Applying Classroom Rules and Procedures

When and how students should have a positive reinforcement? And if they misbehave, should I say something to them? How?

We know that positive reinforcement is a teaching technique that should be applied, but when and how? We have to take in consideration a few aspects:

• Elementary it's different from middle school or high school. This two (MS & HS) could share a few similarities, but elementary it's a bit different
• Positive reinforcement should be done to all the students in the classroom not only to a few ones, that could create conflicts between students

In elementary it's a good option to say thank you to a student or the whole classroom when they do a positive action like cleaning up after a break or leave the homework in their place at the beginning of the day. In these cases you can say " Thank you guys for cleaning the room up so quietly" or " Thank you guys for leaving your homeworks in the box, I can start grading them now" This positive comments will make the children know what type of behavior or actions are good from the ones that are negative to themselves or the classroom in general. If a student makes a positive action you can express your gratitude to him/her in front of the class or during circle time, so the rest of the class can identify the action as a good one to copy in the future.

In middle school it supposed that students know the basic rules they have to follow in the classroom with peers and teachers. However, it's also good to encourage them to keep acting this way with simply comments like " thank you for being so responsible" when they give you their notebooks for grading an activity. I think that at this ages the most important part is the academic and personal interactions. For example, there is a girl in 6th grade that hates to presents her work in front of the classroom. The teacher always encourage her to read her stories or reports (it's an English class) and by the end of her presentation always said to her " thank you for sharing it. I'm so happy that you are always trying to get over your fear of speaking in public, you're improving a lot!" This girl is everyday less shy and really improving her presentations.

If the teacher feels that the comment could make the student feel embarrassed, she should wait until the end of the classroom and tell it personally to the student. A e-mail to the student's parents is also appreciated by children.

These are some of the options you can choose as a positive reinforcement.

What's about misbehavior, WHEN and HOW deal with it in the classroom?

Misbehavior couldn't interrupt constantly your lessons, so the first option should be always getting close to the student(s) who are acting inappropriately in order to make them stop doing it.

Teachers have to set some rules at the beginning of the year, and make sure that all students know them. At first the teacher could be a bit more permissive since they are adjusting to the new classroom and environment, but after two weeks these rules have to be respected always, if not, there will be consequences. 

If the situation in not safe for the students you must stop your lesson and intervene. For example, a student is playing with the scissors and throwing them. He/She can hurt himself or other student, so you should stop what you are doing and ask the student to stop doing this, show him and the rest of the class that this could be dangerous and someone could be injured. If the student is doing on purpose, you have to send a e-mail to home and probably send the student with the principal or counselor (or the person in charge of misbehaved students).

Other strategies you can use to make those students who are not paying attention is the Teach like a champion technique "No opt out" to catch the student's attention back to your explanation. You can also set a color system; that means that when a student is misbehaving or even the whole class is not behaving properly, you can give them a yellow card. This card means that they have their first warning, the next one will be the red card, and this will have bad consequences for them. One of these consequences could be have less points on the next assignment, spend recess in the classroom or an e-mail to home explaining the situation.

This chart can be used to solve some little conflicts in the classroom:

To sum up, positive reinforcement is necessary in a classroom, since it will help students to discern the positive behaviors from the negative ones, but, it's also important to try to keep a good environment in the classroom avoiding the uncomfortable situations, trying to solve them as smoothly as possible.