Developing procedures is crucial for success in the classroom. But don’t stop there! Once you and your students develop the procedure, you all must practice it.

Remember that procedures are different from rules. Procedures have no rewards or punishments. You simply practice until everyone understands them. When a student asks about something, or isn’t doing something for which you have a procedure, you simply ask, “What is our procedure?” By doing so, you put the responsibility back on the student to think of the procedure or to practice it after a reminder.

All classroom procedures should be thoroughly discussed and planned with student input. Additionally, post your procedures on the wall on a student-made chart. Because everyone agrees on the procedures, you should rarely have to ask “What is our procedure?”

When the class doesn’t do something by the procedure, simply stop and practice. The next time is much better.

Have procedures for everything routine, including procedures for exchanging bad pencils for good ones, for going to the cafeteria, for turning in papers, etc. Think about what occurs on a regular basis and have a procedure for it.

Without developing, teaching, and practicing procedures, it’s very difficult to have success in helping kids to become self-disciplined. Once the classroom is carefully structured with routines, THEN kids have a good shot at learning to control their own behavior, and the teacher is in a better position to INSPIRE THEM TO BE SELF-MOTIVATED.

What procedures do you have established in your classroom?