Classroom Rules and Procedures!

There is a BIG difference between RULES and PROCEDURES!

Too often I see teachers making the FATAL error of turning some procedures into rules and regretting it all year long! To be truthful, I made this error many times and lived to regret it! Each year I tried to come up with a better set of RULES!! I finally got it figured out so I could live with them the entire school year without kicking myself.

The main difference is this:

Rules MUST be responded to with a CONSEQUENCE. They must be "punished," in a sense.

Procedures just need to be RETRAINED! They never need to be "punished!"

This is why "they" tell you to only have four or five RULES. And a set of standard responses/consequences.

You need THE BIGGIES to be the RULES. The ones where, if broken, the rhythm of the classroom, the purpose for you all being there is impeded. In other words, YOU CAN'T TEACH AND THEY CAN'T LEARN!

THE BIGGIES: So what are they? After many years of trial and error and many regrets, I finally decided for myself there really are only a few that stop you from teaching and students from learning.

Here are the RULES I would recommend for a Middle School classroom:

1. Do not use vulgar language.
2. Listen when the teacher is talking.
3. Respect the rights and property of others.
4. No personal grooming in class.

These RULES worked for me and I believe they would work for you, too!

These RULES cover the basics, where you can make a case-by-case decision: Is this a rule or not? Does this behavior stop the teaching and learning process from happening in my classroom. Do I need to apply a consequence?

BY THE WAY: The easiest First Consequence, is to say, "Rule Four, Janie!"  She will know you've seen her with that mirror and lipstick. And usually stop!

Or if someone is constantly whispering while you are talking, "Rule Two, Sam!" He has a chance to stop without a consequence, but of course, you follow through if he continues to whisper!

The Procedures are the classroom structure you use to ensure that teaching/learning moves along nicely. They are things like how to line up, how to pass papers in, what you are supposed to be doing when you enter the room, etc.

If the class lines up noisily, you just say, "I'm sorry, did we all forget how to line up? Please sit down while we go over that Procedure! Then you project a clever, cutesy image with type and discuss it and then have them try again. And again. BUT YOU NEVER PUNISH!

So, I urge all teachers to be very sure of the RULES you want to enforce. Are you sure you want to punish for every tardy? (The school probably already has one for this! Don't duplicate!) Are you sure you want a Be Ready with Book Open type of rule? This is more a Procedure and easily re-trainable!

Email Marcia for a much more detailed Dropbox download with Rules and Procedures handouts, a PowerPoint, and more!

The Art of NOT Answering Questions

I was famous for not answering a student's questions.

They would get really frustrated; but I stood my ground. In my opinion, not answering questions is not enough. A teacher needs to do more!

I would also ask pointed questions to lead the student to his/her own answer. I believe the way to develop an inquiring mind in our young people, using science as the vehicle, is to use the Socratic Method.

NOT ANSWERING QUESTIONS is an art. Once you train yourself to do it, many benefits appear as if by magic! It tells the students you know they can figure it out for themselves, which fosters self-confidence. They start to think for themselves!

If a student expresses irritation with me, I calmly explain what I'm doing. How the easy way of just answering their questions is NOT a favor to them! How learning to see a question through to an answer all alone makes them strong. Most students end up liking this method.

Students really want us to push them to think on their own. Being successful at something that's hard is wonderful! Give your students that gift!

CONSIDER THIS: Don't answer you students questions. Ask another QUESTION!

FUN LINKS: Use the Socratic Method.

Download a Pdf about How to Use the Socratic Method in the Classroom.

Cut & Paste PowerPoint FollowSheets

(Click on images to see a larger picture.)

I've had a couple of teachers ask me lately to explain just what Cut & Paste FollowSheets are.

So here goes:

I'm going to share with you the VERY FIRST one I ever did. It gave me chills. Really, I'm not joking here!

I had a Climate Change PowerPoint I wanted to show and I was trying something new that day.

I let my students choose any color of colored paper they wanted. They had to fold the colored paper in half hot-dog-bun style, so they had two long, narrow columns on each side of the paper.

Then I gave my kids a couple of handouts and told them to cut all the boxes out and lay them around their colored paper.

Before I started the Climate Change PowerPoint, I asked them to paste the boxes with Roman Numerals on top of each column.

Then we watched the PowerPoint, during which they were supposed to paste the rest of the boxes in the correct columns as we worked through the PowerPoint on Climate Change.

WHAT GAVE ME CHILLS WAS THIS: Every single student was working! And this was a class with a half-dozen malcontents sitting in the back of the room! EVERY SINGLE STUDENT WAS BUSY!

I'll be honest with you. This didn't happen very often for me! I rarely got everyone on the same wavelength at the same moment in my classroom. There were always one or two holdouts. Not to say I wasn't trying all the time to find activities that would capture every one's attention and get them involved. But it was very rare to get everyone doing the assignment.

I remember at the time telling myself to file this away in my memory because I would want to revisit it again in the future. I would want to remember what got them all so intent on paying attention.

I know it was mostly the active learning element and partly it was such a uniquely NOVEL WAY to watch a PowerPoint.

I hope you will try this type of assignment. It's good for more than one reason. Sure it gets them ALL involved. It also gives them good notes with the words I want them to have down to study from. It's a good active learning activity.

CONSIDER THIS: Try my Climate Change PowerPoint when you reach this topic in your curriculum. Use the Cut and Paste FollowSheet. OR MAKE YOUR OWN FOR OWN OF YOUR OWN POWERPOINTS!

FUN LINKS: Climate Change PowerPoint.
Climate Change Assignment
Climate Change Answers

Cloud Speed Game

Cloud Speed Game

Teaching clouds? Start today off with a Cloud Speed Game.

Run off enough pages of this Cloud Speed Game so you have one per team.

If you already have Teams set up, have them get into Color Teams with each team member taking a pencil with them.

"On your mark, get set, go!"

Every team member writes as many cloud names on the paper as possible.

When they are done, they need to holler, "Done, Red." Or whatever their color team is. Keep track as they yell. Collect the papers. While they go on to another assignment, such as recording the day's weather information onto their Week's Weather handout, check the papers for accuracy.

Announce the winners!

CONSIDER THIS: Start the day off with a fun team game that reviews material you've already taught. Then counter that frantic activity with some quiet but meaningful. Good way to start the day!

Setting up Labs

Lab Time should be Happy Time for both teacher and students.

Often it isn't.

Here's how to give yourself every chance that your Labs will go smoothly and your students will learn something in an organized, non-chaotic environment.

Start with using COLOR. Yes, COLOR!

The VERY first thing I did when I started each new school year was tape colored squares of paper onto each desk. I cut out two inch squares of the following colors of Astrobright paper: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. I would always have two tables of each color, except red, which had three including the work table in the back of the room. This was for larger than usual classes.

When I assigned students to seats, they were by default being assigned to a COLOR TEAM. Since two students sat at each table, this made each team have four students, three in a smaller class.

I had a stack of small plastic baskets. Each year I would also tape two-inch squares of colored paper inside these baskets. I would have two baskets with yellow squares, two baskets with blue squares, etc. Three baskets with red squares.

Each table would get their corresponding team color basket for a lab with the required materials inside.

Some of the advantages of this system:

• I could call one person from each color up to pick up their materials (and return them). I would just say, "Send one person when I call your Color Team ." So two people would come up each time I called a color. Easier than having 14 kids all come up at once. (Same for return of materials.)


• In a cramped classroom, having baskets of materials meant some labs could be done at desks, not at the lab stations around the perimeter of the room. Nice some days not to have to push all the desks toward the front to make room.


• I could aways tell who returned a messy basket and give them a chance to clean it up before they lost clean-up points off their lab rubric.


• The Color Teams worked together as a team for labs, some assignments, and Team Games. When I reassign students to new desks, they changed Color Teams, too. I kept track of all the Color Teams during the semester and tried to give my students as many new Team members each time as possible.

CONSIDER THIS: Set up Color Teams. Great classroom management tool!

The Teacher Edit

I believe in the Teacher Edit.

I made time for it in my classroom. (I'm retired now.)

Here's how I would do it. I would say, "Line up for points." (I would have already trained my students to line up in an orderly, quiet row to my right.)

I would sit on my teacher chair at my podium in the front of my classroom and talk with my students as I looked at their homework or classwork. I would look each student in the eye. Then look at their paper and check their work. I would have something nice to say to each student. AND I WOULD SAY THEIR NAME!

"Thank you, Max."

And write down their points. Usually 10 points per page. (Always write it on their paper, too!)

This was always an important part of each class period. Here's why:

1. I got to see the work standard and output of each student. I could catch big mistakes and/or correct misconceptions.


2. I could give personal attention to every single student every single day! How many of our students never have a personal encounter with any of their teachers. Don't hear their name on most days? I liked to make sure they heard their name in my room.


3. It gave my kids the chance to stand and stretch their legs. I know I couldn't sit all day every day like teachers expect!


4. If someone didn't come up, I could apply intervention strategies to try to get them involved. (More on this later.

Every time they got too loud I would remind them to give me 10-inch voices, please! If they didn't quiet down, I would say something like, "Oh dear, I wish you'd quieted down. Now we have to practice. Would everybody please sit down?" Then I would take out my Line Up For Points transparency and review the entire procedure. "Does everybody understand? Okay, let's try again."

Then they would line up again, and usually they would be much quieter. If not, I would repeat the Training.

STAMPS

Some years, especially when I had lots of kids with IEPs, I would also stamp their papers with a cute stamp. (Smiley Face, Mickey Mouse, you name it.) Each stamp was worth 10 points. This was a tangible reward which lots of kids just loved. BTW, It's better to also write the points down quickly, so you don't have to collect the papers and count points later. Giving stamps is a nice touch for some groups. I've done stamps all the way from 5th graders to 11 graders. So I can say with confidence, STAMPS work great with every age!

FUN LINK: Rubber Stamp Sets from Be Creative Kids

CONSIDER THIS: Use the Teacher Edit, along with Line Up for Points, in your classroom!