Narrate the Good

The steps

1. Give a direction phrased as visible actions. You can narrate only behaviour you can see. "Pens moving on question one" gives you something specific to describe a moment later; "work sensibly" does not (see What-To-Do Directions).
2. Scan for what is going right. Your attention may initially be drawn to students doing the opposite. Pause and look for the students who have started instead (see Sweep the Room).
3. Describe it briefly and factually. Use the same calm tone as the direction. Two or three short observations are enough. Include numbers when you can count them:
   Front table's ready… both window tables have their dates down… most pens are moving now.
4. Acknowledge rather than praise. Meeting an expectation calls for a brief acknowledgement: "thank you", a name or a nod. Reserve praise for effort that goes beyond the expectation (see Precise Praise).
5. Keep corrections quiet while you narrate. The one public correction worth keeping is an anonymous count:
   waiting for three more.
   Use a look or a private word for anything more (see The Quiet Correction).
6. Use it in bursts, then fade it. Narrate most during entries, transitions and settling moments, and whenever a routine is new or beginning to slip. Once the routine is established, reduce the narration to almost nothing.

How you’ll know it’s working

• Most of what the class hears about behaviour describes students meeting the expectation. From the back of the room, you hear directions and descriptions far more often than reprimands.
• Tally one lesson: public comments about what is going right outnumber public corrections by somewhere around four to one. The exact ratio matters less than the overall balance.
• A student who has drifted starts work within a few seconds of a narration, without being named or singled out.
• Settling moments become shorter. The gap between your direction and the last student starting narrows across the term.

Weigh it up

Why it’s worth it

• A student who has drifted can return without being singled out: they can join the majority you have just described, and nobody needs to know they were off task. Many corrections become unnecessary.
• It influences the middle of the room. Many students take cues from what they believe their peers are doing, and narration makes the working majority more noticeable instead of making the noisy minority seem typical.
• It changes where you direct your attention. A teacher who scans only for rule-breaking can begin nagging without noticing; looking for what is going well helps keep warmth in your voice through difficult weeks, which a compliant-but-flat class will notice.
• It helps maintain routines with little effort. Briefly narrating an entry or transition provides a small dose of reinforcement each day, which helps keep September's routines working in November (Rehearse the Routine).
• Used to describe learning, it shapes how students view mistakes: "two people have already crossed out a first answer and improved it" makes errors and redrafting visible and normal, supporting your checking-for-understanding techniques.

The costs

• It depends on an accurate picture of the room. You can narrate only what you have genuinely seen, and developing that scanning habit while teaching takes practice (Sweep the Room).
• The tone is easy to misjudge with teenagers. Slightly too enthusiastic can sound suited to a primary classroom; slightly too pointed can become sarcastic. Expect a few weeks of adjustment.
• It is most likely to influence students who are open to the cue. A student who has decided not to work may not respond to descriptions of classmates, so you still need the correction sequence behind it.