This another informative post from Wangsuda of the defunct TEFLWatch Forums.
I recently ran a teacher training seminar at work, and one of the questions I posed was, "What are your classroom rules?" Just about every teacher present had a laundry list of stuff students could NOT do! No this, no that, no the other . . . no, No nO, NO! And my response was, "WTF? With all that you cannot do in your class, what can you do?" There was silence. I explained that having rules that contain the word "no," create two problems:
1. Students ALWAYS find a way around a "no" rule. IF you say "no gum in class," the students bring in candy. Amend the rule to "no gum and candy" and students bring in food. The cycle continues until the rule includes every known food type in the world.
2. There are so many "no's" in your rules that the students just give up. After all, the teacher allows nothing in class, so why should the students do anything?
So, what do to do with rules? Simple - make them positive. I use four, language-positive rules that (so far, thank Buddha) have covered most classroom situations. I would like to share them, and perhaps we can get some discussion on them, share various rules, and maybe come up with a difinitive classroom rules list.
My Rules:
1. Be Respectful - many teachers have rules stating "no talking back," "no gum chewing," "no writing on desks.” Cannot all this negativity be summed up in one positive statement? Yes, it can, and that is what "be respectful" means. It also means more than just no talking, chewing, and destruction. It is a method of treating other students as well. If a student is respectful to his/her teacher, his/her fellow students, and the school's property, than you have a well-behaved student whose life is not governed by a list of "no's."
2. Be Informed — when a student walks into my class he/she needs to be ready for anything. Being informed is more than having homework completed; it includes reading (assigned material as well as outside material), classroom awareness (what are we doing, and where are we in the grand scheme of things), and news awareness (being aware of school, local, state, and national events). Being informed helps in literature interpretation, since many texts relate their stories to events that happened in Thailand or world history.
3. Be Prepared— like the Boy Scouts, a student should be prepared when s/he walks into my class. This preparedness is more than just having a pencil and some paper (although that is nice); it includes being ready for a changing classroom dynamic. Some days may include acting out scenes from the currently studied literature, working on group projects, demonstrating a knowledge base and understanding of material on assessment day, and/or anything my educationally directed mind thinks of. Being prepared for class allows a student to better prepare him/herself for the world.
4. Participate — a student can be as respectful, informed, and prepared as s/he can, and I will never know it unless the student opens his/her mouth in class. My classes are loud, for much learning and understanding comes through interaction between the students and me. One method of assessment I use is how a student responds, orally, to questions I pose to the class. Participation also includes reenactment of literature, drawing, reading aloud, sharing ideas, debate of topics and concepts, and anything else I can think of which brings learning and understanding more accessible to the student.