USE OF MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

Make clear your rules and procedures on the distribution and collection of
materials, storage of common materials, the teacher’s desk and storage areas, students’
desks and storage areas, the use of the pencil sharpener.
The following vignette illustrates the rules:
One of the major roles assigned in Mr. Carpio’s cooperative groups was “Materials
Captain.” Each week, the student in the group who was assigned the role took
responsibility for handling out and collecting materials throughout the school day. To
ensure that all the students understood this role, Mr. Carpio taught the students the
distinctions for each of the three major areas where materials miht be kept. He labeled
these areas Yours, Mine and Ours. Yours referred to the materials in the students’ own
desks, materials that the Captains were not to touch. Mine referred to the materials
that belonged to Mr. Carpio and that were not to be used by the students. Ours referred
to all other classroom materials that would be distributed and collected by the Materials
Captain. All of the students, when it was their turn to be Captain, understood the
importance of these distinctions and that Mr. Carpio expected them to follow his
procedures. “You are the Captains, but remember, I am the Admiral”, Mr. Carpio often
joked. (Except for the change of name, thus vignette was lifted from Robert J. Marzano,
Classroom Management That Works, Alexandria, Virginia, ASCD, 2003).