Establishing and Maintaining Routines

Okay, y’all, Shocktober is here, and it has officially punched me in the face. I’ve struggled to write this post all week because, honestly, last week destroyed me as an educator. On Thursday,  one of my class periods tested me and pushed me to my absolute limits. This specific class period has been my most troublesome group since Day 1; I have a group of about 5 kiddos in that class of freshmen who are really struggling to make the transition to high school and in-person instruction. All of the classroom management strategies that I’ve discussed up to this point on Teacher Jargon are real strategies that I have implemented with this specific group, and I thought I was really making progress with them. Unfortunately, I had to face the reality on Thursday and admit to myself that I am not able to build the relationships I would like to with two of the students in that class. Try as I might, I just have not been able to get these two kiddos to respond to our classroom norms or my redirection strategies. In fact, they told me that I’m not trying hard enough. From the mouth of babes, right? To say I was devastated is an understatement. I’ve truly never experienced this situation in the 8 years I’ve been an educator. I mean, I’m usually the teacher who can handle the “difficult” kids; this time, I had failed. I failed myself. I failed my students. I failed my school. Maybe that sounds dramatic, but that’s the narrative that was running through my head. I left Thursday feeling like a fraud. How can I talk about classroom management on a public forum when I can’t even manage my own? 

But, then, I took a step back. I put this year into perspective. I put my career into perspective. I made a “success” list and a “failure” list, and I realized that my successes as an educator vastly outnumber my failures. Yes, I have failed one specific student. One of them will be placed into a different teacher’s class to see if he will be more successful there; I’m still working on building a relationship with the rest of them. I guess I’m starting off this week’s post this way because I want to be authentic and real. No matter how many classroom management strategies you implement, the reality is that sometimes you will still struggle. You will still have difficult students. You will still have disruptions. You will still have procedures broken and policies violated and parent phone calls to make and discipline referrals to write. But, implementing strong classroom management techniques will decrease the amount of all of those things. When I stepped back, I realized that I’m having a hard time with 5 students out of the 163 I see daily. That means that I am reaching 97% of my students; that’s a win. So, I’m back again this week to continue my classroom management series. 

Routines

Humans love routines: we have morning routines, bedtime routines, and workout routines. So, why did it take me so long to finally stick to a routine in my classroom? For the first few years of my career, I would attempt to establish a routine. I tried routines that varied based on the day (Monday = grammar, Tuesday = literary analysis, Wednesday = writing, etc.). I tried routines to start class or end class (daily grammar warm ups, voice lessons, GoFormative exit tickets). But, nothing stuck. Eventually, the students would get sick of grammar, so in an effort to keep things interesting, I’d switch up Monday’s routine. Or, an interruption in our week meant moving writing day to Thursday instead of Wednesday. 

If I could go back in time and tell my baby teacher self anything, I would tell her to simplify, simplify, simplify. See, I just so happen to be the queen of overcomplicating anything and everything, so when I tried to set routines, I created elaborate plans. This was my fatal flaw. This year, I knew I wanted to take some of the guesswork out of how my students would start class each day; I wanted a routine that I could stick to and one that would keep my students engaged. 

Enter independent reading time. 

Sure, I had incorporated independent reading time into my classroom in the past, but it was usually fleeting as something “more important” would come up, and I would have to reprioritize class time. I’ll discuss the importance of daily independent reading time once I get into more ELA content specific discussions, but for now, suffice it to say that independent reading time wasn’t getting enough love in my classroom, and I recognized that this was a huge problem. I had read Donalyn Miller’s The Book Whisperer in the summer of 2020 and was inspired by the stories she told. Her students were reading and actually enjoying it. I was convinced that she taught at a magical, mythical school. Could I really get students to read actual books and like it? I’m here to tell you that apparently I can. 

The power of independent reading time is in the routine of it all, so before I go much further, I want to acknowledge that your routine may not be independent reading time. If you’re a math teacher, maybe your routine will be a warm-up math problem on the board. If you’re a social studies teacher, maybe you’ll have a quick-write prompt about migration. The content doesn’t matter; what matters is that you keep the routine simple and stick to it every. single. day. 

On the second day of school, I taught my students our routine to start class. I informed them that they would have ten minutes at the start of every class period to read a text of their choice. Following the ten minutes, the students would have an additional three to four minutes to respond to their reading in their reader’s journals. I outlined the two expectations that I have for them; they are expected to actively read for ten minutes and write a response to track their thoughts and reactions to the text. Then, I allowed the students to choose books from the library.

When students entered the classroom the next day, I reminded them to grab their books and their journals and start reading. I set a timer for ten minutes and modeled the behavior that I expected from them. I read with them for ten minutes. Then, I grabbed my reading journal and projected it using the document camera. I verbalized my thought process as I completed a reading response entry in my journal. My students followed my lead. The entire process took about 15 minutes, and I repeated that process for a week. 

Now, I don’t have to remind students. I don’t have to project my reading response journal for them to follow along. I do, however, still read because I think it’s important for our students to see us leading by example. If I want to communicate that reading independently is important, then I, too, must read independently in front of my students. I also reinforce the importance of their reading response by walking around with a self-inking stamp and stamping their journal entries. My students LIVE for that stamp every day. Seriously, if you don’t have a set of teacher stamps, place an Amazon order right now. You’ll be amazed at how hard students will work for a stamp. I enjoy stamping their responses because it allows me to see what they’re reading. I can check in on comprehension or even make connections with students who are reading books I have read. Some of my strongest relationships with my students this year have been built over a shared love for a character in a book.

After I established the routine, I had to maintain consistency. This is the hardest part because, as you know, we face many interruptions. I’m tempted daily to use the first 13 minutes of class I’ve dedicated to independent reading for literally anything else, but I don’t because I know from experience that once the routine is broken it can never be fully restored. Our actions and inactions communicate our priorities to students. By honoring that 13 minutes every day, I am telling my students that reading is important. What a powerful message! 

The routines you establish in your classroom communicate your priorities. What is so important in your content that students should practice it daily? The answer to that question should be what you build your routines around. 

Connection to Classroom Management

Because I’ve taken the time to establish our routine and reinforce the routine by modeling the behavior and maintaining consistency, my students come in prepared every day. There’s a sense of security in routines. Classrooms can be intimidating, especially if the plan is different each day. I’m convinced that students ask, “What are we doing today?” not because they actually care about what we’re doing that day but because they want to be ready for what we throw at them. Routines eliminate some of the risk involved in going to class. This, of course, translates into stronger classroom management. Students are less likely to act out when they don’t feel threatened. 

My principal uses the phrase, “Clarity is kindness.” When students know what to expect, they’re more likely to adhere to those expectations because it’s safe, comfortable, and predictable. In addition to communicating your class norms, setting routines and sticking to them provides students with a sense of clarity of how class operates. Clarity also empowers students. Honestly, my students don’t need me for the first 13 minutes of class. They know what to do, and because it’s been reinforced so many times, they get their books and start reading without prompting. Creating independent learners is my ultimate goal.

Exit Ticket

What is so important in your classroom that you want students to engage in practice with it daily? How can you establish a simple routine that can be reinforced and maintained throughout the school year? In what ways can you take out some of the guesswork that comes with going to class each day? What impact might a routine have on your classroom management? Leave a comment below.