Creating Classroom Norms

Establishing and building a positive and conducive learning classroom community starts day one. Students need to feel valued, respected, loved, and supported for learning to occur. Often, teachers will go over their classroom rules on the first day of school in hopes of building the classroom community. But, have you ever heard the saying rules are meant to be broken? Well, some of our students perceive rules this way. Instead of having class rules, I like having class values or class norms (I use these words interchangeably). It puts a more positive spin on rules and blends both rules and values interdependently.

I believe that words are powerful and research shows that kids will become whatever you tell them they are. If I tell students they are helpful, I have found that they will be more helpful. This, in my opinion, is true for any value. By having a value or a norm that states, “In this classroom, we will help others”, I’m not telling kids what they can or cannot do in a rule form. I am telling them character traits that represent who they are, who they should strive to be, and what is expected from me. Having class values vs. class rules changed the culture and dynamics of my classroom. Create the values together as a class, display them in your classroom, and reference them daily. Grab the Personalized Classroom Values slides.

Below are some ideas for creating values/norms:

One activity that I love doing every year is a post-it note activity where I get students’ feedback, such as expectations of peers/teachers, goals, what students need to be successful, etc. I will set up chart paper and sticky notes around the room, then break students into groups. Students will move around the room answering the questions on post-it notes, and once finished we debrief by going over some of the top answers. This sets the tone and allows students to have a voice in our classroom. You can use their responses to create classroom norms or values. TIP: I color code my post-it notes by class period. Grab the First Day Post-It Note Activity (freebie).

Creating, demonstrating, and recognizing class values is a routine/procedure in my classroom as I want students to be embodying these values on a regular basis. Using the post-it note activity I mentioned earlier helps to generate ideas. Another idea would be to have students create a Class Value Meme or a Class Norm Meme. They can create it in google, share it with you, and then you can compile the values into a presentation. Students can vote on the top ten (or however many you decide). Grab the Class Value Meme (freebie).

In my classroom, we do a lot of partner and group work so establishing group work procedures is so important, especially as different teachers have different expectations for what group work might look like and/or sound like. I was introduced to the 100 Activity, created by Sara Van Der Werf a few years ago and it was so fun and easy to use in my math class! Break students into groups of 3-5 (4 is ideal) and students work together to complete a task in 3 minutes. Students will complete the task at least a few more times, striving to do better each time. As students are working, I snap pictures of groups working well together. Discuss patterns and how groups worked together to be successful. This leads to a quick-write where students respond to the question “what does group work in math class look like and sound like”? We think about and discuss what we like to see/hear in group work and what we don’t like to see/hear in group work. We use our reflection and discussion to create an anchor chart that has our group norms or values and is constantly referenced throughout the year. I also print the pictures I took and put them on the chart. See the full blog post here and grab the resources you need.

In conclusion, I truly believe that establishing classroom values or norms allow you to build solid relationships and a strong classroom community that encourages students to believe in themselves and support one another. Students have a greater stake in their learning and hold one another accountable, especially since they helped to create the norms or values of the classroom.

Want to hear more about math norms? Check out my friend Mona’s blog post!