Chapter 7: Five, Powerful Classroom Rules

Describe how you will teach, and continue to reinvigorate for the school year, one of the Five Classroom Rules.

In my opinion, I feel that the five class rules are one of the most important pieces to the WBT foundation. With these five basic rules, teachers are able to minimize behavioral difficulties and students are able to learn at new levels since the classroom works like a well-oiled machine. The rule I find to be the most useful and will discuss is rule 4.

Rule 4 is my favorite rule because each of our students have varying levels of self control. In the last 7 years of teaching, I find students need help learning what ‘smart choices’ are. Using the 5 class rules, WB teachers are able to facilitate high level expectations without using frustration or anger towards the class. When a student is not making smart choices, the teacher says, “Rule 4” and the class echoes, “Rule 4, make smart choices!” This helps students to not feel singled out and makes for a terrific teaching moment.

The way I would teach this rule other than in rehearsals is to have students make videos of the rule. Since my classroom is an eMINTS classroom, pairs of students will use their iPads to video each other making poor choices. Then the student will interview the person who was making the poor choice and talk about what a smart choice would be. Finally they will video making a smart choice. The pairs will create mini videos of the poor choice and the smart choice. Each pair will rotate around the iPads and view each video. This will help to solidify what kinds of actions this rule encompasses.

Videoing will also be done with each rule and we will vote on our favorite videos for each rule. The expert video will be the first group to wear the coveted pin! I plan to keep the rules fresh and fun by posting them on each students website and having the students show them to other WBT classrooms. Each quarter we will create new videos with more advanced showings of the rules to keep the students fresh on the expectations.

I plan to use the rule pins this year to nominate students to wear when they are showing exemplary skills in the rule. These coveted pins/lanyards are a special gift when students model expert level behaviors in the selected rule. This is my ‘buy in’ since students want to show their abilities by wearing the pins, BIG time bragging rights! This also transfers to the hallways and to recess since other students in our grade level will have these bestowed upon them by their teachers.