Week Eight- Rules and Procedures

This week the theme of classroom management has continued with a focus specifically on rules and procedures.  I believe that any successful classroom management system is dependent on the rules and procedures that the teacher puts in place.  In order for the rules and procedures to have a positive impact they must be modeled, explained, and upheld with fidelity.  In my own experience I know that the rules and procedures act as the glue that holds my management system together.  About 95% of the students that enter my classroom each year are experiencing the school-setting for the first time.  I would say that in Pre-K one of the main objectives that one tries to teach is social behavior.  These four year-olds are being taught how to interact with each other, walk in a hallway, share, stand in a straight line, raise their hand to speak, make lunch choices, participate in small group work, adapt to a scheduled routine, etc.  There is no way that any of those skills could be taught or even acknowledged if the students enter a chaotic environment that is not structured with rules and procedures.  The task of demonstrating and teaching rules and procedures is critical for the classroom and must begin the moment students enter.  In my own classroom, classroom procedures is the primary portion of my lesson plans for the first month of school.  Students must be taught from day one what expectations of behavior the teacher holds.  In the text Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice, author R. E. Slavin discusses the importance of emphasis on procedures early, "Research has established that the first days of school are critical in establishing classroom order for the whole year. Teachers whose classes were mostly on task over the course of the school year, compared to teachers whose classes were less consistently on task, were more likely to engage in the following activities during the first days of school (Evertson & Emmer, 2013; Weinstein & Mignano, 2003; Wong & Wong, 2004)" (Slavin, 278).  The management environment at the beginning of the year will definitely set the tone for the entire duration of the school year.  It is for this reason that teacher must be prepared to create, model, and implement procedures from the onset.
Another important aspect of rules that I was able to focus on through the reading was the importance of creating rules that are appropriate for my students.  The text mentions three general rules that help shape the classroom rules that teachers should develop, "Three principles govern this process. First, class rules should be few in number. Second, they should make sense and be seen as fair by students. Third, they should be clearly explained and deliberately taught to students (Metzger, 2002) (Slavin, 278).  The rules should be direct and few, they should be written in student-friendly language, and should be modeled frequently.  When the students are able to understand the expectations that are in place, they are more likely to follow them.  Overall, this was a great topic that I feel teachers should constantly refresh themselves on.

References

Slavin, R. E. (2015) Educational ppsychology: Theory and practice. New Jersey: Pearson.