There are three things I like about his new class rules:

1. They are short and succinct. It is so easy to get caught up in making your rules positive that you might lose sight of a child’s attention span. Remain in your seat at all times is cumbersome for young children to read and extraneous for older children. Short and sweet: “stay seated” works much better.
2. They are open to some interpretation. While this may seem counterproductive to some, having rules or “expectations” that are open to some interpretation can not only help students obey, but teach them about how to act in the real world as well. Be Polite can mean a variety of things on any given day –raise your hand instead of interrupting, scooting in your chair to prevent another child from tripping, helping a child pick up books or saying please and thank you.
3. There is a rule to encourage creativity. Teachers fail if students pass tests but do not enjoy learning because once the tests are finished, so is learning. The ultimate job of a teacher, despite what the government would have us believe, is to create life-long learners through making learning fun. Creativity needs be in every classroom. Having this as a rule or expectation can help encourage children to problem-solve, work out squabbles, figure out a new way to learn something or find a way to entertain themselves quietly while the teacher helps another child.

As school is getting ready to start, take a gander at your class rules. Are they too wordy? Do you teach life skills through the class rules? Are you encouraging children to love learning?

Related posts:

1. Checklist for Writing Class Rules
2. 101 Classroom Management Tips
3. Q. How do I Motivate My Students?

Lets take a look at each of these four aspects of Gordon’s model:

Become Equal with Your Students

The idea here is that a good leader will not dictate to his followers but come from another angle that creates mutual respect. Teachers are to engage in active listening where they repeat back to the student what the student said, in the teachers own words, to indicate that he understood.

The benefit of this concept is that in an adult situation, leaders who do not dictate get a better response from followers. The issue is that students are not yet adults. In fact, research shows that the decision making part of their brain is not fully matured for quite some time, making it vital for the teacher to set boundaries and limitations on the students.

Throw Out Class Rules

The actual concept here is that students will together come up with what Gordon calls “agreements” in place of teacher dictated “rules”. They are to be hung where all students can see them.

This is not dissimilar to hundreds of teachers who have their students come up with the class rules at the beginning of the school year, with the exception of the name. The benefit of calling the rules “agreements” is that this might make children who are driven to push the rules, to instead, follow them. The problem with this is that in the end, agreements are nothing more than class rules.

Teach Problem Solving Skills

There is a process to solving a problem:

1. Identify the problem
2. Identify several solutions to the problem
3. Choose a solution mutually agreeable to all involved
4. Implement solution
5. Determine the solution’s success

I see no problems with this at all. In fact, I think more parents and teachers should use this problem solving strategy in their classrooms and homes. Children need to learn how to solve problems.

Use I-Messages

An I-message is one that explains how one person’s behavior affected you and made you feel. For example, “when you do that, it makes me feel this way”. This is the method that teachers are to handle discipline issues in the classroom.

The only benefit, if it is a benefit, that I can find with this is that it does not confront students head-on. It does help to identify ones feelings, but in the end, many students couldn’t care less how their teacher felt about their behavior. This aspect of Gordon’s model of classroom management has the potential to make a lot of teachers very permissive.

Find out more about the Thomas Gordon Model of Classroom Management:

Using the Thomas Gordon Classroom Management Method

The Gordon Model

Thomas Gordon (this is another critique)

Gordon Training International (the official website)

Related posts:

1. Classroom Management a Team Issue
2. Reflection is the Best Remedy
3. Lesson Plans that Prevent Discipline Problems

Related posts:

1. Lesson Plans that Prevent Discipline Problems
2. When Saying “Good Job” is Bad
3. Managing Classroom Space: the Word Wall

How many Rules do you Have?

• Be sure to have at least three rules
• Class rules should be kept to five at the very most
• Combine rules to reduce the number and clarify more specifically to have more rules.

Positive Language for Class Rules

• Do the students know what to do after reading a rule?
• Each rule should state what students need to do rather than what they need to avoid doing.
• Reword rules as necessary

Class Rule Clarity

• Be sure there is no question as to what students are to do after reading the rules
• Analyze each rule – can it be stated more clearly?
• Can any rules have additional details added in order to ensure proper student behavior?

Teach and Reinforce Class Rules

• Did you teach students what each rule meant?
• Can students explain to a visitor what the class rules are?
• If faced with a hypothetical situation, could students explain which rule applies and why?
• Did you practice each procedure including lining up, preparing for lunch and recess and cleaning up at the end of the day?

It is never too late to go back and add or correct the classroom rules. In fact, starting fresh in the middle of the school year may make all the difference in the world and turn your problem class into a success story!

Related posts:

1. Rethink Your Classroom Rules
2. Q. How Many Class Rules Should I Have?
3. Rules for Classroom Rules

Related posts:

1. Checklist for Writing Class Rules
2. 101 Classroom Management Tips
3. Rethink Your Classroom Rules

According to Singapore Education Consultants, the lack of reasoning effectively helps to kill student curiosity. Part of the argument posed is that “making an effort to reason with the students and coming to a common understanding with the students helps students to take responsibility for what happens in the class.”

Every teacher would agree that having students help students, students taking responsibility and common understanding in the classroom are all huge factors that will help with any management plan. Many teachers misunderstand the focus behind reasoning with students, though.

Reasoning with students is not pleading with a student to understand the teacher’s viewpoint, or even trying to convince a student that a particular viewpoint is correct. This type of reasoning will only earn the teacher the reputation of being a push-over and create more out-of-control behavior in the classroom.

Instead, teachers need to use circumstances that come up to teach reasoning skills. When a student gets mad, it is vital that the child learns how to handle that anger in appropriate ways. Simply following the class rules to not hit or throw things is not enough. But then again, nor is following the law enough in the real world. Teachers need to be taking steps to teach students how to handle their emotions in appropriate ways while staying within the confines of the class rules or state laws.

Related posts:

1. Kindergarten Behavior Plan Example
2. Rethink Your Classroom Rules
3. Obama’s Speech Opportunity for Behavior Management

While President Obama talks to students about setting and meeting goals this school year, teachers should look for ways to incorporate the class expectations into those goals.

Teachers can have class discussions about how students can meet the goals they set, using real goals as examples, and guide students into understanding how the class rules will help them meet those goals.

One possible activity is to have students pair goals with each class rule. So if the class rule is to raise your hand before speaking, a goal that can be paired with that rule is to learn to be more respectful of others in the classroom.

Some other ideas for pairing class rules with student goals:

• Stay seated in class – Do your best on all seat work/complete all assignments
• Always Walk in school – work slowly and carefully on assignments just as you walk slowly and carefully in the halls
• Be respectful of others – Respect the teacher’s time and write with neat handwriting

Have students help in pairing up goals with the class rules.

Read on for more extension ideas, or check out lesson plan ideas for President Obama’s Speech.

Related posts:

1. Checklist for Writing Class Rules
2. Behavior Plans
3. Rethink Your Classroom Rules

Class Rules:

1. Are the class rules posted at the student’s eye level?
2. Are there only 3-5 class rules posted?
3. Are the class rules stated in the positive instead of negative?
4. Is time set aside each day for the first week to review the class rules with the students?

Student Movement Around the Classroom:

1. Do you have a plan for allowing students to use the bathroom?
2. Do you have a plan for allowing students to sharpen their pencil?
3. Is the trash can located in a place that will not interrupt a line at the door or disturb students working?
4. Are student work bins located in a place that will not interrupt a line at the door or disturb students working?
5. Do you have a plan for allowing students to get a drink of water?

Handling Behavior Problems in the Classroom

1. Do you have a place to utilize for time-outs?
2. Do you have a place to speak to an individual student privately without disturbing other students?
3. Do you have a class telephone that you can use to call a student’s parent while keeping an eye on the rest of the class?
4. Do you have a hedgehog desk for students to go to and work when they feel annoyed/upset?
5. Do you have a reward/consequence plan in place?

Classroom Management

1. How will you get student’s attention?
2. How will you ensure students know what homework they have?
3. How will you arrange the student desks to optimize learning and minimize distractions?
4. How will the students be motivated to follow the rules? (rewards)
5. How will the students learn from their mistakes? (consequences)
6. Do you have administrative support for your classroom management plan?

Do serious behavior problems worry you? Find strategies for dealing with these behaviors.

Related posts:

1. Two Keys to Starting the School Year off Right
2. Goal Setting for Behavior Plan
3. Checklist for Writing Class Rules

Each listed rule needs to be written in a positive, not a negative, and can entail several expectations. For example, respect others is a frequently used class rule which can include many expectations:

• Speaking kind words to others
• Respecting other’s property
• Taking turns speaking

This will allow a teacher to cover much more in a smaller amount of space. Doing so is essential in order to keep the number of rules down to the basic 3-5 so that students can remember them. Too many rules will cause students to forget them, while a shorter list, posted where students can see, will be a constant reminder of the expectations.

Related posts:

1. Checklist for Writing Class Rules
2. Set Clear Expectations for Students
3. Rethink Your Classroom Rules