Making your high expectations stick

Every teacher starts the school year with great expectations for an orderly classroom. As an experienced educator, you’ve probably tried various approaches to maintain order and create a classroom environment where every student feels comfortable contributing.To fulfill your high hopes, reflect on how you’ve handled the start of school before. If you simply stated the rules or posted them, you may have missed an opportunity to let your students know how much you really expect of them, in terms of both their behavior and academic success. Teachers who explain and model the expected behavior will help students see why it’s important to comply.

Here are some ideas to help you maintain order, which in turn will help your students excel.
  
Be precise in laying out the rules. By explaining rules in terms of specific actions, you ensure that students understand your expectations. For example, you might say, “Being respectful means that if I knocked over your book, I would pick it up and apologize, and you would say ‘thank you.’?” Also, outline and review the procedure for completing in-class assignments. You may want students who finish first to wait for others by beginning homework, reading ahead in the textbook or reading on their own.

Err on the side of over-explaining. Make sure students understand the consequences for not conforming to the rules. Research suggests that if you spend the first three weeks teaching the rules, you will be ensured of an environment conducive to learning for the next 33 weeks.

Require students to arrive on time. Being prompt and prepared means that students will have their tools, texts and thoughts ready, so they can start class focused on learning. Remind students that completing homework and being punctual not only boost their chances of academic success today but help establish habits that will serve them well in the future—at college or on the job.

Develop sound procedures for classroom participation. The right procedures can reduce students’ apprehensions. Teach young students how to ask for permission, for example, by raising their hands and waiting to be acknowledged before speaking. It will give them more confidence. Let students know you respect their potential to contribute to class, then show them the right way to do it.

Make sure the physical design of your classroom supports instruction. Assess the layout of your room, taking into consideration areas of high traffic, visibility of teacher and blackboard to all students, and efficient use of wall space. You may not have control over the placement of desks and tables, but you can establish procedures that eliminate distractions and keep students on task.

Don't just tell students to "be respectful." Instead, explain the “why” and “how” behind the rules. For example, students must listen when another classmate is speaking and must not interrupt when they disagree or want to add something to the discussion. Why? So each student will have a chance to be heard—one at a time.

Develop creative ways to get students working in groups. These should instill a sense of teamwork and ownership as well as help build self-confidence. One idea is peer tutoring; ask a student who has mastered a subject or concept to tutor a classmate. Or have groups respectively critique oral reports or design projects that connect new learning with their unique interests—sports, technology, the arts. Tailor the groups to meet individual needs. Some students work best in pairs; others find working with several other students to be more stimulating, and a few may prefer to work with the teacher as a partner, or even to work alone.

These strategies are tried and true. But that doesn’t mean you can’t step them up a notch and refine them to meet your students’ needs.

Taking the time now to lay out a code of behavior, backed up by clearly articulated procedures, will let your students know you have high expectations for them—from the first day of school till the last.