Teaching Expectations

“Security comes from a feeling of being able to deal effectively with anything life may have to offer.” - Rudolf Dreikurs

                                                                    

The next few consecutive blog posts will further cultivate my understandings of classroom management by using Sprick’s book, CHAMPS: A Proactive and Positive Approach to Classroom Management (2009), as a lens for reflection and practice. Previous posts have concentrated on how an educator can structure their classroom for success by developing a clear vision and organizing routines and procedures. This week’s readings provided educators with tools to develop a systematic classroom management plan and clarified how the CHAMPS acronym can be used to effectively teach behavioral expectations. Through teaching these expectations educators must also be sure to connect student expectations to the bigger picture by inspiring and motivating them to strive toward the classroom vision and its guidelines for success. Literature strongly supports the use of explicit, well taught expectations and further associates these expectations with teacher success and student success. Dreikurs’s quote above complements this concept by further suggesting that students may be more likely to feel secure in their school and classroom environment if they are aware of expectations and able to effectively, independently or with support, self-regulate as different situations arise.