbal praise) that encourages children to meet the behavioural expectations they have been set.

I also observed that the teacher sometimes had to employ sanctions as an immediate intervention against poor behaviour. When the noise and chatter in class got out of hand, the teacher rose and silently stood next to the “rewards and sanctions” (classroom rules) poster and pointed at it until the pupils noticed. This was usually sufficient as the implication of possible sanctions to follow was obvious even to primary-age pupils. This meant the teacher was able to model this expectation to the class next time, by silently drawing attention to the agreed classroom rules using her body language. However, when this practice was insufficient, the teacher set a sand timer on her desk and explained to the entire class that she would stop the timer when the entire class was following the rules by sitting quietly in their seats: the time it took them to do this would be taken out of their next break time. This was an immediate and effective sanction that restored a good classroom environment and set a high expectation for all pupils.