Responsibility

My apologies — I’m a little late with this post.   It’s fun to read everyone’s posts and to see the similarities, and also the little differences within each other’s philosiphies.   As for mine…

I expect my middle school and high school students to be responsible in the classroom.   I tell them that I trust their common sense and judgement to know what is acceptable and what is not in a classroom — they have been going to school for a long time already, so it’s nothing new.   I try to limit how many rules I have spelled out.   However, there are some important ones that I let them know I am serious about:

1. Always be respectful, polite, and appropriate to your classmates and the teacher.   Absolutely no making fun of others.
2. Always follow directions and pay attention when teacher is speaking.
3. NO unsafe behavior (this is a big one).
4. Don’t wear a hat in class.   (I have a thing about hats inside.)

Here is an interesting website that talks about techniques to use in an elementary classroom — some of it can be translated to a secondary classroom: https://www.helium.com/items/852226-how-to-instill-positive-discipline-and-effective-classroom-rules