One of the things that comes up a lot in conversation is classroom management. I have tried everything from clip charts, to Dojo, and beyond. I have never really found one system that I loved, so I stopped using any system all together. (I know I am crazy!!)
In my classroom, we spend a lot of time talking about our expectations we have for one another, our room, and our building. We come up with these expectations and review them constantly (especially in the beginning of the year!) I have noticed a much bigger sense of pride when students take ownership of the expectations that they created as opposed to the ones I said they had to follow.
During morning meeting, we will review these reminders to help our classroom community be the best it can be. Students will compliment one another (____ has really been on task and showing good body language today!) by using some of the expectations of our classroom. It has been just a great way of keep us all accountable and allowing my students to have a voice in the way OUR classroom is run!
To get started, I have the students sit on the rug together and we take turns sharing things that we want our classroom to be. While students are sharing, I am making a list on anchor chart paper (or the whiteboard!) Once students are done sharing, we have a discussion about our list. I ask them questions such as: What do you notice about what we came up with? What do you notice is not on there? What topics did we repeat often? Etc. When we are done our discussion and done narrowing down our most important expectations, we talk about ways we can implement these in our classroom. For example, what does hard work look like? How can we listen? What does it mean to be a role model? Continuing to use and discuss these terms with my students has helped them truly understand what they mean and how to meet those expectations that they created.
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