Teaching Rules and Procedures
Learning can be defined as the act, process, or experience of gaining knowledge or skills. Psychologists similarly define learning as a change in behavior due to experience. Either way, learning allows a student to modify his or her behavior to specific situations and to be more successful – academically and behaviorally.
Classroom management and appropriate behavior must be systematically taught with the same approach as we would with academic content. In my seminar, I will provide powerful steps for you to follow to develop your own lesson plans for rules and procedures. Teaching to rules and procedures will help your students learn every skill they will need to be successful in your classroom.
The one hundred eighty school days in a year are made up of routines, procedures, and rules to govern relationships, and the first days and weeks of the school year are critical to classroom management. Successful teachers devote a great deal of time during the first few weeks of school to the careful and explicit teaching of rules and procedures. Instead of simply telling and posting, they show, teach, and practice crucial classroom routines just as they would academics.
They set the foundation for a structured environment needed for teaching and learning to take place.
We asked master teachers from around the country to help develop and field test lesson plans for those common rules and routines which are crucial to successful school and classroom functioning. Teaching to expectations is not about trying to form mindless robots or children devoid of divergent thought. Teaching to rules and procedures will actually set the stage for structure in your classroom for variety, creative discovery and learning. We can be both innovative and orderly.