Accountability

"Responsibility is the price of greatness. If you want to achieve something truly remarkable in your life, you must first learn to own your actions."

Behavior Expectations

FOR SECOND GRADERS

Show kindness & be respectful to everyone

Students will be respectful of others' opinions and treat each other kindly. This includes taking turns talking, using kind words to one another, and being aware of each other's needs. Respect and kindness in the classroom will help our class to feel more like a team. 

Participate & give your best effort

In our classroom, students must try their best. It is okay if they make mistakes, as long as the are giving their best efforts, then we can grow from there. This fosters a positive relationship with trying your hardest in anything that you are doing. 

Be ready to learn 

Students will understand that they are coming to school to learn. We are all in this together and we are all working hard to be ready for learning throughout the day. Students must be open to new ideas and be willing to learn from their classmates. This will help the classroom culture to be one of learning and growth. 

Follow directions the FIRST time

It is essential for students to listen carefully and understand what is being asked of them. When students are attentive and follow directions the first time, the classroom runs more smoothly and becomes a more positive environment for learning. 

Implementation

Ways that we can put the behavior expectations into play in the classroom

Kindness & Respect

Starting off, I will define what it means to speak to others kindly. One way that I will do this is by giving the students some examples of kind words and unkind words. I will let the students tell me what words made them feel good about themselves and then explain to them why we need to speak kindly to one another. To maintain this rule throughout the year, when students are not being respectful or kind, instead of calling them out, I will have everyone do a few minutes of "mindfulness." Where they close their eyes and think about something kind they want to do for someone that day. 

Participation & Best Efforts

In the classroom, it is so important to try your hardest and to give it your all. To implement this, I will give the students an example of our class trying to play a game and then I don't try my hardest and then we all lose the game. I will tell them that it wasn't fair to everyone else, and as a class, we are a team in our education. When one person isn't trying their best, it can hurt their learning and sometimes everyone else's learning. I will then have the students help me make a list of ways to try our hardest in the classroom. 

Readiness to Learn

Having a readiness to learn when coming into the classroom is so important. I will talk with my students about why it is important and I will ask them why they come to school and why do they need to come to school. Some kids will say because their parents make them, but some will say because they want to be smart or learn. I will tell them that the only way to learn anything in the classroom is if they come to class already knowing that they need to learn something and that they need to have an open mind to what I am going to teach them. I will remind students that their job is to learn and my job is to teach. We each need to do our jobs through the year and we will remind each other of that. 

Following Directions

When students get into the classroom for the first time, I will talk with them about classroom rules, and then I will ask them why it is important to listen the first time. As students give answers, I will write them down. Then I will give students some examples and non-examples of following directions the first time they are given. I know that it will be hard for second graders to follow directions always, but throughout the year, I will reward students with small prizes and big class rewards if everyone can follow directions the first time. I will hang up what the students said so that they can remember that they were the ones that came up with the rules. 

RESOURCES

This website talks about why having rules in your classroom are so important. Not only are they to help students stay in line, but they are to help students have structure in the classroom. It also teaches how to make effective rules. 

Creating Effective Classroom Rules 

This article explains the importance of making rules with your students and why you should put them in a place that the students can see. Good resource for giving students choices.

Developing and Displaying Rules

This is a good resource to learn about the differences between a classroom rule vs. a classroom norm. Students don't want rules, but they need structure.

Establishing Classroom Norms with Your Students

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