Louise Glasgow
4/14/15
Rules and Procedures Narrative
In my future classrooms I plan to establish rules, expectations and procedures on the first day of
school. I’ve found from tutoring experiences that allowing students to help with the creative process of
setting rules is beneficial. Something about knowing that the rules are their own seems to motivate
students to respect the guidelines more consistently. I’ve created rules with my students a few times
before and there are always a few major subjects addressed: respecting others, actively listening,
respecting the room/materials, and always trying our best.
When forming rules about how we treat one another, respect is a reoccurring term. Respect
can mean a variety of things, especially depending on your own personal background, culture, and
upbringing. I find it very important to define “respect” as a class. I’ll ask the students “when we say
‘respect one another’ what does that mean? What does it look like?” I have found from experience that
this step is crucial to setting clear expectations. In the past my students have given me negatively
worded answers such as “don’t put each other down.” As I’ve continued my studies and teacher
preparation I now plan on paraphrasing these negative guidelines (don’t do this/ don’t do that) with the
desired positive behavior instead. For example, if my student were to say “don’t hit each other,” I would
respond by saying “yes, that’s right, we keep our hands to ourselves.” Essentially, the statements mean
the same thing, but one focuses on undesirable behavior while the other promotes positive behavior.
Active listening can fall under the broad umbrella of “respect” but I would prefer to address it
individually. Although active listening will benefit students as well, this rule is more for me, as a teacher,
than anyone else. If I can lay down the expectation from day one that I need students’ full attention
when I’m teaching or giving directions, I will save myself a lot of trouble and repetition throughout the
year. Active listening goes both ways, and if this were to become a class rule or standard, I would make
it clear to my students that I, too, will actively listen when they are speaking as well.
Respecting the room and resources provided is an important rule to consider enforcing.
Typically students I’ve tutored don’t immediately recommend this rule. I’ve found with a little
prompting, such as “what should our class look like?” or “is there anything we need to note about our
belongings?” I can bring it out of them. Students will typically say things like no stealing, no slamming
things, etc. I would discuss with the class all of the potential ways to make a room useful versus
debilitating, which could typically fall under the broad rule of respecting the room. Since I tutor middle
school math, calculators are often a clean-cut example: how are we supposed to use calculators to do
our work if they’re all stolen or broken from mistreatment? Textbooks are also a great example to use.
One of the most important rules I personally think a room can have is to always try your best
and/or stay positive. This rule can be hard to follow at all times, even for teachers, but it can make or
break the climate of a classroom. I’ve had students define this as “not giving up when work seems to
hard” and “asking for help if you need it.” I like to use this rule to reinforce respect, because if we’re all
trying our very best (and nobody is perfect) we’d all like to know we’re safe from scrutiny. In the future
I will ask students if trying our best can sometimes mean leaning on a classmate for help and support, to
which I hope they’d answer yes. My goal is to create an environment in which children are less prone to
giving up which can often affect their attitude and overall demeanor in the room.
Most rules can fit into one of the four main categories I’ve previously addressed. For example,
raising your hand is often part of “respect” according to my seventh graders. Turning work in on time,
even if it’s not all correct, is part of “trying your best” because there’s no reason or excuse to not make
an attempt. In the past I’ve used broad rules such as respect others in the classroom and we’ve written
bullets underneath with what it means for clarification. I’ve found that this keeps the quantity of rules
low, making them easier to remember. If someone were to demonstrate poor behavior such as talking
over me during a lesson, I ask them “are you treating me with respect?” so there isn’t much of a need to
establish “don’t talk over the teacher” as an official rule.
Consequences should be specific to the child’s behavior and not excessively harsh. For tutoring
I’ve never had a clean cut set of rules such as strike one is a warning, strike two is a call home, strike
three is the office, etc. I try to make sure punishments are logical with respect for the child’s behavior.
For example, the honors block I tutor eats lunch with their math teacher and I. One day a student chose
to sit at a table with another class, which he knows is not allowed. Since he was with another class he
was unaware when the honors block was dismissed from the cafeteria. By the time he realized his class
was gone he’d missed the first 10 minutes of class. Although it was his teacher’s call on how to punish
the child, I personally would have chosen a lunch with me the next day. We could eat together in the
classroom to discuss his behavioral choices and maybe even work on a little remediation he very much
so needed. Seeing as he wants to eat with his peers, having lunch in the classroom with his tutor can feel
like torture to a middle school boy. This consequence would directly reflect his choice to eat with
another class and may have deterred him from making the same decision again.
With minor offenses I’ve found that “the look” is effective with a lot of kids. For the persistent
hard heads I often give polite, yet firm, reminders of expectations. I’ve found I personally handle more
serious inappropriate behavior by pulling students out in the hall to discuss their behavior directly.
Granted I am only a tutor right now, so I’m able to leave the room and know students are still supervised
by their teacher. As a teacher I would most likely wait until students are working individually and ask the
troublesome student to meet me in the back of the room for our talk. I’ve found that changing a
student’s assigned seat can also eliminate many of the more serious issues I’ve faced within the
classroom. It’s my personal belief that the first step to addressing chronic misbehavior should always be
contacting parents. If the parents are unable to correct the behavior a special behavior plan may be
necessary. I had one student that refused to do her work every day and my attempts to motivate her
weren’t enough. Finally I started a log, where I simply wrote what she did each day and sent it home on
Fridays for her mother to sign. I told her that if the issue persisted and I continued needing to send logs
home, I would start making a photocopy to send to administration as well. I’m not sure whether it was
the pressure of her mother or fear of the getting involved with the principal, but eventually she began to
complete her assigned work and I stopped sending logs home.
Procedures:
Class-Running Routines:

Taking attendance- My students will have assigned seating which will help expedite the process
of taking attendance. It would be an expectation that every morning students are to come in
and have a seat at their assigned desk. While I am getting settled and taking role students will be
able to get themselves prepared for the day. Once attendance has been taken students will be
able to get up and move around (such as using the restroom or getting a sharpened pencil) if
necessary. After attendance we will begin our daily routine (turning in homework if applicable,
getting materials, meeting on the rug for morning meeting depending on grade level, etc.)

Going to the restroom- Students are able to use the restroom during class if they have raised
their hand, asked for and received permission prior to leaving. It is an expectation that students
will not raise their hand during instruction or discussion. The students must wait until individual
work or a break so they are not interrupting the rest of the class by asking. If a student asks to
use the restroom at an inappropriate time, such as during a lesson, they will not be allowed to
leave.
Interaction Routines:

When the students need the teacher’s help- Students will be expected to raise their hands in my
classroom if they need help. This is to prevent someone from calling out over a peer, and to
insure that students are addressed in the order in which they’ve asked for assistance. There
should never be much of a reason that I wouldn’t see their hands because I will be up and
circulating the room during their time for individual work.

During a whole-class lesson- During lessons involving the whole class I still expect students to
raise their hands if they have insight they would like to share. This will allow me to call on
students and can hopefully prevent having one or two students monopolize the class discussion.
If there’s a topic I would like all students to speak about, I may break into groups our partners
(“turn towards your neighbor and discuss”) allowing everyone to share. After sharing is over I
would ask if anyone would like to tell the class what they and their partner discussed. My main
goal is to prevent having students talk over each other or be idle while their peers do all of the
interaction.
Lesson-Running Routines:

Collecting homework- Homework will be assigned every Monday and collected on Friday. There
will be a homework basket in which the students will submit their work Friday morning before
our morning meeting.

Returning homework- Homework will be graded over the weekend and returned on Monday
mornings. Upon returning, we will review the assignments and students will be able to ask
questions. I will personally return homework, opposed to having students pass it out, to
prevent students from seeing their peer’s grades.