Establishing and Maintaining Standards for Student Behavior
(Standard 2.4)

Definitions of Rules & Procedures
Why Rules & Procedures?
What is a Rule?
What is a Procedure?
The Difference Between Rules and Procedures
Effective Classroom Rules
Examples of Rules

Communicating Rules
Introducing Rules
Sample Elementary Letter
Sample Middle School Letter
Sample High School Newsletter

Enforcing Rules
Effective Discipline
An Ounce of Prevention
Teacher Responses
Maintaining Rules
Logical Consequences
Incentives

Characteristics of Effective Classroom Management Policies
When to Get Help
Tips From Experienced Teachers
Student Development of Rules
Discipline with Dignity
Social Environment

To promote student learning by:

• Preventing distractions, disruptions, and conflict
• Using time efficiently
• Setting limits
• Teaching self-control, responsibility, time-management, and sequencing of activities
• Creating a predictable environment where students feel secure, safe, and respected
  

The function of a rule is to prevent or encourage behavior by clearly stating student expectations.
-Harry Wong

An example of a rule: Raise your hand to speak.

A procedure is simply a method or a process for how things are to be done in a classroom.
- Harry Wong

An example of a procedure: At the clean-up bell…

1. Put away all the materials.
2. Clean up any mess in the work area.
3. Return to your seat.
4. Wait quietly to be excused.

Rules: Guide student behavior

Procedures: Outline the process for doing a routine activity

• 3-5 in number
• Stated positively
• Short, to the point, in clear, concise, understandable language
• Easy to communicate to students and parents
• Aligned with school and district policies
• Support student achievement and can be consistently enforced by you

Which of these are appropriate for the grade level you teach?

• Be in your seat when the bell rings.
• Keep your hands to yourself.
• Respect others’ space and property.
• Bring all of your materials to class.
• Raise your hand to talk.
  

• Explain on the First Day of School
• Model showing desired behavior
• Elicit examples of following the rule from students
• Ask students to draw pictures or symbols of the rule or to write positive examples of the rule
• Post the rules
• Send the rules home to parents
• Review and over-teach the rules for the first six weeks of school

September 4, 2002

Dear Parents and Caregivers,
I am excited being your child’s fourth grade teacher. Today the students in the class got to know each other, used their new textbooks, and reviewed the school and classroom rules.

Please help your child start a successful school year by talking about the rules and consequences at home and why they are important to follow. By following the rules all the students in the class will have a good learning environment.

Please call if you have questions or concerns. You can leave a message at 432-765-4321 and I will return your call or use my school email, mvaldez@pacificsch.k12.ca.us.

Sincerely,
Maria Valdez
4th Grade Teacher

August 26, 2002

Dear Sixth Grade Students and Guardians,

Welcome to Sixth Grade! I am looking forward to introducing you to a new school and the exciting sixth grade language arts and social studies curriculum. Beginning middle school is a big change for students and parents. I will try to make you feel welcome and comfortable.

In order to create a classroom environment where all students can learn, I enforce classroom rules based on respect and responsibility. In the lively discussions of the materials we are studying, I insist on a risk-free environment where students can express their thoughts and feelings while being tolerant and respectful of other views.

It is important that students understand what is expected of them. Please review the attached information with your student and then sign one copy and return it to me, post the other copy on your refrigerator or bulletin board.
I encourage home contact. I can be reached by phone and email. For information about assignments, check the school homework hotline.

Alice Chu

Mrs. Hilliard’s Class Expectations

Please fill out and return to teacher-

Effective discipline comes from the heart and soul of the teacher. It comes from the belief that teaching students to take responsibility for their behavior is as much the “job” of the teacher as teaching history or math and more important than simply enforcing rules.

Richard L. Curwin and Allen N. Mendler

It is easier to prevent classroom management problems than to discipline students.
Effective teachers consider the needs of students. They consider why a student is misbehaving:

• What does the student need?
  • Attention?
  • Appropriate way to express anger or hurt?
  • Sympathy? Encouragement?

Effective teachers have a long continuum of responses to disruptive behavior. The responses are both nonverbal and verbal.

• Look directly at student
• Move next to student
• Quietly, ask the student for attention or to get started on the instructional activity
• THEN, if necessary, the teacher applies the rules and consequences.

Discipline actions may be based on:

• Logical consequences
• Incentives and penalties
• To be effective, a discipline policy needs to be fair, respectful, progressive, consistently enforced and aligned with school policy.

A student is talking during silent reading. As she continues to talk, the teacher starts with the least intrusive response and progresses to a more direct action.

The teacher makes eye contact, moves closer, and reminds the student that this is “quiet time." The teacher then asks the student to sit at a different table so that she “can focus better on the reading activity."

Logical consequences are always related to the offense, reasonable, and respectful… Logical consequences are never humiliating, and they teach children responsibility and the relationship between actions and consequences.

Ellen L. Kronowitz

For most students, incentives are more powerful than penalties.

Incentives can be:

• Words of encouragement
• A smile or a high-five
• Work posted
• Stickers or a certificate
• A note or phone call home

• Clearly understood by students, parents, and administration
• Consistently enforced by the teacher
• Aligned with district and school policy
• Perceived as fair by students
• Reviewed, taught, and rehearsed often
• Revised when needed
• Based on student input and “buy-in”

There are times when it is appropriate and necessary to get advice and help.
These are when:

• School policy states that an infraction needs to be reported
• Student behavior endangers self or others
• Student or adult has a weapon, drugs, or alcohol on campus
• Student behavior indicates depression, drug use, or child abuse
• Reasonable efforts to work with the student and the parent have failed

• Develop unobtrusive ways to deal with inappropriate behavior that do not interrupt instruction.
• Work out a partnership with a teacher next door to send time-out-students to his/her classroom.
• Catch students doing something right.
• Call one family each week describing a thoughtful or helpful act the student has done.
• Create ways for disruptive students to successfully contribute to the class.
• Develop school wide procedures for playground, cafeteria, library, halls.
• Involve students in establishing rules and consequences.

Discuss with students:

• Why are rules needed?
• What happens without rules?
• What rules do we need in class?
  
  Then…
  
• Brainstorm and list
• Ask students to agree on the 5 most important ones
• Review the list occasionally
• When adding one rule, drop another one

Students spend about 12,000 hours of their lives in school. Much of what they learn about adulthood happens in school. They learn by watching and interacting with those who teach them and who discipline them… These lessons are long lasting.

Richard L. Curwin and Allen N. Mendler

Teaching Performance Expectations

Candidates for a Teaching Credential:

• Develop and maintain clear expectations for academic and social behavior.
• Promote student effort and engagement and create a positive climate for learning.
• Know how to write and implement a student discipline plan.
• Know how to establish rapport with all students and their families for supporting academic and personal success through caring, respect, and fairness.
• Respond appropriately to sensitive issues and classroom discussions.
• Help students learn to work responsibly with others and independently.
• Recognize how well the social environment maximizes academic achievement for all students and make necessary changes based on observations of students and consultation with other teachers.