Establishing rules of conduct in the classroom is crucial since poor student behavior can impact the learning atmosphere for everyone.
The time and energy a teacher must take to correct misbehavior results in a negative way for both students and the teacher.
A high incidence of classroom disciplinary problems has a significant negative impact on the effectiveness of teaching and learning.
How do I establish the rules?
Most certainly you should not bring the ten commandment and state to your students “These are the rules” – They will not accept or even care to remember what you have told them.
What I personally do is to ask my students to tell me what could happen if the classroom has no rules. You will be suprised with their answers.
Then I have them brainstorm ideas of rules and I write them on the black board.
Then we decide together what the rules must be and they copy them in their notebook.
How do I establish the rules?
Most certainly you should not bring the ten commandment and state to your students “These are the rules” – They will not accept or even care to remember what you have told them.
What I personally do is to ask my students to tell me what could happen if the classroom has no rules. You will be suprised with their answers.
Then I have them brainstorm ideas of rules and I write them on the black board. After that, discuss and decide together what the rules must be and they copy them in their notebook.
Get to know your students. What are their strengths? Their weaknesses? What do they like to do?
Do not look at them as a mob to be tamed. Invest in them as individuals to build trust and respect and that is the key to successful classroom management.
Students feel safe and secure when they know exactly what is expected of them on a daily basis. It’s our job as teachers to create a space that is predictable and productive.
Create daily routines that make it easy for students to live up to your expectations.
Have an arsenal of predictable cues, gestures or even facial expressions (lifting the eyebrow while tilting slightly the head on the side really works) for your students to keep them on track when they are chatty or disruptive.
I remember when I was a student having a teacher that had a vast arsenal of funny expressions to fire at us when we were naughty, and we couldn’t wait the moment she would throw at us one of her famous lines. Which leads to the last point of this article.
Managing a classroom can be difficult or even seem impossible at times, so find ways to have a laugh instead of cursing the time and moment you decided to become a teacher.
Kids will be kids. After all, they’re still learning – as we all do. The learning prossess never ends, and humor helps us keep our perspective, so we can help our students along in the kindest and most effective way.
Besides, it is also a matter of pride too. Who wants to be remebered as the cranky old teacher?
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