Developing Classroom Culture And Expectations

Developing Classroom Culture
and Expectations

There are many ways to create and enforce behavior expectations in schools. The following are suggestions of effective ways to create a positiveclassroom environment, but as the teacher you should feel free to change them as you see fit to best address the needs of your particular students and classroom.

Creating Classroom Rules

In orderto help students see the importance of classroom rules, you might ask them, “What would the world be like without any laws?” Students will most likely respond that there would be more violence, theft,etc. Next, ask students what the school would be like without any rules at all. Students might respond that students would arrive late, steal from each other, etc. Discuss why rules are important andstress that if everyone follows the rules and respects each other, the school will be a much more pleasant place to be, and students will be able to learn even more.

For older children, you mightask them to help you come up with the rules that they should follow in the class. You can brainstorm rules as a class, and then select the most important 4 or 5 to post in the class. This activityshould be discussion based so that students are forced to think critically about why each rule is important. Try to frame the rules in a positive way, stressing what the students SHOULD do, rather thatwhat they SHOULD NOT do. For example, “Raise your hand before you speak” is preferable to “DON’T speak without raising your hand”. Finally, you can write the rules on a poster and post it in a visibleplace in the class. You may even want students to sign the poster so that they feel greater ownership of the rules. When a student breaks a rule, you can simply point to the poster and ask, “Which ruleare you breaking?”

Possible Rules/Expectations

1. Be kind and respectful to everyone
2. Do your best to turn in all your work on time
3. Use a quiet voice when working in groups, be silent...