Establishing rules and procedures is discussed as being one of the most important classroom management activities. Analyze your own classroom rules and procedures and discuss how you implement and reinforce them in your classroom.
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I teach with another teacher so we are "meshing" our teaching styles...including classroom management. One idea she had, that I love, is guiding the students as they make up their own class rules (so that they feel ownership). In past years, when I've had my own classroom, my rules have been to demonstrate respect and demonstrate responsibility (which encompasses so much). I'm a big fan of "treating others the way you wish to be treated." I constantly reward positive behaviors in a variety of ways (tickets, praise, positive notes/phone calls, etc.). I try to be very very consistant. I have high expectations for my students and hold them accountable. Our morning meeting is a great time for us to "remind" eachother of the rules and appropriate behaviors. Our students practice, practice, practice procedures to make our school day flow. We close each day with a time for students to recognize classmates they have witnessed following rules or being a great "classroom citizen."
When I first began teaching, I armed myself and my students with a lengthy list of class rules and consequences. After teaching a couple of years, I shortened my list of rules to just two: 1) Be prepared, and 2) Act appropriately. I also began including a system of positive reinforcement in my classroom. The past few years, I have adapted my behavior plan to fit the particular classroom chemistry of that year.
This year, I have another lengthy list of rules. I have created this list because I have noticed that the classes that I have taught for the past two years did not seem to comprehend what behaviors were covered under the sentence, "Act appropriately." So I had to be more specific with my expectations.
These are the rules for my class for this year:
1) Come to class prepared and ready to learn.
2) Treat yourself and others with respect.
3) Adjust your voice level to suit the activity.
4) Keep your hands, feet, and objects to yourself.
5) Stay on task.
I have had a sports theme in my classroom for the past couple of years, so consequences are aligned with "strikes." Strikes one and two are warnings. On strike three, you must complete the first portion of the school discipline plan. If inappropriate behavior continues, you continue with the steps of the school discipline plan.
My behavior system also includes a plan for reinforcing positive behaviors. Again, following the sports theme, each class is divided into teams. Each team competes weekly to earn points through positive behaviors. The team with the most points at the end of the week is rewarded. Students are also rewarded for each week that they receive no strikes on the behavior plan.
The biggest problem that teachers face, in my opinion, is the issue of consistency. A teacher who has a wonderful behavior plan but is inconsistent in following the plan will have more discipline problems than a teacher who has an ill-formed plan but consistently monitors students' behaviors. This is a problem that I face each year. Every year, I find a period of time where I become lax in following through with the behavior plan. Once I start following through, however, my discipline problems cease.
I believe that discipline must reward as much as it punishes. B. F. Skinner stated that you learn through a system of positive and negative reinforcements. I believe that students respond better to positive reinforcements than negative punishments.
Jenny, I love the idea of a morning meeting! I long for the days when I had one class all day long. It seemed like I was able to foster more of a familial relationship between students. I also agree with your idea of "treating others the way you want to be treated" and your system of rewarding positive behaviors. I truly believe that this is the way to teach students how to treat others.
Great post!
Shelia, I laughed when I read your rule "act appropriately" because I can just see you telling a student that!!! Haha! You bring up a very good point though...sometimes you are in charge of teaching the meaning of "appropriate"...unfortunate, but true. You seem to have a well-thought out discipline plan! I too have used team points and strikes with the older kids. Have a great week!
Establishing rules and procedures is one of the most important tasks of an educator. A structured environment fosters learning and develops positive relationships for teachers and students. As a classroom teacher, I always upheld high expectations for my students- both academic and behavioral. My school advocated a “school-wide positive behavior system” (employed by many school districts today) which involved setting school-wide expectations that were persistent throughout the campus. These expectations included respect, responsibility, kindness, and obedience. The expectations formed the foundation for EVERY teacher’s classroom rules. In addition to positive behavior expectations as a precedent for classroom rules, I also incorporated positive reinforcement to encourage students to uphold these standards.
I feel that another key to successful classroom management is positive student-teacher relationships. Respect in the classroom is a two-way street. One must ‘get’ to ‘give,’ and likewise, one must ‘give’ to ‘get.’ As teachers we sometimes forget that we owe our students just as much respect as we want them to give us. When students respect their teacher, he/she can scold them, discipline them, correct them, and love them all in one breath, and they know it!:)
Overall, I feel that my classroom management style most closely identifies with the major concepts/principles of B.F. Skinner and the “Reward Power” system (French & Raven, 1959). I am a firm believer in behavioral modification and using positive to reinforce the positive. I also believe that we as educators/administrators, etc. can extinguish negative behaviors simply by NOT rewarding them.
Sheila, I like your idea of altering the rules to fit the class each year. We all are painfully aware that students are not the same from year to year. Otherwise, we could simply write lesson plans once in our entire career! The fact is, students differ as well as our professional perspective. I suppose this method requires some initial assessment of student behaviors. However, it never takes too long before we know what to expect in that area!
Felecia, you're absolutely right! Some years, discipline is a breeze. Other years, I pray for patience or divine intervention! Ha!
Poor behavior management on my part and awful classroom behavior of my first class almost cut my teaching career VERY short.
My first year of teaching, I taught 5th grade ELA and the other 5th grade teacher taught the rest; we switched classes before lunch.
I could NEVER understand, for that whole year, how Ms. Myles could say "quiet down, get to work," and all the kids would QUIET DOWN and GET TO WORK.
Me, I would say, to the exact same group of kids, "quiet down, get to work," and they'd throw papers at me, laugh, walk around the room, knock over computers, curse at me, talk back, laugh at me, and MORE. Anything BUT quiet down and get to work.
I used to cry EVERY SINGLE DAY when I dropped off the kids at enrichment. I'd hide in my classroom or in the bathroom and cry and wonder what I was doing wrong.
Instead of quitting, I changed schools. Somewhere between a supportive support system (admin and teachers) and a complete change in MY attitude, I have had very few behavior problems that were beyond my control in the last 9 years. That second year of teaching, I started fresh.
No more threats...If I said I was going to call home, give an F, take away recess, whatever, if I said it I DID IT. I make it a practice to call home ON THE SPOT, no threats, I pull out the phone and call. That is SO EFFECTIVE, I usually only have to do it once or twice, and EVERYONE learns real quick.
I realized that it doesn't matter what WORDS come out of your mouth...it's the intent behind them and the actions that follow.
I'm so glad I didn't give up teaching after that horrible first year. I now how several behavior control strategies that I use in my classroom, most involving incentives rather than punishment.
The first thing I tell my students on the very first day is that there IS no in- or out- of school suspension with me. I have 2 desks in far corners of the classroom which I call MYss (my school suspension). They are not part of the groups, but stand alone.
There, students who break our behavior contract will complete all assignments by pencil and paper and are not allowed to enjoy any of the alternative methods through which I teach, nor recess and other extra activities. Complaining and arguing adds an hour in MYss per comment.
The kids hate this more than ISS or suspension, because there they usually have a blast with all the other behavior problems. In my room, they have to work alone and have to watch the rest enjoy their learning.
You guys know I could go on all day. My point is that it isn't what you say, it's what you MEAN and what you STAND BY.
Bekah
Jenny, have you noticed a big difference from your old school to your new school in behavior? You remind me of me, we are very soft-spoken. I hear so many teachers shouting down the hall, and I want to tell them that these kids hear shouting all day and at home too...a quiet voice gets their attention more than a raised voice that they are accustomed to.
Bekah
Sheila, you are right. You can say to act right all day, but if the kids haven't been instilled with what appropriate behavior and standards are, you sometimes have to break it WAY down.
Consistency was my problem in my first year of teaching and is STILL a problem with my OWN kids, but not my students anymore! lol. I'm still working on being tougher on my boys, but I guess it's a little late, as one's in college and the other will be soon, lol.
Bekah
Felecia, you hit the nail on the head with the positive teacher-student relationship. If we model appropriate respectful relationships, both with our supervisors, other teachers, and our students, then we can show them how they should be treating others, as well.
My best friend is also my team teacher, and we have so much fun. We model for the kids how much WE love to learn (she's in the Tech MA Ed program), and also how we handle disagreements between the two of us. We inject humor into our teaching styles and the kids love it. Scaring a child may get good behavior, but it doesn't get respect. The behavior is just a front and will not last.
Great point,
Bekah
Bekah- Yes, there's a HUGE difference. Luckily, with my students...a soft, kind voice has worked in both situations. I do get loud, but only when I'm having fun...no fussing at kids! (You remind me of me too!!!)
One of the elementary teacher’s related that she has each student fill out name and week of on a sheet that has a list of several behaviors. When a student exhibits a specific behavior, he/she has to pull a card bearing the behavior from the box and place the card in a designated area with the name of the student. According to the teacher, this method holds them accountable. Her morning routine consists of the following:
Unpack, sharpen pencil, use restroom, write down homework, do bell work, and read AR books. I observed these general rules in a 2nd grade classroom:
1. Follow directions
2. Raise your hand Come to class prepared
3. Stay in seat
4. Keep hands and feet to yourself
5. Have fun and learn
She expressed that her method of classroom management works most of the time. However, when a rule is broken the consequences are:
1st Warning
2nd Miss Recess
3rd Miss recess/written assignment
4th Note goes home
I believe that in order to gain respect from students, teachers should be willing to convey a genuine enjoyment to be with them. One teacher related to me that her students understand she is tough on them because she cares for them. With respect to classroom management, we as educators should be reminded of the following:
• Not every student will like the teacher, and vice versa; however we can make an effort to find at least one thing that we can respect the student for
• We should model positive behavior
• Rules should be stated in the positive and expect the best from the students.
• We should be consistent when addressing the behavior
• Show respect to the students
• Never slack on the encouragement.
You are right Shelia, teachers have to be consistent, or otherwise they lose credibility. Also, whatever management method/ plan a teacher chooses to use should be realistic.
Rules in the classroom: Now I have very few rules as my students are older. The major rule I have is NO cell phone. I don't even want to see it. That is basically it.
Now when I taught K-12, I let the students help write the rules. My 9th graders were my worst group of students.
The rules were
1. warning
2. 5 minutes after school
3. apologize letter
4. 30 minute detention
5. to the office
I would keep a notebook for each class and would keep track for each week. Each week would start anew. I found that when students help write the rules they are harder on themselves then I would be. Additionally, the students own the rules and I found are more prone to follow them.
I don't miss having to have a list of rules. Now it is simple, if you don't want to be there then leave. I want my students in class, but if they don't want to be involved then I would rather they leave.
Sheila,
You are so right. Each class is different. I like how you alter your rules to fit the classroom chemistry as you put it.
That is part of the reason I let the students each year help write the rules.
Deanna
Deanna, I have also allowed my students to write the classroom rules and to come up with the rewards for good behavior and consequences for misbehavior. I found it ironic that the students came up with harsher consequences than I did!
Sheila
JJones, I agree with your comment about respecting the students. I have found that students IMMEDIATELY pick up on whether you respect them or not. I once had a sign in my room that signifies how I feel about the subject. It stated, "If you expect respect, be the first to show it." I have always tried to show respect to my students, and in return, I have always felt that they respected me.
Thanks for your comments!
Sheila
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