Procedures

classroom routines

what Procedures to use for:

entering the classroom

A procedure for entering the room that I would use is one where the teacher greets each student personally and prompts them with a content related "password" before entering the room. What this looks like in action, is when a student approaches the door, the teacher is outside ready to greet them. The teacher will say good morning, and ask the student "what is the password". The teacher will then show the student a notecard with either a sight word, equation, picture, etc. that is content related. The student will repeat the word, identify the solution, or whatever is asked of them on the card. Once the student has "answered with the correct password", they can pick to receive a high-five, handshake, or hug from the teacher for answering with the correct passcode and may then enter the room.

I would teach this to students by having students participate in a school day schedule and procedures run through. Meaning, on the first week of school we would review the schedule and go over how we transition to each part of our day and what the expectations for procedures are in the classroom. Since the procedure occurs everyday and students do not need to be reminded to paritcpate in it, it will soon become part of their routine and they will not need to be reminded of what to do.

This procedure for entering the classroom exercises positive communication between students and teachers. Dreikurs said that children have a primary and compelling desire to feel they are a valued member of the class and that they belong. Student's sense belonging when the teacher and others give them attention and respect, involve them in activities, and do not mistreat them. Starting off the students day with positive energy and that personal connection can make a student feel valued and comfortable in their learning environment. Greeting a student personally, ensures that they feel welcomed into your classroom each and everyday.

When deciding a procedure that is best for picking volunteers fairly, one choice stands out above the others. This would be having a jar that contains popsicle sticks with each of the students' names written on them. When you ask a question, instead of calling on students based on whose hand is raised, the teacher will pick a popsicle stick from the jar and whoever's name is on it may answer that question. Once they have answered their question, the teacher should put the stick with their name to the side and continue to pick from the jar until all names have been pulled and the jar is empty. This ensures that everyone in the class has had a turn to be called on at least once.

picking volunteers

To teach and communicate this expectation to students, I would set aside fifteen minutes on the first day of school for myself to explain this method of calling on volunteers to the students. Then, I would pass out a popsicle stick to each student that already has their name written in black marker on it. I would leave out markers, crayons, and other materials that students can use in order to decorate their popsicle stick to make it unique to them. When they are finished we will review why we made them and how they will be used again and then have students come up and place them in the jar.

Again, using this method to pick volunteers ties into my philosophy of using positive communication as one way to manage the classroom. This way, when you ask a question and over ten children raise their hand to share, you are not repeating picks or excluding any volunteers when calling on students. Each student is being given an equal opportunity to be called on in the classroom and feels seen and valued. When the competition of who can raise their hand the fastest or the highest in order to get called on first is eliminated, then more focus can take place on the learning itself and students feel less anxious to participate.

classroom jobs

An effective procedure for assigning and managing jobs would be a job chart that is hung somewhere students can see and reach it. This would look something like the photo featured to the right where the jobs are on one side and a cut out of a shape (subject to change) with the child's name written on it is placed next to it to indicate which job they are responsible for. Jobs will switch each Monday and will last through the entire week. They will rotate by one job each week, going with the flow of the chart, ensuring that all students will be assigned each job at least once. Jobs will include but are not limited to: line leader, caboose, messenger, janitor, librarian, board chief, pledge leader, etc.. There will also be a job titled "job monitor" in which the student chosen will be responsible for checking to make sure every job on the chart has been completed for the day. This is in case a student with a significant job is absent there is a fill in, and this also allows the teacher to not have to worry about the jobs being completed.

Unlike the other procedures, classroom jobs will be introduced a few weeks after the school year has begun when students are more settled in and know the classroom environment better. The teacher will begin by discussing what responsibilities are and what it means to have responsibilities for a job. You will reinforce that in order to have a functioning classroom, everyone must pitch in and help keep the classroom neat and organized. You will then introduce to students where the job chart can be found in the room and explain that we are going to practice responsibility in our classroom. She will then go over how the chart works and what each job on the chart means. She will then pass out a few different shape stencils that students may choose from to trace and cut out. Once they cut out their stencil they will write their name big in the middle and then decorate whatever they wish on it. After, the teacher will collect all the name cards, shuffle them, and randomly assign each student a job. She will again go over each job and what is expected of the person given each role and open the floor for any questions.

Having classroom jobs connects to the setting behavior expectations aspect of our classroom management philosophy.

Just like setting behavior expectations sets the tone for how your entire school year will go, setting classroom jobs can do the same. According to Redl & Wattenberg, classroom jobs are a great way to promote student responsibility and accountability. When students complete job tasks, and help contribute to keeping the classroom sustainable, they feel worthy and gain self-confidence. Dreikurs also said that children have a primary and compelling desire to feel they are a valued member of the class and that they belong. Student's sense belonging when the teacher and others give them attention and respect, as well as involve them in activities. Assigning classroom jobs is a perfect way to give children a sense of belonging and a place in the classroom.

The procedure to use for effectively grabbing and keeping students attention when they are off working independently or in groups, is a short call back chant with hand motions involved. In the classroom, this would look like students spread out around the room in groups talking and working together. The teacher wants to get the entire class's attention to make a quick announcement about something they need to add to the project they are working on. She would first loudly call out "hands on top!" and then the students would know to stop what they are doing, face the teacher, place their hands on top of their head, and call back out to her "every buddy stop!". They will then sit quietly with their hands on their head listening for the next directions.

grabbing attention

Again, this procedure would be introduced on the first day of school to ensure smooth and effective transitions and direction giving for the entire duration of the school year. In addition, the teacher should post an anchor chart with any and all chants/call backs that are used in a place where students are clearly able to see them in case they need a reminder of the expectations.

Using a call-back or chant method, uses a positive form of communication as a means to grab student attention and focus. Jacob Kounin focused a great deal of his studies on lesson management as a means of keeping students on task and involved. He noted that effective teachers use identifiable tactics for gaining student attention and clarifying expectations. One of his concepts, group alerting, or, when teachers gain students full attention before giving directions, is the perfect opportunity to use the chant method. Another good aspect to using this chant is that if students are using their mouths to chant and their hands are placed on top of their heads, then this limits them from being able to talk, draw, fidget with their hands, etc. while the teacher is giving directions or speaking.

leaving the room

To address the issue of those needing to leave the room for the bathroom or other purposes, the procedure I would use in my classroom is a variation of a hall pass and a "Where Am I" board sign out (pictured below). The "Where Am I" board is a whiteboard with different sections naming each place a student could be in the school at a given time. Each student has a magnet on the board with their name on it that remains in the section "in the room" when they are in the classroom. In the other sections, there are two hall passses, indicating that only two people are allowed to leave the room at a time for each of the purposes. When a student needs to leave the room, they will get up and walk over to the sign out board. They will take their name magnet out of the “in the room” section and put it in place of the hall pass magnet from the section in which they are going to. This way, they have the hall pass with them and the board shows that one person is already signed out and there is only one pass left.

Like most of the other procedures, this will be introduced the first day of school and reinforced each week until the students have mastered it. For the first few weeks, when students raise their hand and ask to leave the room, the teacher will remind students of how to use the "Where Am I" board and where it is located. When students see their peers actively using the board system, they too will begin to catch on and use the board in due time.

Establishing a working sign-out system for students to use when indicating why they are leaving room is the most effective solution to knowing where every child is at all times. This system also encourages students to take on personal responsibility and sets behavior expectations for the class. Jacob Kounin was an educational psychologist who focused on theories on how classroom management and lesson management affect student behavior in school. He said that the central factor in managing behavior was the ability of the teacher to know what was going on in all parts of the classroom at all times and dealing with problems before they turned into misbehavior. By setting the behavior expectation that all students must use the board to show where they are each and every time they leave the classroom, they learn self-accountability and responsibility. In addition, the teacher is able to know where all students are at all times without having to continuously look around or ask where a student went. This way, the teacher can focus more of their time and energy on teaching content rather than looking for students.

connection to sel & culturally responsive management

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