Why do classroom procedures matter? The ultimate reason is to create a safe and productive environment for your students, a place where learning is the focus. In a classroom where students know the procedures, they always know what I am expecting of them. There is never a need to guess. Students need structure in all grade levels, especially in middle school. I have a Type-A personality, so I thrive on structure. Not all teachers are Type-A, so having procedures not only creates structure for your students, but it can create some structure and organization for you as well.
Start with Organization
Getting yourself and your classroom organized is where you have to start. Think about it, if there isn't a specific spot for the students to turn in their homework, then how will you teach them a procedure for turning in their homework? Now, this is not to say that you can’t switch things around during the year if you find that moving things around would help your classroom run more efficiently and be more productive. In my 25 years of teaching, I have definitely chosen to rearrange my room a few times because my initial vision just wasn’t it.
Plan your procedures
Before school starts, think of every procedure you can imagine and make a plan. Determine before the first day of school how you want your students to do things in your classroom. In my first few years of teaching (before the internet and Teachers Pay Teachers), I failed to think of every scenario and make a plan, so I would have to make stuff up in the moment and usually about a week later, I hated it and had to change it up causing the students to have to get used to another procedure change.
Once I had several years of experience and tried doing things different ways, I finally found procedures that worked for me and my students, so I typed up a list and bring it out every August so I can make sure I go over each and every procedure and there are no unknowns at the start of the school year.
Occasionally, after spending all summer on the internet scavenging for new tips and tricks, I find a few new things I want to try, so I add them to my list and make a plan. Sometimes they last and become part of my routine, and sometimes I just scrap them at the end of the year (or sooner in some cases).
Just remember, if you do change the way things are in your classroom, you introduce and train the students on the new procedure. With that in mind, I would also say that you should try to stick with the same procedures and routines throughout the year and only change something if it is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, wait until the next school year to implement your new plan.
Teach , Teach, Teach Your Procedures
As awful as it sounds, it will take some time going through the procedures day after day, week after week, until the students finally form a habit and do it consistently on their own. Be patient. It will be worth it. By October, you will have a smooth running classroom and everyone will be happier and more productive.
A few years into my career, I got very impatient with my class and stopped practicing the procedures and redirecting when they did something incorrect and just assumed that since we had been in school for a few weeks they should be good to go. NO, NO, NO! I was terribly mistaken. I rushed the process and when I stopped redirecting when I saw a student fail to perform the correct procedure, they very easily slipped back into doing whatever they wanted and my classroom became very chaotic. Students were getting up during my teaching, not raising their hands, turning in papers to my desk instead of the designated tray causing papers to get lost…it was awful, so I had to reteach all the procedures all over again which caused the process to take twice as long as it should have. Just know, from personal experience, I can tell you that patience in the beginning will save you from a major headache later.
Make It Fun!
Over the years I’ve asked my students which day of the year is their least favorite, they almost always say the first day of school. But the reason is not what you would think…it’s not because it meant summer was over, or they had to start getting up early again. They said it was because all their teachers bore them to death with a long list of rules and procedures. They said all day long all they do is just sit there and listen to the teacher talk, talk, talk. And, to be honest, I bore myself. I, too, don’t look forward to the first days for that exact reason.
So I learned I needed to step up my game. Make learning, or at least reviewing, the rules and procedures more interesting. As a result, I came up with a few different ways to review the procedures. Here are a few ways to get you started.
Memes-several years back when memes got super popular, I decided to create a powerpoint teaching my procedures using memes. The kids got a laugh and it caused them to pay more attention and not tune me out as fast. If your students have access to technology, It might be fun to divide them into partners and have them make up their own memes for one of your procedures and when everyone is finished, have a slideshow of all the new memes.
Good Choice vs. Bad Choice-I have also used this a few times in my classroom. I have done it a couple of different ways. One way is by randomly assigning a rule or procedure to a student or pair of students and give them a large piece of white paper. Their job is to illustrate the rule/procedure being done correctly on one half of the paper and then being done incorrectly on the other side. When everyone was done, I would hang them up in the classroom until everyone had learned the proper procedures. All those students who would rather draw in your class than listen to you lecture loved this.
Another way I have done this could be mixed with the next choice (charades). I randomly assign a rule or procedure to a student or pair of students and have them act out how the procedure is supposed to be done and how it isn’t supposed to be done.
Charades-This is just how it sounds. Similar to the previous example, the students draw a rule/procedure and act it out or with older students, you can give them a choice to act it out correctly or incorrectly and have the students guess the rule/procedure and whether or not it was acted out correctly or not.
Worksheet-For this activity, I simply created a color by number worksheet. The students had 10-20 questions (depending on how intricate your picture is) about my rules and procedures and if they answered right then the colors in the picture would be colored in the correct way. This even worked with my 8th graders. Everyone loves to color!
Room Scavenger Hunt or I Have…Who Has…-To get the students up and moving, you could give them a scavenger hunt in the classroom. Create a bunch of cards to leave around the room with a question on the bottom half of the page and the answer on the top half of the next page. Mix them up as you set them around the classroom and the students have to find the answer to the question at the bottom of the card to be directed to which card comes next (the card with the answer on it).
I Have…Who Has… is pretty much the same way except you give each student a card and they have to listen for the question that goes with the answer on the top of their card. When they hear the question that goes with their answer, they stand up and say, “I have…(the answer)…Who has…(the question)?” and they read the question on the bottom of their card. The game continues until all the cards have been read.
Games-There are multiple game formats out there that could be altered to fit the review of your procedures. One game that my students and I both like is 4 corners. It gets the kids out of their seats and makes them think. I have the question up on a powerpoint or Google Slides presentation and read it out loud for the students. The next slide gives 4 answers numbered 1 through 4. Whichever answer they think is right, is the corner they go to. Once everyone is in a corner. I reveal the answer on the next slide. I continue going through the slides until only one student is left or I run out of questions.
There are also numerous ideas out there on the internet if none of these suggestions work for you and your kiddos.
Hold Students AND Parents Accountable
One thing my old school required from the teachers was to go over and send home a syllabus on the first day of school to be signed by students and parents. We were a K-12 school, and because I was a middle school teacher, I noticed every year the 6th grade parents and students would really have no idea that the rules from elementary school didn’t transfer up to middle school, so I started making my syllabus with almost every procedure I had with a thorough explanation of what was expected. Now, this made my so called syllabus ridiculously long, but most parents were grateful for the over communication of expectations.
Another reason I started doing this is because I could pull it out during interactions with parents. Because I sent home all of my expectations/procedures and the students and parents had to sign that they read, understand, and agree with my rules, I could use it whenever parents tried to say that they or their students didn’t know that…was what they were supposed to do. I could just reach in my file folder and remind them that they signed the syllabus stating they know and agree to my rules. After I did that, they really didn’t have much to say. I could also refer to it when a student misbehaves or during conferences.
SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO PUSH THE RESET BUTTON
Even though you spent the entire first quarter drilling those procedures into your students, it doesn’t mean they won’t forget. When that happens, no worries. Just have a hard reset. Most of the time, teachers need to do this in January when students return from Winter Break, however, a reset can be done at any time of the year.
If you are noticing more and more students are “forgetting” to follow the correct procedure, then it may be a good time to stop and go back to the basics. Schedule some time to review all the procedures or just those that the students are having a hard time with right now. Don’t just go over the procedures orally, but bring back out some of those extras that you used in August to teach them in the first place. Have the students repeat them back to you, practice doing them, or even act out good choices and poor choices, whatever it takes to get them back on track. And because you did an intense focus at the beginning of the year, the reset should be a quick redirect.
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