Is it a Rule or is it a Procedure? You make the call!

Professional Development: Session Two

PURPOSE

The best teachers have the fewest discipline problems, right? It’s probably because the guy that does the scheduling has given them the best students in the building. Those teachers are also the happiest and have the most positive attitudes. Why wouldn’t they have the best demeanors when they have the best and most well-behaved kids in the building? These teachers also usually have the fewest rules of anyone in the school and usually have kids who are well behaved in their classes, while those same kids are nothing but trouble in other classes. Why is that? What are the secrets?

The secret is that there is no secret. The main problem in a lot of classrooms is that there is no clear distinction between rules and procedures. Understanding the difference is the first secret to success in classroom management. If we truly differentiate between rules and procedures, there will be very few rules in the classroom but there will be many procedures.

IN-SERVICE

Last month’s “EASY PD” focused on figuring out your “one thing” to get your students’ attention and being consistent with it the classroom. I hope you were able to reflect on what you do on a daily basis. Please comment below if you came up with a new procedure or tweaked and existing one. 

Having a way to secure your students' attention and implementing that procedure consistently will allow you to get to the next step of classroom management. This month’s session will share some of the very “secret" secrets of effective classroom managers. We’ve all heard the myth…that there are teachers out there who have no discipline problems. There are teachers out there who have classrooms that run themselves with little or no effort from the person in charge. No way, you say? Impossible, you say? Obviously “no discipline problems" is a bit of an exaggeration, but these classrooms do exist…I have seen them with my own eyes. These classrooms exist and they all have a few things in common, one of those things being clearly established rules and procedures. SO if clearly established rules and procedures is the key to an effective classroom then a lack of understanding of the difference between the two can lead to…you guessed it, many discipline problems. 

Here is an example:

Some teachers have a rule about talking, yet talking is not a serious offense. It is an aggravating offense and it is an annoying offense, but it is not a serious offense. Rules should regulate only serious offenses so talking should fall under the category of “procedures as opposed to “rules.”

Rules and Procedures

• A rule regulates a serious offense
• A procedure is simply a way that you want something done in your classroom - the same way every time 
• When a student breaks a rule, a consequence follows 
• When a student does not follow a procedure, you remind him or her of the procedure and practice it with him if necessary
• You should never have more than five rules 
• An example of a rule might be: No physical contact/fighting
• An example of a procedure might be: How to get in and out of groups for group activities or how to prepare for the lesson when you walk into the classroom 

All effective classroom managers have a lot of procedures, however, they are not all implemented at the same time. They implement the most important ones first and then continue to add a few at a time. Students are never confused about what is expected of them because procedures are discussed, modeled and practiced. When a student forgets, he or she is reminded and the procedure is modeled, however, if a rule is broken, there are no discussions, rather there is a consequence. Students are made aware of this and there is no element of surprise.

It is important to note here that chronic misbehavior can lead to consequences as well. If a student consistently fails to follow procedure after practice and reminders then that student should receive a consequence. This should only happen if the behavior is chronic and deliberate and not just because the behavior is aggravating. 

When students are clear on exactly what they can and cannot do in the classroom and that the teacher is consistent in enforcing the rules and following the procedures, they are much more likely to actually follow the rules and procedures. 

IMPLEMENTATION

Just like we mentioned last month, this should not be new information for most teachers, and it can almost be chalked up to common sense. Having the information, however, is only the beginning; you have to be willing and able to implement it in your classroom. So this month’s activity is to make a list of your own rules and procedures and see what falls where. Do you have rules that could be procedures or procedures that should be rules? Take a few minutes to think about what you do in your classroom and share a little about your process. Did your lists prove to be accurate or were there things you needed to tweak? If your lists were completely on point then please share how you went about determining your rules and procedures. If there was something that you thought needed to be changed, share that process as well. 

As alway, write a sentence, write a paragraph or fill up the entire page with your musings. Let’s keep the conversation going by responding to each other as well. Your response is worth an hour of professional development credit but your ongoing commitment to being a reflective practitioner is worth way more than that.

Thank you for reading and participating.

Brad

Whitaker & Breaux (2013). The Ten-Minute Inservice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass