The Importance Of Classroom Rules
by Andrew CarterOct 30, 2015 Classroom Management 4822 Views
'Experienced teachers don't deal with problems, they prevent them from occurring' - so begins Geoff Petty's section on classroom organisation in his book 'Teaching Today - A Practical Guide" (Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd, 1998). Ground rules are fundamental to order in the classroom, and order in the classroom is essential if effective teaching and learning are to take place. Here we will consider how to prevent problems from occurring through the establishment of appropriate classroom rules.You can simply tell the learners what the rules are - you have complete control in this case, they are YOUR rules and it is your responsibility to enforce them. By letting them decide the rules learners have a greater commitment to keeping them. This latter approach sounds good, but it's likely that the rules won't meet your perceived needs: words like 'silent' and 'respect' and 'on-time' might be missing!
Better that Rules are agreed between teacher and learners, and best that they are ...