Running the Room: The Teacher’s Guide to Behaviour

by Tom Bennett

Good behaviour is the beginning of great learning. All children deserve classrooms that are calm, safe spaces where everyone is treated with dignity. Creating that space is one of the most important things a teacher needs to be able to do. But all too often teachers begin their careers with the bare minimum of training – or worse, none. How students behave, socially and academically, dictates whether or not they will succeed or struggle in school. Every child comes to the classroom with different skills, habits, values and expectations of what to do. There’s no point just telling a child to behave; behaviour must be taught. Behaviour is a curriculum. This simple truth is the beginning of creating a classroom culture where everyone flourishes, pupils and staff.
Running the Room is the teacher’s guide to behaviour. Practical, evidence informed, and based on the expertise of great teachers from around the world, it addresses the things teachers really need to know to build the classrooms children need. Bursting with strategies, tips and solid advice, it brings together the best of what we know and saves teachers, new or old, from reinventing the wheels of the classroom. It’s the book teachers have been waiting for.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, School, Teachers, Professional Development, Audiobook

347 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 28, 2020

About the author

Tom Bennett was a teacher in inner-city London schools for thirteen years.

Currently he is the Director and founder of researchED, a grass-roots organisation that aims to make teachers research-literate and pseudo-science proof.

Since 2013 researchED has grown from a tweet to an international conference movement that so far has spanned three continents and six countries. He is also the series editor for the best-selling range of researchED books, and the editor of the quarterly researchED magazine.

In 2009 he was made a Teacher Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University. From 2008-2016 he wrote a weekly column for the TES and TES online, and is the author of five books on teacher-training, behaviour management and educational research. In 2015 he was long listed for the GEMS Global Teacher Prize, and in that year was listed as one of the Huffington Post’s ‘Top Ten Global Educational Bloggers’.

In March 2017, Tom published a review of behaviour in schools for the UK Department of Education (DfE). In 2019 he chaired the Behaviour Management Group for the DfE and was appointed their independent Behaviour Advisor. He trains teachers and schools around the world in all aspects of behaviour management and research integration. He currently leads the Department for Education’s Behaviour Hubs project, a £10 million program designed to reboot behaviour skills in disadvantaged schools throughout the UK.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars if you are a teacher. Not a teacher, then give it a miss.

Tom Bennett, ex nightclub manager, engages readers with a practical, self reflective and well researched guide to “running the room”. That is how to manage a school classroom.

He reflects on his struggle as an early career teacher, due to the common misconception that behaviour management is something that is innate or learnt on the job.

Tom is well qualified to speak on this area being appointed the UK government’s advisor on school behaviour.

The book covers simple but impactful steps into managing a classroom.

The main focus is on consistent and explicit instruction in how to behave. This book has had a significant impact on strengthening my classroom management.

It is a must read for all teachers.

[DaN McKee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Self-important hot garbage that blusters on for hundreds of pages of anecdotal waffle only to couch a few sentences of potentially practical advice here and there that you probably already know.

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it was an interesting read, I felt that the useful, practical strategies were not signposted clearly enough. If I wanted to find a hint or tip again, it would not be easy.

[Jason Anger · Rating 5 out of 5]

With characteristic wit, Tom Bennett has written a behavior book that is rife with (get this) common sensical guidelines for creating and maintaining a behavior curriculum that will help any teacher “run the room.” This joins one of a few books that I will recommend to new teachers, to help them avoid the prolonged headache that classroom management results in from the knowledge deficit produced by their teaching programmes. Excellent read.

PS: The writing found on page 254 is easily some of the best in any book written on the subject of education. Just terrific stuff, really.

[Ryan Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the best book on behavior management for teachers and absolutely crucial for senior leaders. There are some absolute gems of advice here but actually what is best about it is that it gives a whole structure of behaviour for learning from culture setting all the way down to individual teacher ideas such as response scripts and giving behaviour instructions alongside task instructions.
Really practical and has the best footnotes ever!

[Leslie Butler · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author assumes that the reader has zero basic psychology knowledge and presents a somewhat authoritarian view of classroom management. He even helps his daughter solve a friendship issue by telling her what to say instead of including her in the problem solving process.
This book is not helpful for a veteran teacher and could give a new teacher a narrow view of classroom management.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Bennett is doing God's work. And it's actually readable.

[Florence Ridley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was pretty meandering and indulgent, overwritten and far too long. Bennett repeats himself a great deal and gets bogged down in his own clever allusions when he really needs to be straightforward in his explanations. Despite that, the techniques he teaches (especially the emphasis on routine and structure) strike me as very useful in the classroom. If it was cut to about 200 pages and run by an editor I would recommend it to any teacher struggling with behaviour in their classroom.

[Sam O'Beardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I wish I had when training 5 years ago, glad to finally have it now.

[Judith Lichthart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best practical advice on classroom management I've read so far, especially in the second half of the book. That Bennett writes with a sense of humour also helps.

[Justin den Harder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zeer verhelderend boek over alle facetten van regie in de klas. Alleen de titel al geeft iets belangrijks aan: orde in de klas is niet de afwezigheid van wanordelijkheid, het gaat erom dat de docent daadwerkelijk de regie heeft.

Bennett rekent af met heel wat illusies, bijvoorbeeld dat orde houden iets is wat docenten nu eenmaal wel of niet kunnen, dat orde gewoon afhankelijk is van de relatie tussen docent en leerlingen, of dat regie hebben betekent dat je op de juiste manier reageert op ordeverstoringen.

Elke startende (of gevorderde) docent zou dit moeten lezen!

[Mair Hewett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Bennett understands what it is like to work in a challenging secondary school. I have delivered 2 staff training sessions on Behaviour using some of the ideas from this book in addition to my own (lesser) gems of wisdom. As Assistant Head in charge of whole school Behaviour nothing makes me happier than when I see a teacher ‘running the room’. Well done Tom Bennett - you just get it.

[Storme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was exactly what I needed. I love the vocation of teaching- but I have always found behaviour management tricky. This book is practical, logical, evidence based and is chock-full of examples and scripts. I wish I had found this book earlier. 'It is better to have a fence at the top of a cliff than an ambulance at the bottom'. If you're a teacher- do yourself a favour and read this!

[Alicia]

Ik ben hier in begonnen en ook al heel gauw gekapt.
Ik ben oprecht al een paar goede dingen tegen gekomen, waar ik graag meer over had willen weten, maar ik voel me door de auteur in een hoekje gedrukt over hoe ik over klassenmanagement zou denken. Teveel vreemde anekdotes of vergelijkingen en ik zat nog maar op 20% van het boek.

Heb wat door gebladerd naar relevante hoofdstukken en denk nogmaals wel dat ik er dingen uit kan halen, maar dan liever iets bondiger geschreven.

[Tonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard Tom Bennett speak at Notre Dame Sydney last month and borrowed this from NSWTF library.

There's very little in it that I don't already do, but it would have been useful in my first year of teaching (I read Teach like a Champion by Doug Lemov).

The one thing I'll start doing is to schedule regular reteaching of the classroom routines I teach at the beginning of the year (maybe focus on one each fortnight) so there's improvement throughout the year rather than a slide.

[Elliot Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and Practical

Excellent and practical book on helping to manage the classroom. I highly recommend it to teachers, especially teachers who are not naturally gifted at management. The point is to manage correctly you must run the room! The teacher is in charge.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and practical advice on classroom management, although it could do with being more concise.

[Shanahan Payne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot of “what” and “why” but not a lot of how. As a pre-service teacher I gave it a go. There was some interesting perspectives, but not sure how much I’ll actually put to practice..

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best teaching book I have ever read. It has totally revolutionized and reframed how I see behaviour, and how I handle routines, culture and consequences in my classroom. The key message here is to make the easiest path in your classroom for students to behave over other choices, and that they matter, and their behaviour matters. I love all the real world examples the author provides to extrapolate into your classroom (like nothing wrong with repetition of instructions, in society our instructions to behave are repeated all the time, like speed limit signs on the road). My next task is typing up all the main takeaways from this book to keep reminding myself of the main ideas through this year and beyond.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dit is het beste boek, dat ik over klassenmanagement gelezen heb. Het is onderbouwd, praktisch, vlot te lezen en bovenal biedt het een degelijke visie op het onderwijzen van goed gedrag.

[Gert Verbrugghen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read 😅

[tali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just in time for my second round of placement 😅

[Henry Hood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Behaviour is a curriculum that needs to be taught. How else are students expected to know how to behave in your classroom?

Felt it dragged a bit but still very useful as a teacher.

[Megan Hartwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. the bible on behaviour management

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wat had ik veel aan dit boek gehad aan het begin van mijn carrière als leerkracht! Het is prettig leesbaar en geeft goede voorbeelden en tips. Er zit voor mij wel veel herhalingen in. Ik heb er ook tips uitgehaald waar ik nu iets aan heb in de klas.

Ik ben niet sterk in het lezen van informatie boeken, vandaar dat ik er aardig lang over heb gedaan. Meevaller was dat de laatste 13 % van het boek de bibliografie en voetnotenopsomming was. (Kb+)

[Yannick Fransz · Rating 3 out of 5]

beetje open deuren en te lang voor de boodschap

[Louisa Conte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, yeah ! Makes sense ! 😭😭

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is quite frustrating and overall a waste of time.

Firstly, it’s not clear who it’s for. It’s a general overview of why behaviour management is important and some general strategies (not specific techniques) for implementing it. If you’re reading this, chances are you (like me) already know behaviour management is important and are looking for specific techniques, which you won’t find here.

Secondly, given it’s mostly about the why of behaviour management it’s only a very surface level look - it’s completely uncritical in terms of what’s considered good behaviour, why, and of the educational context itself so the book also fails in this sense. Also several very ignorant comments on political theory.

Finally, though the book is engaging and well written, it’s about 100 times longer than it needs to be, littered with gratuitous anecdotes, quips, and metaphors.

[Joy Kirr · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm heading into my 28th year, and I needed to know how to better "run the room" since COVID has changed our administrators, parents, and children. There are a ton of footnotes in this book - many lead to further reading. I SOOOO don’t like all the footnotes that are just extra tales or the author trying to be funny. My eyes kept going down to them, and then I’d be frustrated that it was a silly note. He also shared TONS of metaphors I could do without, although one stuck with me - gardening - but not everything has to have a comparison! I did create clear routines for this next year, and I also created roles/responsibilities for students, so parts of it did help me.

[Aidan McDonagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

An in-depth look at behaviour and motivation. What makes people tick, the norms and routines that make classrooms a safe, inspiring and ambitious places to be. Some favourite quotes and ideas

"It's no use dwelling on the tragic absurdity of children behaving in ways that ruin their life opportunities. It's not absurd to them, at that point"

Just like anything else, students need to be taught how to behave in your class.

"It is a reckless myth to assume that we can simply 'make' everything fascinating (to learn). This false belief is behind the endless, turgid lessons where we attempt to teach Shakespeare through rap...or by injecting learning desperately into some hugely contrived fame, where all the children remember is the game, not the content".

"Students need to know that if they take a risk and try in lessons, they won't be punished socially by the teacher or their peers. They need to feel that trying will be rewarded rather than stigmatised, no matter how well they do.

"Students tend to learn better when they are more intrinsically motivated than extrinsically motivated." Both still important.

"For things to be seen as normal, they must be seen frequently, consistently and over a long period of time."

Tech: "what access to smartphone, tech or other distractions are you permitting them? Oes this task need to be done on the computer or are you only stipulating that to amuse them, or to pretend you are teaching them more innovatively?

"When my kids were little, I would ask them to say please and thank you. Every time they didn't, I would say, 'what do ee say?' and they would add please or thank you as required. But this kept happening, so I changed my request. Every time they forgot to say it, I would get them to say the whole sentence out again, with please or thank you added at the end. This took longer but it was obvious to them that it would would easier just to get it right the first time.

"The certainty of the sanction is far more important than the severity"

"If a behaviour occurs frequently, then it is vital that the student realises that multiple misdemeanours add up"

"Use the least invasive strategy first, then increase the invasiveness slowly"