2. Social & Emotional Aspects of Learning Theme 2: Getting on and falling out

3. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership How is it used?  Theme for half term that involves the whole school community  Theme and materials introduced in staff meeting  Initial assembly from theme overview  Curriculum work at different levels  Celebration assembly  Follow up staff meeting review and sharing of practice

4. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Getting on and falling out This theme focuses on developing children’s knowledge, understanding and skills in three key social and emotional aspects of learning: Empathy Social skills Managing feelings (with a focus on anger)

5. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Key concepts of this theme  This theme offers opportunities for children and staff to continue the work started in Theme 1: New beginnings on creating a positive ethos within the classroom. Initial circle activities, games and rounds help the children to value and appreciate diversity and similarity, develop skills of cooperation and increase their ability to recognise and identify their feelings and those of others  Each set is structured around the following key strands;  Developing the social skills of friendship  Working well together in a group  Managing anger  Conflict and its management

6. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Points to note Learning from real-life experience is central to the development of social, emotional and behavioural skills. Sensitive and controversial issues are certain to arise. - See the Guidance booklet from the whole- school SEAL resource: Appendix 3 ‘Guidance on the teaching of potentially sensitive and controversial issues’

7. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Whole school focus  Using the schools usual means of celebration (praise, notes to the child and parent/carers, certificates, peer nominations, etc.) to notice and celebrate children (or adults) who were observed:  Week 1:Working cooperatively to help a group  Week 2:Being a really good friend  Week 3:Keeping calm and overcoming feelings of anger  Week 4: Solving a difficult problem with a friend

8. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership A focus on working together Look at the ‘Working together self-review checklist’. Each member of your group will be asked to evaluate the group’s performance in terms of the criteria at the end of the session

9. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Activity 1: A focus on working together Get into groups of 4 – 6 Each person has 20 counters to ensure equal opportunities to participate Each time someone makes a spoken contribution, they put a counter in the pot If anyone runs out, they must wait until everyone has had the opportunity to use all their counters before they are redistributed No-one has to use all their counters; participants can indicate that they have nothing more to add and the counters can then be redistributed

10. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Discuss the following; Which of the skills on the checklist would be particularly important for the children you teach to develop? How the use of such a tool would fit in with what happens in your school or classroom already? What changes you might make to ensure that the checklist was useful?

11. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Activity 2: Giving and receiving compliments Work in groups with no more than 5 Participants are numbered 1 – 5 (or whatever the number is in the group) Participants take it in turns to throw a die The person rolling the die gives a compliment to the person with the same number to the one the die lands on If the die lands on number 6, everyone in the group pays the roller a compliment The participant receiving the compliment should smile and say ‘thank you’

12. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Discuss the game with your group by considering; –How do you feel when you give someone a compliment? –How do you feel when you are given a compliment? –Is it easy to say ‘thank you’ when you get a compliment? If not, why not? –How does this activity help us to understand children’s reaction to the praise we give in the classroom/playground, etc?

13. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership

14. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Managing conflict Conflict is a normal part of life. Throughout the theme, children build up their skills using a process called ‘Peaceful problem-solving’ Spend two minutes with a partner discussing what skills you think are involved with managing conflict

15. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Managing conflict: skills involved Calming down before you try to resolve the conflict Listening skills Seeing something from someone else’s point of view Thinking clearly about what it is you want or need Using assertiveness skills – avoiding responses that make the conflict worse Knowing how to make up – saying sorry, how not to lose face, etc

16. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Managing conflict Many adults feel they have to solve social problems for the children. However, if the peaceful problem-solving process is to be adopted as a whole school approach then the adult role changes to one of mediator and provider of support to children in using the process. This means encouraging the children to keep to the process by making sure that they talk to each other and not to the adult, and that they generate and agree their own solutions.

17. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Activity 3: Managing conflict Working in your existing groups, think of a conflict between children one of you has been asked to sort out recently Describe the incident to the rest of the group Explain how the problem was sorted out Consider how you might mediate the ‘problem’ using the peaceful problem-solving process As a whole group, discuss the questions: How did the mediator role differ from that of a problem-solver? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using this approach?

18. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Exploring anger: The ‘Fireworks’ model The match represents the ‘triggers’ for our anger The fuse represents the build- up of anger. Once the fuse is lit, our bodies and emotions begin to prepare for a fight or flight response – there is an escalation of anger. Our fuse varies in length according, for example, to previous experiences, temperament, how tired we are, what has happened already and how we are feeling

19. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Exploring anger: The ‘Fireworks’ model The body of the firework is packed with dynamite and represents the explosion of anger that is the third stage. This is what happens when we ‘lose it’. At this point the following conditions apply; –It is hard to think sensibly or reasonably –It is hard to see someone else’s point of view –It is hard to understand what people are saying (you may not even hear them) –It is hard to consider the consequences of what you do

20. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Exploring anger: The fireworks model The buckets represent calming-down strategies We need to learn to catch our anger before we do something that we might regret later. ‘Calming-down’ strategies are hard to use when we have ‘lost it’. This is why we need to recognise (in ourselves and others) the initial signs of anger and how it builds up

21. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Activity 4: Exploring anger Work with a partner to annotate the Fireworks sheet. Record; –Some of the triggers you experience –Calming-down strategies you use –Some words or sentences to describe changes in your body as anger builds up and then explodes Spend 2 minutes reflecting on your own experiences of feeling very angry

22. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Questions to consider… Bearing in mind the model of anger we have discussed (and the fact that it takes up to 45 minutes for our body to return to its normal state after an angry episode), do we deal in the best way with angry children (or angry adults)? What could we do to be more effective?

23. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Activity 5: Working together as a group Using the checklist as a prompt, reflect on how your group worked together on activities 1 – 4 What do you feel went well? What could you do to improve the way the group worked next time?

24. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership A game to try… Untangling the knot This activity requires an odd number in the group. All the participants stand in a huddle with their eyes closed and their hands raised in the air Each person takes hold of two different hands at random and opens their eyes. There should be no one left out and no one holding the two hands of the same person The group then has to try to untangle the knot by weaving under arms or stepping over links The aim is to end up in a big circle. It doesn’t matter if some people end up facing the wrong way How did it feel to take part in this activity and how do you think it might feel for children ? This activity demonstrates the importance of cooperation in achieving a desired end

25. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Another game… Cooperation: Statues This game requires a large space and one beanbag per person Each participant must walk around the room while keeping a beanbag on their head. If the beanbag falls off, the person is not allowed to move – they become a ‘statue’ until another person picks up the beanbag and puts it back on top of the ‘statue’s’ head. If the helper’s beanbag falls, they too become a ‘statue’ until another person helps The aim is to be moving around for as long as possible –How can we increase the time during which we are all moving? –What did it feel like to help others? –What did it feel like to be helped?

26. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Further support and ideas Setting up a conflict resolution or ‘making-up’ corner: ideas for the classroom Things that reduce conflict or make conflict worse Living with volcanoes – Bridget Sheehan, MEP DfES staff development materials: –Conflict and confrontation (1748-2005PD5-EN) –The importance of emotions in the classroom (1745-2005PD5-EN) –Working with colleagues on behaviour issues (1732-2005PD5-EN) –Focusing on solutions: a positive approach to improving behaviour (1733-2005PD5-EN)

27. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Planning  In your groups, look through the ‘Getting on and falling out’ theme and choose activities, for your age group, for the next half term  Consider how you might deliver these sessions and any resources you would need

28. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Questions ? ? ? ? ?

29. Behaviour & Attendance Programme Manchester Education Partnership Please complete an evaluation sheet