Additionally, she gave the students tangible incentives for learning the procedures and rules of
her classroom. She treated each of the procedures like a standard that the students had to “master.” Each of these had to be mastered by the class in order for them to move on to the next step, or another procedure. She even had a visual – a poster that she displayed in her class called “Our Class Journey to the Peach.” About a month into the school year, a third grade field trip was scheduled to go see a play version of James and the Giant Peach. So, she had a picture of her classroom and then “steps” to get to the play, a picture of the book cover. The students got to fill in one of the “steps” every time that they demonstrated mastery of one of her class procedures.
She has laminated procedure posters/anchor charts for the following (titled as written below):
- Centers Procedures
- Before You Turn in Your Work
- Procedures for Checking Papers
- Procedures with Other Adults (P.E., Music, Library, Field Trips, Dismissal, Lunch, Computer)
- Hall Procedures
- Restroom Procedures
- Morning Procedures
- Breakfast Procedures
- Café Coordinator Responsibilities (*this is one of the classroom jobs, but there were procedures for each of the other classroom jobs as well)
- Cafeteria Procedures
- Communicator Procedures (*the communicator is the folder that goes home with them every day for their parents to check)
- Teaching Time Procedures
- Working Time Procedures
- Titling Assignments
I personally am overwhelmed by the effort and organization that went into her development of this system, but I can also say that it works!! Her classroom is always in ship-shape order and the students are very rarely confused with what they should be doing, even when she hasn’t given them any directions. I know that this is a system that took her many years to perfect, but I am certainly going to try to establish something similar in my own classroom in the future because I can tell that it goes a long way!
Has anyone else seen an effective way of setting up classroom procedures and rules?
Woah. This is the type of thing that I wish I could see in action. Especially last placement, when I was in a kindergarten classroom, and the some of the kids at the beginning of the school year were entering the classroom for the very first time. I feel like we talked so much about this in classroom management with Grenier, but it's an entirely different thing to implement/witness it. That would be amazing!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely seems like putting in the work paid off in terms of effectiveness. Especially after having 10 days off for snow in three weeks, it seems like having those procedures so ingrained in students' brains would be so helpful.
I remember having conversations with current teachers about management and them telling me that even after school holidays and breaks they would spend the first few days back reviewing classroom rules and procedures, just to get the students back into the swing of things.
One thing regarding rules and procedures that I have seen implemented very successfully, is putting a students integrity at stake in tandem with the creation of the rules. For instance, when creating the rules/procedures at the beginning of the year, maybe having the class create them collaboratively, or proposing rules for the students to put in their own words. I feel that this helps the students invest even further in the rules/procedures and gives them deeper motivation to follow them because they know 'why' they exist.
For me, starting the year and establishing procedures and rules is what worries me the most for my future classroom. I personally cannot imagine how that can all be done efficiently!! I do wish that we were able to see this in action. I regret not going through the "early start" program and feel that it should maybe be mandatory for education majors.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I am stressed about all of the things that you need in order to put together a classroom. There are so many supplies/ decorations that are necessary! At both placements, my teachers have told me that they receive a certain budget each year for supplies. However, they also have told me that they have had to use a lot of their own money for their classroom. I am sure that it gets easier as you continue to teach and start to accumulate all that you need!