November 18, 2024 • 17 mins
Sometimes students just don't seem to get what we want them to do and how they need to behave. Where is the disconnect? Listen in as Linda shares tips for setting clearer expectations in your classroom and see how your classroom changes!
Get notes + links at http://teach4theheart.com/328
00:00 Clarifying Expectations in Classroom Management
11:21 Communicating Expectations to Students
If you enjoyed this episode, check out episode 316: How to be More Consistent With Classroom Behavior Issues: https://teach4theheart.com/managing-a-classroom-consistently/
For more encouragement, check out our free training: How to Reduce Disruptions at https://teach4theheart.com/free
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
One area of classroom management that we just don't talk about enough is clarifying ourexpectations.
You might be surprised how big of a difference this can make.
Welcome back to the Teach for the Heart podcast, where we tackle teaching challenges froma biblical perspective.
Why are we here?
Because we don't believe that our spiritual walk and teaching profession should exist intwo separate domains.
(00:24):
Rather, the hope we have in Christ should change how we approach everything, not just athome, but at school as well.
So join us as we explore both the spiritual and practical sides of key teachingchallenges, integrating them together so we can succeed at teaching, glorify God, and make
a lasting difference in our students' hearts and lives.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
(00:46):
Today, I wanna talk about clarifying our expectations because a lot of times ourexpectations aren't actually as clear as we might think they are.
If I ask you,
Do you know how you want students to behave in your classroom?
You'd probably think, yeah, I want, know, and maybe you'd rattle off a few things in yourmind, come, you know, a few things would come to mind immediately.
(01:08):
But if I were to start asking some more nitty gritty questions, or if you had to actuallywrite down exactly what you expect in all these different scenarios in your classroom, you
would quickly come to realize, I'm guessing, that your expectations might not actually beas clear as you think.
Let me give you a few examples.
When I first started teaching,
(01:29):
I remember seeing kids put their head down on their desk and I remember thinking tomyself, is that okay?
Do I want to allow that or should I have them sit up?
And I'm asking myself this question in the middle of a lesson, right?
When I don't really have the space or capacity to really think about it.
Why?
Because I hadn't clarified that expectation.
That expectation wasn't clear in my mind, much less the students.
(01:50):
And if you start thinking about it, you might think of things like this too, things thatstudents have done in your class that you thought, huh, is that okay or not?
That means the expectation is not clear in your mind and also then, of course, hasn't beencommunicated clearly to the students, right?
Here's another example.
Let's say that you have a time where students are supposed to be working on something andyou notice they're talking quietly amongst themselves.
(02:15):
Is that okay?
Are you okay with that?
Are you not okay with that?
You might find yourself wondering, that okay?
Should I say something?
Should I not?
What if a kid stands up and goes and sits by a friend after completing an assignment?
Is that okay?
Is it not?
So these are all examples of things that you might kind of discover.
I haven't actually clarified this.
I don't actually, in the moment, I don't recognize it as no, that's not allowed, or yes,that's fine, because I'm not as clear as I thought that I was.
(02:43):
And what happens when our expectations aren't clear, a couple things happen.
First of all, when it happens in our class, we don't know whether we should address it ornot, right?
So all these scenarios I just said where, you know, the kid put their head down and I wasliterally spending my energy thinking,
Do I do something?
What do I do?
I wasn't addressing it right away, right?
(03:04):
Because I didn't know.
And I think I probably ended up just letting it go because I wasn't really sure about it.
Or you might find yourself being really inconsistent, right?
Letting it go one day, coming down on it the next day, because you're not really sure.
You haven't decided in your own mind, right?
So that's not good.
It makes us inconsistent.
It makes us unsure, which the students pick up on that uncertainty.
(03:26):
It also is very stressful, right?
And so we're distracted in the middle of our lesson by this question that we're trying toanswer on the spot, right?
Another problem when our expectations aren't clear is that it's also not clear to thestudents, right?
If we don't know where the line is, we're certainly not drawing a clear line for them,right?
So they're gonna be trying stuff and not sure if they're gonna get away with it or not,right?
(03:49):
And if we let it go, then they're like, okay, and they keep doing it.
If we're inconsistent, then they never know where the line is, right?
So it is very, very important for us to clarify our expectations.
And that's why when we work with teachers in Classroom Management 101, which is our onlinecourse, where we help teachers reduce disruptions with the classroom management plan, one
of the first things we do is we clarify expectations.
(04:12):
And we go through all kinds of different areas and think, okay, where are we going to drawthe line?
And that's just so important to just decide, where am I going to draw this line?
so that when something happens in the classroom, I'm not asking myself, I'm not debatinginternally, I know.
Either, yep, that's fine, I've decided that that is fine, or nope, they've crossed theline and I am gonna say something or I am gonna do something to deal with it.
(04:38):
So I wanna give you some tips here now for how to clarify your expectations.
Okay, we're gonna start first of all with some tips for clarifying them for yourself, andthen once they're clear on your mind,
tips for communicating and clarifying them for your students.
Okay, first of all, before I get into the tips, I wanna tell you how we do this inClassroom Management 101 and what my recommendation is if you're doing it either with us
(05:02):
or on your own.
And that is, I recommend just writing down all of the common, like just thinking throughall kinds of the common scenarios of things that happen in your classroom.
And then you wanna think through, what am I gonna do?
What is allowed and what isn't?
And in Costume Management 101, we actually have a template that's there.
It has ideas already for you and all the questions that you want to ask.
(05:24):
But for example, some of the questions on there are, you know, when are students allowedto talk and what talking levels are acceptable at different times?
Right?
Because it's, I guess, I'm guessing the rule isn't really no talking ever, right?
So when is that allowed?
When isn't it?
Things like, what does respect look like?
What does disrespect look like?
So you can recognize the difference.
Questions about when is a student allowed to stand up and wander around the room and whenare they not?
(05:48):
So all these types of things that you might think of, what are all these differentscenarios of things that students might do or things that I expect and get clear and
actually write them down because when you write them down, it brings so much more clarity.
So here's my three tips for clarifying expectations for yourself.
Tip number one, I want you to understand this is where you pick your battles, okay?
(06:11):
So the advice is pick your battles wisely here, okay?
And before I get into that, I want to just talk about this concept of pick your battles.
You've probably heard that phrase used a lot.
And in general, it's good advice.
But how I've seen it misapplied in classroom management is where teachers end up lettingall kinds of things go in their classroom because they're like, I'm picking my battles.
(06:35):
Like, I'm picking the bigger things.
But what happens then is like they set the line.
You know, they set the line.
And then they let students cross the line and are just like, well, I'm picking my battles.
Even though they cross the line, I'm just picking my battles.
And that, once again, that's not good.
That's creating inconsistency.
That's creating a lack of follow through.
Students aren't really sure what to you expect when the line is not clear when we do that.
(06:57):
So instead of picking our battles in the moment based on how we feel, instead we want topick our battles now when we're clarifying our expectations.
So this is where you say, where is the line?
and I'm picking my battles, right?
There are certain things that I might say, I'm gonna allow that.
I'm not gonna fight that battle.
That's gonna be fine.
We're gonna allow that here.
But there's other things you say, yes, I am gonna fight that battle, so I'm gonna set thelines.
(07:19):
You're basically drawing up your battle lines as it were, so that you're ready and youknow when students cross this line, that is when I'm, that's the battle I'm picking.
That's when I'm going to address it.
Of course, we're not actually battling, we're just addressing the issue, but you get theanalogy.
So tip number one, pick your battles here.
decide which battles are worth fighting and where to draw the lines.
(07:42):
Just consider what do I feel like is appropriate.
And one of the most important things is that you feel aligned with where you draw yourlines.
In other words, that you feel like this is the right line.
It might be different than the teacher next to you.
Some teachers might draw the line more strictly than you.
Some might draw it less strictly than you.
But it's important that you feel like it's the right line because if you feel confident inyour line, you're gonna be able to hold it much better.
(08:03):
If you don't feel confident, if you feel like your line is too strict or too lenient,
you're gonna be second guessing it all the time.
it's one of the most important factors is that you feel confident in where you set it.
You can always adjust it later if you want to.
So tip number one, pick your battles here.
Tip number two, don't drop expectations in hopes that students will meet them.
(08:26):
Let me give an analogy, or sorry, rather tell a story that will explain this point, okay?
So when I was teaching, I...
wanted students to use a green pen to grade in class.
So in other words, sometimes we would have them just grade something that we did realquick in class.
And then of course, I would take it and look at it for actual grade.
(08:46):
It's just talking like things like classwork.
So I wanted them to have a green pen, grade in green, because we did the math in pencil.
I wanted them to grade in green.
And that was the best case.
then it was different from the I used red.
So it was very clear.
Everything was nice and clear.
What I found, though, is I was always fighting this battle.
to have students have the green pen.
It was always like, I forgot my green pen.
(09:09):
It was like, okay, you can use blue or just use any pen.
I was like, then use another pen.
And I was fighting that battle all year.
I was kind of tracking it and it was kind of exhausting, right?
Students continually not having the green pen.
And so the next year I said, okay, I'm gonna pick my battle and I'm gonna stop fightingthe green pen battle.
I am just going to say any pen is fine.
(09:29):
You just have to have a pen to grade.
It's different pen than pencil, we're good.
And I thought I would be good to go.
But what I discovered was that it didn't work.
Here's what happened.
The students that used to not have a green pen, but at least they had a pen, now they cameto class with no pen at all.
So in other words, the problem wasn't that I was expecting something unreasonable byasking them to have a green pen.
(09:55):
The problem was that there were just students that were like never really gonna be on topof what they were supposed to bring.
But now I found myself in a bigger dilemma because before I could just say, just use apen.
And now I was, I couldn't say just use a pencil because that would be the same instrumentthat they did the quiz with and whatever.
So I found myself that I had lowered the expectation hoping to avoid the battle.
But what actually ended up happening was that I had the exact same battle and just now itwas way worse.
(10:22):
So my advice here is in light of that story, don't drop expectations
in hopes that students will be able to meet them because they're lower.
So set the bar where you think it should be and recognize there will always be studentswho come in under the bar.
The lower you drop it, there's still gonna be students that come in under it.
(10:45):
So you just need to keep that in mind, okay?
You will always have students come in under.
You're always gonna have to fight the battle.
So don't lower it in hopes that to avoid the battle.
Does that make sense?
So put the bar where you think it should be.
where you feel is right and fair and good.
Don't lower it to avoid it.
It's just not gonna work.
So hopefully that's helpful.
(11:06):
So advice number one, pick your battles, make sure you feel aligned with where the lineis.
Number two, don't drop expectations in hopes that students will meet them.
Number three, write down your expectations.
If you write them down,
you are going to have so much more clarity.
Number one, you'll be able to refer back to it, but even more, having to write it downforces you to be clear.
(11:28):
Because in my mind, if I just say, yeah, I expect this and this and this, I'm actually, mymind will assume I have a lot more clarity than I actually do.
When I have to write it down, it becomes pretty clear to me, I actually haven't thoughtthis part through or that part through.
So definitely recommend writing down your expectations.
And if you do work with us in classroom manager 101, we have the template and all thequestions all ready to go for you.
(11:51):
All right, so those are three tips for clarifying expectations for yourself.
Next, tips for clarifying expectations for your students.
I have three here as well.
So in other words, first step is getting clear for yourself.
Once you're clear in your mind, now you need to communicate these to the students, okay?
And some of these you might communicate in, know,
When you think about next year, you might have like a syllabus for them and things likethat.
(12:14):
But that's obviously not enough, right?
Just putting something in a syllabus, students may or may not read that much less rememberit, right?
So what does this look like in actually communicating with them on a regular basis?
So first of all, discuss expectations as they come up.
Don't just go over a list of expectations at the beginning of the year or all at once.
So once again, giving them a syllabus or going through everything all at once, they're notgonna remember that.
(12:37):
It's too much information.
Instead, you want to clarify expectations as that comes up.
So as something comes up, you know, okay, this is what is allowed here.
This is the expectation here.
Okay, we're doing small groups.
This is what is expected during small groups.
So you need to clarify things as they come up and be ready to continue to remind them ofit until like they, it's clear to them.
(13:00):
So that's number one.
Discuss them as they come up, not in one huge long list.
Number two, clarify expectations by holding the line.
Okay, this is probably the most important.
The way you're gonna make the line clear and the expectation clear is by holding thatline.
And when students step over it, you say something, you do something.
That is going to be the most important thing.
(13:22):
So you do wanna be ready and think through, well, what am I gonna do when students crossthese lines?
How am I going to respond?
And be ready to do that.
That's really, really important.
Because if you say this is the line, but then you let students cross it, you know, kindaall the time,
that's not gonna be the line.
So you have to hold it.
You have to be prepared to hold it.
(13:43):
And then number three, it might be wise to focus on one or two areas at a time, especiallyif you're listening to this episode when it comes out, it's the middle of the year.
So if you're thinking, man, I wanna clarify a lot, it might be good though to say, okay,I'm gonna focus on one or two areas because I can really focus on that, right?
If you were to try to come in and say, okay, I have 10 areas I wanna work on with mystudents,
(14:06):
you're not gonna be able to keep up with that.
They're not gonna be able to keep up with that.
It's gonna be too overwhelming.
But if you say, okay, I'm gonna focus on this one area, we're gonna focus on, you know,small group time, we're gonna focus on, you know, disruptions, know, blurting out answers
or getting up out of our seat, whatever it is.
If you pick one or two areas, that's gonna be so much more manageable.
You're gonna be able to actually focus on it.
(14:27):
You're gonna be able to actually be really consistent with, okay, every time someonecrosses over the line, I'm addressing it.
And so you're gonna be able to work on it forever.
So if you have a list of things that you want to areas you wanna work on to clarify andthen communicate and shore up that line, I recommend kind of picking your top one or two,
do those first.
And then after you work on like each one of those for a couple of weeks, however long ittakes, there you feel like, okay, we got the hang of this one, then do the next one and
(14:54):
the next one.
So kind of pick them off one by one, rather than trying to do them all at once.
So I hope these tips have been helpful for you as you think about clarifying yourexpectations.
One final word of advice is just to recognize that clarifying these expectations is justone part of the plan.
There are a lot of other pieces that need to work together.
(15:15):
In particular, remember I talked about, well, what do you do when they don't meet theexpectation?
Are you ready to address that?
So if you do need extra help with that, we talk about the whole system, including when weteach a classroom management plan,
Part one is clarifying expectations.
Part five is what do you do when students cross the line and getting ready and havingthose responses ready?
(15:36):
So if you feel like you need some additional help, we have two resources for you.
First of all, we have a free training, how to reduce disruption so you can actually teach.
You can get that at teachfortheheart.com slash free, teachfortheheart.com slash free.
Or if you just want to jump right to the all-in-one solution, Classroom Management 101.
is always here for you.
walk you through the entire process, give you everything you need to reduce thosedisruptions.
(15:59):
And you can get that at teachfortheheart.com slash CM101.
So teachfortheheart.com slash CM101.
Well, this episode has been brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
All views and opinions are our own and don't necessarily reflect those of the HerzogFoundation.
If you'd like the notes and the links from this episode, you can always get them atteachfortheheart.com slash three two eight, teachfortheheart.com slash 328.
(16:28):
And if you did enjoy this episode, we'd love for you to share it with a friend and tosubscribe to the podcast so you can stay in touch with us.
Thank you guys so much.
look forward to speaking with you again soon.
In the meantime, teacher, remember God is at work in you and through you, and he's usingyou to make a difference.
Keep your eyes on him and teach for the heart.
One area of classroom management that we just don't talk about enough is clarifying ourexpectations.
You might be surprised how big of a difference this can make.
Welcome back to the Teach for the Heart podcast, where we tackle teaching challenges froma biblical perspective.
Why are we here?
Because we don't believe that our spiritual walk and teaching profession should exist intwo separate domains.
(00:24):
Rather, the hope we have in Christ should change how we approach everything, not just athome, but at school as well.
So join us as we explore both the spiritual and practical sides of key teachingchallenges, integrating them together so we can succeed at teaching, glorify God, and make
a lasting difference in our students' hearts and lives.
This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
(00:46):
Today, I wanna talk about clarifying our expectations because a lot of times ourexpectations aren't actually as clear as we might think they are.
If I ask you,
Do you know how you want students to behave in your classroom?
You'd probably think, yeah, I want, know, and maybe you'd rattle off a few things in yourmind, come, you know, a few things would come to mind immediately.
(01:08):
But if I were to start asking some more nitty gritty questions, or if you had to actuallywrite down exactly what you expect in all these different scenarios in your classroom, you
would quickly come to realize, I'm guessing, that your expectations might not actually beas clear as you think.
Let me give you a few examples.
When I first started teaching,
(01:29):
I remember seeing kids put their head down on their desk and I remember thinking tomyself, is that okay?
Do I want to allow that or should I have them sit up?
And I'm asking myself this question in the middle of a lesson, right?
When I don't really have the space or capacity to really think about it.
Why?
Because I hadn't clarified that expectation.
That expectation wasn't clear in my mind, much less the students.
(01:50):
And if you start thinking about it, you might think of things like this too, things thatstudents have done in your class that you thought, huh, is that okay or not?
That means the expectation is not clear in your mind and also then, of course, hasn't beencommunicated clearly to the students, right?
Here's another example.
Let's say that you have a time where students are supposed to be working on something andyou notice they're talking quietly amongst themselves.
(02:15):
Is that okay?
Are you okay with that?
Are you not okay with that?
You might find yourself wondering, that okay?
Should I say something?
Should I not?
What if a kid stands up and goes and sits by a friend after completing an assignment?
Is that okay?
Is it not?
So these are all examples of things that you might kind of discover.
I haven't actually clarified this.
I don't actually, in the moment, I don't recognize it as no, that's not allowed, or yes,that's fine, because I'm not as clear as I thought that I was.
(02:43):
And what happens when our expectations aren't clear, a couple things happen.
First of all, when it happens in our class, we don't know whether we should address it ornot, right?
So all these scenarios I just said where, you know, the kid put their head down and I wasliterally spending my energy thinking,
Do I do something?
What do I do?
I wasn't addressing it right away, right?
(03:04):
Because I didn't know.
And I think I probably ended up just letting it go because I wasn't really sure about it.
Or you might find yourself being really inconsistent, right?
Letting it go one day, coming down on it the next day, because you're not really sure.
You haven't decided in your own mind, right?
So that's not good.
It makes us inconsistent.
It makes us unsure, which the students pick up on that uncertainty.
(03:26):
It also is very stressful, right?
And so we're distracted in the middle of our lesson by this question that we're trying toanswer on the spot, right?
Another problem when our expectations aren't clear is that it's also not clear to thestudents, right?
If we don't know where the line is, we're certainly not drawing a clear line for them,right?
So they're gonna be trying stuff and not sure if they're gonna get away with it or not,right?
(03:49):
And if we let it go, then they're like, okay, and they keep doing it.
If we're inconsistent, then they never know where the line is, right?
So it is very, very important for us to clarify our expectations.
And that's why when we work with teachers in Classroom Management 101, which is our onlinecourse, where we help teachers reduce disruptions with the classroom management plan, one
of the first things we do is we clarify expectations.
(04:12):
And we go through all kinds of different areas and think, okay, where are we going to drawthe line?
And that's just so important to just decide, where am I going to draw this line?
so that when something happens in the classroom, I'm not asking myself, I'm not debatinginternally, I know.
Either, yep, that's fine, I've decided that that is fine, or nope, they've crossed theline and I am gonna say something or I am gonna do something to deal with it.
(04:38):
So I wanna give you some tips here now for how to clarify your expectations.
Okay, we're gonna start first of all with some tips for clarifying them for yourself, andthen once they're clear on your mind,
tips for communicating and clarifying them for your students.
Okay, first of all, before I get into the tips, I wanna tell you how we do this inClassroom Management 101 and what my recommendation is if you're doing it either with us
(05:02):
or on your own.
And that is, I recommend just writing down all of the common, like just thinking throughall kinds of the common scenarios of things that happen in your classroom.
And then you wanna think through, what am I gonna do?
What is allowed and what isn't?
And in Costume Management 101, we actually have a template that's there.
It has ideas already for you and all the questions that you want to ask.
(05:24):
But for example, some of the questions on there are, you know, when are students allowedto talk and what talking levels are acceptable at different times?
Right?
Because it's, I guess, I'm guessing the rule isn't really no talking ever, right?
So when is that allowed?
When isn't it?
Things like, what does respect look like?
What does disrespect look like?
So you can recognize the difference.
Questions about when is a student allowed to stand up and wander around the room and whenare they not?
(05:48):
So all these types of things that you might think of, what are all these differentscenarios of things that students might do or things that I expect and get clear and
actually write them down because when you write them down, it brings so much more clarity.
So here's my three tips for clarifying expectations for yourself.
Tip number one, I want you to understand this is where you pick your battles, okay?
(06:11):
So the advice is pick your battles wisely here, okay?
And before I get into that, I want to just talk about this concept of pick your battles.
You've probably heard that phrase used a lot.
And in general, it's good advice.
But how I've seen it misapplied in classroom management is where teachers end up lettingall kinds of things go in their classroom because they're like, I'm picking my battles.
(06:35):
Like, I'm picking the bigger things.
But what happens then is like they set the line.
You know, they set the line.
And then they let students cross the line and are just like, well, I'm picking my battles.
Even though they cross the line, I'm just picking my battles.
And that, once again, that's not good.
That's creating inconsistency.
That's creating a lack of follow through.
Students aren't really sure what to you expect when the line is not clear when we do that.
(06:57):
So instead of picking our battles in the moment based on how we feel, instead we want topick our battles now when we're clarifying our expectations.
So this is where you say, where is the line?
and I'm picking my battles, right?
There are certain things that I might say, I'm gonna allow that.
I'm not gonna fight that battle.
That's gonna be fine.
We're gonna allow that here.
But there's other things you say, yes, I am gonna fight that battle, so I'm gonna set thelines.
(07:19):
You're basically drawing up your battle lines as it were, so that you're ready and youknow when students cross this line, that is when I'm, that's the battle I'm picking.
That's when I'm going to address it.
Of course, we're not actually battling, we're just addressing the issue, but you get theanalogy.
So tip number one, pick your battles here.
decide which battles are worth fighting and where to draw the lines.
(07:42):
Just consider what do I feel like is appropriate.
And one of the most important things is that you feel aligned with where you draw yourlines.
In other words, that you feel like this is the right line.
It might be different than the teacher next to you.
Some teachers might draw the line more strictly than you.
Some might draw it less strictly than you.
But it's important that you feel like it's the right line because if you feel confident inyour line, you're gonna be able to hold it much better.
(08:03):
If you don't feel confident, if you feel like your line is too strict or too lenient,
you're gonna be second guessing it all the time.
it's one of the most important factors is that you feel confident in where you set it.
You can always adjust it later if you want to.
So tip number one, pick your battles here.
Tip number two, don't drop expectations in hopes that students will meet them.
(08:26):
Let me give an analogy, or sorry, rather tell a story that will explain this point, okay?
So when I was teaching, I...
wanted students to use a green pen to grade in class.
So in other words, sometimes we would have them just grade something that we did realquick in class.
And then of course, I would take it and look at it for actual grade.
(08:46):
It's just talking like things like classwork.
So I wanted them to have a green pen, grade in green, because we did the math in pencil.
I wanted them to grade in green.
And that was the best case.
then it was different from the I used red.
So it was very clear.
Everything was nice and clear.
What I found, though, is I was always fighting this battle.
to have students have the green pen.
It was always like, I forgot my green pen.
(09:09):
It was like, okay, you can use blue or just use any pen.
I was like, then use another pen.
And I was fighting that battle all year.
I was kind of tracking it and it was kind of exhausting, right?
Students continually not having the green pen.
And so the next year I said, okay, I'm gonna pick my battle and I'm gonna stop fightingthe green pen battle.
I am just going to say any pen is fine.
(09:29):
You just have to have a pen to grade.
It's different pen than pencil, we're good.
And I thought I would be good to go.
But what I discovered was that it didn't work.
Here's what happened.
The students that used to not have a green pen, but at least they had a pen, now they cameto class with no pen at all.
So in other words, the problem wasn't that I was expecting something unreasonable byasking them to have a green pen.
(09:55):
The problem was that there were just students that were like never really gonna be on topof what they were supposed to bring.
But now I found myself in a bigger dilemma because before I could just say, just use apen.
And now I was, I couldn't say just use a pencil because that would be the same instrumentthat they did the quiz with and whatever.
So I found myself that I had lowered the expectation hoping to avoid the battle.
But what actually ended up happening was that I had the exact same battle and just now itwas way worse.
(10:22):
So my advice here is in light of that story, don't drop expectations
in hopes that students will be able to meet them because they're lower.
So set the bar where you think it should be and recognize there will always be studentswho come in under the bar.
The lower you drop it, there's still gonna be students that come in under it.
(10:45):
So you just need to keep that in mind, okay?
You will always have students come in under.
You're always gonna have to fight the battle.
So don't lower it in hopes that to avoid the battle.
Does that make sense?
So put the bar where you think it should be.
where you feel is right and fair and good.
Don't lower it to avoid it.
It's just not gonna work.
So hopefully that's helpful.
(11:06):
So advice number one, pick your battles, make sure you feel aligned with where the lineis.
Number two, don't drop expectations in hopes that students will meet them.
Number three, write down your expectations.
If you write them down,
you are going to have so much more clarity.
Number one, you'll be able to refer back to it, but even more, having to write it downforces you to be clear.
(11:28):
Because in my mind, if I just say, yeah, I expect this and this and this, I'm actually, mymind will assume I have a lot more clarity than I actually do.
When I have to write it down, it becomes pretty clear to me, I actually haven't thoughtthis part through or that part through.
So definitely recommend writing down your expectations.
And if you do work with us in classroom manager 101, we have the template and all thequestions all ready to go for you.
(11:51):
All right, so those are three tips for clarifying expectations for yourself.
Next, tips for clarifying expectations for your students.
I have three here as well.
So in other words, first step is getting clear for yourself.
Once you're clear in your mind, now you need to communicate these to the students, okay?
And some of these you might communicate in, know,
When you think about next year, you might have like a syllabus for them and things likethat.
(12:14):
But that's obviously not enough, right?
Just putting something in a syllabus, students may or may not read that much less rememberit, right?
So what does this look like in actually communicating with them on a regular basis?
So first of all, discuss expectations as they come up.
Don't just go over a list of expectations at the beginning of the year or all at once.
So once again, giving them a syllabus or going through everything all at once, they're notgonna remember that.
(12:37):
It's too much information.
Instead, you want to clarify expectations as that comes up.
So as something comes up, you know, okay, this is what is allowed here.
This is the expectation here.
Okay, we're doing small groups.
This is what is expected during small groups.
So you need to clarify things as they come up and be ready to continue to remind them ofit until like they, it's clear to them.
(13:00):
So that's number one.
Discuss them as they come up, not in one huge long list.
Number two, clarify expectations by holding the line.
Okay, this is probably the most important.
The way you're gonna make the line clear and the expectation clear is by holding thatline.
And when students step over it, you say something, you do something.
That is going to be the most important thing.
(13:22):
So you do wanna be ready and think through, well, what am I gonna do when students crossthese lines?
How am I going to respond?
And be ready to do that.
That's really, really important.
Because if you say this is the line, but then you let students cross it, you know, kindaall the time,
that's not gonna be the line.
So you have to hold it.
You have to be prepared to hold it.
(13:43):
And then number three, it might be wise to focus on one or two areas at a time, especiallyif you're listening to this episode when it comes out, it's the middle of the year.
So if you're thinking, man, I wanna clarify a lot, it might be good though to say, okay,I'm gonna focus on one or two areas because I can really focus on that, right?
If you were to try to come in and say, okay, I have 10 areas I wanna work on with mystudents,
(14:06):
you're not gonna be able to keep up with that.
They're not gonna be able to keep up with that.
It's gonna be too overwhelming.
But if you say, okay, I'm gonna focus on this one area, we're gonna focus on, you know,small group time, we're gonna focus on, you know, disruptions, know, blurting out answers
or getting up out of our seat, whatever it is.
If you pick one or two areas, that's gonna be so much more manageable.
You're gonna be able to actually focus on it.
(14:27):
You're gonna be able to actually be really consistent with, okay, every time someonecrosses over the line, I'm addressing it.
And so you're gonna be able to work on it forever.
So if you have a list of things that you want to areas you wanna work on to clarify andthen communicate and shore up that line, I recommend kind of picking your top one or two,
do those first.
And then after you work on like each one of those for a couple of weeks, however long ittakes, there you feel like, okay, we got the hang of this one, then do the next one and
(14:54):
the next one.
So kind of pick them off one by one, rather than trying to do them all at once.
So I hope these tips have been helpful for you as you think about clarifying yourexpectations.
One final word of advice is just to recognize that clarifying these expectations is justone part of the plan.
There are a lot of other pieces that need to work together.
(15:15):
In particular, remember I talked about, well, what do you do when they don't meet theexpectation?
Are you ready to address that?
So if you do need extra help with that, we talk about the whole system, including when weteach a classroom management plan,
Part one is clarifying expectations.
Part five is what do you do when students cross the line and getting ready and havingthose responses ready?
(15:36):
So if you feel like you need some additional help, we have two resources for you.
First of all, we have a free training, how to reduce disruption so you can actually teach.
You can get that at teachfortheheart.com slash free, teachfortheheart.com slash free.
Or if you just want to jump right to the all-in-one solution, Classroom Management 101.
is always here for you.
walk you through the entire process, give you everything you need to reduce thosedisruptions.
(15:59):
And you can get that at teachfortheheart.com slash CM101.
So teachfortheheart.com slash CM101.
Well, this episode has been brought to you in partnership with the Herzog Foundation.
All views and opinions are our own and don't necessarily reflect those of the HerzogFoundation.
If you'd like the notes and the links from this episode, you can always get them atteachfortheheart.com slash three two eight, teachfortheheart.com slash 328.
(16:28):
And if you did enjoy this episode, we'd love for you to share it with a friend and tosubscribe to the podcast so you can stay in touch with us.
Thank you guys so much.
look forward to speaking with you again soon.
In the meantime, teacher, remember God is at work in you and through you, and he's usingyou to make a difference.
Keep your eyes on him and teach for the heart.
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