Management, Routines, and Procedures. Oh My!

Ah…those first days of school…the time that you, as a classroom teacher, have both eagerly anticipated and had massive nightmares about, complete with cold sweats and heart palpitations.  You know you’re ready.  The decorations are in place.  The white boards and floor have been scrubbed and buffed to a shine. The books are laid out, awaiting the first eager hands of the year to hold them.  Desks, tables, and chairs are arranged in what you hope is the optimum arrangement, at least for the first few weeks. Lesson plans are in place with copies nestled neatly in trays, awaiting use.  Everything is neat, organized, and…waiting.  You can even see the top of your desk!  You are ready, right?  Ummm…maybe. 

Have you laid out a plan for your classroom procedures and how you plan on teaching them? Teaching procedures?  You mean that long, boring list of rules and what-to-do’s that you go through the first day every year?  And then you spend the rest of the year reminding the same students daily that their homework goes in the blue basket and yes, you do have to sign out and take a pass to go to the bathroom. Yeah, those. 

If you haven’t already, sit down and make a list of the behaviors that you want your students to exhibit throughout the year.  Bathroom only during work time?  Sharpen their own pencils or have a table captain take care of that each morning?  Drinks between classes or during?  Getting your attention during a lesson?  Once you’ve made your list of dream behaviors, understand that just explaining these ONCE to your students will not set these routines in stone.  Like any other skill they learn, students will need to be exposed to these routines repeatedly during the first few days or weeks.  Routines will need to be explained and modeled, reinforced with praise, and retaught when needed.  Experienced teachers will tell you that a class that has practiced routines until they know them well will be a much easier class to manage than one only exposed to them in a “first day of school” lecture. Your students, just like adults, are creatures of habit. They are more comfortable when they have the security of a planned sequence of expectations.

So, how do you do this?  Your first few days, or ideally, first two weeks, of school, should be a mixture of community building activities; teaching routines and procedures; simple lessons to ease them back into the academic routine, and observations of where your students are academically.

Try this:

Before school begins:  Put yourself in the shoes of your new students.  Create a list of every possible behavior you’d like to manage for them.  Think about what routines in the classroom will make this easy for your students.

First Day:  Establish how you will get their attention. Some teachers use clapping, raising a quiet hand, or a call-and-response chant. Teach a system that works for you right off the bat.  Practice it off and on throughout the time you have with your students.

Create classroom rules with your students. Ask students what they need in order to do their best learning. Guide them here if they are missing vital rules or not taking this seriously.  Write the rules in the positive (“We will use inside voices.”), write them on a posterboard or make an anchor chart, and have students sign them.  This may offer an opportunity to introduce a few routines (raising hands to get the teacher’s attention, using the pencil sharpener without bothering classmates).

Explain your system of consequences in case a rule is broken. Model this if you have students that you KNOW like roleplaying.  My students in the past have loved it when I played the role of the rule breaker and they got to be the “teacher”.

Determine a reward system with students. Make sure to point out that if everyone follows the class rules and procedures most of the time they will get the reward of learning a lot, but what other rewards do they want? Preferred Activity Time? Stickers? Extra recess? Brag tags?  You’d be surprised how simple rewards for some students can be!

Week One.  Now that the first day basics are out of the way, begin the job of teaching and practicing the list of routines and procedures that you created before school started. This is the key to a smooth classroom that allows you to teach instead of micromanaging. Prioritize your list and plan for introducing the routines over the course of several days, starting with the most important ones first (such when and where can they go to the bathroom).

Don’t overwhelm your kids with routines and procedures—too many at once and they will forget them. Some procedures will pop up on their own:  A visitor stops by the class; when she leaves, you teach expectations for what happens when a visitor comes in. Some are taught according to your schedule. Teach the lunch and recess routines right before lunch and recess.  Make sure to plan time to practice routines until kids get them down. Practice lining up for recess.  Practice turning in papers.  Practice pushing in chairs and walking quietly in the hallway to art and music. Review the more important routines each day for the first week or two.  If someone forgets, quietly help them tell you the routine and let them practice it quickly for you without making a class production out of it.  They’ll get the hang of it!

So, what are some of the routines you might want to establish?  Here are some ideas!

• When and where to go to the bathroom.
• When and where to get drinks.
• Can students have snacks or water bottles in the room?
• What to do with personal phones / electronics (especially for older students).
• Handling school electronic equipment such as Chromebooks or Ipads.
• Treatment of books in the classroom – both library books and textbooks.
• How will we handle story time / chapter book read aloud time.  Do kids come to a corner or carpet?  Do they stay at their seat?  May they color or work on other things while you read?
• What does quiet reading look like?
• How centers or workstations will operate.
• What are the expectations for group work?
• Where do we put lunch boxes?  Backpacks? Band instruments or gym bags for sports? When can we access them?
• How to behave when a visitor drops by or the classroom phone rings.  (I actually had 5th grade “secretaries” trained to answer the phone when I was teaching in front of the class and small groups.  Check with your office, though, before doing that.)
• What do I do if I don’t finish my work?
• Where does homework go?
• What happens if I have homework and I don’t return it?
• What do we do when we first arrive at school?
• Where do we eat breakfast?
• Is there morning seatwork?
• What do we do for lunch count/attendance?
• How do we line up for lunch?  Where do we sit? How do we return our lunch trays and dispose of trash?
• When is recess?  How do we go out for recess?  What rules do we have for the playground?  What do we do if the weather is bad and we can’t go outside?
• How do we get the teacher’s attention?
• When and where can we sharpen our pencils?  Get a tissue?  Access art supplies?  Find classroom supplies for daily use?
• How do we clean up?
• Do we have table captains?  Who are the helpers?  How will you decide on the helpers?
• How do we take turns?  Does the teacher call on us random?  Does she use an app on the whiteboard?  Popsicle sticks with names on them in a cup?
• How do we check out classroom library books?
• How do I ask for help?
• What happens if I get sick during class?
• Who do I talk to if someone is bothering or bullying me?
• What do I do to clean up and pack up at the end of the day?
• If I lose something, where might I find it?
• What do I do if I find something that isn’t mine and doesn’t have a place in the classroom supplies? (turning in lost items)
• What emergency drills are in place?  Practice them.  
• How should my desk or locker look?
• What do I do if I finish my work early and have free time?
• Where do our coats go?
• Do you have calendar time?  What will you do during this time?
• What are the end of the day procedures?  When do we pack up?  What do we take home?
• How do we leave for the day?  Do walkers and car riders go first?  Is there an area for parents to meet students?  Where do bus riders line up?  Is there a certain door you have to use at the end of the day?

Whew!  That’s a lot to cover. I’ve probably missed a few, too!  Use this list, if you like, as a starting point.  What routines DO YOU want to stress in your classroom?