Understand before we begin, I can write with aurhority here because I have done this myself.

How many teachers out there have prepared for the new year, posted your rules on the wall, or a bulletin board, explained the rules once or twice, and then expect the kids to know the rules for the remainder of the year? Go ahead raise your hand, we already know you have done it, heh-heh.

Now keep your hand up if, much to your chagrin, the kids seem oblivious to your rules within a few days, and seem surprised when obvious violations off those rules result in some sort of consequence. See, my hand is up also.

"This is ridiculous!" I...I mean you rant, to yourself, and maybe colleagues. They have been through the rules, they know them, they have seen them before and yet they seem genuinely shocked when they do something thoughtless that results in their doom...er...richly deserved consequences.

So, what can you do to fix this?

When the rules are posted on the wall, and are explained a time or two and then left hanging there they are only decorations, not really part of the class. Kids are not going to connect to these rules as governing their behavior in the way that we as teachers want them to unless they are more intimately connected to them.

I actually use cool pictures on the wall that represent my rules too, but I did not put them up until five weeks into the school year. By that time my students knew my rules intimately and in excrutiating detail. They knew them well enough that if I want to stop talking in my class I do not ever have to call down the kid doing the talking!

All I do is look at my class, hold up two fingers and say "Rule Two!"

The whole class responds. They hold up two fingers, repeat the number of the rule, repeat the rule, and do the hand gesture associated with the rule, and I do it with them. It takes seconds. My talkative students stop talking, the whole class is more focused, and the talkers are not surly and resentful at being embarassed in front of the class.My stress level is also lower since I do not have to deal with the surly resentment.

How do we do that? We teach each rule with a hand gesture, and teach it many, many times. Read on, my colleagues, let me make your life easier!

Research tells us that the human brain learns through a system in which items are input in short term memory and, through repetition, is converted to long term memory.

You can hold about 7 items in short term memory without losing one. Long term experiments in classrooms tell us that 3 to 5 items are optimal. If you have a dozen classroom rules your first step is to pare them down to no more than five.

We also know that the more sensory systems you engage in learning the more easily you can form long term, easily accessible memories. See the research behind Direct Instruction, and the Dr. Marcia Tate's wonderful book Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites.

 We also know that we remember best what we teach to someone else.  

So, we need no more than five rules. We need a gesture for each rule, this provides a visual anchor for those watching, and a kinesthetic anchor for those doing the rules, and we need the kids to teach the rules to their classmates.

Let's begin.

I use the first four rules from Whole Brain Teaching:

Rule One: Follow directions quickly! ( make your hand shoot forward like a fish at the same time you say this)

Rule Two: Raise your hand for permission to speak (aise your hand, then pull it down next to your head and make a talking motion with your fingers. )

Rule Three: Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat. (raise your and, and then make a little walking figure with your index and middle finger.)

Rule Four: Make smart choices! (tap one finger against the side of your temple as you say each word.)

These rules cover most of the basic expectations. When I teach them I model the rule first, and have the kids repeat my gesture without speaking. The next two times they repeat the gesture and what I say. Next they teach a classmate the rule, at the same time the classmate teaches them, repeating at least three times in a row.

We repeat this method each time for each rule. We reinforce it throughout the year. Have them repeat it frequently, at least once a day in each class. It re-establishes the expectation for behavior.

This also get my rules off the wall and into the heads of my students. If someone is violating a rule all I have to do is call out the number for the rule. The whole class repeats, the malefactor stops, and my class is back on track with a pause of no more than a few seconds and without surly, rebellious students.

You can certainly adapt the techniques for your rules as well.

To learn more about this and the other methods of Whole Brain Teaching GO HERE.