Direct instruction is that way to manage behaviour not open ended questions
Recently Sir Michael Wilshaw has published his annual report. Yet again he criticises schools for their failure to get to grips with low level disruption in the classroom.
Trevor Averre-Beeson, one of the countries first “superheads” and founder of the Lilac Sky Schools Academies feel that there is a simple solution. He believes it comes down to the language used and deployed by teachers.
When asking open ended questions like ” why are you sitting on your hand?”, it gives the opportunity for answering back. If teachers adopted a stronger and more direct way of addressing students some of these problems would be alleviated. If a teacher said ” please put your hand on your desk” there is no opportunity for backchat and the instruction is quite clear.
