Strategies, tools and skills for establishing classroom management systems.
Background Theory - Classroom Organization
Effective teachers decide on rules and procedures for general classroom conduct before the school year begins. Although the rules and procedures used by effective classroom managers vary from teacher to teacher, one does not find effectively managed classrooms without them. Effective managers typically have three to six general rules of conduct and a variety of procedures for five general categories of procedures.
Teacher as a Role Model
It is worthwhile to explain the purpose of the procedure and why it is important for the students’ benefit in terms of their own learning. This also helps raise the student’s awareness of the importance of the teacher as a role model.
Why Plan Your Procedures at the Beginning of the School Year
There are advantages of establishing procedures at the outset of the school year.
- When expectations are formally communicated from the beginning, some off-task behavior patterns do not have time to emerge.
- Students are more receptive to learning rules and procedures at the beginning of a school term than they are once they have become accustomed to a situation.
- The sooner students know about rules and procedures, the more time they have to practice following them.
Step by Step - Planning Classroom Procedures
Identify the academic activities, routine procedures and special procedures (if any) a teacher’s students will be engaged in. It is a good idea to pull as many areas as possible for which a specific classroom procedure is required.
The next step is to prioritize the items that need to be taught the first week of school, the second week and so on.
The guiding principle in sequencing which behaviors to teach first is to teach only those procedures which are absolutely necessary to maintain a proactive classroom where students are not given a chance to be off-task.
An important tip: It is important to teach procedures as deliberately and thoroughly as academic content. It is important also to review and reinforce them.
Categories of Procedures and Corresponding Examples
- Beginning of Class Procedures: students who arrive late to class.
- Speaking Procedures: when talk is permitted and how it is to occur
- Seatwork Procedures: changing places
- Procedures for Student Movement During the Lesson:leaving the class and going to the bathroom
- Ending Class Procedures:Putting up chairs, copying homework
Over to You
What other procedures can you think of? Fill in the five categories with procedures of your own. share them with your staff. Think of ways to communicate, review and reinforce these procedures to your students.
Further Reading
Effective Classroom Management
