The Unteachables Podcast
Welcome to 'The Unteachables Podcast', your go-to resource for practical classroom management strategies and teacher support. I’m your host, Claire English, a passionate secondary teacher and leader turned teacher mentor and author of 'It's Never Just About the Behaviour: A Holistic Approach to Classroom Behaviour Management.' I'm on a mission to help educators like you transform your classrooms, build confidence, and feel empowered.
Why am I here? Not too long ago, I was overwhelmed by low-level classroom disruptions and challenging behaviors. After thousands of hours honing my skills in real classrooms and navigating ups and downs, I’ve become a confident, capable teacher ready to reach every student—even those with the most challenging behaviors. My journey inspired me to support teachers like you in mastering effective classroom strategies that promote compassion, confidence, and calm.
On The Unteachables Podcast, we’ll dive into simple, actionable strategies that you can use to handle classroom disruptions, boost student engagement, and create a positive learning environment.
You'll hear from renowned experts such as:
Bobby Morgan of the Liberation Lab
Marie Gentles, behavior expert behind BBC's 'Don't Exclude Me' and author of 'Gentles Guidance'
Robyn Gobbel, author of 'Raising Kids with Big Baffling Behaviours'
Dr. Lori Desautels, assistant professor and published author
And many more behaviour experts and mentors.
Angela Watson from the Truth for Teachers Podcast.
Whether you’re an early career teacher, a seasoned educator, or a teaching assistant navigating classroom challenges, this podcast is here to help you feel happier, empowered, and ready to make an impact with every student.
Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode packed with classroom tips and inspiring conversations that make a real difference!
The Unteachables Podcast
#107: Quick Win Challenge! Put it on a Post-it.
Do you feel stuck in a constant cycle of addressing challenging behaviour in the classroom?
What if there was a small, intentional act that could shift the focus, rebuild trust, and nurture the emotional wellbeing of your most challenging students?
In this episode of Quick Wins, we explore a simple yet powerful strategy called Positive Post-Its. This small action has the potential to create profound changes for both you and your students.
IN THIS EPISODE, I DISCUSS:
- Why students with challenging behaviour often miss out on positive interactions and how this impacts them.
- The power of small, intentional gestures to change the narrative in your classroom.
- My personal experiment with Positive Post-Its and the incredible impact it had on my students.
- How you can start using this simple strategy immediately to build connection and trust.
Positive Post-Its are a small but impactful way to show students they are noticed, valued, and capable of change. By intentionally focusing on the positives, even on difficult days, you can strengthen relationships and create an environment where growth becomes possible.
Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!
Resources and links:
- Take the "What's Your Teacher Type" Quiz
- Join The Behaviour Club
- My book! It’s Never Just About the Behaviour: A holistic approach to classroom behaviour management
- The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
- Browse all resources on TPT
- Free guide: 'Chats that Create Change'
Connect with me:
- Follow on Instagram @the.unteachables
- Check out my website
Welcome to your weekly Classroom Management Quick Win Challenge. True classroom management is not how we address behavior when it pops up. Instead, it is the compounding effect of many, many micro decisions we make in our teaching practice before the behavior even pops up. In these Quick Win episodes I'm handing over one actionable, small but mighty tool to help you move the needle every single week to stop crowd controlling and to start calmly classroom managing like a pro. Let's dive into this week's game changing challenge. Welcome back, teachers, to Quick Wins, where I just give you one small thing you can immediately action every single week. That is going to compound and compound over time to create incredible change and I mean life-changing stuff for some of our students in small, incremental ways. And today's quick win is called positive post-its. I want you to just think for a second.
Speaker 1:Those students who display the most challenging behaviors, what are their daily interactions with adults like? They probably come into contact with adults hundreds of times in a day and what are those moments like? One of the many roles I've had was the head teacher of learning support and during this time I was conducting some observations of students whose behaviors are really challenging because I was trying to come up with plans to support them All day. They were just getting withdrawals from their emotional piggy bank. The behavior was the constant focus which I get. It was, you know, right there in front of teachers' faces Like the behavior is the barrier. It is this massive, challenging thing that we have to deal with. But there was one student who I went through the entire day with, who didn't have one single positive interaction with an adult. Not one single positive thing, not a hey, how are you going? Like nothing? So I started to think right, how might things change for that particular student if every single day, even just one of those interactions was intentionally positive? Was a teacher going out of their way, even if they were frustrated and over it, to just make a gesture that could potentially break that cycle of constant? You know, don't do this or stop that, or what do you think you're doing? Or get out or not again, or go and see her, I'm calling your mom. So I started to experiment in my own classes and I chose one student per day to write a positive post-it note to and pop it on their desks. Even if they were doing 10 things that were challenging, I was challenging myself to focus on one thing that was positive and write about that one thing and just pop it on their desk. Sometimes, I'm telling you, I had to dig deep, like all of the challenges in front of me. I found it really hard sometimes to find something positive, but I would always find something.
Speaker 1:When I started doing this, the change with the behavior that I was seeing was like night and day. It is one tiny action that sends a huge, huge message of care to that student. It invests in the emotional piggy bank of students who are spending all day, every day, getting withdrawals from teachers. You are catching the positive with the students who need it the most, who need to see themselves as more, feel worthy, feel seen. They probably don't feel positive about themselves at all and I know that some students who have these big behaviours really come across in a way that they, you know, seem like they don't care. They're presenting themselves in a way that is, you know, quite confident and strong in the way that they feel and behave. But this is often a mask for some really big, challenging feelings about themselves and the world around them and the way that they're disconnected with people around them. So just this one action of finding something positive and like.
Speaker 1:I don't think it's a tiny action at all, like taking the time to write a post-it note of something positive and putting it on their desk. That is a huge action in the lives of some of our young people and it can be a catalyst to not only transforming your relationship and transforming the behavior, but also supporting that student to transform the way that they see themselves and how they interact with the world around them. I know that seems like a lot, but it really can. Like I know I speak about these things like they can be life-changing, but little by little, these things actually can be life-changing for our students. So I want you to go into the week with the same challenge that I gave myself all of those years ago, which is finding one student per lesson that has big, challenging behaviors and just writing a positive post-it note. Not only will it help that student, but it will also help you to start to shift your mindset. When you're looking for the positive things, we often find more positive things in return. So go and try it this week and remember.
Speaker 1:If you're doing any of these weekly challenges, I'd love to hear about it. Pop into my Insta inbox, say hi and let me know what you're doing and how it's going and what has actually changed for you. One other thing before I go if you have been finding these podcast episodes useful, it would mean so much to me for you to head over and leave me a review and just a little note to say what you love about the Unteachables podcast is something that will help me reach more teachers this year who are stuck in that cycle, that really challenging cycle of crowd controlling their class, and those teachers deserve to be seen and to be supported and to have a community of badass teachers, just like you, who get them. So thanks for tuning in my wonderful Unteachables team and I will see you at the same time next week. Bye for now.
