This week I will explore an important aspect for a successful classroom management and key ability to any teacher: the importance of reinforcing classroom rules and procedures.
In my opinion, teachers and students need to have a two-way trust, and that starts with clear and well-communicated classroom rules and procedures, learning goals and evaluation criteria, setting academic and behavior expectations at the beginning of the school year, and praised and reinforced as necessary.
For example, let´s watch the video below:
The teacher is clear with his procedures and classroom rules, interacting with students and bringing out their best behavior while demonstrating some of the methods.
Now let´s watch the video below and compare the techniques:
In both scenarios the teachers have pre conceived ideas on how they will manage theirs students. The difference is how effective the teacher applies it and how they are willing to adapt while facing a misbehaving student.
In this situation I find very effective to follow an intervention plan, with multiple alternatives for good and challenging behaviors. Below is an example of behavior strategies chart:
For example, let´s exercise the strategies above portraying a real situation.
Example 1 - A middle school math classroom: the class is about to start and the teacher is finishing welcoming the last students entering the room. One of the students is David, a 12 years old boy that is very active and popular, and enjoys very much a side-conversation while the teacher is giving the instructions for today´s class.
The teacher notices he is talking to Carl, his buddy, and tries to control it by asking for the attention of the whole class for his explanation:
Teacher: - 1,2,3 eyes on me!
Students: - 1,2 eyes on you!
Teacher: - very good everybody, let´s start our day by reviewing our notes from last class.
At this point David is controlled, but the teacher needs to guarantee he got his attention and engagement.
Teacher: - Hey David, could you remind us where we stopped last class?
If the student responds well to the request, even partially, the teacher should praise his efforts and move on to the construction of the theme, giving chances to others to participate and moving on with the class.
----------------
Example 2 - A HS english class: Meryl is a brilliant student that has great writing skills and enjoys receiving a lot of attention about her work and participation. Unfortunately this might be disruptive at times, so the teacher tries to contain her impetus.
Teacher: - Good morning class let´s see who read the assigned chapters from last class. Can anyone point out what happens with the main characters?
(Meryl raises her hand, along with two other students)
Teacher: - Very well, let´s stat with Chuck, then Meryl then Anna. Each will describe one important fact. Remember, everyone is allowed to participate and all opinions are welcomed.
Again the positive feedback was given, and also used to control disruption. Note that even a great student can be disruptive and harmful for the class, as his action could block other students to express themselves, which can lead to a conflict. It is very important for the teacher to reinforce rules and procedures whenever possible and as quick as possible.
-----------------
Positive feedback is always useful for the students, and should be given without moderation, specially for students that are early identified with potential to disruptive behavior. The more these students receive the teacher's appraisal and figure out that a good behavior is valued and rewarded, the better the whole class will progress with their learning and the easier it will be to enforce expectations and procedures.
It is also important to check the effectiveness of the strategies. Some of the challenging students might take longer to respond and cope with rules and procedures, reason why there should be always enough opportunities for the teacher to understand the student and work in different approaches. Speaking with other teachers, division counselors, administrators and parents is always valuable to find the right connection to the student.
Another important element to sustain classroom strategies, rules, procedures and expectations is to take notes about what happens ins the classroom, specially if there is an event of disruption. I would keep short notes for every student, after class then reflect from time to time on these notes, and use them to adapt instruction if time permits.
Also, these notes are important for report card season, the main opportunity to bring parents on-board. Parents participation is key for student commitment, specially for those with difficulties. They should be always included if an important decision is taken, and their lack of commitment if happen, should then be minimized by the school professionals, always thinking about the educational experience of the student, after all, this is the reason why we all teach!
