What's good behaviour? Well, that's obvious isn't it? Good behaviour is sitting still, doing what you're told, speaking when you're spoken to and generally following instructions. And that's great, except for the fact that students are in school to learn, not to behave.

Ever heard of behaviour for learning? Most often, all that seems to mean is that students are being quiet and respectful so that the teacher is free to impart knowledge instead of trying to make them shut up and listen. Of course shutting up and listening is important and anyone who's ever had charge of a truly dysfunctional class knows how horrible an experience it can be.

To overcome this, you'll often see lists of classroom rules fastened to classroom walls. They usually contain some variant of the following:

I. Listen when others are talking

II. Follow directions

III. Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself

IV. Work quietly and do not disturb others

V. Show respect for school and personal property

VI. Work and play in a safe manner

These are great rules for instilling "good" behaviour. Students need to know that these things are important. But they've got nothing at all to do with the types of behaviour required for learning.

We're told that most behaviour issues can be solved by well-planned, stimulating lessons that engage students. Now, it's not that I think this is wrong, it's just that there is so much more to behaviour than occupying students' minds in an effort to make them behave. The need to make students behave can be used as justification for word searches and all sorts of other pointless wastes of time which keep students busy.

It's no good bleating about "behaviour crises" if all you've got to offer is some rules to follow. Frankly, I wouldn't follow 'em. I'm a bugger for asking "Why?" which accounts for my personal struggle with recipe books: I always want to be given a reason why the onions have to be cooked for five minutes, or why the water has to be ice cold, or why you have to keep on stirring.

I'm interested in knowing the thinking behind these instructions and really struggle to follow them unless they're explained. Possibly the reason I'm bad at following recipes is also the reason why I enjoy teaching?

Robert Sylwester, Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Oregon said, "Misguided teachers who constantly tell their pupils to sit down and be quiet imply a preference for working with a group of trees, not a classroom full of young people."

All too often we get good behaviour hopelessly confused with good behaviour for learning. Sitting still, following instructions and paying attention might look superficially like every classroom's holy grail but it's worth having a look at this list of good learning behaviours from the Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL).

1. Checks personal comprehension for instruction and material. Requests further information if needed. Tells the teacher what they don't understand

2. Seeks reasons for aspects of the work at hand.

3. Plans a general strategy before starting.

4. Anticipates and predicts possible outcomes.

5. Checks teacher's work for errors; offers corrections.

6. Offers or seeks links between: different activities and ideas; different topics or subjects; schoolwork and personal life

7. Searches for weaknesses in their own understandings; checks the consistency of their explanations across different situations.

8. Suggests new activities and alternative procedures.

9. Challenges the text or an answer the teacher sanctions as correct.

10. Offers ideas, new insights and alternative explanation

11. Justifies opinions.

12. Reacts and refers to comments of other students.

How often do you see these behaviours encouraged in lessons? How important are they in your classroom? Try putting them up as a wall display to remind them (and you) exactly what good behaviour for learning looks like.

• David Didau has been teaching for 12 years and is currently Head of English at Priory Community School in Weston-super-Mare. He keeps his own counsel on his Learningspy blog and you can follow him on Twitter @LearningSpy.

This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Sign up to the Guardian Teacher Network to get access nearly 100,000 pages of teaching resources and join our growing community. http://teachers.theguardian.com

Could you be one of our bloggers?

Do you have something you want to share with colleagues – a resource of your own and why it works well with your students, or perhaps a brilliant piece of good practice in teaching or whole school activity that you know about it? If so please get in touch. If you would like to blog on the Guardian Teacher Network please email emma.drury@theguardian.com and please don't be shy about commenting on blogs on this page.