S9: E167 Classroom Rules

Afternoon Ti Podcast

Season 9

Episode 167

Classroom Rules

Rules provide boundaries, create safe spaces, and create community when set up well.  They’re often as much for us as teachers as they are for the students.  They guide how we interact with our students, how we establish transitions, handling of instruments and materials and basically the structure of our entire classroom.  Rules help us decide when to take action when something happens in the room that isn’t okay and when to praise and recognize students for their efforts and successes.  Rules are guides.  In fact I often refer to them as goals with my students.  Because they’re things we work towards and work on together as a team. Too many rules and it’s stifling.  Too few and it’s chaotic.  

We’re going to break our discussion about rules into three topics.  The first will be choosing the main rules for your classroom - these are the broader areas that cover a wide range of things.  The second will be thinking about how you want to demonstrate the content within these rules - think of these as the supporting parts of the main rules.  And third will be how to enforce your expectations of your rule and follow through when they aren’t upheld.

CLASSROOM RULES

When choosing your classroom rules, think about the things that impact your classes the most.  Is it the respect between students and students and yourself?  Is it the treatment of materials?  Is it the way they listen when you are talking?  Is it the effort given?  What do you spend the majority of your time dealing with in your classroom?  That might give you an idea of a rule that might be important.  I think we’d likely agree that 90% of the rules in all classrooms look the same:  Take care of materials.  Treat everyone with respect.  Be prepared for class.  Raise your hand if you have something to say.  Wait your turn.  Keep your hands and feet to yourself.

I had more rules in my classroom when I first started teaching than I do now.   And I’d spend a lot of time talking about them rather than demonstrating them.  Nothing wrong with any of that. Over the years I’ve simplified the rules and have found it to be easier to enforce because I am more aware of what I expect.  Here are a few ideas for choosing classroom rules to keep things simplified:

1. Stick to the basics:  we deal with students and materials.  What do you want your students to learn and do?  How do you want them to handle the materials?  Keep the rules broad and not narrow.  You can always expand on your rules so there’s no need to list 5 rules about instruments.  Choose one rule for the instruments and then have supporting elements for that rule.  Choose one rule for students in regards to behavior and then have supporting elements for that rule.  Keep the rule simple.

   
   

2. Use an acronym - the word music works great.  There are some posters that have pre-printed rules using the word music as an acronym.  If these rules line up with what you want to set as your expectations, go for it!  Ideas include:

3. Top Three - these are the rules I use with my students based on the three things that are most important to me in my classroom

1. Try Everything - Effort is vital.  You only learn if you give effort.

2. Respect others - The way we treat each other affects everything else.

3. Handle materials and instruments with care and respect - means exactly what it says.

   
   

DEMONSTRATING EXPECTATIONS

Once you’ve decided what your classroom rules will be, figure out how you want to share these expectations with students.  I always share my expectations with my students during the first day of class.  I talk through them briefly - less than 5 minutes of talking - and then we go into practice mode where I lead them through a music activity of singing, movement, and getting folders put together.  As I lead them through the activities I am showing them what I mean by respect.  I am showing them what I mean by trying everything.  I am showing them what I mean about how to handle materials with care and respect. I show them these things in the way that I pass out the folders, the way that I walk them through handling of paper, pencil cases, and trash and the way that I react to them when they blurt out.  The sub-headings under each rule can contain a lot of things.  So let’s take one of my rules and expound on how it can be demonstrated:

Handle materials and instruments with care and respect

I first tell students what this means.  It means that you take care of the things that are available to you.  You use the materials in the way that they are meant to be used.  Mallets for xylophones - not for bouncing on the floor.  Drumsticks for buckets - not for poking the person next to you. After I use a few examples, we begin with a demonstration of how to move the xylophones into their arrangement. I begin with one xylophone on a stand.  I ask them questions about what they notice when I do specific things.  I talk them through the locks on the bottom of the stand.  I clearly show students how to move them into place AND clearly tell them what to do with their own bodies once they have gotten it where it needs to be.  Why?  So that students know that after the instrument is in place, the students know what they should be doing and not doing.  After I demonstrate, I select a few students to move xylophones into the arrangement.  Then ask for what students noticed about what the others did as they moved them.  Then a few more students move xylophones into place.  And so on… until everyone is at an instrument and our arrangement is set up.  We spend a lot of time on this the first few classes.  I always try to give time for students to learn a short melody or warm-up on the instruments even in the first few classes because it’s rewarding for them after having practice the ‘boring’ part of just setting up.  However I’m also not afraid to take extra time to ask students to do it again so that we all know not only the expectations, but have practiced them correctly from the beginning of the school year.  I’ve skipped over this step and just let things go before and found that I then spend more time retraining later on.  Go slow to go fast.  Take time to have students practice expectations.  And that leads to the last topic:  Enforcing expectations

ENFORCING EXPECTATIONS

I try to give clear directions that explain what I want students to do.  And if they’re doing something that I don’t want them to do I address it right then.  To the best that I can.  We show our students what we expect by the way we react to what they choose to do.  It takes time and experience to know which behaviors to ignore so that they don’t escalate and which ones to respond to.  And some students will see just how far they will be able to take the expectation… and we show our students how far we’ll let them take things.  So it’s important to tell students what we expect and follow through.  It’s the thing we can do each class to help students with consistency in expectations from us - and for them - and to keeping our classroom environment focused on what we’re there for:  Making music!  So how do we enforce expectations?

1. Consider your reaction before you react outwardly.  

2. Redirect with a reminder of what is expected

3. Have students practice what is expected when needed and start over or do things again

Going back into the hall, lining up, and entering the room ready to learn.

Putting instruments away and taking a moment to breathe and calm down while going over expectations for how to set them up and trying again

Talk to your individual students about the positive and the challenging… if you have a student who is standing out for doing what is right, who demonstrates effort or amazing musical skills, share that with the student themselves and their family.  If you have a student who is struggling to make the right choices, talk to them.  And talk to their family about how you can come alongside to help them.  It’s always better to call home as an ally than it is to call home blaming or angry.  We’re here to help our students.  It’s often not anything personal against us and we have students that are going through hard things outside the music room.  Being FOR them matters.  Even when they’re not doing what is expected.  Talk with them to the best that they’ll allow you to.  And just keep trying each class time to work with them and for them.