Classroom Management: Expectations and Agreements

Classroom Management: Expectations and Agreements

Whether your school adopts a Whole School Approach to Student Management or leaves it to individual teachers, it is essential to nurture trusting, transparent and open communication lines with our students and colleagues.

• students respond very well when they have a real say into how their classes operate
• student ”buy in” is a must and an effective strategy is to use a “Think, Pair, Share”

Our attitudes are the number one factor in determining the atmosphere in the classroom. We talk about student engagement, what about our engagement with our students?

With the ever increasing busyness in schools, often we are not in the zone when we go to class and our students tune into this very quickly. It’s about us role modelling that we:

• are ready and willing to teach and learn
• enjoy being in class and care for them

When discussing the expectations/agreements with our classes ask questions such as:

• how would you describe a safe classroom?
• how do we treat each other well and how do we not treat each other well?
• what does it feel like to be put down? Is that fair?
• what things should we do to communicate clearly? 
• how should we start class and what things should we do to learn well?
• what do we have to do and bring for class to go well?
• is being on time to class a fair thing to expect?
• how can we make our learning fun?
• what things can we do in “learning in other settings”? (Homework)

To facilitate authentic student ownership of these expectations and agreements, interactive dialogue must occur and students must believe their views have shaped the expectations and agreements. 21st century students don’t blindly accept top down power plays, imposed expectations and rigid codes of behaviour; they want a say!

Some desirable expectations/agreements from the class discussions might include:

• only one person speaks at a time
• put your hand up, when you wish to speak and wait to be asked
• listen to others with our ears, our eyes and our heart; we must role model this strongly
• role model in class that we believe that every single student has something special to contribute
• don't compare through testing, instead have a class culture of striving for Personal Bests, PB’s
• let others know that you have heard and understood their ideas, opinions and feelings through our words and body language
• there will be no put downs, negative remarks, name calling or hurtful body language messages
• treat others well; as you would like to be treated
• treat the environment, equipment and the school facilities with respect and care
• everyone is encouraged to participate to the best of their ability in class, group discussions and practical activities; opting out is not acceptable
• everyone is encouraged to complete class work, “learning in other settings” and assignments
• be punctual to class and in the learning zone we arrive; including us
• follow instructions quickly and have our class materials ready for action
• recognise and appreciate individual and cultural differences
• give and receive positive feedback to encourage learning and “want to” attitudes

Ask a student to them type up, then distribute them to the class and put them up on classroom walls. Adopting such an “us” approach will harness peer support and enable quality relational learning.

 

“Judge a man by his questions, not his answers” Voltaire