A teacher can be firm yet still be supportive and friendly with students. A firm teacher can provide an environment where the students feel safe and secure.
Most effective teachers report that it is easier to begin the year with clear expectations and guidelines than it is to try to establish them as they are needed.
When you set clear expectations for your class and adhere to them each day, students will quickly follow suit. The teacher must model the behaviors that are expected, and display confidence when dealing with students who stray off course. Recognizing students who follow guidelines and also model expected behaviors will help to set classroom norms.
Being firm with a student involves listening as well as speaking. When you direct a student to comply with expectations, it is important to understand why they did not. Are the expectations unclear to them? Are there unforeseen or misunderstood barriers? Does the student require special attention and support?
Establish a set of classroom rules to guide the behavior of students with input from the class. Involving students is the most effective way to determine and set expectations for classroom conduct and procedures.
Discuss the rationale for these rules with students to ensure they understand and see the need for each. Students 'buy into' a learning environment when they have helped to set its parameters.
Keep the list of rules as short as possible. They must be clear, concise, purposeful, and easily understood. Part of helping students to understand the rules is to keep the list short enough for them to remember them all.
Children naturally seek natural justice. They want things to be “fair”. You can help them understand the moral basis of the rules by involving them in a discussion about what is a “just action” or behavior, and what is an “unjust action” or behavior. Discussing the impact on others of an unjust action usually brings everyone in the classroom to a common understanding of the need for a specific rule or expectation.
Consistency is another aspect of fairness for students. Consistently requiring the same level of behavior from all students is easier when the rules are clear, concise, and understood by all.
Useful rules most often involve respect for others and for property, following directions promptly, and following through on assignments.
Rules should be phrased in positive ways. For example:
"We are respectful of people, property, and ideas" rather than "We don't take things that aren't ours," or "We don't make fun of others."
Rules don’t engender respect by themselves. They set the expectation but must be partnered with actions.
One of the most common respect issues among students is whether or not they feel heard by teachers and others in positions of authority. In this regard, teachers must model respectful behavior by engaging with their students. A student may act in a respectful manner with their teacher, perhaps because they have learned this at home, but may not actually respect the individual. Teachers who demand respect for authority because of their position can command the behavior, but will have less success than teachers who model respectful behavior. True respect is earned.
Peer respect follows the same principle. In a classroom with an open and caring climate, students can engage with each other and develop respect for peers. By modeling respectful behavior, the teacher encourages students to act in the same manner.