Behaviour Management for Non-Classroom Activities
Field Trips
Field trips can be fun and educational and remember young people respond well to structure and routines. Since a field trip is not an everyday occurrence, students need to be told well in advance what is expected of them. The rules of behaviour and the consequences should be familiar to them from the classroom.
You should encourage students to remember that they are representatives of the school whenever they leave the school campus and their behaviour will be observed by the public. When children know there are high expectations, they usually make an extra effort to do the right thing. With proper planning and a positive attitude, field trips can be unique ways to explore the outside world with your students. Stay flexible and always have a Plan B, and you should do just fine.
· Explicitly discuss field trip behaviour rules with your students beforehand
· Give your students a learning task ahead of time
· Choose parent chaperones wisely
· Make sure you have all necessary medications
· Arrive at school early on the field trip day
· Give your chaperones the tools they need to succeed
· Be proactive in regards to challenging students
· Count heads all day
· Do a "debriefing" when you return to the classroom
· Write thank you notes to the people who hosted your group for the field trip
Cafeteria
Schools need to walk a fine line when managing students' lunchroom behaviour. On one hand, lunch should be a time for students to relax and unwind and chat with their classmates; it's not a time to require silence. On the other hand, students still must show respect for their fellow students and keep noise at a moderate level. That demands a modicum of structure and a few basic rules. Failure to enforce those rules is an invitation to chaos.
Establish a lunchroom code of conduct.
Let students know that you understand their need for a break from classroom rules during lunch, but emphasize that - out of respect for their fellow students - they still must follow some basic rules in the lunchroom. Tell them in clear terms the specific behaviours that are expected of them. Those might include rules about lining up, emptying their trays, cleaning their tables, and rules against running, shouting, and throwing food. Consider posting the rules in a prominent place in the lunchroom. Don't have more than five rules, and state them clearly and simply. You might invite lunchroom staff to this discussion to reinforce the importance of those rules. Also, let students know of any reward system used in the lunchroom, as well as consequences for poor behaviour.
Assembly
Conduct a lesson in assembly protocol. Before the first assembly of the school year, discuss with students how to behave during an assembly. Let students know that you expect them to walk to the assembly quietly and in single file, to sit with their own class, to remain quiet during the assembly and to leave the assembly in an organized manner. With younger children or special education students, you might practice good assembly behaviour.
· Keep downtime to a minimum
· Insist on quiet before beginning
· Stay near your students
· Signal students non-verbally
· Give a student prone to misbehaviour a job
Bathroom Etiquette
The bathroom is one of the few places in school that often is unsupervised. As a result, the bathroom is a frequent site of behaviour problems. Those can range from writing on the wall, to plugging up a toilet with paper towels, to festooning a bathroom stall with toilet paper. The bathroom also can be the site of such social problems as students harassing one another. Then, of course, there are the dawdlers - those students who hang out in the bathroom to avoid going back to class.
Review bathroom policies with your students.
At the beginning of the school year, make clear your rules for using the bathroom, and then review them as needed throughout the year. Those rules might describe when students can go to the bathroom, how many can go to the bathroom at one time, whether they need permission to leave the class, and so on. Make sure they understand that writing on the walls or damaging property in any way is unacceptable.
School Bus
A good resource for behaviour management on the bus is the The Department of Transport & Main Roads QLD Code of conduct for school students travelling on buses. To ensure the needs and views of all stakeholders were taken into account, the code was developed in consultation with Education Queensland, the Queensland Police Service, bus industry groups, parent groups, principal associations, unions and non-state school authorities.
The Code of Conduct for School Students Travelling on Buses (PDF, 733 KB) (April 2013) will form the basis of the bus rules that bus companies develop to manage behaviour on their school buses. It also includes procedures for bus drivers and operators to follow when managing student behaviour on the bus.