Australian Teachers Talk about RTP

 

Lyal - Year 5 Teacher

The only times you have to raise your voice to students is when you've forgotten to use RTP.
Teachers no longer have to put up with students who want to disrupt the class.

Debbie - Year 7 Teacher

RTP has allowed me to really enjoy teaching. The process eliminates stressful confrontations with difficult students, allowing teaching and learning to continue with minimal interruption.

Charlotte - LOTE (Language Other Than English - German) Teacher

I am very happy that we have RTP at this school and I like it very much - that students think about their future behaviour and negotiate it with me before they go back to our LOTE lessons. It is very important to talk to each other while being out of the classroom noise. The meaning of RTP for the students becomes much stronger this way and for me it helps to build up a positive relationship with the kids. (Students' plans are negotiated in the RTC at break times before they re-enter LOTE lessons.)

Kathy - Year 1 Teacher

It's challenging but rewarding. RTP has no favourites - fair to all participants. Teaching and learning are the goals. It's an ongoing thinking process for everyone - students and teachers. You have to be very committed and look beyond the incident/day.

 

Donna - Year 2 Teacher

RTP allows me to teach without the stress of behaviour management. RTP keeps me focused on building relationships with children.

 

Trixie - Year 4 Teacher

As a graduate teacher, I have found RTP a wonderful support structure. I feel that teaching children to be responsible for their actions is a vital strategy to aid them on their daily behaviour. Students quickly come to realise how their behaviour affects the class as a whole as well as how it interrupts teaching time. It is good to be able to discuss the children's plans with them and support them as they follow through with them.

Cathy - Year 6 Teacher

The RTP has allowed me to make relationships with students who were not initially permitting me to do so. Through their inappropriate behaviours and shutting out of adults, for whatever reasons, the questioning process and conferencing on return to class, have allowed me to have an insight into why the disruptive behaviours were occurring and to be 'let in' to their world as they see it. Through the constant questioning process, students begin to reflect rather than to argue and react inappropriately to situations they can't control which may be affecting them. The students are fully supported and respected and it is wonderful to see the change in students who were so disrespectful and disruptive; to move forward and to see their confidence grow; to attempt things they wouldn't have and to be considerate of others. As proven with some children I have taught, it can take a long, long time but it is worth the journey with them and to see their prior behaviours become a rarity rather than the norm, as a result of RTP.

 

Elizabeth - Substitute Teacher

Coming into a RTP school after working in various private care and educational facilities was a revelation! A revelation in terms of giving children, teachers and the whole class a chance to collectively draw their breath and recognise, analyse and work through behaviour concerns and the reasons for them.

As a supply teacher who has had experience in different schools - some who are using RTP and some who are still learning to use it, I have found RTP to be of immense help. As a supply teacher, one of the best functions for me is the trail of documentation that RTP generates. This way, an absent teacher can clearly track students' behaviour later and if any concerns arise, the incident has been documented for all - teacher, parents and child.

 

Amanda - Substitute Teacher

As a supply and contract teacher, I prefer to work at this school because of the Responsible Thinking Process in place.

It is common knowledge that students display difficult behaviour for a supply teacher. The RTP allows me to enter a classroom knowing the students are aware that poor behaviour is not acceptable and they will leave the room if the behaviour continues. The RTP allows me to feel confident that I can enter a classroom and do what I am being paid for - "to teach".