Setting and Communicating Expectations

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Also it should be expected that the class stay in a single file line as much as possible to give everyone an equal chance to see what is going on. When you have students that are different heights and they don’t stay in single file lines then someone will not be able to see what is going on.

Being on a field trip means that you are trying to observe the process in its natural habitat and when you have distractions and students are unable to observe this then it makes the field trip unfulfilling for those that were not able observe these processes.

- Research project in the library

A research project in the library would be when a student of mine would go down to the library to do research for a paper. This research may consist of looking through several different media to find the information needed to complete the assignment. This media could consist of encyclopedias, dictionaries, biographies, magazines, and looking things up on the computer.

I would expect that my student would behave in the same manner in the library as they are expected to act in the classroom. For example, if all of the computers are being use they would be patient and use other media to work on their paper until a computer would open up and they can use it.

I would also expect that they conduct themselves in a productive, quiet manner. The library is a quiet place and should be even quieter than our classroom, most times. I would expect that any of my students that go to the library would observe any posted rules that the librarian may have and if it isn’t posted that they would treat the library as if it were my classroom and obey my classroom rules while in there.

- Evaluation methods to determine the level of student understanding of classroom behavioral expectations and consequences

After going over the rules and procedures at the beginning of the school year with the entire class, the teacher should spend the first few weeks of school carefully watching all the students and making sure that these procedures and rules are being followed.

One thing you can do is before you change task or leave the room you can reiterate to the entire class what the rules are for the task that you are getting ready to do. When you see several student breaking those rules you can ask them to stop and then reiterate again what the rule is for that task. For example if we are leaving the room to go to the hallway, I like to remind my students that we must have no talking in the hallway because it is a quiet zone. Then if students start talking I remind them to remember that the hallway is a quiet zone and that no one is allowed to talk.

Using verbal rewards for individuals and the entire class will help to show the class that you are paying attention to what they are doing and that good behavior is rewarded. On the other hand the teacher needs to make sure that bad behavior is not being rewarded but that the students suffer the consequences of not following the rules. Teachers should pay close attention not to always bring these actions to everyone’s attention but to reprimand the student in private, as scolding the student in front of the entire class could cause the student to continue with the bad behavior because they may feed on the negative attention. This is not the type of attention that you want your students to strive to receive from you.

After a few weeks you will notice that all your students are starting to understand the rules better and can even recite the rules to you if you ask them for example “What’s our rule for talking in the hallway class?” Most children, even those that get in trouble a lot like positive reinforcement. It makes them feel good about themselves and what they are doing. The more you reward the good things they do, the more they will strive to be good. If you ignore these students because most of the time their behavior is bad, it will cause them to act out more often and they won’t want to behave because they are looking to get your attention.