Establishing standards for conduct and routine procedures for activities is one thing; teaching them to students is quite another. Students must first learn what the standards and procedures are and how to follow them; then they must be willing to follow them. The Teaching Cycles Model applies to teaching standards and procedures just as it does to teaching academic subjects.
Case 5.4 is an example of a teacher who successfully establishes, teaches, and uses standards and procedures.
CASE 5.4
Ms. Williams autocratically establishes some basic routine procedures and standards of conduct for her third-grade class at the very beginning of the school year. She plans to spend a major share of the first 2 weeks teaching these guidelines. She uses the word rules instead of standards with her students because she thinks rules is more familiar to them.
On the second day of the new school year, Ms. Williams announces to her 27 students, “There are four rules that you are required to follow anytime you are at school. Here is the first one.” Ms. Williams displays a bright orange poster with “RESPECT THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS” boldly printed and a drawing of a cluster of happy faces. Touching each word on the poster as she says it, Ms. Williams continues, “ ‘Respect the rights of others!’ That is our first rule. I will hang this reminder for you right here on the wall. Connie, please help me.” The bright orange poster is permanently displayed. “Now read this with me as I point to each word,” Ms. Williams directs the class. Together the class recites with her, “Respect the rights of others.” Ms. Williams. “What does it say, Allen?” Several students, including Allen, shout out, “Respect the rights of others!” Ms. Williams. “I’m sorry; there were too many people talking for me to understand Allen. Allen?” Allen: “Respect the rights of others.” Ms. Williams. “Thank you. Now, I want everyone to quietly think to herself or himself what the rule means before we discuss it.” Ms. Williams waits 30 seconds and says, “OK, let’s share our ideas about what it means to respect the rights of others. We’ll begin with Reginald.” Reginald: “Being nice to them.” Ms. Williams. “And what are some of the ways that we can be nice to others? What do you say, Jaylene?” Jaylene: “You don’t pick on ’em.” Ms. Williams. “Tell us what you think Jaylene means, Antonio?”
The discussion about the first standard continues until Ms. Williams is satisfied that her students have a reasonable understanding of the types of behaviors this standard requires and the types it forbids. Ms. Williams then teaches her students the procedures she will use for dealing with violations of Rule 1.
To deal with violations of standards, Ms. Williams has made arrangements with Mr. Demery, who teaches another third-grade class at her school, to combine their two classes for 40 minutes every afternoon just before dismissal. During that 40-minute period, some type of activity that the students find especially enjoyable is conducted. One day there may be supervised recreation in the gym, playground, or auditorium. Another day, the children may view a video or play computer games. Mr. Demery supervises the combined classes for the first 20 minutes of these sessions. Ms. Williams reserves that first 20 minutes to meet individually with any of her students who have violated standards or failed to follow procedures. At these conferences, Ms. Williams and the students work out a plan for preventing such violations or failures in the future. Ms. Williams supervises the second half of these 40-minute periods to allow Mr. Demery to work out plans with any of his students who violated standards or failed to follow procedures.
In teaching her students the procedures for dealing with violations of the first standard, she does not, of course, attempt to relate all the details of the arrangement with Mr. Demery. In time, the students will learn this for themselves. She does tell them, “Anytime I recognize that someone
Teaching Standards and Procedures to Students 149
has not respected the rights of another, I will tell that person, ‘Meet with me to discuss the first rule when it’s time to join Mr. Demery’s class.’ ”
On the third day of the new school year, Ms. Williams introduces the second standard with a bright green poster with one happy face and the message “RESPECT YOUR OWN RIGHTS.” Ms. Williams’s experiences have taught her that she should include this second standard to urge students to be more assertive in protecting their own rights and not allowing themselves to be abused. Students engage in role-playing to begin learning Standard 2.
One such lesson begins when Ms. Williams announces to her class, “Ron and Frankie will perform our next skit to help us better understand the second rule. Imagine that they’re out in the schoolyard waiting for the first bell to ring. Ron will be playing the part of Joe, who is a fifth grader. Frankie will be Bob, a second grader. OK, fellows, you’re on!” Holding his lunch box, Bob walks near Joe. Joe grabs Bob by the shoulder and says, “Hey! Where you going, Buddy?” Bob: “To my room.” Joe lets go of Bob and asks, “You wanna be my friend?” Bob: “I guess so.” Joe: “Good! I’d like to be your friend too. Whatcha got in the box?” Bob: “My lunch.” Joe: “Let me look at it. You might have something for me.” Bob: “No! I gotta get to my room.” Joe (holding up his fist to Bob): “Look! You’d better let me check out your lunch, or you’ll be sorry.” Ms. Williams interrupts the skit at that point saying, “Thank you. Let’s stop the drama for a few minutes to discuss what we’ve seen. I want each of you to think of what Bob can do so that he won’t break the second rule.” A discussion ensues in which suggestions are made about how Bob can protect his rights from Joe’s bullying behavior. Later, Ms. Williams has Ron and Frankie act out two different endings to the skit. In one, Bob violates the second standard by allowing Joe to take his lunch. In the second, Bob protects his rights.
On subsequent days, Ms. Williams introduces and teaches Standard 3, “GIVE EVERYONE A CHANCE TO LEARN,” and Standard 4, “FOLLOW PROCEDURES.” Standard 3 is primarily concerned with preventing disruptive behaviors during learning activities. Standard 4 serves as a general guideline that leads to many of the procedures governing both transitional and allocated time. The following episode illustrates this relationship.
In the second week of the school year, Ms. Williams directs her students to complete individually a journal-writing activity at their places. As they work, students begin to yell out for Ms. Williams to help them or interrupt her while she is helping another. Other students grow impatient waiting for Ms. Williams to get to them and begin talking among themselves. The noise disturbs those trying to complete the tasks.
Concerned, Ms. Williams develops a procedure for independent work sessions and decides to teach it to her students the next time such a session is scheduled. After some preparation, it is time for the independent work session. Ms. Williams. “Class, may I have your attention please?” She looks directly into students’ eyes until everyone appears to be ready to listen. Ms. Williams. “Thank you. Do you remember what happened the last time we wrote in our journals in class?” Because Ms. Williams had previously established a procedure for speaking in a large-group arrangement, students raise their hands to signal that they would like to answer her questions. No one yells out. Ms. Williams. “Sadi, what do you remember?” Sadi: “It got very noisy, and you couldn’t get around to help all of us.” Other students provide more detail as Ms. Williams conducts a discussion in which the problems with which she wants to deal are articulated by the students. Finally, Ms. Williams says, “It seems to me that we didn’t give everyone a chance to learn last time. We need a procedure so we won’t break the third rule when we are working individually at our places. I’ll explain the procedure now.” She takes a bag from the storage closet and holds it up for the class to see. Ms. Williams. “In here is something to help us give everyone a chance to learn when we are working at our places.” Barbara: “Is it candy? Are you going to give us candy for cooperating?” Ms. Williams looks directly at Barbara sternly and raises her finger to her lips. Barbara receives the message and does not pursue her question. Ms. Williams pulls a device from the bag that the students have never seen before. The device consists of a holder with a clip that can be attached to a student’s desk. The holder contains three flags—red, blue, and yellow. Each flag can be rotated
up or down. Ms. Williams gives each student one device for his or her desk and teaches them the following procedure for class assignments in which they are to work quietly at their places:
As long as a student is progressing through the assignment and does not want to be disturbed, that student is to display the yellow flag. When a student wants to be helped, a red flag should be displayed. When a student has completed the work and is also willing to provide help to others, she or he should display a blue flag. Ms. Williams is to move quietly from one student displaying a red flag to another. She also directs students displaying blue flags to provide help.
Ms. Williams chooses this seemingly elaborate flag-raising procedure over a more conventional “raise your hand” procedure because she believes the following: (a) The formality of the flags will help teach students just how seriously she expects them to follow the procedure. (b) Students who want help can simply display their red flags and continue to work without having to hold up their hands. (c) It provides a quiet, efficient method for using cooperative learning strategies with students who finish the assignment before others.
Because of her arrangement with Mr. Demery, Ms. Williams has a useful structure for dealing with violations of standards and failure to follow procedures. Standards and procedures that are not enforced are counterproductive. How Ms. Williams conducts the conferences to work out plans to prevent repeat offenses is, of course, a critical factor influencing the effectiveness of her standards and procedures. The question of how to deal with students after they have violated standards or failed to follow procedures is addressed in Chapters 8 to 11.
Case 5.5 is an example of a teacher whose decisions about procedures are influenced by students’ suggestions.
CASE 5.5
Ms. Tseu tells her seventh-grade class, “I have received three separate complaints from other teachers that their lessons were disturbed by some of us who were making trips to the library. If those reports are accurate, we were in violation of our standard of not bothering people outside our group. We still need to make trips to the library. Do I need to develop a procedure that guards against our bothering other classes?” Some students raise their hands.
Ms. Tseu: Dale?
Dale:: The trouble is three or four of us go at once. Maybe you should allow only one to go at a
time.
Ms. Tseu: I will seriously consider that suggestion. Jim?
Jim: Find who’s causing the trouble and don’t let them ever go to the library again.
Yolanda: But we really weren’t doing anything wrong! Mrs. Crooks, she’s always trying to get us
in trouble.
Ms. Tseu: I’m more concerned with what we’re going to do than what has already happened.
Let’s make sure we don’t disturb others in the future.
Jean: Do we really need a special procedure if we just promise to keep quiet from now on?
Ms. Tseu: That’s what I’d like to decide. How many of you think we need a special procedure for
going to the library? Raise your hands. One, two, three—most of you believe we need one. Okay, I would like each of you to take out a sheet of paper and suggest what I should do in one to three sentences. Please do not put your name on the paper. I’ll take your papers home tonight and consider your suggestions. I’ll have a decision for you tomorrow.