Rules seem to be the framework for the class. To me, it seems, that the rules are the standard you hold your students too (and in a sense yourself as well). If there is one thing that should be a hard fact by the time you begin your first day of school, I imagine it is the rules and the consequences for breaking them. From listening to others who are already teaching or have taught, kids like to push boundaries, gain attention, and prove themselves. It seems that the teacher usually is one of the ways they love to achieve this. In one of my high school classes, I remember a teacher who got ‘run’ over by one of the students in the class who was making a fool out of himself and trying to push her buttons. He succeeded and even the exceptional students in the class really did not respect her after watching that particular episode. It showed me how important it is to have firm rules and to hold your students accountable to those rules.
With that said, I have no idea what sort of rules that I would put up on the first day (hopefully this will change by the time I am ready to teach!) These rules that I am going to list are the ones that make the most sense to me right now.
- Respect your classmates, respect your teacher, and you will gain respect
- No food or drink except water
- Be seated at your desk by the time the bell rings with your notebook and pencil/pen on your desk
- Do not speak when the teacher is speaking or when another student is speaking in class. If you have a question, raise your hand.
- No foul language
- Respect your classmates, respect your teacher, and you will gain respect
I have also included a picture of a wordle which represents the ideals and expectations I would hope that my class would learn to value. I guess I know in my head that even when you have rules, expectations, and ideals that students will not follow the rules or live up to standards all the time. I think that is why I want to be as consistent as possible in following whatever rules that I establish on the first day so the kids can see that I will hold them accountable. Hopefully, one day they will understand that these rules were made to help them out in life and not just to succeed in a high school or middle school setting. I found one website that seemed to be a goldmine for information concerning this topic. It is https://www.nea.org/tools/establishing-classroom-rules.html
3 comments for “The 4… or 5… well maybe 6 rules”