The first day, first week and first month of school are critical to classroom management. During that time, successful teachers focus on the careful teaching of rules and routines. Instead of telling and posting, they teach and practice crucial classroom routines – just as they teach academics. They set the foundation of a structured environment that all children need to learn and all teachers need to teach. The 180 days in a school year are built of routines, procedures and rules to govern relationships. Teaching to rules and procedures will help your students learn the skills they need to succeed in your classroom.
We asked master teachers from across the country to help develop and field test lesson plans for those common rules and routines critical to successful classroom functioning. Teaching to expectations is not about trying to form passive automatons or youngsters incapable of thinking for themselves. Quite the contrary. Teaching to rules and procedures sets the stage for for divergent and creative discovery and learning. Caring can be orderly and structured.
Classroom Benefits for Administrators
- Every time teachers look to the office to solve their discipline problems, they erode their own credibility with their students. These strategies help teachers resolve their own discipline problems fairly and with mutual respect. Empowering teachers frees the office to deal with other important matters, promotes clear boundaries of tolerance, and fosters proactive, positive learning environments.
- By handling inappropriate behavior immediately and fairly, student referrals to the office drop.
- By freeing up more time for teaching, test scores increase.
- Because this training doesn’t present a “program” – but rather a philosophy on how to treat students with dignity and receive the same – you will find overwhelming staff/student/parent buy-in of these evidence-based strategies.
Teachers will know...
...how to detect and correct classroom problems without stopping teaching.
...how to avoid power struggles.
...how to set effective limits.
...how to arrange and design the classroom environment for maximum performance (including 15 powerful desk arrangements from traditional to unorthodox).
...how to teach students to behave appropriately in class and in social settings.
...how to zoom through the curriculum like never before.
...how to firmly but fairly carry out disciplinary actions.
...how to NEVER again give multiple warnings or repeated requests!
...how to build and maintain trust with challenging children.
...how to reach at-risk children and turn them into productive classroom members.