Classroom
Routines, Procedures, and Transitions:
Describe the routines and
procedures you will establish to facilitate a smoothly operating classroom
[e.g., attendance, beginning and ending of the day [class period if
departmentalized], students’ classroom responsibilities, manage materials and
supplies, monitor assignments and completion of homework]. Explain how you will develop classroom rules
and/or expectations and what these might include. Include an explanation of how these will be
communicated to students, families, and others in the school. You also need to
include examples of the transitions, within lessons and between lessons that
you will use to insure a predictable, safe learning environment for all
students.
Overview
Given that classroom routines,
procedures, and transitions are an integral part to the success of managing
classroom behavior, it is critical that in my future classroom I establish
practical routines that can help shape my student’s understanding of their role
in individual and whole group responsibility. To facilitate a smoothly operating
class there are several factors that encompass routines, procedures, and
transitions. Since middle school is departmentalized the transitions between
classes is critical to avoiding a disruptive flow of students’ focus. Prior to
establishing classroom routines and procedures, it is critical that I spend at
least two weeks introducing, practicing, and reviewing classroom rules and
expectations so that students can build the routines and procedures based on
these expectations.
Entry/Exit
Procedures
One of the first classroom expectations
I intend to review with my class is entry and exit procedures. For all
procedures and expectations, I will definitely create posters that either
visually represents the correct way to follow through with an expectation or
text-support that helps students understand the steps in properly adhering to
my classroom expectations and rooms. While eventually I would like for the
students to play a role in establishing classroom rules and expectations, I
believe that the first two weeks should be spent implementing the school-wide
and classroom-specific expectations as I see them fit. As my rapport with
students grows throughout the year and students build positive relationships
and trust in me, then I can implement student ideas into new rules and
expectations or modifications to the previous rules to incorporate their
opinions and ideas. For example, for my classroom entry procedure, I will make
a poster indicating that students and I will greet each other with a fist bump,
high-five, hand-shake, or secret hand-shake of their choice. Allowing students
to do this upon entering the classroom encourages students to build rapport
with me and establish a classroom culture where students and I both know that
we can fully trust and rely on one another. Secondly, enforcing the three step
rule to entering the classroom (enter at a level zero, take a seat, complete
your do now) allows students to establish habits that provide structure in the
classroom. As an exit procedure, I will also have a poster that indicates the
proper way students should exit; in my classroom, this will be all members at a
table are seated in the ready position to exit which means their belongings are
put away, materials are stowed away, floors are clean and their hands are
folded in front of them ready to exit. Establishing these entry and exit
procedures is easier said than done of course; however, allotting sufficient
time for a class discussion regarding the need for such procedures will
eliminate push-back and behavior issues in the long-run.
Attendance
In regards to attendance, it is critical
to be consistent when allotting time for and taking attendance. Next year, I
plan to have my own classroom attendance sheets created so that when I pick up
the students in the morning and they receive their “morning message,” I am
silently checking off students name as I see them. This allows me to save-time
during the actual five-minute breakfast and attendance period to review
students who are absent and enter attendance into Impact to submit and maintain
accurate records. I am an advocate for student-centered jobs and roles in the
classroom, so while I may start off with me doing attendance, eventually I
would like to have a responsible student complete my personalized attendance
sheet in the mornings as students enter class and then I would subsequently
make record of the attendance in the online attendance system. For students
that are Tardy, they will need to submit their tardy slip into a bin at the
door and I will have my student filer organize the tardy student slips into a
tardy binder to maintain record of the dates and times of tardy students. The
expectation in my class will be that we do our best to start the day on time
and end on time—so, students who receive three tardy markings will receive a
detention to serve with me where we collaborate on a plan and practical
measures that can be taken to arrive to school on time. Lastly, tracking
student attendance on a dry-erase data chart allows students to implement their
math skills and calculate their daily attendance percentage. Rotating through
homeroom students to complete this task allows the classroom to set goals for
attendance and even encourage their peers to increase their attendance if he or
she has a tendency to have low school attendance.
During Class:
Materials and Transitions
When entering class, students will
be expected to enter at a level zero, take a seat, and complete their do now.
When students are transitioning from the do now to whole group instruction or
science stations, students will follow the poster titled “Science Station
Expectations” and “Whole-Group Instruction Expectations.” I think that it is
beneficial for the first two months to consistently have one student read the
day’s objective, read the expectations as per type of activity for the day, and
do a quick check for understanding regarding the expectations. Holding students
accountable for thinking about the expectations helps minimize disruptive or
off-task behavior during class because as the teacher you can reference the
whole-class conversation at the beginning of class and why the student chose to
be disruptive or off-task after hearing the classroom rules and expectations
for that day.
A large part of both whole-group instruction
and science stations is the acquisition and distribution of science materials
and laboratory equipment. To do so, I plan to implement what I have learned
this year regarding the use of group bins. Every group will have a number
hanging above their table. Each table will have a designated leader that may
change from day to day based on the colored dot that they are seated at. For
example, on a Tuesday the designated group leader may be the person sitting in
the color pink and therefore that person who take on the role of the group
leader for that day. The group leader’s responsibility is to retrieve materials
from the lab set-up station in the back of the classroom by grabbing the bin
corresponding to their group’s number and any additional materials (i.e.
goggles) that are listed on their materials list. In each group’s bin is also a
folder with activity title and instructions stapled on the front of the folder
and graphic organizer or other required papers inside the folder.
When students are finished with their
lab activity, station, or group work, they are responsible for setting up the
bin so that it is ready for the next class to use. It will be each group’s
responsibility to have their bin set up exactly the way that they found it, and
the group leader’s responsibility to return the bin (upon approval by me) to
the lab set-up station. Students will also have bins as needed with ten colored
pencils, ten markers, four pairs of scissors, and two glue sticks and one group
member should count and ensure that they have all craft materials on their bin
check list inside their bin. Since my expectation is that students hold
themselves and their group members responsible for setting up and cleaning up
their stations and bins to near perfection so that the following class can use
it, students will remain busy to get their table or station on track. Keeping
students busy and holding their organization skill to high expectations
minimizes behavioral issues amongst students because the students are focused
on wrapping up, cleaning, and organizing their station. An incentive like
“table points” will likely be implemented in this part of classroom routines.
Tables will be ranked in order of who organized and cleaned up their station to
perfection and the quickest, and the groups will be ranked according, with 1st
place receiving 5 points, 2nd place receiving 4 points, 3rd
place receiving 3 points, and so forth. Tallies of table points will be posted
on the front board for students to keep track of and a biweekly incentive will
be given to the table with the most points from each class.
In terms of transitioning, there are two
primary transitions that occur in the science classroom. First is the
transition from station to station with a class. Second is the transition
between classes since middle school science is a departmentalized subject. Regarding
the transitions within class between science stations, I previously discussed
in my classroom layout the importance of having station set up so that students
can easily transition from station to station in less than fifteen seconds.
This requires the arrangement of the desks and furniture to be in a triangular
shape so that at no point students are crisscrossing within the classroom.
Providing students the time constraints and integrating light competition
between all grade levels encourages students to transition quickly and
efficiently without talking. However, it is imperative that I establish
print-support and rules regarding science station transitions and the
importance of transitioning quickly. Using a timer during these transitions
helps students stay on track so that when the timer buzzer goes off, students
who are not seated at the next station feel a sense of urgency to transition to
the next station quietly and more efficiently. Using my first implementation of
science stations from this year, I learned that it benefits both students and
teacher to actually practice transitioning between stations—all the way from
being seated, standing up, pushing in chairs, walking quietly to the next
station, and sitting down. Narrating the students who are working efficiently
encourages other students to be on-task and comply with expectations while
establishing an organized and routine science station transition.
Regarding transitions between classes or
grade-levels in middle school, it is critical that I set the expectations for
entering and exit a classroom by practicing it with the students. I think that
it is beneficial to practice both the correct and incorrect ways to enter and
exit a classroom because it allows students to role-play realistic scenarios
and correct themselves and their own behaviors rather than me verbalizing all
the behavior-corrections. Next year during the first two weeks, I will have ten
students’ role-play entry and exit routines of the classroom which both include
silently entering and exiting the classroom, standing one square between each
other when lined up, and keeping our hands and feet to ourselves while we are
in line. Setting these expectations and explaining the importance of following these expectations in the greater
scheme of the school allows students to follow the expectation with the
reasoning that they understand why they need to follow the expectation. Role-playing
correct and incorrect scenarios between class transitions allows students to
identify what common mistakes students make when exiting and entering the
classroom and brainstorm ways to overcome these mistakes.
Assignments and
Homework
In order to monitor student progress in
regards to assignments and homework, I will adapt a homework system similar to
that of my mentor. In my classroom next year, students will receive homework in
cycles. Each cycle of homework will span over a period of two weeks. For each
cycle, students will need to complete several objectives that address content
covered over a unit as well as vocabulary cards. Students’ homework will be due
two days prior to their assessment on the unit so that I can grade and return
their homework in time for them to review their homework for their assessment.
To minimize paper clutter, students will complete their cycle homework in their
composition notebook which we be organized into sections at the beginning of
the school year. Cycle homework forces students to allot their time wisely to
finishing their science assignments—therefore, for the first few months I will
do daily check-ins to ensure that students are completing one objective per day
as listed on the cycle homework. Since students will complete their homework in
their composition notebook science journals, I will collect notebooks biweekly
and return the following day to ensure students’ have their homework readily
available as a study tool for their unit assessment.
A late-work policy for homework will be
as follows—for each day students turn in their homework late, I will take the
following percentages of their total score for each late day: 1 day late: 90%
of score; 2 days late: 80% of score; 3 days late: 70% of score; 4 days or more
late: Zero. These late-policy rules will be posted on the bulletin board and
near the homework trays so students understand the penalties they receive for
turning in their homework late. Despite the penalties, I will always be
encouraging of students to turn in their homework even if it is up to three
days late to ensure they receive fair partial credit.
Regarding in-class assignments or other
in-class projects or work, students will be expected to complete a lesson with
its respective graphic organizer and turn in their graphic organizer in their
station or table folder at the end of class. I will then collect all the
graphic organizers or assignments from all folders and place them in a
take-home tray to grade and return to the students within two days.
If student’s missed a day of school,
there will be a pocket chart in the back of the classroom with missed
assignments for students that were absent the prior day(s). Students will be
responsible for finding their missing papers or packet in the pocket chart with
their name and turning in their missed assignments the following day. Students
will have only 24 hours to make up assignments; after that, the late-policy
rules for homework will apply to their missed assignments. Students who miss
too many school days may receive an alternate project to complete if making up
assignments becomes too cumbersome.
Family
Communication of Classroom Expectations
While implementing and discussing
student rules and expectations in the classroom is critical for any teacher, it
is equally important for teachers to relay the rules expectations to students’
families and guardians so that the rules and expectations of school can be
reinforced in their homes. My mentor did a great job of doing this at the
beginning of the school year by mailing home and sending a pamphlet with
students to their parents regarding the expectations for the science classroom
in the current school year. Listed on the brochure was a short biography and
contact information of the teachers. In addition to this, classroom supplies
required for science were listed alongside the consequences for not having
classroom materials on an everyday basis. In addition, the important rules of
the classroom were listed including the expectations for homework completion, attendance,
participation, and a percentage breakdown of how much weighted percentage
assessments, homework, participation, projects, and collaboration encompass. In
addition, expectations regarding respecting the teacher, classmates, and
environment were noted in the pamphlet. I believe that includes these different
aspects in a brochure for parents keeps them up-to-date with the expectations
and can be used as a reference during parent phone calls or conferences for
behavior issues with the class. Parents always enjoy knowing what their student
is doing in school, so sending out brochures at the beginning of the year to
welcome students and parents and explain classroom procedures and expectations
helps parents hold themselves and their children accountable for their
student’s behavior in the classroom.
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