Rules and routines in the classroom

As I am just finished my first week of my school placement 3, I have been given the
chance to reflect on “Rules and routines”. In this reflection, I am going to reflect on the
importance of establishing rules and routines. I believe that having good rules and routines
in a classroom are highly valuable to not just the teacher but also the students, as these
rules and routines provide a place in which learning can flourish in the classroom.
On the first day of my school placement 3, I met with my co-operating teacher prior
to teaching my first group. We engaged in a discussion about classroom management and
the topic that came up was rules and routines. My co-operating teacher said to me “The
most important thing you want to happen in the first week is to establish strong and
effective rules and routines as they are the key success to having good classroom
management”. I truly believe that this statement that he said to me has benefited my
teaching career hugely. I feel that having good rules and routines in a classroom does lead
to having excellent classroom management and from this I believe that this then leads to a
classroom in which learning truly does flourish “Well-managed classrooms provide an
environment in which teaching and learning can flourish” (Marzano, Marzano, & Pickering,
2003) I believe that if there was no such thing as rules in a classroom, I feel that no learning
would take place as the teacher would not be in control, so therefore there would be no
order in the classroom leading to a poor learning environment.
I struggled with my classroom management on my first day with one of my groups, I
outlined the rules off my class but as they class went on, I didn’t stick to my rules and
routines and I had no control over the class. I brought this problem up straight away with
my co-operating teacher, he informed me that I needed to go into the next lesson with that
group and reinforce the rules and routines of my class. So, the next lesson I had with that
group I done up a poster prior to the class and went through my rules and routines
reinforcing them all and making sure the students understood them. I feel that this truly did
work as in the next few lessons I had with those students, I encountered no problems with
classroom management and my classroom was a place in which the students learning could
flourish as my students engaged in the class very well and worked well throughout the
lesson.
I also now know the importance of establishing routines in a classroom. I believe that
having routines in a class does lead to a smooth running lesson as there is no time wasted in
the class as the students understand what to do at a specific time or moment for example
when the teacher says I am doing a demonstration, the students automatically know to
gather up around the demonstration bench “They are necessary not only for the smooth
running of instructional activities but also for reducing the frequency with which teachers
need to give instructions for daily classroom events” (Hue, 2008) I believe that it is very
important to establish clear and effective routines as they do prevent the teacher losing out
on valuable teaching time.
Overall, I feel that having effective and direct rules and a good routine in a classroom
will improve the amount of work done and also the amount of work learned. I also feel that
having these will benefit the teacher in many ways as it keeps you the teacher in control of
the classroom as they obey your rules and perform the routines.
References
Hue, M. (2008). Classroom managment: Creating a Positive Learning Environment. Hong Kong: Hong
Kong University Press (Hong Kong Teacher Education).

Marzano, R. J., Marzano, J., & Pickering, D. (2003). Classroom Management that Works: Research-
based Strategies for Every Teacher. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.