Consistently communicating high expectations is one of the most effective strategies any teacher can use to help eliminate low-level disruption.

High expectations demonstrate to learners that low-level disruption is not acceptable.

They do this by stressing the primacy of learning within the classroom and by indicating that any behaviour that comes into conflict with this value is problematic.

Here are three ways you can communicate high expectations in relation to low-level disruption and, therefore, help to eliminate it.

Draw attention to low-level disruption before it happens

At the start of the year, talk about what it is, what it looks like and why it is unacceptable.

This communicates the high expectations you have about how learners should behave and sees you tackling the problem before it arises.

This is not to say that it won’t then come about.

Just that, if it does, you will have already laid the foundations for dealing with it.

And you can immediately call back to the discussions you had at the start of the year, reminding learners that they already know why their behaviour is not acceptable.

From the first time you meet a class, ask for silence and then wait

This might be uncomfortable at first.

You might need to wait for a few minutes.

But doing this will very clearly set out your expectations for behaviour.

Subsequently, getting learners to be quiet will be easier.

This will give you greater authority with which to challenge any unnecessary talking, calling out or social chat.

I’ve observed many teachers struggle with this.

In lots of cases, teachers will start talking when most learners are quiet, but not all.

Yet, what message does that send?

It sends the message that the teacher does not expect everyone to be silent when they are talking.

It also sends the message that the teacher does not expect all learners to follow their instructions.

These are not good messages.

And, if you send them, it usually makes eliminating low-level disruption much harder.

Draw a distinction for your learners between behaviour that adds to learning and behaviour that detracts from it

One way to do this is through an activity.

Ask learners to work in pairs and get them to draw a table with two columns.

Their goal is to fill up one column with behaviour that adds to learning and to fill up the other column with behaviour that detracts from learning.

The aim here is to make learners aware of how you intend to categorise behaviour in the classroom and how you will look at and judge what happens.

Having done the activity, you can refer to it in future lessons.

This helps you remind learners of where their current behaviour sits.

If it adds to learning, fantastic. We can praise them.

If it detracts, we can tell them that this is so and redirect them.

Not Letting Anything Go

A specific aspect of communicating high expectations involves you working from the premise that, from day one, you will not let anything go in your classroom.

This means picking learners up on minor transgressions and small incidences of low-level disruption.

So, for example, in your third lesson with a class you might notice that some learners have started to wait a minute or two before beginning the tasks you set.

You would then follow up on this immediately, calling attention to the behaviour and asking for a change.

This does two things:

First, it shows learners that you have seen the behaviour in which they are engaging and that you are not prepared to let them slip below the standards of which you know they are capable.

Second, it indicates that you expect all learners to always remain focussed on learning, in everything they do.

This point runs deep as the implicit message is that small disruptions will not be accepted, meaning bigger ones are an absolute no-no as well.

Of course, getting the balance right is tricky.

Not letting anything go, while an admirable strategy that will serve you and your learners well, carries the risk that you will come over as petty or officious.

If this happens, learners may grow frustrated.

They may also come to develop negative connotations with your lessons.

The solution involves two contrasting elements.

When picking learners up on small transgressions, do so in a positive and upbeat way while at the same time remaining assertive:

• ‘Steven, you need to begin your work as soon as I ask, thanks. That’s what I expect of all the learners in my class. It’s what I know all of them can do.’

This helps to gild the interaction, making it a more comfortable experience, and allowing you to sustain rapport while also challenging the behaviour that you don’t want.

In addition to this, use praise to reward learners for showing learning-focussed behaviour and for changing their behaviour as and when you ask.

This acts as a positive counterweight to you picking up on what, to learners, might initially feel like trivial matters.