To establish and maintain a calmer classroom you must learn how to set effective classroom expectations. Here’s some tips on setting expectations that work.
5 Essential expectations for a calmer classroom.
Have you ever noticed those teachers that never seem to have the same challenges with behaviour that you do? They seem to breeze through their lessons and leave you wondering if you should find a new career path? Have you ever asked yourself what’s their secret? How can I do what they do?
Well wonder no longer, This blog post is for you…
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#1 Behaviour strategy
If I had to name just one strategy that is absolutely imperative to effective behaviour management, it would be this: Learn to set and enforce clear expectations. In my many years as behaivour support coach in both high school and primary school environments, the number one reason I see teachers struggling with behaviour management in the classrooms, is a lack of clearly defined and enforced rules or classrooms expectations.
The simple fact is that every human being (unless told otherwise) will create a set of expectations for their behaviour based on what suits their particular needs. Unless you are able to clearly define the boundaries in your classroom, your students will always try to choose their own adventure. And that adventure will almost certainly not fit in with your agenda.
You need to learn how to establish clear expectations.
I was working with the teacher once, and she was complaining that the students in her class didn’t behave. They never did anything that she expected them to do. They wouldn’t line up properly, they wouldn’t put up their hands, they wouldn’t sit in their seats, they were calling out etc. I asked her the question, “Have you ever taught them that this is your expectation?” Well, she paused and she said, “No, I don’t think I have.” She just assumed that because these particular students were in year 10, that they should know how to behave in a classroom and she wouldn’t have to teach them.
Now, it’s a fair assumption. I would expect that year 10s do know how to behave in the classroom, and do you know what? They probably did know how to behave in the classroom. But the reality of managing behavior is every student will wait to be told what your expectation is.
If they don’t get told, they will make up their own expectations. Even when they know what appropriate behavior looks like, frequently, they will do what they want until the teacher has clearly indicated what is appropriate.
So if you haven’t taken the time to explicitly teach your classroom expectations to your students, I want to encourage you; start your day tomorrow doing exactly that. Before you’ve done anything else, start your day clearly communicating your expectations. Now by expectations I mean a short set of rules that helps you to manage most of the behaviours in a class.
Step 1:
Make sure you don’t have more than 5 rules in the classroom. Anymore than 5 is too hard for the kids to remember, and too hard for you to enforce. You are not creating rules for every behaviour ever, just the most frequent ones that you deal with on a daily basis.
Step 2:
The rules that you teach them should be broad, general, catch-all-type of rules. You don’t want rules to be too specific, or too honed in, because then you’re gonna have to have dozens and dozens of rules to deal with lots of different behaviour. You need to look at the top 3 – 5 behaviors that you’re managing everyday in the classroom, and then establish 3 – 5 rules that are broad enough to capture all of the possible variations of that. For example talking. Don’t make a rule for calling out, a rule for asking questions, a rule for talking over peers and a rule for talking over the teacher… (trust me I’ve seen it!). Just create one rule that guides that way in which children engage verbally in the class. (See Rule 2 below for an example of this.)
So for example, in my classroom I use 5 rules designed by Chris Biffle in the Whole Brain Teaching Program (Check it out, I highly recommend it). I recommend these rules because each rule deals with 4 frequent challenges that make up the bulk of disruptive behaviour in the class. Each rule is worded in such a way as to be able to catch each variation without being too broad as to be ineffectual. Here they are.
Rule 1: Follow directions quickly.
It doesn’t matter what the direction is that I give them, they have to follow it quickly. And that’s a catch all expectation. No matter what direction I give them, if they don’t follow it, or if they follow it slowly, I will have a conversation with them about it.
Rule 2: Raise your hand for permission to speak.
In the classroom, if you are talking, children shouldn’t be talking. If you’re giving instructions, nobody else should be talking. They should be listening to your instruction and paying their attention to you. If they want to contribute to the lesson, they need to wait their turn, and they need to do it in an appropriate fashion. The permission part of this rule is essential. You will always have a child that raises their hand and starts speaking before it is their turn. You are the only person in the room that decides who speaks next.
Rule 3: Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat
I don’t want children walking around constantly, because I find that when I let them walk around for little stuff – even sharpening a pencil or getting a tissue without permission – then that little stuff often escalates into bigger stuff where they are disrupting others along the way, or taking unnecessary time to get back to their desk. So I have a hard and fast rule: don’t leave your desk unless you’ve got permission to do so. In doing so, I can actually manage the way that they move about the classroom and know what is happening in my classrooms at all times, rather than having a free for all that leads to a chaotic and disruptive learning environment.
Rule 4: Make smart choices.
Now, this rule probably seems a bit vague, but this is one that I can use to actually help with getting out of arguments. If they’re arguing about their behaviour (which can be common), I simply have to ask them “Is this a smart choice? Are you thinking about your actions before you actually do it?” Frequently, they will know the answer and it’s an easy way to defuse the defiance and redirect them to their task.
Rule 5: Keep Mr Stevenson happy.
This one always gets a laugh but has a very powerful effect. Children have an innate desire to please the adults that care for them. Helping them to understand that their behaviour can and will impact the wellbeing of others (essentially the teacher) will give them pause to think about their actions in light of the people they are trying to please. IT helps them to see that their behaviour is not just about them only. IT also gives me an excellent tool for non verbal behavior management. I start the day with a smiley face on the board. Throughout the day I will adjust the faces mood depending on their behaviour. This helps to give them cues for self regulation rather than requiring me to always verbally correct behaviour.
Now as I mentioned, these 5 rules come from Chris Biffle’s work, WHole Brain Teaching. You don’t have to use them, but I recommend you use them as a starting guide for how you set up your expectations. If you’d like to know more about Chris Biffles work, I highly recommend it and It’s absolutely free.
Well I hope this post has helped you to get clear in your mind about how you can start implementing clear expectations in your classroom. If you haven’t already, make sure you make it a priority to implement your expectations soon.
In summary, create 5 clear rules about classroom behaviour. Teach your students exactly what you expect of them and follow through when they don’t follow those expectations (Learn how to do that here). Do this and your students will never cry foul when you have to correct them. “Well, you never told me, I didn’t know that that was your expectation.”
If you would like to learn more about managing classroom behaviour effectively, why not check out our FREE video course Behaviour Management Blueprint. See below for details.
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5 Essential Strategies for Effective Behaviour Management
