Establishing Classroom Rules
By Phil Nast, retired middle school teacher and freelance writer Found In: Classroom Management Appropriate behavior fosters a positive classroom environment. Engaging students on the first day of school in creating of a set of rules helps ensure their investment. The following professional development resources, articles, and activities offer different approaches to this common start of school task. Professional Development
37 Classroom Rules for Student Success
For many students (and teachers), the idea of classroom rules feels oppressive, stifling and sometimes just downright unfair. It’s difficult to balance the need for order and structure with the desire to build a collaborative, fun environment for learning. But proper classroom management techniques include developing rules that guide student learning and set expectations around classroom behavior. Want to engage students and boost time on task? Students love practicing math with Prodigy, a no-cost, adaptive math platform.
Why I Don’t Have Classroom Rules
However, while I was clearing my credential, working with mentor teachers to reflect on my practice, and finding out how real students differed from theoretical ones, I also spent long hours after school with the speech and debate team reading philosophy and theory and talking about innovative alternatives for national defense, natural resource allocation, and, of course, education. That led me to some uncomfortable conclusions. Although I encouraged my students to think critically and challenged myself to develop new methods of instruction, the actual conduct of the class seemed at odds with all that. I wanted my students to do more than just follow rules handed down to them.
The Art of Control
Executive function — our ability to remember and use what we know, defeat our unproductive impulses, and switch gears and adjust to new demands — is increasingly understood as a key element not just of learning but of lifelong success. Researchers at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University describe executive function as an air traffic control system for the mind — helping us manage streams of information, revise plans, stay organized, filter out distractions, cope with stress, and make healthy decisions. Children learn these skills first from their parents, through reliable routines, meaningful and responsive interactions, and play that focuses attention and stirs the beginnings of self-control.
How to Introduce Your Class Rules (Grades K-6)
A well-founded set of class rules has the power to make any school year great. Great teachers know that rules make learning possible and work hard to choose them. Follow these tips for coming up with the right rules for your class and implementing them. Keep It Simple Because rules are meant to serve students, they should be logical and straightforward enough that they make sense after minimal explanation.
This ‘Kindness Curriculum’ Is Free And Should Be Used In Every Classroom
Imagine living in a world that valued kindness enough to teach it along with academics. Educators would teach kids to manage their emotions in addition to standard curriculum such as math and science. Sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it? Well, the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has created a free “kindness curriculum” for kids, designed to do just that. It’s a mindfulness-based curriculum for preschoolers that will bring kindness into the classroom.
How to Create Class Rules
Learn how to create classroom rules and support them through procedures, routines, and strong classroom management. This page (which is excerpted from The Cornerstone book) will help you create rules for the classroom and set the tone for positive classroom discipline. Classroom rules vs. procedures Let’s clarify what purpose rules serve and how they differ from routines. Rules set the tone for the classroom. They provide broad guidelines about what should or should not be happening as a whole in the classroom.
Elementary Classroom Management
3 Part Classroom Management SystemSubmitted by Maryann from Philadelphia I have a 3 part system. Whole group: for rewarding the class as a whole for behavior I put one marble in a jar every time the whole class has good behavior (example walking through the halls quietly). Then when the jar is full the class gets a cupcake party. Table groups: I have charts hanging up in the front of the room for table stars. I use it to get them to get all their books out quickly, keep the area clean, stay quiet, etc.
Classroom Management: Developing Clear Rules, Expectations
As the character Jack states early in “Lord of the Flies,” “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages.” Of course, this novel eventually presents an absolute worst-case scenario we would never want our classrooms to devolve into.
