#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!

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RESOURCES AND MORE SUPPORT:

• Shop all resources
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• The Low-Level Behaviour Bootcamp
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• Check out my website

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to your weekly Classroom Management
Quick Win Challenge.
True classroom management isnot how we address behavior when
it pops up.
Instead, it is the compoundingeffect of many, many micro
decisions we make in ourteaching practice before the
behavior even pops up.
In these Quick Win episodes I'mhanding over one actionable,
small but mighty tool to helpyou move the needle every single

(00:24):
week to stop crowd controllingand to start calmly classroom
managing like a pro.
Let's dive into this week'sgame changing challenge.
Welcome back, teachers, toQuick Wins, where I just give
you one small thing you canimmediately action every single
week.
That is going to compound andcompound over time to create
incredible change and I meanlife-changing stuff for some of

(00:47):
our students in small,incremental ways.
And today's quick win is calledpositive post-its.
I want you to just think for asecond.
Those students who display themost challenging behaviors, what
are their daily interactionswith adults like?
They probably come into contactwith adults hundreds of times
in a day and what are thosemoments like?
One of the many roles I've hadwas the head teacher of learning

(01:09):
support and during this time Iwas conducting some observations
of students whose behaviors arereally challenging because I
was trying to come up with plansto support them All day.
They were just gettingwithdrawals from their emotional
piggy bank.
The behavior was the constantfocus which I get.
It was, you know, right therein front of teachers' faces Like
the behavior is the barrier.
It is this massive, challengingthing that we have to deal with

(01:31):
.
But there was one student who Iwent through the entire day
with, who didn't have one singlepositive 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 everysingle day, even just one of
those interactions wasintentionally positive?

(01:51):
Was a teacher going out oftheir way, even if they were
frustrated and over it, to justmake a gesture that could
potentially break that cycle ofconstant?
You know, don't do this or stopthat, or what do you think
you're doing?
Or get out or not again, or goand see her, I'm calling your
mom.
So I started to experiment inmy own classes and I chose one
student per day to write apositive post-it note to and pop

(02:13):
it on their desks.
Even if they were doing 10things that were challenging, I
was challenging myself to focuson one thing that was positive
and write about that one thingand just pop it on their desk.
Sometimes, I'm telling you, Ihad to dig deep, like all of the
challenges in front of me.
I found it really hardsometimes to find something
positive, but I would alwaysfind something.

(02:35):
When I started doing this, thechange with the behavior that I
was seeing was like night andday.
It is one tiny action thatsends a huge, huge message of
care to that student.
It invests in the emotionalpiggy bank of students who are
spending all day, every day,getting withdrawals from
teachers.
You are catching the positivewith the students who need it
the most, who need to seethemselves as more, feel worthy,

(02:57):
feel seen.
They probably don't feelpositive about themselves at all
and I know that some studentswho have these big behaviours
really come across in a way thatthey, you know, seem like they
don't care.
They're presenting themselvesin a way that is, you know,
quite confident and strong inthe way that they feel and
behave.
But this is often a mask forsome really big, challenging

(03:20):
feelings about themselves andthe world around them and the
way that they're disconnectedwith people around them.
So just this one action offinding something positive and
like.
I don't think it's a tiny actionat all, like taking the time to
write a post-it note ofsomething positive and putting
it on their desk.
That is a huge action in thelives of some of our young

(03:42):
people and it can be a catalystto not only transforming your
relationship and transformingthe behavior, but also
supporting that student totransform the way that they see
themselves and how they interactwith the world around them.
I know that seems like a lot,but it really can.
Like I know I speak about thesethings like they can be
life-changing, but little bylittle, these things actually

(04:03):
can be life-changing for ourstudents.
So I want you to go into theweek with the same challenge
that I gave myself all of thoseyears 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 thatstudent, but it will also help
you to start to shift yourmindset.
When you're looking for thepositive things, we often find

(04:25):
more positive things in return.
So go and try it this week andremember.
If you're doing any of theseweekly challenges, I'd love to
hear about it.
Pop into my Insta inbox, say hiand let me know what you're
doing and how it's going andwhat has actually changed for
you.
One other thing before I go ifyou have been finding these
podcast episodes useful, itwould mean so much to me for you

(04:47):
to head over and leave me areview and just a little note to
say what you love about theUnteachables podcast is
something that will help mereach 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 tohave a community of badass
teachers, just like you, who getthem.
So thanks for tuning in mywonderful Unteachables team and

(05:10):
I will see you at the same timenext week.
Bye for now.