The Backbone of a Good Classroom Management System in the Middle School Classroom
The first layer and the foundation of a good classroom management system are consistent routines and procedures. They serve as the backbone of a productive and efficient classroom. Other aspects of classroom management, like your class rules and your system of rewards and consequences, cannot work as well if you do not have systems to reinforce proper behavior in the classroom.
Article Overview:
What exactly are classroom procedures and routines?
Why are procedures and routines so important to classroom management?
What are the fundamental classroom routines and procedures you need to set up?
How do you plan each classroom routine and procedure?
How do you set up classroom procedures and routines with the students?
What happens when your classroom procedures and routines fall apart?
What exactly are classroom procedures and routines?
Classroom procedures and routines are the systems you have in place to accomplish daily or frequent tasks in the classroom. You and all students in the class know how to accomplish these tasks and accomplish them in the same way. The method you use is consistent and gets the job done in the quickest way possible, in the most complete way possible, and in the least disruptive way possible.
Why are procedures and routines so important to classroom management?
They minimize confusion. Again, I want to emphasize that your classroom procedures and routines are the first layer of a good classroom management plan. By providing structure and predictability to the daily operations of your classroom, you’re minimizing confusion for your students. The classroom procedures and routines you set in place provide a script for them on how to accomplish daily tasks. They don’t have to guess on how or when they can get up to get paper, textbooks, etc.
They maximize learning time. Your consistency creates habits. The better your class gets at completing routines and procedures, the faster they will become. This will free up more time for you and your students to use on deeper thinking and learning activities.
They preserve important decision making and mental energy. By taking the guesswork out of so many tasks and implementing systems to accomplish those tasks, classroom procedures and routines minimize the decisions you and your students have to make. Routines provide predictability so that students don’t waste mental energy on trying to figure out what’s next. It also prevents students from asking you so many questions about minor tasks, which you know can become disruptive and exhausting for you. Decision fatigue, anyone?
They minimize off task and potential misbehavior. Because classroom routines and procedures provide a behavioral script, so to speak, for students to follow, they set students up for success. The classroom routines and procedures you put in place give students a process to accomplish necessary tasks. For example, if there is a process on how to get materials, students will follow that. If there wasn’t, they might spend time arguing with each other or get disruptively creative in accomplishing the task.
Ultimately, procedures and routines provide the behavioral parameters and structure in the classroom. By giving students a script for how to act, they are automatically defining unacceptable behaviors through their exclusion from the script. Because students have clarity on what is and isn’t allowed, they are able to be more creative and productive in their learning pursuits within those boundaries.
What are the fundamental classroom routines and procedures you need to set up?
Go through your schedule and lessons and carefully envision what a day in your classroom will look like. Start by creating a list of things that you will be doing frequently or daily. Then add less frequent but still consistent and important tasks (i.e. weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.). You can always add more and teach them to your students later.
Here is an example list of classroom procedures and routines for a middle school history classroom:
Moving About
In and Out
- How to enter the classroom at the beginning of class
- How to leave the classroom at the end of class
- Leaving the classroom in the middle of class (lecture vs. work times) (bathroom, water, locker, resource room, early dismissal with parent, etc)
- Coming back into the classroom in the middle of class
- What materials to regularly bring to class
Inside the Class (some of these can be grouped together)
- Getting art supplies
- Getting Kleenex
- Sharpening pencil
- Getting Chromebooks/iPad/textbooks, etc.
- Finding work partners
- Getting together for group work
- Speaking to the teacher individually at teacher’s desk
- Classroom cleanup
At Their Desks
- Participating in whole class discussions
- Asking questions during a lesson
- How, when, and where to work individually, with partners, and with small groups
- Where to store their notebooks, pencils, etc
Class Assignments
- How to take tests and quizzes
- How to take notes
- What to do if a student finishes an assignment early
- Where, when, how to get missed work from absences
- Turning in assignments
- Getting graded work back
- Turning in late work
I may even be forgetting to write some things on that list. I know it’s a lot. But, like I said, they provide the behavioral framework and boundaries for your classroom. So naturally, yes, there will be a lot. But don’t let that overwhelm you.
First, you will probably have a different list of classroom procedures and routines from the one above. The best system is the system that is customized for your unique classroom and students. So use the list by picking and choosing what you’ll specifically need. You may even find that you’ll need to add your own.
Second, a lot of these procedures and routines will naturally fall into place and you can set them up when you first start using them. So a lot of your setup will be organic. And it should be, so that you don’t waste time and energy creating routines and procedures in advance that you may never use. But I will talk more about this in the next section.
Finally, they will become automatic so that you don’t even need to think about them. They will make all the other things you have to do in class easy. So they are worth the time and effort to set up in the first few weeks of school and to revisit later on if needed.
How do you plan each classroom routine and procedure?
Once you’ve created the list of classroom procedures and routines you’ll need, plan the procedures and routines you will definitely need every day and on the first days of school. It might be beneficial to wait on the other routines and procedures because you will want to plan them based on how the specific rhythm of each class develops.
Now as you plan, you want to make sure that the process for each procedure or routine is the quickest, the most convenient, and with the least amount of steps. You want to make each process as simple and straightforward as possible to minimize confusion for your class. Try to have as much uniformity as you can across each procedure and routine. This helps to simplify everything and gives less for you and your students to remember.
For routines and procedures that require students moving about, it’s best to be in your classroom so you can envision the flow of traffic and the space you have available for moving bodies. If you can’t be in your classroom, do your best to envision the space. At least have even a crude diagram of your classroom drawn on paper, with your student desk set up and all the other furniture in the room. Walk through the process from the students’ perspective and try to minimize any distractions they might run into.
For every procedure and routine, decide and specify not only the hows but also the whens and wheres if relevant. It might also be good to have the whys in your head just in case the students ask.
How do you set up classroom procedures and routines with the students?
Figure out the best time to teach each classroom procedure and routine. Also think about how you will teach the procedure to your students. How will you show them what to do and when?
In my experience, It’s best to show them in the most organic way possible. This way, your teaching is meaningful and relevant. Teach each procedure when you first have need for them.
So a lot of it will naturally happen at the beginning of the school year, as soon as the kids walk through the door. Guide them through the actions you want them to do, in the order you want them done. Then practice, practice, practice. You should carve out extra time for practicing procedures and routines during the first couple of weeks of school.
Then make sure to revisit routines after each break or when you feel the kids are not following as well anymore.
What happens when your classroom procedures and routines fall apart?
Your system of procedures and routines can fall apart even if you have been very meticulous and consistent in practicing them with the students.
After coming back from long breaks, like Christmas break or spring break, students might need refreshers on your routines and procedures. Sometimes they may even need refreshers leading up to long breaks or holidays, like Halloween, because they are so excited.
Other times, school wide events and breaks from the regular schedule will also disrupt your established systems.
When this happens, just re-establish your classroom procedures and routines with your students. Explain and guide them through how things are done, similar to how you did when you first set them up. Then, again, practice, practice, practice. Don’t hesitate to spend time on this and prioritize it because your procedures and routines are key in making your class run smoothly and gains you so much instructional and learning time in the long run.
Conclusion
So I hope this has been helpful to you. Do you have any classroom procedures or routines you like to establish that you don’t see on the list? Or a favorite way to plan and set up these systems in your classroom? Share them in the comments down below!
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