Establishing effective classroom routines early in the school year helps keep your classroom running smoothly and

ensures that no time is wasted while students wonder what they should be doing during times of transition. Classroom routines can be established for many activities, including entering the classroom in the morning, transitioning between activities and preparing to leave the classroom. The basic procedures for establishing solid routines remains the same regardless of the routine procedure that you are teaching your students. Instructions 1.Explain the routine to your class. Tell your students why the routine is important and what you expect them to do as part of the routine. If you want your students to enter the classroom quietly in the morning and select a book to read, explain how entering the room this way helps get the day started quickly; define what quietly means, because without clarification, some students may consider quietly to mean a whisper voice while others will take it to mean no talking. Allow students to ask questions about the routine and your expectations. 2.Model your expectations. Act out, in detail, what you expect from students when completing a routine. Break the routine down and narrate what you are doing. Show each step of the routine and how it should be properly completed. For example, when showing students how to leave their seat and sit on the carpet, model getting out of a chair, pushing it in properly, walking to the carpet and sitting on the floor in the correct way. 3.Have students practice the routine. Select one or two well-behaved students to demonstrate the routine first, allowing the class to see how the routine should be completed by a student. Once students all understand what is expected, have the whole class practice the routine. Younger students may benefit from completing the routine one step at a time before practicing the whole routine at once. Have students practice the routine until the class feels comfortable completing the routine without teacher assistance. 4.Implement the routine in your day. Once students understand the routine, have them complete it during the day. As you implement the routine, remind students of the proper procedure and your expectations, making your reminders less detailed until they are able to complete the task completely on their own. 5.Review your routine as necessary. If the class struggles to remember the routine or has trouble completing the routine after a break from school, review your expectations and have students practice the proper way to complete the routine again. Students need to know what is expected of them in your classroom. To ensure that you have smooth transitions throughout the day, think carefully about the routines for which you must plan. Before establishing specific procedures or routines, it is necessary to have a discussion with students about their importance. During this discussion, you should be able to talk about the rationale behind various routines. When possible, invite students to create procedures with you. This process can nurture a sense of ownership and community in your classroom. In establishing procedures or routines, it is important to:

Ensure that students understand the reason for the routine. Clarify the procedure through modeling. Allow students opportunities to practice the routine through rehearsal. Try not to overwhelm students by teaching too many routines at once. The process of establishing routines and procedures may take several days. Remember that it will probably be necessary to revisit this process as you see the need.

Effective classroom teachers spend more of their time in the first few weeks of the year teaching classroom routines and procedures as opposed to academic content. Why? Because routines and procedures are the key to a well-managed, organized classroom. Research shows that most behaviour problems result from lack of classroom routines and procedures. Moreover, the numbers of interruptions to academic instruction are reduced and the class flows more smoothly. Points to remember:

Have a copy of your routines and procedures to hand to each of your students on the first day of school. (Keep extra copies on hand for new students who arrive later in the year.) Do not simply hand out the list, go over it once, and expect the students to comply. Teach the most important, key procedures over a period of days, one or two at a time.

Explain the rationale behind the routine or procedure. Model the routine or procedure for the students. Give the students non-examples of compliance. Have the students (or one student) model the procedure.

Teach the less important routines and procedure by simply stating the routine or procedure, monitoring it, and reinforcing it when necessary. Be consistent . Don't give up after a few days. The time spent teaching, monitoring and reinforcing routines and procedures during the first three weeks of school will pay tremendous dividends. If the routines and procedures are established at the beginning of the year, the entire rest of the year will be more enjoyable and productive for both you and your students.

What should teachers focus on for their classroom routines?

Although each teacher and each classroom is different, classrooms are successful when teachers have effective routines for:

entering the classroom where students sit checking which students are present in class lateness to class giving out equipment and books how students can move around the classroom handing in of work permission to leave the room for valid reasons tidying up at the end of the lesson leaving the room at the end of the lesson what to do in case of emergencies

All of these classroom routines make for 'good housekeeping' and an ordered environment, which is the first prerequisite for an orderly lesson. It may seem a bit 'fussy' to insist on all of these classroom procedures, but all experienced teachers have learnt to their cost what can happen when these routines are missing. Not having these classroom routines is a sure and certain recipe for classroom chaos, sooner or later.

Classroom routines are important for pedagogic reasons

As well as functional procedures for an orderly classroom, certain routines are necessary to make teaching and learning as impactful as possible. In this sense, successful teachers develop classroom rules for the way they present information and for how students should respond in the learning process. These kinds of routines include:

how to get students to pay attention, such as a non verbal signal, or a countdown how students should respond to direct questions: for example, hand raising or random choice of which students will answer whether students are allowed or instructed to work cooperatively at times noise levels allowed in class: for example, some tasks may require silent individual attention, while others may require cooperative learning in pairs or groups - and students need to be made aware of acceptable noise levels and protocols for each task when and how individual students can get extra help from the teacher in class how to engage students who finish tasks ahead of the rest of the class what to do when students refuse to follow teacher instructions