Pamela M. Fowler
RULES, RULES and MORE RULES
The First Day of School
Scenario: The school bell rings. Children walk through the hallway looking up at the door numbers and then back to their assignment cards for their homerooms.
One at a time they straggle into the classroom. They look so cute and innocent . . . ?
With each face you smile a warm and welcoming smile accompanied with a pleasant “Hello”. You take their cards and sketch their face into your memory and label each with the appropriate name. The first few almost always sit as far from each other as they possibly can. One in the far left corner by the window and the other in the far right comer. No one sits right up front unless they absolutely have to. The next few seats themselves somewhere in between the first two. As each new student walk through the door, they all maintain a look of hoping to see a familiar face (even if they do not like the person it belongs to). The staggering continues for about an hour or so.
Finally it seems to end. You assume they are all here. Looking at them from the front of the room, they stare at you, blankly waiting for your instructions. The ball is in your court now. A lot depends on how you begin. You have to give your introductory speech and may be your expectations for the year. Then you proceed to required paperwork like schedule, home phone numbers and parent’s names. Last, but not least, you explain school rules, regulations, fire drill procedure and the school tour. Finally you have completed all the necessary first day work. You now have a total of about two hours or so to go. There they are again. Sitting, and staring at you, waiting for directions. Now what???
Goals
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1. To establish a positive learning environment.
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2. To involve students in taking pride in their learning environment.
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3. To introduce the decision making process.
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4. To involve students directly in the decision making process.
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5. To make students directly responsible for classroom behavior.
Time Period
45 minutes
Rationale
Every classroom has its own rules and regulations that each child is expected to follow. Class rules are meant to be obeyed by the entire class, so let them make the rules and make them directly responsible for following them as well as accepting the consequences for breaking them.
Material
Marker, chart paper or chalk and a chalk board.
Presentation
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1. Explain to the class the importance of working together and how much easier our year will go if we all work together.
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2. Explain the fact that everyone has to follow rules regardless of age. Give examples of the rules you must follow as an adult in and out of school.
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3. Ask the class to name some rules they had to follow over the summer.
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4. Present to the class ‘a democracy’ and how it functions. Discuss how it can work in the classroom.
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5. List on the board a rule given to you by each child. Allow them to present something that the child thinks would be elective in the classroom. Allow for no discussion about the choices given. Go around as many times as necessary.
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6. Read over the rules one at a time and discuss whether or not they are effective for the classroom. Here the teacher plays a number of roles. You are a participant, mediator and ultimate decision maker in case of a stale mate.
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Rules can also be unwritten as well. An unwritten rule is one in which everyone knows what is expected of them and what behavior is unacceptable. For example, when announcements are presented on the Public Announcement System (PA) all conversations are to stop . . . including the teacher’s. This teaches the children how to listen to what is being said and very basic manners. Not to interrupt someone not to speak when another person is speaking
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7. Once the rules are set and have been discussed, you can’t ask for others which may keep mayhem a stranger to your class.
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8. The teacher is allowed a few unwritten rules. These can be very basic rules that deal with manners or they can simply be pet peeves of the teacher.
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For example, I am not very fond of the way students refer to each other. They use ‘nigger’ in the same manner we use ‘the’. I don’t believe they know what the word has meant or what the definition of it is. So in my class my teacher rule is ‘no one is to use the word nigger PERIOD.’
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9. Once the rules have been set, post them attractively in a space where everyone can see them.