02 SB1 The Importance of Establishing Routines

Constant reminders of procedure and um,

routine, especially early on in the school year,

helps a lot of practice

because kids are just kids

and they make mistakes

and they have good intentions.

But if you give them constant practice and reminders

and positive redirection

it starts to become part of their working memory,

and it starts to become second nature.

When they walk into the classroom

they know "I'm in Ms. Reatz' classroom.

Now I know I'm a student and how I'm working".

[Ms. Reatz to class] I need all eyes up here. Class class!

[students murmur response]

Dylan, please can I see your beautiful face?

There you go.

Who else am I looking for? Roxana?

Positive attention to yourself

and to others. Thank you.

What does it look like to be on task?

What does it feel like for me

and how do I interact positively with other students?

But ...

I make sure that I pushed out in the beginning of the school year--

I spend the first two weeks just teaching that.

And that saves me a lot of time.

It saves them a lot of time too

because they learn and they practice

how they should be in the classroom environment.

[Prof. Kelly] Every day students -- I will greet them at the door.

And I'll give them a handshake or a fist bump.

And then at 7:30 it's time for class to start.

So I appoint a girl on an A-day

and a boy on a B-day to lead the honor.

[student] Look after me, good morning Professor Kelly.

[students] Good morning Professor Kelly.

[Prof. Kelly] That's just something that the culture of the school

has really provided,

and then we're pretty much off to the races after that.

So I try to keep it as tight as possible,

but still as consistent as possible.

One of the great things about working at this school

is that so much of the procedures

were handed to us

by director and by leadership.

Things like "honoring" and, you know,

bathroom passes in a planner

seemed a little foreign at first,

but they quickly understood that it's such a common language,

especially by the time you have seniors

it is like, you save so much time

cause there is no question about

"How are we gonna start the day?"

How do you know when class has actually begun?

So I'm a big believer in procedures.

[Mr. Chung] Isa, can you please honor us this morning?

[Isa] Okay.

Class, please check uniform.

Uniform check.

[students] Yes, sir.

[Isa] Please face Mr. Chung with a smile

and enthusiasm and repeat after me:

Good morning Mr. Chung.

[students] Good morning Mr. Chung.

[Mr. Chung] Good morning class.

Please be seated.

Let's take a look up here.

What is our prelude going to be?

Okay? Just think about it.

And do it.

Pencil out and ready.

All you've gotta do.

In terms of rules in the classroom,

what I appreciate about this school at least

is the fact that there's a schoolwide culture

instead of rules

that the kids are taught,

that they're expected to know and to live out

here at this school.

So whether it's this class or the class next door,

there is this universal understanding

and expectation for them to

make eye contact,

for them to respond with "Yes, sir / No, ma'am",

for them to compliment others,

respect others

and such.

So I'm thankful that there is

a schoolwide understanding and culture

of what's expected of all the students

because of that fact that if it's contained

to different classrooms there could be

different expectations.

I think respect comes before trust.

So when you start out the year,

there's this,

there's this mutual respect,

and not only in our actions,

but in our words as well.

And students will start to respect us

and will start to respect the class.

And once we start to build that connection,

then there's trust.

And not only a personal trust,

but an academic trust.

So we start to know

if we have a group of students

and we give them an assignment

and we ask them to sit over here,

they're probably gonna be working on that assignment.

We don't have to helicopter over them.

And that comes with time.

And that comes with what we do

as well as what we say.

All right.

We are getting ready for objectives.

You have twenty-three seconds.

You should be ready to go.

All I should see out in front of you

is your notebook and a pencil.

You can have your Chromebooks handy too

if you want to follow along.

That's fantastic.

I found that in just my years here

that when I don't have a procedure in place

that's when problems might arise.

Because the fact of the matter is

there is safety in procedures.

And safety is the number one priority in my classroom

both physical safety and emotional safety.