Classroom expectations

Establishing classroom rules is crucial to maintaining a healthy classroom. The beginning of the school year is the best time to inform the students of what you expect of them. Three effective ways to communicate classroom rules are,
 Posting rules in a visible area in the classroom
 Enlightening the students of the rules early in the school year
 Reinforcing positive behavior
These ideas can help you successfully create a great learning environment.

Posting Rules
Create a fun and appealing poster listing all of the classroom rules. If the poster is appealing, the kids will not feel like it restricting but makes class fun. A visual set of rules allows the students to see what is wrong to do, as opposed to determining on their own.

Informing the students early
Begin the year with the best foot forward. Inform that students of what you expect of their behavior while in class. This does not have to be a lecture, or something that will have them staring at the ceiling for fifteen minutes. Instead, make it fun to learn about the rules; make a fun movie with puppets. Have children participate in little scenes that depict the wrong and right thing to do in class and discuss. The more interactive that you make it, the better they will grasp the ideas, and retain the information.

Making the call home
Contact parents when their child is well behaved in class, as opposed to doing the bad call home. Calling the parent at home also opens the lines of communication between yourself and the parent. Tell the students when you have called their parents at home, and be sure to include that you will not contacting for bad behavior. Students who are misbehaving in class will soon begin to display better behavior in order to get the “good” call home. Rewarding students after good behavior also reinforces their manners. Keep track of the students behavior during the week and reward them at the end with a treat to show you notice how well they are doing.

These are just a few of many things that can be done to effectively communicate classroom expectations. Remember the age of the students, as they will be your audience. Here is a simple recap, Post, Enlighten, and Reinforce.