Engagement - and I am not talking marriage!

What gets pupils engaged?

This question is really addressed to challenging behaviour in pupils. Often called "disruptive pupils." because they are out to cause trouble where do we think this comes from?

There is a wide range of behaviour to consider. For some it may not be challenging at all. For others of us it might be extremely challenging. The extreme form is the pupil who stabbed a teacher in the back recently and killed her. His comment was " that was great!" or words to that effect. Clearly, this is a serious distrubance and the reasons are pyschological,  emotional and social but unexplainable.  I do believe that most people who have challenging behaviour have a reason behind what they are doing.

 There are behaviours that can be explained with a bit of emotional intelligence. Looking dispassionately at what is actually happening is a key. Also analysing what your behaviour is and how that is impacting the other person or pupil? This is also a key in my experience of teaching. I have found just changing one small element in the way I approach a pupil can make a huge difference. Your tone of voice communicates loudly to an autistic person. Also, modifying your language - making it clear and less ambiguous can help pupils with concrete thinking patterns cope better.

As an adviser I found myself giving advice. Especially where the school thought that by giving a child a computer or laptop the problem might improve. Certainly, if the problem is recording then having your own tool might help. But the message is it is not just the technology but the individual learning style ( or lack of!)  of the pupil coupled with the teaching and learning culture of the teacher or school.

If the school is inflexible in its approach to individual needs because that is " not what we expect our pupils to do," there is a high chance that pupils with complex needs will struggle or fail to survive. This becomes more difficult at secondary school where the scale is much bigger in terms of the amounts of pupils involved. To meet individual needs successfully there needs to be a joint problem solving approach. A team who are dedicated to meeting those needs head-on and provide the underpinning of a 360 approach to meeting a challenging behaviour or situation.

None of this would have helped that teacher we mentioned earlier on as the inexpicable, unexplainable frustratingly happens without warning.

Set curriculum content v's individual pupil need

For pupils with complex needs their is always a trade off occuring between the set curriculum that has to be covered ( by law) and the specific needs of the complex needs pupil. I am constantly seeing that in my work as an independent consultant.

In mainstream settings the size of class, the pace of the lesson and the amount that is actually achieved are all factors to be considered. Size does matter if using IT and in particular mobile technologies such as iPads. These require a set of rules that might apply when teaching whole group situations. I am working on this and so it is a work in progress. So my main headings at this stage are:-

• Quick wins - apps that are so easy to use and maybe practise a skill
• Open content - apps that encourage you to make your own content
• Sharing apps - apps that share your work with others or wider or in the cloud 
• Internetless apps - apps that don't depend on wifi connectivity and filtering

I am sure there are more ways to deliver this in teaching and learning. Preparation is key as is logging on to online services. I do use google sign ins rather than email logins because it is quicker. I find storing online to be very useful for making a session work.

In terms of meeting the curriculum needs the above ways of using apps to provide a quick win to be a lead in then pursue a lengthy , more open content app ending up with an app that shares information to the cloud. Showing and telling becomes really useful as long as it doesn't take too long.

Bear in mind situations where wifi is poor or dodgy. Check that your apps don't depend on wifi or access to the apps own website. This might make your session a little frustrating as would long buffering cycles!

Any pearls of wisdom do share them. I'd be pleased to have your comments