Lauren Dowling
4/16/15
Rules and Procedures
Second Grade
When it comes to establishing norms for general conduct in my classroom I will make
sure that the rules will be easy to follow, concise and fair. I will come up with these rules
together with the class so that the students will feel as though they are a part of the decision
making process and will hopefully be more willing to follow them because they will believe they
are fair. I will generate these rules with my students on the first day of school. I will sit them
down and have a discussion with them about the conduct that I believe is fair for the class. I will
tell them that the rules need to be about treating each other and myself well, listening, taking care
of everyone in the classroom and always doing our personal best no matter what.
I will give students examples of rules that I think are appropriate for the classroom such
as keeping our hands to ourselves and listening respectfully whenever anyone is speaking. I will
then guide the discussion and keep reminding them of the rules that I believe are best for the
class as a whole. When a student suggests a rule I will tell them that it is a good idea, suggest
any tweaks that I believe are best and have the class vote on if they think that it will benefit the
class and is something that we should use as our rule. Examples of rules that I will make sure we
have are Respect yourself, Respect others, Be kind, Be safe. I will also talk to the students about
the importance of these rules and why we have them. I will tell them that we need to create a
safe environment for everybody in the school to create a safe learning environment and tell them
that everyone’s mental and physical safety is important in the school and we always need to do
our best to respect this.
Once we have the rules established we will put them up in the front of the classroom,
they will be on bright paper and written in large font, so the students can always read them and
be able to access them if they have questions on if their behavior is appropriate for the
classroom. I will also have copies go home with the students during the first week of school and
require it to be signed by their parents and returned to me. I will encourage the parents to discuss
the rules with their child, I will even include questions that the parents may want to ask to get the
conversation going and tell them that we came up with the rules as a class and that their child’s
input was very important to creating them. I will also make sure that the administration has a
copy of the rules, I send a copy to the office for them to review before creating the big poster of
the rules for the classroom.
I will have a behavior chart to enforce the rules, but I will try not to use it very much. I
would much rather prefer to redirect behavior in other ways instead of just using the chart as a
threat, because I feel as though students eventually are not fazed by the threat of moving their
clips or flipping their cards. I will try to use verbal clues to redirect behavior and have clues for
the students to know when their behavior is unacceptable and needs to be changed. The behavior
chart will be used in situations where it is truly needed and not for every little minor mishap in
the classroom. If the student does have to move down on the behavior chart more than one time
I will have a prewritten note to send home with them. It will state that there were some behavior
issues in the class that day, it will allow me to write in what the behavior was exactly and what I
would like the parents to talk to the student about, or work on at home.
The behavior chart that I have in class will also have an opportunity to go up, not
just down. If the students are behaving particularly well they will be allowed to move their clip
or tag up and that will result in a positive note being sent home to their parents as well. I will be
much more lenient using the behavior chart to go up than I will be using it to go down. I would
prefer to use the behavior chart to reinforce positive behavior than as a threat and punishment for
negative behavior.
When it comes to minor misbehavior I will try my best to ignore it, if it is something that
can be ignored, if it is not I will insert the child’s name in to instruction to get their attention and
use my best “teacher look” to encourage them to straighten up and stop the undesirable behavior.
If these steps do not work I will ask them to move their clip or tag down on the behavior chart.
For more serious misbehavior I will have conferences with the students, we will talk about what
they are doing and why that is dangerous or not acceptable in the classroom, we will talk about
what I need them to do instead and steps that they can take before they get to the point where
they are acting out. If they are doing something that is dangerous to themselves or others, such a
hitting, I will remove them from the classroom and send them to the office if I have to. For
chronic misbehavior I will use the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports approach. I
will sit with the students and we will come up with a behavior plan. I will make sure that the
behavior plan is easy to follow and reasonable. We will make a contract and have a reward
system in place. I will make it so that in the beginning the student is checked in on very often
and given a reward every time they are deserving at the check in, I will eventually wean it off so
that the student requires fewer check in and fewer rewards as well.
Proper conduct in the classroom is very important to me and I believe that it is essential
to maintain a safe and caring classroom environment. I will always do my best to ensure that
every student is behaving appropriately so that every student have the best opportunity to be
successful in their learning. Maintaining respect for me and for each other is crucial in having a
successful classroom and I will always do my best to ensure that student’s conduct is reflective
of mutual respect. I believe that a well-organized classroom runs smoothly and efficiently.
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Class-Running Routines
Distributing school notices – School notices will be distributed in the folders that students will
take home every night. These notices are to be signed nightly by the student’s parent so that I
know they have seen what is in them.
Going to the restroom – When a student needs to use the restroom they will hold their hands up
with a sign language letter “t” so I know that they need to go, I will make eye contact with the
student and either nod or shake my head to let them know that it is ok for them to go.
Lesson-Running Routines
Collecting in-class assignments – When students complete an in-class assignment they will turn
it in to my “in box” a box that is at the front of the room and is clearly labeled so that all work is
in one place.
What to do when assignments have been completed – When a student has completed all
assignments they are expected to go back and complete any work that they may not have finished
that day or earlier in the week, if they do not have any incomplete work they will be able to
choose a book and read it quietly until the whole class has completed the assignment.
Interaction Routines
When the teacher is working with a small group – When the teacher is working in a small group
students should do their best to figure out any problems on their own, if they are not able to solve
a problem they are to quietly stand near the group until the teacher acknowledges them and is
able to talk to them. If it is an emergency the student is allowed to disrupt the group.
During small-group work – During small group work students are allowed to talk amongst each
other quietly as long as the talk is appropriate and at a good working level. If the students are
having inappropriate conversations and/or being too noisy they will not be able to talk at all.