Class Room Management

Routines are the backbone of daily classroom life. They facilitate teaching and learning…. Routines don’t just make your life easier, they save valuable classroom time. And what’s most important, efficient routines make it easier for students to learn and achieve more." —Learning to Teach…not just for beginners by Linda Shalaway When routines and procedures are carefully taught, modeled, and established in the classroom, children know what’s expected of them and how to do certain things on their own. Having these predictable patterns in place allows teachers to spend more time in meaningful instruction. Go inside 16 classrooms from across the country to see how other teachers have successfully established routines to manage important times of the school day. Each of the slideshows below takes you on a visual and audio tour explaining how to establish similar procedures in your classroom Routines and Procedures for Managaing Your Classroom   by K.J. Wagner, M.A.     Effective classroom teachers spend more of their time in the first few weeks of the year teaching classroom routines and procedures as opposed to academic content. Why? Because routines and procedures are the key to a well-managed, organized classroom. Research shows that most behavior problems result from lack of classroom routines and procedures.Moreover, the number of interruptions to academic instruction are reduced and the class flows more smoothly. Points to remember: · Have a copy of your routines and procedures to hand to each of your students on the first day of school.  (Keep extra copies on hand for new students who arrive later in the year.) · Do not simply hand out the list, go over it once, and expect the students to comply. · Teach the most important, key procedures over a period of days, one or two at a time. •  Explain the rationale behind the routine or procedure. •  Model the routine or procedure for the students.  •  Give the students non-examples of compliance. •  Have the students (or one student) model the procedure. · Teach the less important routines and procedure by simply stating the routine or procedure, monitoring it, and reinforcing it when necessary. · Be consistent . Don't give up after a few days. The time spent teaching, monitoring and reinforcing routines and procedures during the first three weeks of school will pay tremendous dividends. If the routines and procedures are established at the beginning of the year, the entire rest of the year will be more enjoyable and productive for both you and your students.     What follows is a list of routines and procedures. Every good classroom manager will have thought about each of these before the beginning of the year. (However, it's never too late to start!) Modify the list to suit your needs. Classroom Routines and Procedures · Entering the classroom · Beginning work · Roll Call/Lunch Count · Announcements · Tardies · Absences/Make-up procedures · Teacher's attention signal · Getting out of your seat · Assignments · Getting supplies · Sharpening pencils · Procedures for using/carrying/handling equipment · Getting into groups · Working in groups · Independent work · Working at a center · Lining up to leave the room · Snacks/Water · Restroom · Going to the clinic, office, media center or elsewhere · How to head papers · Passing in homework · Passing in papers · Exchanging papers · Asking questions · Getting help · Finishing work early · Visitors to the room · Responding to fire drills, "codes", or other alerts · Sudden illness · Checking out classroom material · Cleaning the room at the end of the day · Organizing materials · Homework · Changing classes · Dismissal