The Unteachables Podcast

#81: 3 common mistakes that fuel low-level disruptions, and the immediate fixes that transform behaviour!

• Claire English • Season 5 • Episode 81

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Take the quiz - What's your teacher type?! (Putting this right up top because I know that's why you came to the description)

In today's episode I’ll be walking you through three mistakes you might unknowingly be making that can fuel these low-level behaviour spotfires. Now, I say “might be,” but let’s be real—after observing hundreds of lessons, I can tell you with certainty that these sneaky habits tend to creep into even the most experienced classrooms, and yes, I’ve been guilty of them too!

But here’s the good news—once you recognize these patterns and make a few simple adjustments, you’ll start seeing real changes. And let me assure you, I’m sharing this from a place of experience, not perfection. I’ve made all these mistakes myself, and I’m still learning every day. So let’s dive in, get reflective, and find those empowering “ah-ha” moments together!

IN THIS EPISODE, I DISCUSS:

  • Why matching the volume of your students can backfire and lead to more disruption
  • How talking while expecting students to focus on independent work sends mixed signals
  • Why handing out materials during instruction can undo your efforts to get students to listen
  • The impact of non-verbal cues and mixed messaging in your classroom management
  • Practical tips to reduce low-level behaviours and increase student focus

I hope this episode gives you some clarity and maybe even a few "ah-ha" moments! Remember, every teacher—myself included—has fallen into these traps at some point. The important thing is that you’re aware, and with just a few small tweaks, you can start seeing big shifts in your classroom.

Please don’t feel like you have to be perfect! Teaching is all about growing, learning, and adjusting as we go. If any of these points hit home for you, take it as a sign of progress, not a failure. You’ve got this!

And if you’re ready to dive deeper and tackle low-level behaviours head-on, I’d love to have you join me in the Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp. Together, we’ll work on building a calm, effective teaching presence that fits your natural style, so you can stop feeling overwhelmed and start feeling empowered. You’re already doing amazing things in the classroom, and this is just one more tool to add to your toolkit!

Thank you so much for listening today. If something resonated with you or if you’ve tried one of the strategies and seen some success, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a message—let’s keep the conversation going!

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

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Speaker 1:

Oh, hi teachers, Welcome to Unteachable's podcast Congratulations. You have just stumbled across the best free professional development and support you could ask for. I'm Claire English, a passionate secondary teacher, author, teacher mentor and generally just a big behavior nerd, and I created the Unteachable's podcast to demystify and simplify classroom management. I want this podcast to be the tangible support, community validation, mentorship, all those pretty important things that we need as teachers to be able to walk into our classrooms feeling empowered and, dare I say it, happy and thrive, especially in the face of these really tough behaviors. So ready for some no-nonsense, judgment-free and realistic classroom management support? I've got your teacher friend. Let's do this. Hello, wonderful teachers, and welcome back to another episode of the Unteachables podcast. And if you're listening for the first time, welcome, a big, warm welcome to you. You've actually come in a really good time because this month I am talking all things low-level behaviours and I know that it's something that all of us at one point or another, have struggled immensely with and they're really tricky behaviors to kind of grasp, you know, get a handle on, overcome, deal with. They're just really tough. And if you are listening to this episode first, I suggest pausing this and going back to listen to the episode prior to this. I think it was episode 79. And that episode is where I talk about. I kind of give you a little bit of a foundational understanding around why low-level behaviors are different than other behaviors, what we're doing differently when it comes to approaching them, and why the advice around low-level behaviors and the support around low-level behaviors generally sucks, like it's generally really crappy advice and support and like I'm not saying that it's not really well-intentioned but it just isn't impactful, it just doesn't work. We need to be doing things differently. And in the episode prior I go through why that is and kind of give you that foundational understanding before we move into these episodes. And these episodes are more around some actionable strategies that you can use to start to overcome the low-level disruptions in your classroom.

Speaker 1:

And today I'm going to be kicking it off by talking about three ways that you might be inadvertently, of course, unintentionally fueling the low level behavior spot fires in your classroom. I say might be, but I have observed many lessons over my career and there were very few lessons where one of these didn't pop up and it can be really hard to be reflective on our own practice and think, gosh, yes, that's an aha moment right there. There's something that I really need to change, but it's also freaking empowering when we can do this and we can find something, and there's something tangible there that we go, oh my gosh, there's something I can change here and that change could potentially make an enormous difference in the behaviors that I'm seeing in the classroom. So keep an open mind. It's also important to say that I'm saying this as somebody who spent years making these same mistakes until I can be really metacognitive now about my own practice and go yep, those were the mistakes that I was making and here's how I'm shifting them. And they're mistakes that are really easy to fix, which is also I would never tell you that you're making a mistake. I would never say these are the things that are fueling the low-level behaviors if I wasn't also ready to say and here's a very easy tweak that we can make to be able to resolve this, to shift this and these three shifts that you can make can have an enormous impact on the behaviors in the room. So I am very excited to be able to talk through these three things. Please keep an open mind, please keep that mindset of growth and development, because if you have that, then you're golden in my eyes.

Speaker 1:

So mistake number one that teachers often make, that could potentially be fueling the low-level behaviors in your classroom. By the way, I'm not saying that low-level behavior is your fault. I'm not saying that all of them are because of the actions of the teacher. I'm just saying that there are certain things, certain non-verbal strategies that we can be using that mitigate and reduce the low-level behaviors that we can see, and these mistakes actually all tied in and all linked with the non-verbals that we use in our classrooms. Okay, so mistake number one just say you're waiting for all of your students to pay attention to your teacher-led instruction. They're not listening. You might try to get them to listen, but to do this you match their volume. So you go up to the volume of the class and then continue to ask them to be quiet. So you're matching the volume of your students and then trying to rise above it in order to get them to lower their volume, to give them instructions to lower it.

Speaker 1:

Why this is a mistake? Everything that we do is about modeling and co-regulation, but this stuff is rooted in neuroscience. It's not just some airy fairy concept. If we are trying to model the behavior that we want to see and we are saying quiet, quiet, quiet, but we're actually being loud, loud, loud. What will happen? What happens is we are modeling the exact thing that we don't want to see for our students. We are adding to that volume and often, when we are trying to raise our voice above the class, we are doing so in a tone that might not be the calmest, it might not be the most regulated that we could possibly make it, so it can really stitch us up when we're raising our voice above the class to try to lower the volume, but we're actually just adding to the noise and adding to the chaos and adding to the dysregulation.

Speaker 1:

But you need to get your students attention, don't you? And they're being loud. So how do you get their attention? It's a tricky one, isn't it? But instead? So here's a very quick fix. It's something that you can shift in your practice immediately. It does take a bit of restraint and it does take more nuance and skill than I probably can convey in this particular podcast episode, because I like to model it myself. But here is the quick fix for you. So instead, you might need to raise your voice for a call to attention that matches the volume of the room. So you might say, okay, you're right back to the big group in three, two, one. So you might raise your voice above the noise.

Speaker 1:

And the way that you call for attention, by the way, is going to be very context specific. It's going to be very dependent upon the students you teach and the kind of teacher you are. You can lean into that. There's a bunch of ways you can call for attention, but whatever works for you. So once you call for attention and you wait and Often we are told to pause and wait for attention, but the way that we pause actually matters more than the pause itself. So when we're pausing, we need to be modeling the exact energy that we want back from our students. We need to be standing up straight and tall. We need to be regulated. We need to be breathing. We need to be dropping our shoulders. We need to be completely still completely regulated. We need to be embodying exactly what we want from our students and we need to be embodying a credible teaching persona, what we inadvertently do as well.

Speaker 1:

Another kind of mistake in a mistake is when we're waiting for quiet. We are looking at our watch, we're shuffling around on one foot, then the other foot, then the other foot, then the other foot. We're looking around the room, we're doing things in a bit of a frantic way that isn't modeling the regulation that we want. It's kind of being a more approachable teacher rather than a credible teacher. So, making sure that we're doing everything to embody that credible embody, stillness, embody that really strong teaching presence, and then we pause and then we wait, and then we breathe and we're modeling the volume and the regulation that we want to see from our students. Again, that is way more nuanced and complex than what I can explain here on the podcast. But as a rule of thumb, just don't keep raising the energy up when you want the energy to be lower, so don't be loud. If you want quiet, don't be jokey jokey. If you want serious. I think you get the point there, but it's matching the volume and the energy from our students that we want to see.

Speaker 1:

So, just going over it again, if you want to call for attention, if you want to get your students attention, if you're trying to do teacher led instruction, use your call for attention, yes, but then pause. Practice stillness, practice your credible presence. That means feet. You know weight evenly on both feet. That means standing there straight and still. That means breathing deeply, that means trying your very best to model the regulation that you'd like to see in the classroom. And then weight, use your gaze, use your presence.

Speaker 1:

Okay, mistake number two and this one flows on from the last one, but I see it all of the time, so I want to make sure you know, just so you can be really cognizant of this for next time when students are doing independent work or reading or doing anything quiet that you're asking them to get on with, and you're walking around the room quickly or talking to students loudly who are off task, or continuing to talk to students and give instructions as you're expecting them to get on with their work. So it's super distracting. Well, it's not just distracting, it is almost nonverbal permission to students that they can talk to each other as well, and it's more likely that you'll have a student talking loudly back to you. Instead, you need to lower the energy and volume and the amount of lessons. I've observed where this simple change could have transformed the engagement and energy in the room.

Speaker 1:

All of these types of things are just really nuanced non-verbal skills that all of us can do if we're aware of them, but they really can be as transformational as flicking a switch and changing the behavior in the room. And I would never say that lightly, I would never lead you down the garden path, and I am always a first to step to say that behavior change takes an immense amount of time. But with low-level behaviors they are very different. A lot of these low-level behaviors we can start to mitigate and reduce by the non-verbals and the presence that we have in the classroom. I actually see this in staff training this particular one all of the time. So if you actually want to see this kind of happening in action and get curious about it, just take note next time you're in a staff meeting.

Speaker 1:

It might not happen, but it definitely might, because it's happened in many, many meetings where someone's presenting something and let me know if you've experienced this too where someone's running training and they're asking you to read something on a piece of paper, but then they keep talking at the same time, they keep giving you extra instructions, they keep having a bit of a chit chat, so you can't actually concentrate on what you're reading because they haven't given you the space to do it. Now imagine students trying to focus on what they are doing, especially because they're developmentally less able to than us. You know, their prefrontal cortex isn't completely developed, so they are going to struggle to access that a lot more than we are as adults and we need to create an environment where they're able to do that really successfully. But when we are not modeling the quiet and the calm and the you know, the space, that focused energy for them to do that, it can really stitch us up and again, it can give them nonverbal permission to continue to talk when they are supposed to be doing independent tasks, because you're up there and you're talking loudly to the class or you're continuing to give instructions. So if you want students to be able to focus, a quick fix for this one is a pretty obvious one. If you want them to read something, then let them do it. Practice self-control, don't fill the silence, and I used to be so guilty of this one and I still catch myself doing it from time to time because my personality is very much geared towards that.

Speaker 1:

I am an energetic teacher, dynamic teacher, and I don't know if you've done my quiz yet. I created a quiz what teacher type are you? And it works out out of four kind of teacher types, what your teacher type is, and then it gives you like a page of results on what your strengths are, what your struggles are, a tip, a reminder, all the rest of it. And it came up for me that I am obviously I created the quiz but you know, I didn't know what my results were before I did it. And mine came up with a dynamic teacher and it just so accurately reflects the struggles that I have with these low level behaviors and with reining it in and making sure my energy matches the energy of the room. By the way, if you want to do this quiz, I'll pop the link in the show notes. It is brilliant and I've had thousands and thousands of teachers do this quiz and so many people have written back and responded saying this is so spot on and it's so enlightening. So if you do want to do that quiz and I'll pop that link in the show notes as well. So, mistake number three, let's move on.

Speaker 1:

Finally, one last mistake I see teachers making that actually undoes a lot of other work with low-level behaviors is getting students to take one and pass one along when trying to give instructions for a task. Or you're trying to give instructions for a task, but you're out there handing things out. If you want their attention on you as the teacher, if you want to give instructions that they are going to listen to and process, don't throw something in the mixer. It will actively draw their attention away and give them opportunities to engage with each other. Drop papers, need to call out the name of somebody to pass it on to at the next table hands up if there aren't enough.

Speaker 1:

The list goes on for how this can fuel the disruptions in the classroom. Then, when you do have the sheet finally in front of them, that's what they're going to be looking at instead of listening to you. So have a think where do you want them to be looking? What do you want their attention on? Is it you? Is it the paper? Easy fix, just wait. If you want to be giving them teacher led instructions that they're listening to, just make sure their attention is on you and then move to handing anything out that you think they're going to need for the task. And if you were thinking, but I don't have time to wait, I need to get through stuff, well, please just think you'll spend so much more time then going over things again or bringing the class back from disruption, then you will spend time handing the sheets out after you've finished your instructions. It's so worth the extra few minutes just to get all of their attention on you and then start to hand things out and then start to give them other things to have a look at. So All of these three things have one thing in common and this is where it really leads into us thinking about low-level behaviors in a bigger way is that all three things are sending mixed non-verbal messages All day.

Speaker 1:

Every day. We are communicating through every single little thing that we say and do, what our expectations of our students are, and most of these messages are coming through non-verbally. And research shows that if there are two messages being sent at the same time that are conflicting verbal and non-verbal the non-verbal one is the one that people are going to trust the most. And in the simplest way to explain this is if you're telling someone you're happy but you're sobbing, what is that person going to believe? So let's quickly go through the non-verbal messages that we are sending, through the mistakes that we went through just then.

Speaker 1:

If we are wanting attention on us and our instructions, but we're actively providing students with something to distract them away from that. The non-verbal message that we're sending to our students, even though that completely conflicts with our verbal message, is that what we are saying is not that important if we are also giving them something else to do at the same time. So, if we are wanting their attention on us and our instructions, but we're actively providing them with something to distract them, or we're telling them to be quiet and listen, but we're still talking over them as we're doing so, or we're expecting students to be getting on with an independent task quietly, but we're walking around the room speaking loudly, our mixed messages are going to be giving students permission to do the exact thing we don't want them to be doing. I know that you're not purposely doing that. I know that it's not something that is intentional, but it is something that is happening and it is something that we need to be aware of, because if we become aware of these things and go okay, what message am I sending right now? What am I modeling right now for them to be rearing back to me when we start to think about things in that way, we can completely transform the messages that we are sending to them. We can hold those expectations and those boundaries, because our expectations aren't something that's one and done at the start of the year. Our expectations is something that we communicate every single second of every single day through our verbals and our non-verbals. And guess what? Our non-verbals win out every single time. So the non-verbals that we use are such a huge part of this low level behavior puzzle that we need to put together, and the biggest thing is just committing to getting curious.

Speaker 1:

What messages am I sending right now through these non-verbals? So did I call you out on any, if any, if I did say something? And you're thinking, oh my gosh, claire, this is so me? Just know that, yes, you and every single other teacher that I have mentored and observed, and me at one point in my career, and still, even though I am aware of this stuff, I still make these mistakes. It's just about getting curious. It's just about asking ourselves. Just say you're in the middle of a chaotic lesson. It's just a really quick thing to do and ask yourself what message am I mirroring right now? How am I feeling in my body? Am I feeling frantic? Am I feeling panicked? Am I feeling calm? What is my body language sending out there? How am I holding myself right now? How am I communicating my expectations right now? So, really, this is a stepping stone to starting to get more curious about what we're saying to our students and when.

Speaker 1:

If you're keen to hear more strategies around low-level behaviors, make sure you're tuning into the next few episodes of the Unteachables podcast. Make sure you're following along on Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever else you listen to your podcasts, because I've got plenty more to come. And speaking of all things low-level behaviors and non-verbals, if you're really wanting to do things differently, if you want to break that low-level behavior cycle, if you want support that actually gets to the heart of the problem and mitigates and resolves low-level behaviors, rather than just adding more to your plate or making you feel like crap, then I would love for you to join me for my low-level behavior bootcamp and I will guide you through how to craft a powerful non-verbal teaching presence, no matter what your natural persona is. If you've done that quiz, I'm looking at you. My more quiet reserve teachers. This is actually your natural superpower, and I give you the actionable tools and roadmaps to actually apply in your classroom. It just fast tracks everything that I had to figure out the hard way, so you don't have to, so you can head to the dash on teachablescom forward slash LLB.

Speaker 1:

So low level behavior bootcamp to secure your spot in the bootcamp, and if you're in the behavior club, there's no need to do anything. You'll automatically get this training inside of the club in October. But look, whether you decide to join me for the low level behavior bootcamp or you just want to follow along on the podcast, I am so freaking happy and excited to be able to share these strategies with you that no one seems to be talking about, because they make all of the difference and you deserve that level of support that people just don't get and it's just yeah, it's mind boggling to me. Okay, wonderful teacher, have a great week in the classroom consciously assessing your nonverbal mixed messaging, and if you do have a big aha moment or there's something you try and do and have some success, please come and let me know. I would love to hear it. Okay, until next time when we're talking about some more low level behavior. Goodness, I will see you then.

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Claire English

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