I was covering for another principal recently and as I usually do I spent the recess supervising the kids outside. I noticed some boys from grade four to six playing simultaneous basketball games at the same basket. A couple of the older boys occasionally kicked away the ball of the younger kids and pushed and harassed them verbally order to get them to leave. I knew this from the things the older boys said to each other and to the younger children. I intervened gently hoping the kids would share the court and stop bothering each other. As well I stayed in the area. Since I did not know the kids I didn’t want to come across too strong and dis-regulate the situation further. I did not want to Plan A (impose my will) this situation. Unfortunately things did not improve significantly so I realized I needed to do something more, although I was still reluctant to use Plan A. I decided that my next step would be to set a firm expectation that the harassment we’d seen must stop and that the basket/court must be shared. Once stated firmly, and with my continued presence in the area, the harassment stopped. One boy decided to go elsewhere and play and no more issues like this occurred for the remainder of this recess or the next recess. Sometimes firmly stating, or confirming, the expectation can reduce the challenging behaviour without further adult involvement.
