Handling Tantrums: Parenting Through Tough Times

How to Establish Classroom Routines for Productive Learning

Before a lesson begins, it's important to communicate a clear plan so that students understand what is expected of them.

You’ve come up with the perfect idea for a science lesson, complete with stations, collaboration, and exploratory materials to foster creative thinking. But, ten minutes in, glitter is on the floor, glue is stuck to every surface, and pieces of cut-up paper are scattered all over the carpet. What went wrong? Everything seemed perfectly planned in your mind.

Routines, routines, routines. Before you can teach new content, it’s crucial to establish and explicitly teach the context in which students will learn. The good news is that it’s never too late (or too early) to introduce these routines. This science lesson doesn’t have to be a failure; it just needs a structured system to succeed.

Establish Classroom Procedures

Routines and procedures are the foundation on which we build productive learning. As a coach, I often hear teachers say: "I can't teach my small group at the kidney table because my students aren’t independent at their desks." I ask them, "What does independence look like in your classroom?" and "How have you taught your students to be independent?"

The Marzano Compendium of Instructional Strategies notes that "in order to effectively manage a classroom, teachers must establish rules and procedures at the beginning of the year and revise them throughout as needed." Rules tend to be more general and apply to all classroom activities, while procedures are specific sets of instructions for different tasks or events.

Design Your Classroom Setup and Routines

How do you establish these procedures in your classroom? Start by visualizing how you want your room to look. You can begin with a layout map, identifying the furniture and its purpose (teacher's desk, bookshelves, small group tables, etc.). Once you have a clear vision of the physical layout, think about how students will move through the space.

For independent work, consider:

• Where will students complete their individual tasks?
• What should students do if they have a question during independent work?
• What will they do with their completed work?
• What will students do when they finish their task? Will they have one option or several?

For group work, reflect on:

• Where will group activities take place?
• What does group work look and sound like in your classroom?
• What should students do if they encounter a problem during group work?

For stations, think about:

• How much time will students spend at each station?
• How will students know when it's time to rotate?
• How will they clean up before moving to the next station?

In my own classroom, I created an eight-step plan for station rotation:

1. Set up stations at four desks with groups of five students.
2. Post the groups and their starting locations on the interactive whiteboard.
3. Students spend 10 minutes at each station, with a countdown timer visible.
4. When the timer goes off, students put their hands on their heads and wait for directions.
5. I give instructions to clean up and set a new two-minute timer for cleanup.
6. After cleanup, I say, "When I say go, move to the next station and stand by your desk."
7. Once all students are in place, I say, "Sit and begin."
8. Start the 10-minute timer again and repeat the process.

Having this clear mental model helped me explain and demonstrate the routine to my students. This approach to classroom management will save you time in the long run. Remember, when you introduce a new procedure for the first time, your primary goal is for students to complete the task successfully. The following day, you can focus more on content because students will know how to work independently in stations, allowing you to focus on monitoring learning rather than behaviors.

Once you've visualized your routine or procedure, it’s time to implement it with your students. There are several effective ways to do this, including:

• Interactive modeling: Think out loud through the steps and demonstrate the procedure, then have a student model it again and discuss what they did.

• Anchor charts: Co-create "Looks Like, Sounds Like" charts with your class, recording their input on expectations during an activity.

• Flowcharts: Post flowcharts to guide students through problem-solving independently.

• Hand signals: Develop hand signals with your students for non-verbal requests (bathroom, water, tissue, etc.), and post them in your classroom as reminders.

• Student discourse language: Post sentence stems for students to use during conversations, helping guide their communication during group work.

• Class contracts: Create a small set of rules with your students and have them sign a class contract, which can serve as a reference in case of disagreements.

All classrooms have the potential to be successful learning environments when students understand and can articulate the routines and procedures. This allows them to spend less time thinking about classroom behavior and more time learning. Taking the time to establish routines will save you time in the long run, as you won’t need to interrupt lessons to address behavior or explain procedures repeatedly. The magic wand for creating an effective classroom environment is hidden in every teacher’s toolbox—and its name is routines and procedures.

Edit This Article