The classroom should never be run with a power dynamic between the teachers and the students. However, I think it is valuable to have some ground rules in place to refer to throughout the year so that students can have a sense of gauging their own behavior.
General Rules
· When the teacher is talking to the class, no one else is talking.
· When the teacher raises his/her hand, everyone will face them and hold their discussions for later.
· If you have a question, raise your hand and the teacher will call you out.
· Be respectful of your classmates and their ideas/questions.
· Be on-time. I take note of who’s late and when.
Classroom Rules
· Be respectful of the classroom
Do not write on desks
Pick up any garbage, even if it is not yours
· Music is permitted during work periods, just keep the volume at a non-disruptive level.
· Smartphones/computers are permitted for school-related activity (within school policy)
If you are caught using social media, you have to take a selfie with me and post it for everyone to see.
If this rule is consistently taken advantage of, your device will be confiscated, and your parents will receive an email before I return it to you.
· Material on the teacher’s desk is off-limits unless otherwise instructed by your teacher.
There is no point in dictating all these rules in one go to the students because it may establish a power dynamic. All relevant rules will be on a course outline, and only the general rules will be discussed at the start of the year. Any other information will be referred to on the outline and discussed as they come up naturally.
Seating Plans
I believe that seating plans help students meet someone new, and that may be valuable for some of the more introverted individuals. With that being said, I likely would not enforce a seating plan initially, just so that I could get to know the students better.
Through practicum experience I have found that students who sit near the front of the class perform more strongly than students that sit elsewhere. If I have a socially expressive class, I may employ a rotating seating plan where every student shifts from time to time to allow each student an opportunity to sit in an optimal learning space.