#155: The first-week moves that’ll save you months of behaviour work down the track

What's in this episode

That quiet calm at the start of the year? Yeah, it won’t last... unless you do this. Welcome back to The Unteachables Podcast. It’s still back-to-school season, and this episode is for every teacher who wants to avoid the classic Week 7 spiral when behaviours suddenly spike and everything feels a bit… cooked. I’m giving you a front seat to the real reason that early-term magic fades—and what to do right now (yes, even this week) to avoid the whiplash of your “angel class” suddenly turning into chaos gremlins. If you’ve ever thought, “What happened to my lovely class?” or found yourself pleading with the room to just start packing up already, you need this. We’re talking about: What the grace period actually is and why it ends The difference between setting expectations vs reinforcing them The boring-but-brilliant routines that will carry your class through the term What you’ll learn: What “grace period” behaviour is—and why it isn't lasting! The routines that do the behaviour management for you How to create buy-in for expectations so students actually follow them What to do when (not if) kids start testing boundaries How to balance warmth and structure without being “too soft” or