Success in Action-Classroom Management pt3

This is my third post on classroom management plans and will deal specifically with putting your plan into action.  The first post, Classroom Management, was a basic overview. The second, Plan to Succeed, was on developing your management plan and what to include in the plan.  This post involves putting your plan into action. 

I suggested writing your philosophy of education and including that as the first element in you management plan.  I believe this should be first because it serves to remind you of what you believe about education and should motivate all other components of your plan (with the exception of the school wide policies, etc.)  If something you choose to include as part of your plan doesn't line up with your philosophy, think critically about why you would want to include it in your plan.

With that said, the next item in the list was procedures then rules. I put them in this order on purpose.  First, because procedures are much more vital to the day to day function of your classroom than rules are.  In fact, if your procedures are properly implemented, you will find you need fewer rules. 

How many procedures do you need?  You need one for everything you do in the classroom.  Entering and exiting the classroom, sharpening pencils, turning in work, addressing teachers, asking questions, listening to other students and acquiring work after an absence are just some of the procedures to include.  If you don't create a procedure for it, your students will create their own and rarely will they choose to do it the way you would want if you don't teach them the "correct" way to do it in your classroom.  When you teach your procedures to the class, be sure to give your reason for the procedure.  The reason should never be "Because I said so!"  Instead, give a legitimate reason why you want it done this way.  It could have something to do with traffic patterns in the classroom, or minimizing disruptions, or even being respectful of other learners.  The important thing to keep in mind with your procedures has to do with what you do when students don't follow procedures.  If a procedure is not followed, you reteach the procedure. 

One of your procedures may be to sharpen pencils when you walk into the classroom.  But what happens when a pencil breaks during the lesson or instruction.  You may need a followup procedure to exchange the broken pencil with a sharpened pencil in the container by the sharpener.  The first procedure may be to be prepared before the lesson begins and the second is to minimize distractions during the  lesson.  So if a student forgets the "exchange" procedure and begins to sharpen the pencil in the middle of instruction, you wouldn't punish or get onto the student.  Instead you would remind him/her that during instruction they just need to exchange their pencil for a sharpened pencil so they can return to work quickly and so that others are not distracted.  Then resume instruction. 

Also, when you introduce your procedures to your students you need to practice them.  Don't just tell them what to do.  Have them act it out.  So if you have a procedure for using the water fountain, go to the water fountain and practice it with every student and practice it everyday for the first few weeks of school until you are confident they understand exactly what you expect.  Later in the year, you may need to reteach the procedure, just to reinforce and maintain the procedures. 

In reality you should spend the first few weeks practicing each of your procedures as they come up during instruction.  The first day or two, you contrive reasons to practice the procedures even if it is something as simple as saying "In order for our classroom to operate smoothly, there are certain ways we need to do things.  We are going to practice some of those right now."  When they seem to be following the procedures you can back off on the daily practice as long as you see they are following the procedures.  If the class or individuals forget to follow the procedures after the initial "teaching" time, you reteach it.  Reteaching may mean everyone practicing a few times or it could just be a simple "Don't forget, when you ...." This will often inspire an "Oops! I forgot," response from the students. 

Along with your procedures, I also listed rules high on the list of items to include in your management plan.  My advice is to only include those items not covered by school-wide rules and to make your rules as broad as possible.  I would also suggest that you not completely create your rules ahead of time.  Instead, have some general rules in mind and have a "guided" classroom discussion that leads to the creation of your class rules.  This gives students some ownership into how the class functions.  With your rules, there need to be consequences.  This is the big distinction between rules and procedures.  Not following a rule results in a consequence, not following a procedure results in reteaching.  For example, if you don't follow the correct procedure for unlocking a combination lock you don't get punished.  You simply cannot access the locker, so you try again following the correct procedure. 

There are many other items that are essential components of your management plan that probably need an individual post to explain in detail.  I will work on those and share them when I can.  I felt it was important to remind each of you about these two to begin with because many people feel like they are the most critical. 

Thank you for reading The Cluttered Desk.  You can find me on Twitter @jasonbengs.  Please feel free to comment on the post and share your ideas with me.  You can also leave a response on The Cluttered Desk Flipgrid page if you would like to leave a comment on this or any other post or podcast episode by going to https://flipgrid.com/03fa4e01 If you found any value in this post, please share it with others.