Classroom Management Plan

Involving the Students in Making the Rules

1. Communicate your expectations to the students.
2. Involve them in establishing the rules that will guide their behavior.
3. Use rules that foster positive classroom participation.
4. Keep the list of rules to about five so that they are easily remembered.

Consider some of the following rules. These are examples that we have seen or heard from teachers. Which of them match up with your own expectations? Which lend themselves to multiple interpretations?

• Act in a respectful manner at all times.
• Academic honesty is required.
• Keep feet, arms, legs, and objects to yourself.
• Be on time.
• Enter the classroom quietly and begin working promptly.
• Raise your hand when you have something to say, and wait patiently for permission to say it.
• Follow all directions from the teacher immediately.

A few of these rules may be better classified as something that will be discussed in another section of this unit: procedures. For instance, when driving a car the rule (law) is that you obey the speed limit signs. Failure to do so may result in a ticket that carries a number of penalties. Being a courteous driver, however, is not a rule (there's no fine for being discourteous unless you do damage to someone else's property—and you will be fined for something other than being discourteous), but it is a good procedure to follow. Consider carefully whether the items you classify as rules represent codes of behavior. And, being very practical about this, be certain that the rules actually reflect behaviors that if violated can be punished. For example, suppose you have a rule such as "Have two pencils sharpened and on your desk before class begins." You might find that sending a child with only one sharpened pencil to the principal's office might land you in more trouble than the student.

Consequences

As was the case with the rules, the consequences must be fair and reasonable even though they will necessarily be unpleasant from the students' perspective. But the teacher's perspective is important here as well. If a teacher announces a consequence and is uncomfortable administering it (or perhaps one that could lead to problems—such as sending too many children to the office), then those consequences need to be reconsidered. We cannot overemphasize that if rules and consequences are part of the classroom-management plan, they must be consistently enforced. The teacher who believes the rest of the class will not notice when failing to enforce the class rules makes a serious mistake. Innocent though they may appear, students of all ages always test the limits. Within a week they will know whether or not the teacher means what he or she says.

According to Borich (1996),

Consistency is a key reason why some rules are effective while others are not. Rules that are not enforced or that are not applied evenly and consistently over time result in a loss of prestige and respect for the person who has created the rules and has the responsibility for carrying them out. (p. 364)

Note that Borich doesn't mention in this passage that instructional time is lost or that students fail to learn necessary lessons. Rather, he makes it clear that the teacher loses prestige and respect in the eyes of the students. This, in itself, is an important lesson for any prospective teacher to learn very early on. Classroom management is not only a matter of what the student may lose (in terms of educational opportunities), but also very much a matter of what the teacher stands to lose.

Consequences for Appropriate Behavior

For rules to be effective in managing behavior and fostering prosocial behavior, the following of rules must be acknowledged by the teacher. This can be done in a positive way. In the early weeks of the school year, a teacher can bring rule-following behavior to the students' attention daily. As time goes by, acknowledgment of appropriate behavior may come less often, but nonetheless it must be made evident to the students if the teacher wishes to see that behavior continue.

Consequences for Inappropriate Behavior

Inevitably, some student will violate the established rules of your classroom. It will happen for a wide variety of reasons, but the teacher must keep a particular perspective in mind. Part of that perspective is to remember that (a) the focus should be on the behavior, not the person, and (b) discipline and academics are two different entities. With any discipline problem at least one person will be operating from an unreasonable position. Whenever possible, that person should not be the teacher. Keep a clear head and clear focus, and address the behavior.

Responding to Student Misbehavior

Students will be very much attuned to a teacher's enforcement or nonenforcement of the class rules. If the students were involved in establishing those rules, they will be even more aware of whether or not violations occur and whether or not the teacher responds as promised. In your own classes in college there are/were students (certainly not you) who would test the limits, and children are no different. A teacher's response to violations of the rules tells the students whether or not the teacher is serious. If the word is out that he or she doesn't follow through, then one can expect that many more transgressions will start occurring. The teacher will ultimately decide that it's a "bad" class, but in actuality it is that teacher's behavior that led to the situation.

Consequences for Misbehavior

We have indicated more than once, and in more than one way, that rules are only effective when there are consequences to enforce them and attractive benefits for following them. Since we are now discussing a teacher's response to misbehavior, our focus is on the aversive consequences of misbehavior. Whether your approach to classroom management tends toward full involvement of the students, full control by the teacher, or somewhere in the middle, it is imperative that the students know and understand that whatever the consequences are, the teacher will enforce them.

Identifying consequences is something that can be done with the assistance of the students. In this way the students are more likely to embrace the rules and perceive the consequences as fair and agreed upon. Some schools have an established discipline code that must be followed. If such is the case, that discipline code must be explained to the students. In either situation, it is important that the consequences for infractions be perceived as reasonable (in light of the violation) and fair. Consequences that work best are those that will enable a student to choose between acceptable and unacceptable actions. It should be clear that unacceptable behavior is not worth the administration of the consequence. Even better—and this becomes the teacher's task to demonstrate— students should clearly understand that following the rules is beneficial to them.

It is unlikely that a school's discipline code will impose academic penalties for misbehavior (e.g., lowering a grade or failing the student in an academic subject). The same should be true for consequences established within the classroom. Lowering a student's grade in a subject area for arriving late or talking out of turn dilutes the efficacy of assessment. Keep student behavior and academic achievement separate and in proper perspective.

When dealing with misbehavior, make every effort to address the behavior and not criticize the person. No student comes to school wanting to have their dignity, intellect, or decision-making ability insulted. Doing so will only exacerbate an already difficult situation. The effective teacher is one who can maintain a calm demeanor and enforce the rules quietly and without anger or accusations. The particular infraction can be pointed out to the student, along with the agreed-upon consequence without further discussion. If the student persists, the teacher can quietly speak to the student and indicate that the rules and consequences were established by the class as a whole and that the student was the one who chose to violate the rules. Additional discussion about the situation, if necessary, could be held at an appropriate time if the student so desires.

Enforcement of the Rules and Consequences

It is obvious that having rules and consequences is not going to be enough when a child wishes to challenge all that has been presented. At this point the teacher is very much engaged in a decision-making process. With a solid classroom-management and discipline plan in place, these decisions can be much easier to make. The teacher must remember that allowing infractions to go by without attending to them is a mistake. Reference to the rules and consequences, as well as indicating who "owns" this particular problem, only takes a few seconds. When a student protests ("I'm late because my last teacher let us all out late!"), a teacher can offer the chance to discuss the matter outside of class time but indicate that it is a separate issue. The issue that is obvious is that the class rule has been broken. Keep a clear head and clear focus and address the behavior. We've said that once already, and here it is again at no additional charge.

This issue of students protesting the consequence because of extenuating circumstances is a good argument for choosing consequences that are reasonable and justifiable. If such is the case, the consequence can be enforced immediately, as briefly as possible, and even be mildly severe, as Brophy (1983) recommends. Instruction need not be brought to a halt, and in fact should not be stopped. In this case a student is not ruined for life or shamed beyond redemption. But it is imperative that some action be taken so that the message is clear: the rules will be enforced, and the teacher will not acquiesce based on insufficient information. Next time around, the student who was detained by another teacher will ask for a note or some sort of pass to present in the next class. There are multiple lessons to be learned.