Key takeaways
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Ensuring student success and productivity in school requires structure, consistency, and a positive classroom environment. This can be accomplished with a few clear classroom rules.
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There is no right or wrong number of rules. Identify what is important to you, as well as your non-negotiables, and use those to help create your list of classroom rules.
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All school and classroom rules must be clear and concise, explicitly communicated to students, and consistently enforced.
The key to student success and productivity in school is structure, consistency, and a positive classroom environment. How do you build that? Through a combination of high expectations, classroom management strategies, and rules inside the classroom.
While there is no right or wrong number of classroom rules, it is important to identify what matters to you and explicitly communicate clear, concise expectations to students. Some teachers prefer to create a set of classroom rules at the beginning of the year, using student input. Other teachers identify the expectations that are non-negotiable for them and use these as their classroom rules. Regardless of which method you prefer, here is a list of 25 classroom rules to consider as you decide how to set students up for success in your classroom.
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Be Prepared
Being prepared means not only having all the necessary physical materials ready for class but also entering the classroom mentally prepared with the right mindset and attitude. Both go a long way toward ensuring a successful and productive day in the classroom.
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Be On Time
Nothing disrupts the start to the day or class period like students arriving late. It can disrupt the entire flow of the class for both the teacher and the students. Arriving on time or early ensures each student is prepared to learn and shows respect for the entire classroom community.
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Be Kind
Kindness is at the core of many of these classroom rules. Without it, building a cohesive classroom community and positive culture will be very difficult. It’s critical to hold students to the standard of basic human kindness, as well as model this for students in your interactions with others.
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Be Focused
Success and productivity can only happen when students enter the classroom focused each day. As most educators well know, an unfocused student can very quickly derail an entire lesson and a classroom full of students. Set students up for success by ensuring the classroom conditions are conducive to learning, minimizing disruptions and downtime, and scheduling brain breaks into the instructional day.
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Be Curious
Curious students are engaged and motivated students. Encourage students to be curious, using a variety of strategies and educational resources, such as asking open-ended questions and being supportive of their curiosity.
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Be Respectful of Others
Respect is a two-way street. Every person in a classroom deserves respect, but to receive it, they must be willing to give it. This means that every student’s words and actions are true, helpful, and kind, and that they treat others as they wish to be treated. Set the precedent that disrespect and bullying others will not be tolerated in the school or classroom.
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Be Respectful of Others’ Belongings
Just as the people in a classroom deserve respect, so do their belongings. No student appreciates having their belongings played with or taken, so they should extend the same courtesy to others in the classroom. Be clear with students about which items belong in the classroom and which should be kept at home to minimize distractions and others’ temptations.
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Take Care of Classroom Materials
When students take care of classroom materials, they help ensure the success of all students in the classroom. Set clear expectations for the use of all classroom tools and materials, and help students feel a sense of ownership of these items and the classroom as a whole.
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Be Safe When Moving Around the Classroom or School
This is an important rule to have in both the classroom and school. Students should be clear on what it looks like and sounds like to move safely around the classroom and school to ensure their own safety and the safety of others.
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Follow All School Technology Rules
This is an important school rule, and there is likely a policy in place to support it. It is worth reinforcing in the classroom, though, as well. There should be zero tolerance for students exhibiting any type of unsafe behavior on school devices. This rule must be enforced consistently so that students learn safe and appropriate digital literacy habits.
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Follow Directions the First Time
Everything goes much more smoothly in a classroom where students don’t need to be constantly reminded of the rules. To cut down on these constant reminders, clearly and explicitly communicate all classroom rules to students at the beginning of the year and be consistent in enforcing them. Set the expectation early that students need to listen to directions the first time and that they will not be repeated constantly.
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Be an Active Listener
Active listening means students are listening with their entire bodies. Their eyes are focused on the speaker, their ears are open and listening, their body is calm and relaxed, facing the speaker, and their brain is processing what is being said so they can learn, respond, and grow.
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Raise Your Hand
This is a simple rule found in just about every classroom. Not only does it minimize disruptions and chaos, but it also teaches students patience and turn-taking, and is a sign of respect.
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Respect the Opinions of Others
Students will disagree with one another at some point during the school year. Emphasize the importance of each student feeling safe sharing their opinions in the classroom, and teach students how to respectfully disagree with one another. This is a necessary life skill that will serve students well through adulthood.
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Work Cooperatively with Others
Most teachers require students to work cooperatively with one another at different times throughout the school year, and for good reason. Cooperative learning groups are a great way to reinforce a variety of skills in students, including turn-taking, communication, and conflict resolution. Set clear expectations for cooperative learning by assigning roles, providing feedback, and making a rubric or set of expectations available to students.
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Celebrate the Success of Others
If you aim to build a positive community of learners, then the success of one student is the success of all students. Celebrate these wins, no matter how big or small. This builds a sense of belonging, community, and kindness.
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Use an Appropriate Voice Level
Different voice levels are appropriate at different times and in different areas at school. Students need to be aware of specific expectations and follow them to ensure the comfort and safety of all students.
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Take Responsibility for Your Actions
Students need to learn to own their actions and mistakes and understand that this is part of the growth and learning process. Support students in building this skill through modeling and by cultivating a classroom environment where mistakes are a welcome part of the learning process.
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Ask for Help
Asking for help can be one of the hardest things to do, but self-advocacy is a necessary skill for personal growth. Create a classroom environment where students feel safe asking for help, and reiterate that your job is to help them learn and grow, not judge them for needing help.
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Participate
Students don’t learn by sitting passively in a classroom all day. They need to be active participants in their learning. Encourage this by providing students with opportunities to be the architects of their own learning and by creating a classroom environment where they feel safe participating and sharing.
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Be Proud of Yourself and Your Accomplishments
All accomplishments matter in the classroom. Help students learn to be proud of themselves and their accomplishments by celebrating them as a class. Make a big deal out of student successes, and soon enough, they, too, will feel proud of themselves when they accomplish something and want to celebrate it.
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Have a Positive Attitude
A positive attitude is key to learning and growing, and success can’t happen without it. Model this for students through your words and actions, and teach them strategies for staying positive when challenges arise.
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Use Positive Language
Setting the expectation that students use positive, kind language goes a long way toward creating a culture of positivity and kindness in the classroom. This is an important classroom rule, as disrespectful and inappropriate language can quickly lead to some students feeling unsafe in the classroom.
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Do Your Best
The work may be challenging or tedious at times, and there may be days when students are struggling. Despite those things, we must always expect students to put forth their very best effort. This is an important classroom rule because it’s an important life skill.
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Have Fun
Arguably, this is the most important classroom rule on the list. If you are having fun, the students are too, and having fun at school is the very definition of success.
