Notes from ‘Talking to Teenagers’ by Jamie Thom

‘How a teacher speaks to me is really important. I know they are interested in me and care about how I learn.’ – Sarah, 16, Newcastle

Part One Summary: Understand the Complexity of the Teenage Audience

• Society often passes negative judgement on teenages, whihc can have a clear impact on thier self-esteem and cause a self-defeating cycle of poor behaivour.
• There are profound changes that occur in the teenage brain that influence how they behave in our classrooms, including tehir capacity to be rational, to manage their emotions and be led by their peers.
• Alongside these changes are significantg hormonal developments, which add to the insecurities of teenagers. Increased serotonin and dopamine in particular add to the teenage desire for rewards and fluctuations in stress levels.
• Recent research on attachment styles has opened up new insights into teenage behaivour, and an understanding of its complexity reinforces the importance of clarity and understanding in our classrooms.
• Part of our professional responsibilty should be to think carefully about what influences teenage behaivour in the classroom.
• Our role in the classroom is to provide clarity, model patience, be compassionate and to hold teenagers with unconditional positive regards.

Questiosn to consider when reflectioning on communication with teenagers:

1. How conscious are you of your body lanuage when you communicate with teenagers?
2. How well do you use hand gestures to convey messages in your classroom?
3. Do you use your posture to support you in communicating messages and building relationships in your classroom?
4. Do you control the tone and pitch of your voice?
5. Do you vary the voluem of your voice to keep your students interested?
6. How do you use smiling in the classroom for effect?
7. Do you use effective eye contact? Do you have blind spots?
8. Are you conscious of non-verbal cues given by others in your classroom?
9. Do you reveal your emotions in your non-verbal behaivours?
10. How do you use personal space in the classroom?

Part Two Summary: Master the Non-Verbal

• Our non-verbal communication in the classroom is vital – we are under an intense microscope from teenageers, and all communication matters.
• Any effective communicator demonstrates ownership over thier ‘ space’. We need to position ourselves so that we are portraying our confidence in a classroom.
• Two simple areas can help us ot build positive relationships and make teenagers feel included: smiling and sustaining eye contact throught the room.
• Posture and appearance can help in maintaining a calm and confident persona, and can also prevent the array of aches that seem to be part of being a classroom teacher!
• There is a delicate balance with hand gestures – using them with intent to support both enthusiasm and messaging can help increase understanding and retention.
• Given how much we talk, the tone we use can be instrumental in securing attention and building an atmosphere fit for learning. Variation will help to ensure impact.
• Finding authenticity in our classroom persona is important, particularly in our work with older students: self-awareness, relfeciton and appropriate honesty will help us to come across as genuine in the eyes of teenagers.

Part Three Summary: Script and Teach Behaviour

• Poor behaviour has the ability to destroy both learning and teacher morale.
• The reasons for misbehaivour can be numrous, including the complext impact of life experience, peer validation and simple boredom.
• There is vital preparation required before a lesson begins: establishing the environment and seating plan, planning an effective lesson, being clear on what may result in behavioural trigger points, and getting in a calm and confident zone.
• The openings of lessons are vital: positive, calm and with productive activity planned immediately.
• Outlining the purpose of any learning experience for teenagers is important, as is articulating the reason behind tasks and the structure as you progress through the lessons.
• Language used to manage behaviour should be polite (endless instances of ‘thank you’), emotionally detached and clear. Diffusing potential conflict and avoiding hostility should be our aim as the adult in the room.
• Considering our positivity ratio is important in establishing effective learning climates: is our ratio more positive than negative? This means teenagers are clear on what the best choices are.
• Sanctions are important, but prioritise relationships. Make sure that when sacntions are used, they are used in stages adn ruthlessly followed up.
• Parents can be a vital support network, but plan out and think carefully about how you deliver messages.

Part Four Summary: LEAP in Classroom Discussion

• Classroom discussion is often time that is not used well in the secondary context, fueling misbehaviour, a lack of focus, and a lack of learning.
• Modelling effective listening skills and an inquisitive and humble mindset will inspire deeper listening in our classes.
• We have to make the conversation about listening explicit: discuss with classes why it is important and remind them frequently of how to listen carefully.
• To explain effectively requires us to understand our subjects in-depth, but also to be aware of the curse of knowledge.
• Stories, analogies, and the pace and clarity of our speech all contribute to an effective explanation.
• Analysing how effectively an explanation has been received is important: using questioning, paired discussion and summary tasks are all core strategies to acheive this.
• Avoiding falling into the rhetorical question trap when analysing (‘Have we all got this?’) is key to really getting a sense of understanding the room.
• All this dialogue and discussion ahs to be consolidated inot some independent practice for teenages. This helps their confidence and ability to develop.
• Discussions can be structured and scaffolded but getting the right conditions in the room to ensure focus is vital.

Part Five Summary: Drive Motivation, Build Habits

• Some teenagers may enter our lessons deeply demotivated. Our role is to not accept this and to work hard to support perseverance in our subjects.
• Avoiding instantly gratifying rewards lik chocolate and the temptation to only teach ‘fun’ lessons will help us plan for motivation over time.
• The culture of our classroom is vital in sccuring motivation adn norms. The culture should be one that provides security, trust and acceptance of mistakes.
• Helping teenagers to set goals in their own learning can develop their self-efficacy and undersanding of how to move foward in our subjects.
• Teenagers need some sense of why they are learning things and how those things can support them in the future.
• If they can see how they are improving and acheiving success in their work, they are likely to build positive habits and persistence.
• We set the tone for the expectations in our lessons: that means not apologising for content and not accepting ‘I don’t know’.
• Feedback is vital in supporting motivation and habit building, but that doesn’t have to only be written. A verbal-feedback-rich classroom is going to be a motivated one.
• Habit formation requires routines, clarity, and perseverance. We can support teenagers in forming these by explaining habit formation, scaffolding work, and helping them to see how they are making improvements.