This year, I am a "PLC of One" so - I need to convince my self of what the right thing is to do this year. It is a little exciting! Top on the list of important things I will be doing my first week is setting up classroom norms.
The last few years I have distinguished classroom norms and group work norms. My classroom norms were 1) Be respectful, and 2) Give 100% effort. I am sure I got these two from the MTBoS at some point but they summarize everything that I need to make my classroom run on a basic everyday level. I have a poster of these in my room and reference them occasionally.
For group work norms, I spend a little more time getting student buy in. I took my one day for norm setting and did an activity from Designing Groupwork. Then students were given post-its and individually wrote down things they did that helped them be successful in the task. Then, they shared these with their group and synthesized their norms onto one post-it. Realistically, I wanted my KSTF CI norms to come out of this so, when I synthesized all the norms, I got 1) Take Risks, 2) Communciate Productively, 3) Work Persistently. This year, my goal is to spend more time on norm setting, and get students to reflect more on those norms the first week (and beyond).
The last few years I have distinguished classroom norms and group work norms. My classroom norms were 1) Be respectful, and 2) Give 100% effort. I am sure I got these two from the MTBoS at some point but they summarize everything that I need to make my classroom run on a basic everyday level. I have a poster of these in my room and reference them occasionally.
For group work norms, I spend a little more time getting student buy in. I took my one day for norm setting and did an activity from Designing Groupwork. Then students were given post-its and individually wrote down things they did that helped them be successful in the task. Then, they shared these with their group and synthesized their norms onto one post-it. Realistically, I wanted my KSTF CI norms to come out of this so, when I synthesized all the norms, I got 1) Take Risks, 2) Communciate Productively, 3) Work Persistently. This year, my goal is to spend more time on norm setting, and get students to reflect more on those norms the first week (and beyond).
My goals in norm setting is to set a culture in the classroom where students:
- Take risks
- Collaborate
- Communicate
- Learn to take turns - share air time
- Invite others to participate
- Are curious and question things
- Respect eachother (and me) and the materials
At first, I was concerned that I would need different norms for my math and CSP classes but really, these are characteristics that I want in ALL of my classes. The difficult thing will be to develop these norms with 5 different sections of students and somehow arrive at the same set of norms. One year I had a different set of norms for each class but, really that is unsustainable when I have 5 classes.
In order to get this culture in place, my hope is to do the following
I particularly struggle with "reviewing the norms" - I think it is important to come back to the norms and reflect on them but I struggle getting students to do that. In the past, many of their responses to "How did these norms work?' ended in a shoulder shrug.
I am wondering if being more explicit about what these norms look/sound like and how to address when norms aren't being followed if students will be able to be more articulate about enacting these norms. I suppose ultimately, if these norms are being practiced, that's the true goal, but being able to articulate when the norms are being practiced (or ignored) I believe can help our class operate more effectively together.
In order to get this culture in place, my hope is to do the following
- Choose tasks that encourage each of these actions
- Acknowledge when students demonstrate any of my "desired" norms during the task - especially "taking risks" since that is one that students in my school REALLY struggle with
- Have students develop the norms themselves through post-it note thinking and small group conversations.
- Review norms the next day AFTER doing another task
- Begin the conversation with "How did these norms help you be successful with the task?, What norm was difficult for you personally to practice? Which norm do you think your team could have practiced more?"
- Revise or simplify norms if needed
- Start the next day with reviewing the norms
- Intentionally review the norms periodically throughout the school year, especially for any tasks that require collaboration
- Survey students on the norms
I particularly struggle with "reviewing the norms" - I think it is important to come back to the norms and reflect on them but I struggle getting students to do that. In the past, many of their responses to "How did these norms work?' ended in a shoulder shrug.
I am wondering if being more explicit about what these norms look/sound like and how to address when norms aren't being followed if students will be able to be more articulate about enacting these norms. I suppose ultimately, if these norms are being practiced, that's the true goal, but being able to articulate when the norms are being practiced (or ignored) I believe can help our class operate more effectively together.
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