First Year Teacher Series- Creating Your Procedures

While you are in the classroom you need to think about classroom procedures and expectations. These are the routines that you and your students will help run your classroom. Procedures are an important part of classroom management at the beginning of the year. This could be a big difference in the classroom climate. Below are common classroom procedures that teachers mush think through.

• Pencils: How will students get them? When do they get sharpened? What if a student forgets one? What if a student needs an eraser?

• Notebooks/textbooks: Will students come into the classroom each day with them? If not, how will you get them handed out each day? What if a student comes one day without them?

• Homework: Where will it be turned in or how you will collect it? How will you return it to the students after grading?

• Late work: How will students learn about what information they missed? What system will you use so they have access to the make-up work?

• Bathroom: How often can students use the bathroom? How will they let you know that they need to use the bathroom? Will you need to keep track of how many times a student has used the bathroom?

• Technology: How will classroom technology be stored? If portable, how will it be distributed to students? Will devices need to be charged overnight?

• Phones, tablets, personal devices: What is your school's policy? What times can students access them? When are the times when they should put them away?

• Entering the classroom: Should students remove hats? Are they to be quiet? Should they go straight to their students? What work should they get started on?

• Exiting the classroom: Will you dismiss students? Do they leave when the bell rings? Is there a line order they must learn? Should they line up quietly?

Take time to think about your classroom. Make a list of what procedures you should be active about. Also, answer the questions above to get a head start on your procedures. Below is a google doc of procedures you should be thinking about even though it is not everything this will better prepare you.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XXXD_g6m1E1tjxxDrKTupzouGRyKkHZvDQWQu6Up-o0/edit?usp=sharing

Fortunately, there may be procedures your school already provides like check out books and emergency drills. For others, you may want to ask a mentor teacher, a colleague, or look on the Internet. Remember it's better to be prepared than not be at all.

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First Year Teacher Series- Setting Up Your Classroom

Today is our first First Year Teacher Series, a special post dedicated to highlighting a specific teacher tip strategy in more detail than I do during some of my regular posts. To kick off the FYT Series I would like to start with "Setting Up Your Classroom". How spacious, attractive, a modern classroom, portable, or even a pod that you will get the keys to is out of your hands, but what you do turn it into is in your control. While you are setting up and arranging things around you will need to think about the furniture and materials.



Furniture

With furniture, it is important to focus on classroom order and functionality. Many of these issues in the classroom start with furniture. Before setting up the furniture think about these questions. How many students will I have? Do I have enough desks or tables? What furniture arrangement will be successful from day 1? Let's look at two scenarios. 

A science teacher was placed in one of the smallest classrooms in the school. This size limits the teacher's options on how to design the space. The best option is to start off with desks in evenly straight rows. This allows movement between the desks and limits student interaction. Once routines, procedures, and structure are in place the teacher can move desks into tables for students to collaborate. 

An elementary teacher has a large classroom so the teacher can design his vision. He groups the desks into 5 for whole class learning. Then he has a classroom library in the back corner. The elementary teacher classroom is different from the science teacher's classroom because his classroom, student's needs, and comfort level are different.

When setting up the furniture make sure to monitor all students at all times no matter if you are not teaching. For example, if you have a file cabinet or a reading nook these are places where students can be hidden and take advantage of.


Materials

The last aspect of a classroom setup is the organization of materials. Make sure regularly used items are easily accessible while less frequented used materials are stored away when the time comes. What are things that students need on a regular basis? Pencils, Notebooks, Textbooks anything else? What are some things that students don't need as much? Scissors, glue sticks, Binders? Here are a few ideas if you still need help. 

A 3rd grade teacher made sure each student had a whiteboard and a clipboard in a seat pocket because those materials were going to be used regularly. Then the teacher placed the binders in the cubbies because they were going to be used rarely. The teacher also placed the notebooks into the cubbies because she has unsure if she would use them. 

A high school teacher knew students would have a notebook for the first day but he had extra in case. He also had a cup of pencils on his desks if they needed one but also had a sign-out sheet to make sure the pencils were returned. In a cabinet, he stacked textbooks by class and in order so he would hand them out. By planning ahead this minimizes the time worrying about other things than students and teaching. This also increases success when school starts.

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