Setting
Expectations
By Emma
McDonald
Setting expectations is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves and for our students on the first day of school. Unfortunately, many teachers often think of setting expectations as simply going over the school rules. It is so much more than this! Our expectations for students includes not only the rules for the school and classroom, but also what we expect our students to do each and every day.
When thinking about your expectations for students, take a moment to brainstorm everything you do each and every day. Also, think about those issues that are extremely important to you. These may include things such as honesty, integrity, neatness, being prompt, striving for personal best, and cooperation with others. Other expectations may include what you want students to do when entering the classroom, leaving the classroom, requesting a break or hall pass, sharpening pencils or getting supplies, turning in homework, working as a group, or taking a test.
When you stop to think about it, we actually have quite a few specific expectations of our students. However, too often these expectations are assumed on our part and never explained or outlined to students. How can we expect our students to meet our guidelines and set procedures if we never communicate them?
Let's look at the following analogy to help us put this in perspective. Imagine that you are visiting a country that you've never seen before. When you arrive, a list of cultural guidelines and laws are given to you to help you know what is and is not acceptable. You read over these, and feeling confident that you are aware of everything you need to know, you venture out for dinner. Upon arriving at a restaurant, you enter and wait to be seated. The hostess comes and beckons for you to follow her. You calmly follow her to your table. Suddenly she turns around, looks down at your feet and begins to scream at you. You are startled and don't really understand the problem. The hostess is now quickly ushering you out of the restaurant. As you are being pulled back towards the exit you realize that everyone else is wearing closed toe shoes with socks while you are wearing sandals. It is an unwritten rule, or expectation, that everyone wear socks & closed shoes inside buildings. Unfortunately, this was not in the list of guidelines and no one ever told you about this "unwritten rule". Now you are flustered, you feel stupid, and feelings of anger and resentment begin to build because you are being punished for not knowing the expectation.
While this anecdote is a bit far fetched, it does come close to describing what happens in many classrooms. This is the last thing we want to happen. When students begin to feel flustered and resentful, we start to see behavior problems that refuse to go away.
Instead, one of our goals at the beginning of the school year should be to explain, teach, and train our students in what is expected of them while in our classroom. Now with the many different expectations we have, is it possible to do this all in the first day? Absolutely not! Humans can only process so much information in a given time. Instead, prioritize your expectations and go over the most important ones on the first day. Then, throughout the first several weeks, continue to teach & train your students in what is expected of them.
For example, instead of going over the expectations for group work on the first day, wait until you have a group activity planned. Schedule some extra time, or even an extra class period, to explain and model how you expect students to act when working as a group. Although this will take up more time at the beginning of the year, it will be well worth it later on. You won't have to continually train each time they work in groups. Instead, you'll only need to remind them before starting an activity--"Now, who can tell me what I expect when we work together as a group?"
Now, when going over expectations at the beginning of the year, you want to be sure to:
Setting expectations is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves and for our students on the first day of school. Unfortunately, many teachers often think of setting expectations as simply going over the school rules. It is so much more than this! Our expectations for students includes not only the rules for the school and classroom, but also what we expect our students to do each and every day.
When thinking about your expectations for students, take a moment to brainstorm everything you do each and every day. Also, think about those issues that are extremely important to you. These may include things such as honesty, integrity, neatness, being prompt, striving for personal best, and cooperation with others. Other expectations may include what you want students to do when entering the classroom, leaving the classroom, requesting a break or hall pass, sharpening pencils or getting supplies, turning in homework, working as a group, or taking a test.
When you stop to think about it, we actually have quite a few specific expectations of our students. However, too often these expectations are assumed on our part and never explained or outlined to students. How can we expect our students to meet our guidelines and set procedures if we never communicate them?
Let's look at the following analogy to help us put this in perspective. Imagine that you are visiting a country that you've never seen before. When you arrive, a list of cultural guidelines and laws are given to you to help you know what is and is not acceptable. You read over these, and feeling confident that you are aware of everything you need to know, you venture out for dinner. Upon arriving at a restaurant, you enter and wait to be seated. The hostess comes and beckons for you to follow her. You calmly follow her to your table. Suddenly she turns around, looks down at your feet and begins to scream at you. You are startled and don't really understand the problem. The hostess is now quickly ushering you out of the restaurant. As you are being pulled back towards the exit you realize that everyone else is wearing closed toe shoes with socks while you are wearing sandals. It is an unwritten rule, or expectation, that everyone wear socks & closed shoes inside buildings. Unfortunately, this was not in the list of guidelines and no one ever told you about this "unwritten rule". Now you are flustered, you feel stupid, and feelings of anger and resentment begin to build because you are being punished for not knowing the expectation.
While this anecdote is a bit far fetched, it does come close to describing what happens in many classrooms. This is the last thing we want to happen. When students begin to feel flustered and resentful, we start to see behavior problems that refuse to go away.
Instead, one of our goals at the beginning of the school year should be to explain, teach, and train our students in what is expected of them while in our classroom. Now with the many different expectations we have, is it possible to do this all in the first day? Absolutely not! Humans can only process so much information in a given time. Instead, prioritize your expectations and go over the most important ones on the first day. Then, throughout the first several weeks, continue to teach & train your students in what is expected of them.
For example, instead of going over the expectations for group work on the first day, wait until you have a group activity planned. Schedule some extra time, or even an extra class period, to explain and model how you expect students to act when working as a group. Although this will take up more time at the beginning of the year, it will be well worth it later on. You won't have to continually train each time they work in groups. Instead, you'll only need to remind them before starting an activity--"Now, who can tell me what I expect when we work together as a group?"
Now, when going over expectations at the beginning of the year, you want to be sure to:
- maintain eye contact with each student -- this type of body language helps keep students focused on you.
- speak slowly and pause after each sentence -- this emphasizes the importance of what you are saying and gives the brain time to process the information
- practice procedures over and over until they are a reflex for students
- use activities to help students think about and work with your expectations. For example, students could show what an expectation Is/ Is Not; create a skit showing what an expectation/ procedure should look like; draw pictures of what the expectation looks like, sounds like, feels like; etc. Copying the rules does not fall under this category. You want students to internalize these expectations, not feel like they are being punished on the very first day of school.
When you clearly explain and train your students in your expectations, they will know what to do and when to do it. This creates a well-disciplined class which in turn supports student learning. Although it takes a bit of work and time on your part at the beginning of the year, it is so well worth it!
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