Classroom Management Challenges, Establishing Rules and Routines

Classroom management is essential for ensuring that a class runs smoothly and efficiently. Establishing
fair and effective rules and routines achieves a balance between cooperative and respectful learning
while also ensuring that each student receives the same amount of respect, care, and trust. If the
correct rules and routines are in place in a class, it should demonstrate that no student receives
preferential treatment based on their culture, religion, or nationality. Pinto E. L (2013) p.78, states that
“rules have a number of purposes, relational, or moral rules that deal with just and caring action,
structure rules that deal with processes end preparedness, protecting rules that are aimed at ensuring
students are not harmed and finally etiquette rules”.

Before I started Placement, my cooperating teacher informed me of the various classroom rules and
routines that he uses in the Wood Technology Classroom. Some of the rules and routines he
implemented, for example, are, no student could leave the classroom until he had checked each
student's individual locker to ensure that all hand tools had been returned to the correct locker and
were in the correct location within the locker. I remember after speaking to my co-operating teacher, I
made a list of the different classroom rules and routines he used. During my first week of placement, I
often referenced the rules and routines poster to make sure that my class ran smoothly and that the
students would be aware that there wouldn’t be must of a difference between my class and my co-
operating teacher’s class regarding the rules and routines.

During the week there was an incident in my class with three first-year students. Five minutes before my
class finishes when I am in the Wood Technology room, I get the students to start cleaning the room. I
normally select three students in the class to sweep the floor. During the week the same procedure took
place where I got the student to start packing away their stuff, return the hand tolls to their lockers and I
selected three students to start sweeping the floor. The three students that were selected to sweep the
floor told me, they had finished and went back to their desks. I started the normal procedure of
checking each student’s locker and once I was satisfied, I allowed the students to leave the class. I had
three-quarters of the student’s lockers checked, when all of a sudden, I notice that the three students
had only three-quarters of the classroom swept. When I noticed it, I remember at the time being furious
as the students told me they had all the classroom swept. Just by chance the few students that were left
in the classroom, two of them were the students I had asked to sweep the floor. I told the two students
to grab two sweeping brushes and finish sweeping the floor. Due to the students telling me lies I kept
them in over braker for five minutes as this class was just before the lunch break. Once the five minutes
were up I informed the two students that they would have to sweep the floor in the next class as a
punishment for telling me lies.

In the following class, I addressed the whole class where I reinforced the classroom rules and routines. I
informed the class that if any student misbehaved in future classes there would be consequences for
their actions. Harlan, J.C, and Rowland, S.T, (2002) p. 26, state “the purpose of punishment is to get an
inappropriate behavior to decrease in its frequency of occurrence. At the end of the class, I selected the
same three students again to sweep the floor and I kept the third student in over break for an extra five
minutes.
References
Harlan, J.C, and Rowland, S.T, (2002) Behavior Management Strategies for Teachers. Spring field, Illinois:
Charles C.

Pinto E. L (2013) From Discipline to Culturally Responsive Engagement: 45 Classroom Management

strategies. Corwin.