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Setting Rules Together: The Benefits

Jonnathan Elizondo
11 mar 2017
2 Min. de lectura

Whenever we begin a school year, setting rules is key for both discipline in the class and learners' success in acquiring the target language. For many years, I had been giving rules to my students the first day of class. Since I felt I needed to start teaching the contents as soon as possible, I would come into the classroom, greet, do some introductions, and provide the rules to my students. This process was done sometimes even without explaining their importance or what they meant.

I certainly noticed that my students were not following instructions and discipline was very difficult to manage. I kept asking myself: Why???

After listening to the same suggestion -set rules day 1 with your students- in three or four trainings last year and experiencing both the process and the results by my own, I decided that it was time to construct rules as a group.

Day 1 this year, I did some introductions and wrote the expression "Our Rules for English Class" on the board.

I was immediately amazed to hear the great ideas my students came up with. After discussing the importance of each idea, we decided on 5 rules to be the ones we needed in our class this year.

Even more surprising was to see that my students were very clear of which rules are the ones they need to keep in mind and also that from group to group similar ideas arose.

At this point I have to admit that I only interfered by asking students to think of affirmative statements to write our rules: I know it is better when they say what you can do opposed to what you can't.

The last step was to make posters and place them in a visible place so that we can review them from time to time.

5 takeaways from this process come to my mind:

1. Every minute invested is worth and will represent less effort on repeating what you want from your students in every class.

2. Students know how to behave and they easily identify their weaknesses in terms of discipline. They just need to feel included in the process of setting the rules.

3. Children commit more to rules they create in class.

4. Understanding the importance of rules for their own benefit, and not only for the teacher's, makes those rules more meaningful to students.

5. My life as a teacher is now easier when I see students reminding their peers of the rules they created.