Holding Kids Accountable

I have discovered the secret to a success of a classroom is holding the kiddos accountable for the expectations that you have established together. At the beginning of the year students were very compliant with the procedures, routines, and promises, that we as a classroom community developed. As the year progressed students began to settle in and I was forgetting to remind and rehearse the essentials that were crucial in our classroom. Together the students and I had a class meeting and established the importance of rules in our classroom. Since then the behavior has improved and my life has become a lot easier. I get to enjoy the kids rather than harping on them about what appropriate behavior looks like. I have made several charts listing the steps of the morning routine, dismissal routine, and what a good listener looks like and hung them on the walls of the classroom. This seems to be working at the moment!!! I hope that it continues.

Now things in my classroom are in full swing. The kids are beginning to feel comfortable and are settling in...this has been causing some problems for me. I have done a good job in practicing the procedures and routines with my students in the first few weeks of school but I am forgetting to continue holding high expectations for the students day in and day out. I am trying to get back on track. The three biggest concerns that I have are...students are not raising their hand (they are shouting out), they are coming up to me if they have a question (this makes me feel very overwhelmed), and I keep giving students warning after warning after warning. This is going to change. On Friday I began holding students accountable for their behavior and we had one of the best days we have had all year. I plan to continue this week...I will let you all know how it goes!!