1. Routines Rules Rituals Elke Dreyer - 2. SPS Reinickendorf (L)
Classroom Management
Routines Rules Rituals
Elke Dreyer SPS Reinickendorf (L)

2. The problem

3. Getting started (1)
What is one thing that the students do that frustrates you? (Write your problem on a small piece of paper and put in the hat.)

4. Getting started (2)
Placemat Activity: What do you think are the questions students ask themselves before you enter the classroom as their new English teacher?

5. Seven things students want to know
Am I in the right room?
Where am I supposed to sit?
What are the rules in this classroom?
What will I be doing this year?
How will I be graded?
Who is the teacher as a person?
Will you treat me as a human being?

6. The ineffective teacher
…begins the first day of school attempting to teach a subject and spends the rest of the school year running after students.

7. The effective teacher …spends the first weeks of school
establishing a positive learning community (climate)
getting to know the students
teaching classroom routines and procedures

8. Routines

9. A classroom routine
…is a set of procedures for handling both daily activities (taking attendance, starting a class,…), and academic tasks (silent reading time, circle training, cooperative learning,…)

10. Start-the-lesson Routines
Greeting students
Taking attendance
Morning circle
Weather forecast, Feel-o-meter
Present the schedule (flow chart)
Warming-up Activity
Rituals (a brief reading, song, joke, quiz, game,…)

11. A morning greeting routine
Developing a unique way to welcome each pupil helps them feel special – and also sends a reassuring sign that each day will follow the same routine as the day before. Example: Make sure that each pupil is greeted by name. Ask one pupil to begin by saying “Good morning“ to a fellow student in the room, greeting him/her by name. That pupil then chooses the next person to greet. Teach them many styles of greetings, as well as greetings in different languages.

12. Classroom jobs
Assign jobs that are to be completed by different pupils within the lesson. These jobs are written (daily) on the blackboard. Can you think of a number of different jobs pupils can do?

13. A daily schedule
Make a daily schedule chart with picture cards that can be arranged and rearranged: e.g.

14. Getting attention routines
Use an acustic signal (bell, melody, …)
Chants (“Hands on top“ – putting hands on your head – children respond by chanting “Everybody STOP“ or “Hocus, Pocus, Everybody Focus“)
Assign “Shushers“ – their job is to say “ssshhhh“ loud enough for everyone to know to be quiet
Say “Give me 5 “- and put a hand up – students follow by putting a hand up. Then, go through each finger:
(Eyes are looking, ears are listening, lips are closed, hands are still, feed are quiet)
5. Make a shadow rabbit with your hand (ears open, mouths closed)

15. Discipline routines
Write the word RESPECT on the board at the start of each lesson. Each time the class is off-task/disruptive/loud – erase a letter or put a big X through one of the letters
Three strikes – Each student starts the week with three index cards. If he/she disrupts or breaks a rule, the student must drop one card in a fishbowl.
Pasta/ Marble discipline – Take a large jar and boxes of macaroni/marbles. When students are working well, grab a handful of macaroni and dump it into the jars as a reward. When the jar is full, students have earned an areed-upon reward.
A colour chart – Prepare a chart with all students´ names on it. Draw coloured points next to their names – according to their behaviour ( green= you´re doing great, yellow= warning, red= some sort of consequence decided and explained earlier)
A class chart- s.a. (every time students are performing well, give them a point; when the class earns a certain number of points by the end of the week, they get to do a fun activity)
Silence game: Challenge your class by saying that you don´t think they can be silent for more than ….minute(s). If they succeed, they earn …
What other discipline routines can you think of?

16. Classroom Rules

17. Rules Importance of rules Rules need to be… observable measurable
provide structure
help curb impulsive behaviour
provide safe environment
reinforce rights of all individuals
define limits
identify appropriate/inappropriate behaviours
provide consistency and fairness
Rules need to be…
observable
measurable
obtainable
positively stated
clearly defined
practised, reinforced, rewarded
no more than 5

18. Create your classroom rules
(positively and clearly stated, short, no more than 5)

19. Rituals
…establish traditions, are celebratory, sometimes ceremonial and can reinforce values and build a sense of belonging in both school and classroom.
For example:
formal greetings
celebrating achievements
acknowledging birthdays

20. Over to you…
Think of rituals that you would like to establish in your classroom.

21. The number one problem in the classroom …
is not discipline; it is the lack of procedures and routines.

22. Activity
Do you remember the one thing that the students do that frustrates you? Is there a routine you could create and implement that would prevent the frustrating event? Turn to your neighbour and brainstorm possible routines that would fix your problem. Present your findings to the group.

23. Activity When your students enter your room…
How do you build a sense of belonging?
How do you build an environment where students feel they can contribute?
How do you help students feel safe?

24. FOOD FOR THOUGHT
I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child´s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.
Haim Ginott

25. Thank you for listening!