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ADHD and children’s parties

I remember when my son was very young (primary school) and he had a lovely circle of energetic pals. He wanted to do everything and be everywhere.  His friends were mostly the same, to a greater or lesser degree, and we spent happy evenings at cubs, swimming, football practice, all the usual!

Being a December-born child, his birthday party had to be an indoor affair.  When he was the ripe old age of 4, I realised that this might be the last time that I could accommodate the rough and tumble of a predominantly boys’ party in my house.  They needed space and it showed – all the children were lively, it’s exciting to be at a party and let off some happiness.

But one of my son’s little friends (we’ll call him Joe) stood out above the others.  He was a little dynamo, far more active and...

Behaviour in class is something that most teachers need to take charge of at some time or another.  Attending training for behaviour management is always an important part of the development of practical skills, but isn't always convenient during a busy working week.

We provide online behaviour management training in several formats (including this one which is hosted on Teachable), and one of our regular offers includes access to free webinars.

Here's one of our bite-sized (30 minutes) behaviour management webinars which you're invited to watch.

This 30 minute webinar covers the following common classroom behaviour 'complaints':

• work avoidance (failing to start)
• calling out
• managing lateness
• angry outbursts

Grab your headphones and pick up a few tips and strategies.  You can watch directly on You Tube if your system works better that way.

Behaviour in class - managing lateness

Teaching in the Further Education (16+) arena often means adapting some management of behaviour  in class to be more ‘equal’ (ie adult to adult).

So as a newbie teacher some decades ago, when it was recommended to me that I stand at the door to greet my students I ignored this advice, believing that it was something that should be kept for the young ‘uns.  I preferred to busy myself in class while my students arrived.

But for many of my students, the initial euphoria of college life wore off, and the arrival on time became less important for some of them.  My diligence in dealing with those who preferred to linger in the corridor or dawdle to class was non-existent.  I was faced with poor punctuality and very few ideas about how to deal with it except to complain, berate, or discipline.

One day I happened...

Sometimes you come across behaviour situations in class and around corridors which can be easily fixed with the right words. But so often those words fail you!

We've created several 60 second videos to give you some smart ideas to help managing behaviour in class (and elsewhere!).

Each tip takes just around 60 – 65 seconds to view, but can give back so much teaching and learning time if applied well (and avoid low level disruptions).

Included in this suite of bite-sized behaviour management tips are:

verbal strategies

take up time

hand gestures

time keeping

dual coding (to name a few)

They are completely free.

Click on the picture below to watch Behaviour Hack #1.

To see the rest of the free series click here.

A number of our training courses take shape in the form of a webinar or video.

Why is that?

From both anecdotal evidence and scientific research we know that, during training, information is more easily absorbed with dual coding. Put simply, dual coding means that your brain can store more information in more areas of your brain. (See this video for a great explanation).

“While traditional training tools such as lectures, documents, and PowerPoint presentations may appear to be effective at getting information across, comprehension tests show that much of that information is quickly forgotten. In contrast, video is a visually stimulating medium that boosts training content by upping viewer engagement and improving the learner’s ability to comprehend concepts and details and remember them longer...”

(http://www.vidversity.com/6-reasons-we-focus-on-video-for-learning/)

We also know that after a long day in the training room or classroom,...