Are all systems go in your classroom? Planning your classroom systems and procedures can be a daunting task. There are so many procedures to have in place, and you need to plan for them in advance. Just like with lesson planning or classroom management, if you don’t have a plan, one will be made for you. Will it be one that you like? One that works? The only way to determine that is to make a plan for your classroom systems and procedures.
Download the free checklist for secondary classroom systems.
Effective Classroom Procedures
It is easier than it sounds. You can have effective classroom procedures. Here are the keys to effective classroom procedures:
- They are planned in advance.
- They are adjusted as needed.
Planning out classroom systems and procedures ahead of time, when you have a clear mind, is crucial. Without a plan systems and procedures take on a life of their own. Think of how easy it is to form a bad habit. Before it was cemented as a habit, it was a routine that came from an unplanned procedure.
It’s like the one time you let one student slide on one rule. If we don’t make it a habit to enforce all of our rules consistently, more and more students start breaking that rule. It’s a slippery slope.
Planning intentional procedures for systems prevents us from creating bad habits. So why not take the time to plan ahead?
There are some things you can’t plan for
Despite planning ahead, we may find that not all of our classroom procedures work as intended. Ideally, we plan our classroom systems and procedures during our summer break.
However, there is one thing that we can’t plan for ahead of time – our students. Most of the classroom procedures we need revolve around the students that we don’t meet until school begins. Once we meet our students, we may find that our planned procedures don’t work out for the students we have. That’s okay. It just means you need to tweak a system or two.
Don’t be afraid to make changes
Also, sometimes our plans just aren’t what we need. Sometimes it takes a little time and experience to learn what really works. Don’t worry. You will find a solution.
In either case, do not be afraid to make changes to your planned procedures. Even if it’s April, and school is ending soon. Your students can accept change. Let’s face it. If it wasn’t working for you, it probably wasn’t working for them either.
Classroom Procedures to Teach
My very first day of teaching, I asked my students (sitting in rows) to pass their student interest inventories to the front of the room. They exchanged confused glances. They had no idea what to do. Because I was asking them to perform a procedure that I hadn’t taught them.
From day one we are teaching our classroom systems and procedures, whether it’s intentional or not. Having a plan in place allows us to explain them clearly and thoughtfully.
Students do best when they know exactly what you expect of them. And when they know what to expect from you. So, it’s not enough to make plans for our classroom systems and procedures. We also need to make a plan for which procedures we teach, when we teach them, and how we teach them.
Examples of Classroom Routines and Procedures
Carefully think through which routines and procedures you teach. For example, you do not have to teach your system for planning lessons to your students. When you prepare your classroom procedures to teach, focus on the ones that your students are part of.
List of classroom procedures for middle and high school:
- Entering the classroom
- Exiting the classroom
- Requesting a bathroom pass
- Gathering and returning supplies
- Turning in work
And of course, there are many, many more.
Keep in mind that not all of your procedures need to be taught on the very first day of school. Or even in the first week.
Every year, I take the entire first unit to teach procedures. Units are the natural cycle that I follow when teaching. We have procedures for starting a new unit, procedures for practicing content, and procedures for taking unit tests.
How to Manage Classroom Procedures
When it comes to managing classroom procedures, I have 3 tips for you:
- Communicate
- Make it easy
- Enforce consistently
As previously stated, there are several classroom systems and procedures that need to be taught. Having a clear plan for your systems and procedures allows you to clearly communicate and teach them to your students. Communication is the first step.
Make it easy
As you plan your systems and procedures for your classroom, make them easy. This rule applies whether it is a system just for you to follow or for your students to follow too. The easier it is, the more successful it will be.
For example, one procedure is to have students return supplies. Originally, I had bins of supplies on my back table. Supplies were always a mess. Each student was responsible for their own supplies, and the back table was out of the way for many students.
Then, I adapted the system. Instead of housing supplies on my back table, I added a cube organizer against the wall by the door. Instead of having supplies in random bins, I put together caddies for each table that held all of the supplies a table of students needed. Both of these changes were much more convenient for students, and led to a much tidier classroom.
Enforce consistently
Just like with classroom management, consistency is key. (In fact, the classroom procedures we are planning are part of our classroom management. It just doesn’t receive the same recognition because it isn’t focused on discipline.)
This goes for your and your students. If you want a procedure to become a routine and to become a habit, you need to repeatedly perform that procedure. If it’s a system just for you, like lesson planning, you only have to worry about yourself.
When it comes to your students, be prepared to teach and reteach the procedures throughout the year. Particularly after breaks, but also any time you see that students are not following procedures.
Classroom Procedures Checklist Printable
We’ve talked about classroom systems and procedures in a broad sense, but which ones do you need to plan for?
There’s a lot.
But don’t worry. I have you covered. You can download a free checklist of the classroom systems and procedures you need to plan for.
The checklist includes space for you to add other procedures you need specific to your school or subject area.
The list is a bit long, but I wanted to be thorough. The good news is that once you get started planning procedures, you’ll realize that you already have many of them planned out, you just didn’t realize it.
Grab your free copy of the Ultimate Secondary Classroom Systems Checklist today!
Looking for examples of procedures for high school? Check out this blog post!
