When I was in elementary school in the fourth grade, I had a teacher who was very unpredictable. Each day that we would come to school it would be a guessing game as to what would come next. We never had a consistent schedule that we followed from day to day. Looking back and reflecting on this I would venture to say that there were more behavioral problems that year as compared to any other year. Also let me take this chance to remind you that I had sixteen people in my class and these same people followed me through all of elementary school, kindergarten through sixth grade. The only difference being that in the grades we encountered before fourth, we always had a consistent class schedule in which we did things.
When looking at the eight effective classroom practices it is easy to see that they are all important, however there are some that need to be paid close attention at different parts in the year. In my personal opinion, I believe that classroom procedures and routines is an integral practice that needs momentous amounts of attention at the beginning of the school year. I say this because it will set the tone for the rest of the school year.
When students know the classroom procedures and routines, they are more likely to be engaged because they understand what is coming next. To establish a sense of security within the classroom routines need to be followed and integrated at the beginning of the school year and reinforced throughout the year.
Routines and classroom procedures need to be strategically planned out for many different pieces of the school day. Such as, how to line up at the door, how to turn in papers, how to transition from one subject to the next ect. For best classroom practice, these procedures need to follow a few requirements. Routines need to be observable, measurable, positively stated, understandable and always applicable. If you have routines and procedures that are not observable by the teacher, then what is the point. One has to be able to actually see the routine taking place in order to know if students are following classroom procedure. Procedures also always need to be applicable during the year. To provide the sense of safety and structure that one is going for within the classroom, students need to always be expected to follow the same procedures.
Circling back to my experience in fourth grade, I think that we would have been better behaviorally if we knew what we were going to do next and how we were expected to do things. There was so many unknowns within the classroom that there was so much unpredictability in how we were going to behave. I think one important piece of routines and procedures in the elementary grades is that they can be made fun with cool jingles or songs. They don’t have to be boring and dull. But they are most definitely integral in success throughout the school year.
Miss Trone 