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Adapted from
Not This But That: No More Taking Away Recess and Other Problematic Discipline Practices
by Gianna Cassetta and Brook Sawyer
Hung up on how to create effective classroom rules?
These guidelines can help:
- Rules should be positive. In other words, rules should communicate to children what they should do, not what they shouldn’t do. For example, "use kind words" rather than "don’t be mean."
- Rules should be few in number. Keep your number of classroom rules concise. Why? Research indicates that for rules to be effective, they need to be referred to often during the school day and consistently enforced. It is not reasonable to expect students or yourself to remember a lengthy list of rules.
- Rules should be posted. By posting classroom rules, you have a visual way to remind students of the rules. Make sure you post them in an area of the room that children can easily see.
Who creates the rules?
A common question is who should create the classroom rules—the school, the teacher, or the teacher with the students? There is no consensus in research to indicate if one way is better than the other. Some researchers recommend forming rules with students because when students have a say in the classroom rules, they are more invested and "bought in", and thus may be more likely to follow the rules.
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