Saturday, February 7, 2015

Classroom Rules

I like to set clear expectations for my students because until I make my expectations known, I only have myself to blame when things go wrong. When I first started teaching I found students didn't always behave the way I thought they should have. I quickly realized it was my job as the leader of the classroom to communicate my expectations to them. This lead to the development of my 6 classroom rules. 

  1. Don't be late. - This was a big problem for me at my public school in Korea. Setting the rule nipped this behavior in the bud after a couple of weeks. 
  2. Listen to the teacher. - Again, at public schools in Korea it is normal for students to talk amongst themselves while the teacher is speaking. Many teachers resort to using a microphone and speaker to overcome the noise. Again, I found that setting the rule nipped this behavior in the bud after a couple of weeks. 
  3. Don't draw on the desk. - A pet hate of mine. 
  4. Don't laugh at your friends. - It's okay to laugh with your friends, but not AT your friends. Don't make people feel bad for doing their best. 
  5. Bring your books and a pen to every class. - Can't do any much work without these two vital pieces of equipment. 
  6. Never give up! - English is difficult, you have to keep trying. 

I made students write these in the back of their workbooks so whenever someone broke a rule I could ask the whole class to recite the rule. For example, if a student was late "What is rule number 1"? to which the whole class would reply "Don't be late".

Anyway, here is a powerpoint of my rules with Korean translations to make sure even low level students understand. Included in the slides are a simple punishment system I used. Each class would get three stars on the whiteboard. Each time a rule was broken, a star would get erased. When no stars remained, I started adding +1 to the board which was the amount of time the whole class had to stay back after the bell. Students quickly began policing the rules when I started taking their personal time away from them. 

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