Classroom Rules And Expectations

1. Classroom Rules And Expectations Pdf
2. Classroom Rules And Expectations Preschool
3. Classroom Rules And Expectations Printable

Preschool Classroom Rules and Expectations Pre-K Classroom Rules. And don't even get me started on words like obey and responsible, those words are even more. Using Rules with Visual Picture Cues. You'll have the most success getting your students to follow the rules if you use. In this video, I share with you my story and how putting the right Rules and Expectations into place made a world of difference in my classroom!.

With teachers at all levels of education around the country continuing to teach many, if not all, of their classes in a virtual environment, they're quickly adapting to this new online learning environment and the benefits and challenges it brings. One important best practice that many are adopting relates to virtual classroom rules and expectations.

While, in many ways, virtual classroom rules and expectations are not much different than expectations instructors have of students in the physical classroom, it's important to be explicit about the rules to ensure student compliance and to set the stage for a positive learning environment. Here we take a look at some common virtual classroom rules and expectations being established at both the K-12 and higher-ed levels.

At the K-12 level, both students and their parents should be involved when communicating expectations of online learning and virtual classrooms, ranging from suggestions for the best environment for learning to rules of engagement.

Sarah Miller, ateacher and blogger, says: 'One important rule for kids to remember when they are attending online classes is to treat their home like a public space,' says Miller. 'Everyone in the class can see what's on their camera.' Students, she says, should dress as they would if they were coming to school physically. 'They should try to find a place that has minimal distractions in the background and minimal background noise,' she says. Importantly, they need to understand that the class can see everything that their camera can see.

Since technology is such an integral part of the online learning experience, teachers also need to ensure that students (and parents) are comfortable with the technology.

Taking classes online has been new for many students, especially those at the K-12 level. It's important, says Miller, for students to know how to use the technology that is being used and to follow whatever norms might be in place with the technology.

For instance, she says: 'I like to mute all the kids' microphones during the lesson, and only unmute one child at a time when they are answering or asking a question.' This, she says, helps students understand how to mute and unmute their own microphones. They should also learn how to type a question or answer in the chat box, she says. ' It helps for kids to understand how to mute and unmute their microphone and type a question or answer in the chat box, so that they can participate fully in the lessons. 'If kids are too young to do these things on their own, parents should be nearby and paying attention to the lesson so that they can help out,' Miller suggests.

And, while common rules of courtesy may seem obvious, teachers should be explicit about their expectations for engagement in virtual classrooms.

It's important to establish clear expectations for virtual classrooms, says Margaret Choi, who is an SEO manager and teacher atCodeWizardsHQ, where she teaches all of her classes virtually to students age 8-18. These will vary based on student age, she says.

'Every class is different, but general ground rules of being respectful of me and each other and not talking over each other. I ask students to put their listening ears on and focus in.' With younger students, she says, mics are kept on mute, and 'we stay locked in our seats.' Students are asked to use the raise hands feature in Zoom if they have questions.

With older students, mics and cameras are left on to encourage participation. But, she says, there's 'no playing around with annotations or drawing on the screen; some kids provide helpful annotations and that is welcome.' What's nice, she says, is 'I can easily stop any speaking out of turn or messing with the presentation with a simple click.'

In addition, she says, she asks students to use their real names. Anticipating and preparing for the kinds of issues that can lead to disruption, up front, can make it easier to manage unexpected situations that occur when teaching in virtual classrooms.

Classroom Rules And Expectations Pdf

Things can go wrong in a virtual environment and Choi recommends preparing students for the unexpected up front. 'I give them a warning up front on what to do if I ever disappear,' she says. 'First don't panic! I will be back, promise. I'm not actually gone, or I will send someone in to help.'

There are some virtual classroom rules and expectations that transcend age and grade or level in school. Managing surroundings, knowing how to use the technology, and basic rules of engagement, for instance.

At the higher-ed level, and even in more advanced grades in K-12, instructors should involve students in creating ground rules for the virtual classroom. This involvement will help them feel more ownership and responsibility for adhering to the guidelines and may also lead to expectations that the instructor hadn't thought of. Some areas of potential discussion to help create explicit expectations for virtual classrooms and online learning might include:

• Keeping cameras on unless the student has received explicit permission to not do so; the ability to use backgrounds, and to blur out backgrounds can help in situations where students may have concerns about privacy or other issues.
• Students should be attentive and prepared to respond to a question at any time during the class period.
• When to use the chat feature, versus asking a question out loud; what types of questions should be raised via chat versus out loud?
• How should annotation, emoticons and stickers be used, if at all, when the professor or others are presenting?
• Expectations for interacting in breakout rooms; instructors should clearly indicate that they will be 'popping in' to these rooms randomly to check on student progress and respond to any questions, for instance.
• What is, or what may not be, appropriate to share when screen sharing.

Students aren't the only ones who should be expected to follow certain guidelines and meet expectations for engaging during online classes—instructors should also commit to following the same expectations, and any others that students may recommend.

While every situation and virtual classroom is different, and needs will vary based on age, grade level, and course content or type of course, what's most important is making expectations clear and explicit at the outset, while also leaving the door open for additional virtual classroom rules and expectations to be raised throughout the course.

It's a shared learning experience for all of us. Flexibility and a commitment from all to contribute to a positive learning environment will help to make virtual learning as positive and engaging as possible.

• Challenge
• Initial Thoughts
• Perspectives & Resources
• Wrap Up

Page 2: Understanding Behavior Expectations and Rules

For most young children—that is, those ages three to five—school is a complex and novel setting. Educators should not simply assume that young children will intuitively understand the expectations of this new environment. Rather, early childhood teachers need to be prepared to support and promote appropriate behavior. When children understand what is expected of them, they are more likely to display appropriate behavior. Thus, it is important for teachers to establish behavior expectations and rules as part of the overall classroom behavior management system. Behavior expectations and rules are important for young children because they explicitly describe how to behave.

Behavior Expectations

Sample Behavior Expectations

• Be safe
• Be responsible
• Be respectful

Although the terms behavior expectations and rules are often used interchangeably, they actually refer to different things. Behavior expectations can be defined as broad goals for behavior or the general ways that teachers would like children to act. They serve as guidelines for behavior and apply to all children across all settings. In addition, behavior expectations apply to the adults in these settings.

Ideally, behavior expectations are developed for the entire school or center and are used as a framework for helping teachers to establish rules and provide guidance to children. Because behavior expectations are often broad concepts and somewhat abstract for very young children, teachers should create rules to help clarify their meaning as they are applied within specific activities and contexts. Teachers who work in centers where such expectations are not in place can still establish rules and expectations to guide children's behavior.

Rules

By contrast, rules define the appropriate behaviors that educators want children to demonstrate. These behaviors should be concrete, observable, and measurable. Rules might vary depending on the setting (e.g., classroom, lunchroom, outside). Teachers can use a matrix to specify the explicit rules that reflect each behavior expectation. A matrix can be used to maintain continuity across settings when appropriate and to clarify for children how behavior expectations will vary in different settings. For example, consider how the expectation 'Be safe' can be defined in various settings. In the classroom and in the hallway, 'Be safe' translates into the rule 'Use walking feet.' However, on the playground, 'Use walking feet' is not a requirement; instead, 'Sit on bikes, slide, and swings' is a more appropriate rule.

Classroom Rules And Expectations Preschool

The matrix below illustrates how some behavior expectations can be translated into rules for the classroom, playground, and hallway.

Listen as Amanda Peirick and Mary Louise Hemmeter discuss the differences between behavior expectations and classroom rules. Mary Louise Hemmeter further explains how establishing behavior expectations and rules can help prevent problem behaviors before they happen.

Amanda Peirick, MEd
Lead Teacher, Susan Gray School
Nashville, TN

(time: 1:01)

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Classroom Rules And Expectations Printable

ML Hemmeter, PhD
Professor, Special Education
Co-Faculty Director of the Susan Gray School for Children
Vanderbilt University

(time: 2:10)

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Transcript: Amanda Peirick, MEd

When I think about behavior expectations, I think about these sort of broad or general goals that we have. These are things that really transcend every activity that we're doing throughout the school environment. So it's things like being respectful, being responsible, being safe. One of the ones we have at our school is being a team player. There's these broad concepts that organize what positive behaviors we want to have. When I think about rules, I think about specific behaviors that fall under these things. At the school I work, our whole school has these expectations, and then I sat down with my kids and I thought about, all right, responsible doesn't really feel very meaningful for them. What can we do to teach them what being responsible looks like in our classroom? We came up with some more specific rules, like use your walking feet, use your quiet voice, or your nice words, use your gentle touches. Those were our classroom rules, and so they had really concrete images of what it meant to be a team player, to be safe in the school environment.

I think that the benefit of having a classroom where these rules and expectations are pervasive throughout everything you do is that kids know what to expect. They know what they're supposed to be doing. More often than not, when you give kids the chance to do what they're supposed to be doing, do what you've asked them to do, what positive behaviors you've told them to do, they're going to choose to do that rather than something that is a more challenging behavior. Creating these environments really just helps kids know what to do and what to expect.

Transcript: ML Hemmeter, PhD

ML Hemmeter, PhD
Professor, Special Education
Co-Faculty Director of the Susan Gray School for Children
Vanderbilt University

(time: 2:10)

/wp-content/uploads/module_media/ecbm_media/audio/ecbm_p02_expectations_ml.mp3

Transcript: Amanda Peirick, MEd

When I think about behavior expectations, I think about these sort of broad or general goals that we have. These are things that really transcend every activity that we're doing throughout the school environment. So it's things like being respectful, being responsible, being safe. One of the ones we have at our school is being a team player. There's these broad concepts that organize what positive behaviors we want to have. When I think about rules, I think about specific behaviors that fall under these things. At the school I work, our whole school has these expectations, and then I sat down with my kids and I thought about, all right, responsible doesn't really feel very meaningful for them. What can we do to teach them what being responsible looks like in our classroom? We came up with some more specific rules, like use your walking feet, use your quiet voice, or your nice words, use your gentle touches. Those were our classroom rules, and so they had really concrete images of what it meant to be a team player, to be safe in the school environment.

I think that the benefit of having a classroom where these rules and expectations are pervasive throughout everything you do is that kids know what to expect. They know what they're supposed to be doing. More often than not, when you give kids the chance to do what they're supposed to be doing, do what you've asked them to do, what positive behaviors you've told them to do, they're going to choose to do that rather than something that is a more challenging behavior. Creating these environments really just helps kids know what to do and what to expect.

Transcript: ML Hemmeter, PhD

Generally, we think expectations are broader statements about what we want children to do. They might be something like: Be safe, be a team player, be a friend, be kind, be responsible, be respectful. But when you think about three, four, and five-years-olds who aren't going to know what it means to be safe, be respectful, be responsible, the rules are more specific behaviors that would be tied to those expectations. So if we had an expectation that would 'be responsible,' some of the rules might be 'clean up your toys after you play with them' and that way to be responsible. Or if one of your expectations is to 'be a team player' then one of the rules might be 'we help our friends.' If your expectation is to 'be safe' then we might say 'we clean up our toys so children don't trip on them.' The rules are really the specific behaviors that would be associated with the more broad general statement, which is the expectation.

For Your Information

It is important for teachers to recognize the role that culture plays in behavior when they establish classroom expectations. For instance:

• The acceptability of behavior is often culturally determined. Behaviors such as talking while another is talking, calling out in response to a question, making eye contact, and many other behaviors are heavily influenced by culture.
• When there is a mismatch between the culture of a child and the culture of the teacher, the teacher might perceive the child's behavior as challenging.
• Expectations and rules can help children to crack the code about the different ways to behave in different settings.
• It is critical to focus on respect and relationships with all children. Adults should monitor their own behavior to make sure they are responding to children fairly and consistently.

Revisit Mrs. Rodriquez's Classroom

Mrs. Rodriquez has never really thought about trying to align her classroom rules with the behavior expectations of her school. She likes the idea of using the school-wide behavior expectations ('We are safe,' 'We are team members,' and 'We are respectful') as a framework for developing rules for her classroom and other areas of the school. She wonders how she can do that and whether it will make a difference in how her children follow the classroom rules.