ABSTRACT
How should teachers interact with their students to ensure they engage productively in lab, studio, project, or field placement activities? Dealing with disruption and student misbehaviour is a common concern of newer teachers and can be an even bigger concern in practical settings where student autonomy and freedom can make risks less predictable. However, ensuring a positive learning environment in which students can try new things without fear, can get feedback on their efforts, and can use that feedback to improve remains a concern for all teachers. This chapter explores in practical terms how teachers can achieve this. Using illustrations and examples from research and practice it highlights how teachers can build positive relationships with and among learners and provides strategies for dealing with misbehaviours should they arise. It also highlights how implicit gender and other social biases and beliefs can negatively influence teachers' and students' experiences. It provides strategies that will help teachers manage their interactions with a class to minimise disruption and maximise learning, as well as application activities and an action summary that will help the reader to apply these ideas to their own teaching.
