January 13, 2025 • 17 mins
Thinking through procedures is a lot of work. Teaching those procedures is even more! But what happens when we don't spend time and energy on procedures? Listen in as Linda shares why not prioritizing procedures will sabotage your classroom management.
00:00 The Importance of Classroom Procedures
05:10 Creating Effective Procedures
11:44 Teaching and Reinforcing Procedures
Get notes + links at http://teach4theheart.com/332
If you found this episode helpful, check out episode 315: Am I Too Nice? How to be Kind Without Losing Control of the Classroom at https://teach4theheart.com/315
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Procedures can seriously make or break your classroom, and the reason why might actuallysurprise you.
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.
Rather, the hope we have in Christ should change how we approach everything, not just athome, but at school as well.
(00:27):
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.
Today we're talking about the number one mistake teachers make when it comes toprocedures, and this is one that can seriously make or break your classroom and your
(00:52):
classroom management.
And here's the mistake.
A lot of times we as teachers
Do not insist that our procedures are followed.
And this can have really devastating consequences that go far beyond what you mightrealize.
Let's talk about why.
So first of all, let's just think about this.
Good procedures, when a classroom has good procedures and they're followed consistently,it really leads to a relatively smooth running classroom, or at least it diminishes a lot
(01:18):
of chaos.
On the other hand, if procedures are haphazard, meaning they're not really well thoughtthrough,
or they're not followed consistently by the students, that leads to a whole lot of chaos.
Now, let's understand why.
Well, first of all, it's the practical reason, you probably already understand that, andthat is that procedures are designed to reduce chaos.
That's literally their job, right?
(01:39):
If we have a procedure for lining up, it's supposed to make that smooth and not chaotic,right?
If we have a procedure for when students enter our classroom at the beginning of a period,it's supposed to reduce chaos.
So when students follow it, it does reduce chaos.
When they don't follow it or when the procedure just
isn't very good, then there is more chaos.
So that reason is obvious.
(01:59):
But there's a second reason that is really powerful, and it's something that I don't thinkwe always think about.
And that is that when we either insist that procedures are followed or we let them not be,then that's sending a lot of intangible signals to our students about how seriously we
take our classroom and how seriously they need to take it.
(02:22):
Let me explain.
So if we say, this is my procedure, let's once again say for coming into the classroom,and we tell them what is expected, but then we don't actually insist that they do it.
So we say, this is the procedure, but then they don't really do the procedure.
They do it halfway or half the students do it, and we just let that go.
Then we're sending a few intangible signals that we don't wanna be sending.
(02:42):
We're telling students, you don't really need to do what we say that you need to do.
When we have procedures, policies,
They're not really that important.
I don't really mean what I say.
We don't take these things that seriously.
Those are intangible signals that we're saying through our actions, or rather our lack ofactions, and those are not good signals.
(03:06):
Because when students start to pick up on those signals, they don't just apply it toprocedures, they apply it to other things, right?
That makes them think, hmm, maybe I don't need to follow the rules either.
Maybe I can be disruptive and they're not gonna do anything about that either.
Maybe I don't need to take this work very seriously.
So we're setting a tone that we really don't want to set.
On the other hand, when with procedures, we do take them seriously.
(03:29):
So let's go back to the same example, students coming into the classroom.
Let's say we've worked on this procedure, we've explained it, and then we're doing it.
If we're actually very insistent, and I'll show you how to do this in a minute, and weactually really insist that they follow the procedure, and when they don't do it, we
correct, and we practice, and we make sure it's done right, that sends very goodintangible signals to our students.
(03:51):
It says the opposite of what we all would do what we just said.
It says, I take this seriously and you need to too.
I mean what I say.
We're going to actually stick with our with what we say in this classroom.
We're going to take it seriously and we're going to do it.
And it's worth the effort.
All of those intangible signals, once again, don't just apply to procedures.
(04:13):
Students realize, okay, they really mean what they say.
They're probably going to hold me accountable in behavior and being disruptive.
And I better take my work a little bit more seriously too.
Now obviously does this solve every single classroom issue?
No, but we're setting ourselves up and those intangibles are gonna have ripple effects oneway or the other.
So we want those intangibles rippling in the right direction, not in the wrong direction.
(04:38):
That's so, so key.
So what I want to do right now is help you think through if you're thinking now, okay,Linda, you're right.
I'm not really taking my procedures super seriously.
I can think of multiple procedures now where students kind of half follow them or like athird of the students don't do them.
And yeah, this is not sending the right message.
(04:58):
What should I do?
So we're going to do two things.
First of all, we're going to talk about thinking through and making sure the proceduresare good.
Then we're going to talk about how to teach them or reteach them in the middle of theyear.
So first of all, you want to make sure that the procedure is good.
So I want you to think right now of one area in your classroom where it's like chaotic.
(05:19):
Okay, this procedure either is kind of not the best or it's not being followed.
So I want to kind of maybe even pause this and think of one so you have an example in yourmind.
Well, first of all, the first thing you want to ask yourself about that is, is theprocedure itself good or not?
So in other words, sometimes the procedure is great, it's just not being followed.
But sometimes the procedure itself is kind of problematic.
(05:41):
For example, if I had my kids lining up for, you know, to go to lunch or recess in anelementary classroom, but I had them lining up right in front of the mailboxes at the same
time that I want students to go to their mailboxes, well, that's not going to work becauseI'm going to have this traffic jam continually.
So that's just an example of a procedure like that wasn't well thought through.
(06:03):
Right?
Or if I think when students come into the class and the things I'm having them do, mygoodness, I'm getting this huge traffic jam here.
Or, you for example, at the beginning of the start of class, I realized students arecoming in and they're not going to their desk.
They're like milling around.
It's causing all this chaos.
So said, I need to change my procedure.
I need to make the procedure that students go straight to their desk.
They don't wander around the room first.
(06:25):
So thinking through, there a different procedure or is there a way I could do theprocedure a little differently that would work?
So don't neglect that step, that step's important.
But then once you say, yep, I'm good with my procedure, then we actually need to teach itto the students.
So I'm about to go over our four steps to perfect procedures.
Now, in the beginning of the school year, you wanna do this with every single procedurethat you teach.
(06:49):
In the middle of the school year, you would say, okay, I might need to reteach some of myprocedures.
So you might pick one or two or three procedures that you say, I need to reteach this.
This is how you do it.
So this works for teaching originally and reteaching, reintroducing, reinforcing.
So there's four steps.
Explain, practice, correct, and redo.
(07:09):
Let's go over them one at a time.
So the first thing you're going to do is explain the procedure.
Most teachers are pretty good at this, but just to be clear, you need to be very detailedin your explanation.
Don't just say, come into the room correctly.
That's assuming students know what that means.
Don't assume that.
Even if they're high school seniors, don't assume they know what that means.
You need to tell them what it looks like to come in correctly, what it doesn't look liketo come in correctly.
(07:34):
So define it, be very clear in your expectations.
This is where modeling can come in.
might have students, you might yourself model what it looks like to do it right, what itlooks like to do it wrong.
You can have students model what it looks like to do it right, what it looks like to dowrong.
My advice on modeling is the amount of modeling should depend on the age of your students.
and the complexity of the procedure, meaning the younger the student, the more modelingcan be beneficial, although older students can definitely benefit from it as well, but
(08:01):
it's more needed, I guess is what I'm saying, more or more of it is probably needed whenthey're younger.
And then also the complexity of the procedures.
In other words, if the procedure is very simple, you might not need to model it, it mightjust be very obvious.
But if it's more complicated or not even necessarily complicated, but like there's nuanceto it, for example, when I'm thinking younger kids, if I say I wanna teach them how to...
(08:22):
you know, sit well and there might be multiple aspects to that where it's like, okay, wearen't going to do this, we are going to do this, this is not something I want to see.
So I might take the time to get into that.
So if it's something where you're thinking, there's a lot of ways this can go wrong and alot of things I don't want to see, then that can be great to model what I do want to see,
what I don't want to see and get into that.
So all of that though is all step one, explain.
(08:44):
So we explain the procedure.
Number two, after we explain it, we practice it.
This is really important.
Don't ever teach a procedure without practicing it.
It basically, they're not gonna remember by the time it's time to do it.
So you really need to practice it right then and there with the students.
So let's say you're practicing start of class procedure and you say, we already startedclass.
(09:07):
We say, you would still say, okay, we're gonna practice this.
So in just a minute, I'm gonna send everyone out of the room and we're gonna come in andpractice this together.
So definitely practice it.
Number two.
Number three.
When they do it, they're gonna do some things right and some things not right.
So you need to correct.
Of course, you're also encouraging, right?
(09:27):
So this is like giving feedback steps.
So we're saying, okay, this was great, this was awesome, ooh, you forgot to do that.
And some of you guys forgot to do this.
And we really need to, I forgot to explain that this is not how we do this.
So giving feedback to them in step three, what they did right and correcting what wentwrong.
And then,
(09:47):
Really, so the magic happens in steps three and four, that correction, that feedback.
And then number four, if needed, redo.
So there's two ways to redo.
So in other words, if they went through and you're like, that really was not very good,rather than just saying, okay, moving on, we wanna insist that it's followed.
Remember all those intangibles we talked about where we say, I mean what I say, we'reactually gonna take this seriously, it's worth the effort.
(10:11):
This is the redo, this is where you really show them that and that you really drive thathome.
with the intangibles, you say, okay, we're going to redo it.
Now, if this can be used in two ways, it can be used with individual students.
So, in other words, if my procedure for coming into my classroom is that you walk, notrun, and I have a student run into the classroom, I might tell that individual student,
hey, Ali, you need to go back out and walk into the classroom.
(10:35):
So, can have individuals redo a part of the procedure.
Well, I might have the whole class do it.
So, if I'm practicing this, you know, procedure with students coming into my classroom inthe beginning of the period.
I might say, okay, that was pretty good.
I give all the feedback and then say, we're gonna try it one more time.
And I'm looking for this, this and this.
And so I have them do it one more time.
And that redo, listen, if you're anything like me, you're gonna hesitate to do that.
(10:58):
You're gonna feel bad.
You're gonna feel like, they gonna be annoyed?
It is worth it.
It's worth it to do that redo because of all those intangibles that are going out to them.
And then also on a practical basis, doing it right helps them remember it for the nextday, right, for the next time.
Actually doing the procedure correctly once or twice is gonna make such a difference toactually make that the norm in your classroom.
(11:23):
So it really is worth that little bit of extra effort to redo it.
So I really do believe good procedures are the backbone of a smooth running classroom andthey are really, really worth investing in in your classroom.
And so I wanna encourage you to think about a procedure in your classroom.
Think about
(11:44):
What's an area that's been struggling a little bit?
Maybe just pick one to start and then you can do further ones in the coming days andweeks.
So pick a procedure, think through is it good or do need to revise it?
And then go through this four step process.
Once again, it's explain the procedure first, practice it right then and there, givefeedback, so correct, tell them what they did right, tell them what they did not do right,
(12:08):
and then number four, have them redo it if needed.
Redo it if it wasn't that great.
do it again.
Now, a couple questions I get on this.
Sometimes people go, how many times do I redo it?
I don't recommend getting into like a battle of wills where you're redoing somethingthree, four, five times.
I think that digresses my advice.
Know your students, but that's probably going to digress somewhat quickly.
(12:31):
So if the second time's not great, I would give feedback again.
And you can use your discretion.
You could practice a third time, or you could say, we'll practice this again tomorrow.
So you do want to be very clear, we're going to do this right, but I wouldn't get into,just know your class.
I wouldn't make them redo it five times in a row.
(12:53):
So that's my advice on redoing.
And then if you have students who are simply refusing to follow the procedure, so in otherwords, it's not that they needed some practice and they needed to learn the new procedure.
then you need to deal with that as a discipline issue.
So be prepared for that if you have students like that you think that might happen, beprepared to address that as a discipline issue.
(13:13):
But for most students, you need to be understanding.
So don't go into this looking for a battle.
Don't assume because they did it wrong that they don't care or they're just like, youknow, trying to cause problems.
Remember, especially in the beginning of, in the middle of the year rather.
they are used to doing it this way, or they're used to this being the procedure, but notactually having to do it.
(13:33):
So have to acknowledge that bad inertia and those bad habits are there and work to correctthem without getting frustrated.
So try not to get frustrated, just keep working with them.
But like I said, if you do pick up on the fact that students are doing it intentionally,then that's a discipline issue.
If it's not intentional, then it's practice, right?
Now, once you do this revision of the procedure with your students,
(13:56):
Make sure you're really vigilant then for the next few days or weeks until it becomeshabitual.
In other words, you do all this work to reteach the procedure on Monday, say.
On Tuesday, when that same procedure comes up, be ready to repeat some of those steps.
You are gonna need to give feedback again.
Wow, we did so much better on this and this, but we didn't do so great on this.
And if needed, redo again on Tuesday, okay?
(14:18):
And same thing on Wednesday and Thursday.
So you gotta really stick with it for the first.
you know, week or so until you're like, okay, they've got it.
Then you can move on to work on other things.
So those are some of our tips for working with procedures.
And I think you find that if you work on that, if you put that effort in, yes, it doestake some time away from your class, obviously, to teach these procedures and reteach
(14:42):
these procedures, but that it's really worth it in the time that you save, the chaos youreduce, it's really gonna make such a difference.
And one encouragement I also have for you is, as you're thinking about this, invite Godinto this.
You might say, what?
What does that have to do with this?
Well, you are God's child, and he cares about every single aspect of your life.
(15:03):
Just like if you have your own kids, you care about everything they're involved in, big orsmall.
So God cares, yes, about procedures in your classroom.
So if you, as you think about this, if you feel stuck, if you feel kind of unsure, like Idon't know if I could actually make them redo it,
Definitely talk to God about it.
Ask him for wisdom.
You can even ask God, man, God, I'm kind of struggling with this.
(15:27):
I feel like I need to ask someone for advice, but I don't know who to ask.
Help me know who to ask for advice, right?
So go to God, ask him for help, and remind yourself that he is with you, enabling you inevery single moment as you deal with your students.
So lean on him, rely on him, and that makes just such a difference.
Well, thank you guys so much for listening.
(15:47):
I do hope that you'll take these ideas and implement them, that you'll actually do yourvery best to take these and reteach a procedure in your classroom this week or next week.
We are so excited to have a free classroom management training available for you.
So if you say, Linda, this was great, but I would love more classroom management help.
(16:10):
You can go to teachfortheheart.com slash free, teachfortheheart.com slash free and get ourfree classroom management training.
It's called How to Reduce Disruptions so you can actually teach and we'd love to give youmore help and advice in that training.
We also have our full Classroom Management 101 course that's available anytime.
You can get all the details at teachfortheheart.com slash cm101.
(16:34):
If you've enjoyed this podcast, please do like, subscribe, share it with a friend.
That's such a blessing to us and helps spread the word to more and more teachers.
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.
We've loved being with you today and look forward to being with you again soon.
(16:57):
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.
Procedures can seriously make or break your classroom, and the reason why might actuallysurprise you.
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.
Rather, the hope we have in Christ should change how we approach everything, not just athome, but at school as well.
(00:27):
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.
Today we're talking about the number one mistake teachers make when it comes toprocedures, and this is one that can seriously make or break your classroom and your
(00:52):
classroom management.
And here's the mistake.
A lot of times we as teachers
Do not insist that our procedures are followed.
And this can have really devastating consequences that go far beyond what you mightrealize.
Let's talk about why.
So first of all, let's just think about this.
Good procedures, when a classroom has good procedures and they're followed consistently,it really leads to a relatively smooth running classroom, or at least it diminishes a lot
(01:18):
of chaos.
On the other hand, if procedures are haphazard, meaning they're not really well thoughtthrough,
or they're not followed consistently by the students, that leads to a whole lot of chaos.
Now, let's understand why.
Well, first of all, it's the practical reason, you probably already understand that, andthat is that procedures are designed to reduce chaos.
That's literally their job, right?
(01:39):
If we have a procedure for lining up, it's supposed to make that smooth and not chaotic,right?
If we have a procedure for when students enter our classroom at the beginning of a period,it's supposed to reduce chaos.
So when students follow it, it does reduce chaos.
When they don't follow it or when the procedure just
isn't very good, then there is more chaos.
So that reason is obvious.
(01:59):
But there's a second reason that is really powerful, and it's something that I don't thinkwe always think about.
And that is that when we either insist that procedures are followed or we let them not be,then that's sending a lot of intangible signals to our students about how seriously we
take our classroom and how seriously they need to take it.
(02:22):
Let me explain.
So if we say, this is my procedure, let's once again say for coming into the classroom,and we tell them what is expected, but then we don't actually insist that they do it.
So we say, this is the procedure, but then they don't really do the procedure.
They do it halfway or half the students do it, and we just let that go.
Then we're sending a few intangible signals that we don't wanna be sending.
(02:42):
We're telling students, you don't really need to do what we say that you need to do.
When we have procedures, policies,
They're not really that important.
I don't really mean what I say.
We don't take these things that seriously.
Those are intangible signals that we're saying through our actions, or rather our lack ofactions, and those are not good signals.
(03:06):
Because when students start to pick up on those signals, they don't just apply it toprocedures, they apply it to other things, right?
That makes them think, hmm, maybe I don't need to follow the rules either.
Maybe I can be disruptive and they're not gonna do anything about that either.
Maybe I don't need to take this work very seriously.
So we're setting a tone that we really don't want to set.
On the other hand, when with procedures, we do take them seriously.
(03:29):
So let's go back to the same example, students coming into the classroom.
Let's say we've worked on this procedure, we've explained it, and then we're doing it.
If we're actually very insistent, and I'll show you how to do this in a minute, and weactually really insist that they follow the procedure, and when they don't do it, we
correct, and we practice, and we make sure it's done right, that sends very goodintangible signals to our students.
(03:51):
It says the opposite of what we all would do what we just said.
It says, I take this seriously and you need to too.
I mean what I say.
We're going to actually stick with our with what we say in this classroom.
We're going to take it seriously and we're going to do it.
And it's worth the effort.
All of those intangible signals, once again, don't just apply to procedures.
(04:13):
Students realize, okay, they really mean what they say.
They're probably going to hold me accountable in behavior and being disruptive.
And I better take my work a little bit more seriously too.
Now obviously does this solve every single classroom issue?
No, but we're setting ourselves up and those intangibles are gonna have ripple effects oneway or the other.
So we want those intangibles rippling in the right direction, not in the wrong direction.
(04:38):
That's so, so key.
So what I want to do right now is help you think through if you're thinking now, okay,Linda, you're right.
I'm not really taking my procedures super seriously.
I can think of multiple procedures now where students kind of half follow them or like athird of the students don't do them.
And yeah, this is not sending the right message.
(04:58):
What should I do?
So we're going to do two things.
First of all, we're going to talk about thinking through and making sure the proceduresare good.
Then we're going to talk about how to teach them or reteach them in the middle of theyear.
So first of all, you want to make sure that the procedure is good.
So I want you to think right now of one area in your classroom where it's like chaotic.
(05:19):
Okay, this procedure either is kind of not the best or it's not being followed.
So I want to kind of maybe even pause this and think of one so you have an example in yourmind.
Well, first of all, the first thing you want to ask yourself about that is, is theprocedure itself good or not?
So in other words, sometimes the procedure is great, it's just not being followed.
But sometimes the procedure itself is kind of problematic.
(05:41):
For example, if I had my kids lining up for, you know, to go to lunch or recess in anelementary classroom, but I had them lining up right in front of the mailboxes at the same
time that I want students to go to their mailboxes, well, that's not going to work becauseI'm going to have this traffic jam continually.
So that's just an example of a procedure like that wasn't well thought through.
(06:03):
Right?
Or if I think when students come into the class and the things I'm having them do, mygoodness, I'm getting this huge traffic jam here.
Or, you for example, at the beginning of the start of class, I realized students arecoming in and they're not going to their desk.
They're like milling around.
It's causing all this chaos.
So said, I need to change my procedure.
I need to make the procedure that students go straight to their desk.
They don't wander around the room first.
(06:25):
So thinking through, there a different procedure or is there a way I could do theprocedure a little differently that would work?
So don't neglect that step, that step's important.
But then once you say, yep, I'm good with my procedure, then we actually need to teach itto the students.
So I'm about to go over our four steps to perfect procedures.
Now, in the beginning of the school year, you wanna do this with every single procedurethat you teach.
(06:49):
In the middle of the school year, you would say, okay, I might need to reteach some of myprocedures.
So you might pick one or two or three procedures that you say, I need to reteach this.
This is how you do it.
So this works for teaching originally and reteaching, reintroducing, reinforcing.
So there's four steps.
Explain, practice, correct, and redo.
(07:09):
Let's go over them one at a time.
So the first thing you're going to do is explain the procedure.
Most teachers are pretty good at this, but just to be clear, you need to be very detailedin your explanation.
Don't just say, come into the room correctly.
That's assuming students know what that means.
Don't assume that.
Even if they're high school seniors, don't assume they know what that means.
You need to tell them what it looks like to come in correctly, what it doesn't look liketo come in correctly.
(07:34):
So define it, be very clear in your expectations.
This is where modeling can come in.
might have students, you might yourself model what it looks like to do it right, what itlooks like to do it wrong.
You can have students model what it looks like to do it right, what it looks like to dowrong.
My advice on modeling is the amount of modeling should depend on the age of your students.
and the complexity of the procedure, meaning the younger the student, the more modelingcan be beneficial, although older students can definitely benefit from it as well, but
(08:01):
it's more needed, I guess is what I'm saying, more or more of it is probably needed whenthey're younger.
And then also the complexity of the procedures.
In other words, if the procedure is very simple, you might not need to model it, it mightjust be very obvious.
But if it's more complicated or not even necessarily complicated, but like there's nuanceto it, for example, when I'm thinking younger kids, if I say I wanna teach them how to...
(08:22):
you know, sit well and there might be multiple aspects to that where it's like, okay, wearen't going to do this, we are going to do this, this is not something I want to see.
So I might take the time to get into that.
So if it's something where you're thinking, there's a lot of ways this can go wrong and alot of things I don't want to see, then that can be great to model what I do want to see,
what I don't want to see and get into that.
So all of that though is all step one, explain.
(08:44):
So we explain the procedure.
Number two, after we explain it, we practice it.
This is really important.
Don't ever teach a procedure without practicing it.
It basically, they're not gonna remember by the time it's time to do it.
So you really need to practice it right then and there with the students.
So let's say you're practicing start of class procedure and you say, we already startedclass.
(09:07):
We say, you would still say, okay, we're gonna practice this.
So in just a minute, I'm gonna send everyone out of the room and we're gonna come in andpractice this together.
So definitely practice it.
Number two.
Number three.
When they do it, they're gonna do some things right and some things not right.
So you need to correct.
Of course, you're also encouraging, right?
(09:27):
So this is like giving feedback steps.
So we're saying, okay, this was great, this was awesome, ooh, you forgot to do that.
And some of you guys forgot to do this.
And we really need to, I forgot to explain that this is not how we do this.
So giving feedback to them in step three, what they did right and correcting what wentwrong.
And then,
(09:47):
Really, so the magic happens in steps three and four, that correction, that feedback.
And then number four, if needed, redo.
So there's two ways to redo.
So in other words, if they went through and you're like, that really was not very good,rather than just saying, okay, moving on, we wanna insist that it's followed.
Remember all those intangibles we talked about where we say, I mean what I say, we'reactually gonna take this seriously, it's worth the effort.
(10:11):
This is the redo, this is where you really show them that and that you really drive thathome.
with the intangibles, you say, okay, we're going to redo it.
Now, if this can be used in two ways, it can be used with individual students.
So, in other words, if my procedure for coming into my classroom is that you walk, notrun, and I have a student run into the classroom, I might tell that individual student,
hey, Ali, you need to go back out and walk into the classroom.
(10:35):
So, can have individuals redo a part of the procedure.
Well, I might have the whole class do it.
So, if I'm practicing this, you know, procedure with students coming into my classroom inthe beginning of the period.
I might say, okay, that was pretty good.
I give all the feedback and then say, we're gonna try it one more time.
And I'm looking for this, this and this.
And so I have them do it one more time.
And that redo, listen, if you're anything like me, you're gonna hesitate to do that.
(10:58):
You're gonna feel bad.
You're gonna feel like, they gonna be annoyed?
It is worth it.
It's worth it to do that redo because of all those intangibles that are going out to them.
And then also on a practical basis, doing it right helps them remember it for the nextday, right, for the next time.
Actually doing the procedure correctly once or twice is gonna make such a difference toactually make that the norm in your classroom.
(11:23):
So it really is worth that little bit of extra effort to redo it.
So I really do believe good procedures are the backbone of a smooth running classroom andthey are really, really worth investing in in your classroom.
And so I wanna encourage you to think about a procedure in your classroom.
Think about
(11:44):
What's an area that's been struggling a little bit?
Maybe just pick one to start and then you can do further ones in the coming days andweeks.
So pick a procedure, think through is it good or do need to revise it?
And then go through this four step process.
Once again, it's explain the procedure first, practice it right then and there, givefeedback, so correct, tell them what they did right, tell them what they did not do right,
(12:08):
and then number four, have them redo it if needed.
Redo it if it wasn't that great.
do it again.
Now, a couple questions I get on this.
Sometimes people go, how many times do I redo it?
I don't recommend getting into like a battle of wills where you're redoing somethingthree, four, five times.
I think that digresses my advice.
Know your students, but that's probably going to digress somewhat quickly.
(12:31):
So if the second time's not great, I would give feedback again.
And you can use your discretion.
You could practice a third time, or you could say, we'll practice this again tomorrow.
So you do want to be very clear, we're going to do this right, but I wouldn't get into,just know your class.
I wouldn't make them redo it five times in a row.
(12:53):
So that's my advice on redoing.
And then if you have students who are simply refusing to follow the procedure, so in otherwords, it's not that they needed some practice and they needed to learn the new procedure.
then you need to deal with that as a discipline issue.
So be prepared for that if you have students like that you think that might happen, beprepared to address that as a discipline issue.
(13:13):
But for most students, you need to be understanding.
So don't go into this looking for a battle.
Don't assume because they did it wrong that they don't care or they're just like, youknow, trying to cause problems.
Remember, especially in the beginning of, in the middle of the year rather.
they are used to doing it this way, or they're used to this being the procedure, but notactually having to do it.
(13:33):
So have to acknowledge that bad inertia and those bad habits are there and work to correctthem without getting frustrated.
So try not to get frustrated, just keep working with them.
But like I said, if you do pick up on the fact that students are doing it intentionally,then that's a discipline issue.
If it's not intentional, then it's practice, right?
Now, once you do this revision of the procedure with your students,
(13:56):
Make sure you're really vigilant then for the next few days or weeks until it becomeshabitual.
In other words, you do all this work to reteach the procedure on Monday, say.
On Tuesday, when that same procedure comes up, be ready to repeat some of those steps.
You are gonna need to give feedback again.
Wow, we did so much better on this and this, but we didn't do so great on this.
And if needed, redo again on Tuesday, okay?
(14:18):
And same thing on Wednesday and Thursday.
So you gotta really stick with it for the first.
you know, week or so until you're like, okay, they've got it.
Then you can move on to work on other things.
So those are some of our tips for working with procedures.
And I think you find that if you work on that, if you put that effort in, yes, it doestake some time away from your class, obviously, to teach these procedures and reteach
(14:42):
these procedures, but that it's really worth it in the time that you save, the chaos youreduce, it's really gonna make such a difference.
And one encouragement I also have for you is, as you're thinking about this, invite Godinto this.
You might say, what?
What does that have to do with this?
Well, you are God's child, and he cares about every single aspect of your life.
(15:03):
Just like if you have your own kids, you care about everything they're involved in, big orsmall.
So God cares, yes, about procedures in your classroom.
So if you, as you think about this, if you feel stuck, if you feel kind of unsure, like Idon't know if I could actually make them redo it,
Definitely talk to God about it.
Ask him for wisdom.
You can even ask God, man, God, I'm kind of struggling with this.
(15:27):
I feel like I need to ask someone for advice, but I don't know who to ask.
Help me know who to ask for advice, right?
So go to God, ask him for help, and remind yourself that he is with you, enabling you inevery single moment as you deal with your students.
So lean on him, rely on him, and that makes just such a difference.
Well, thank you guys so much for listening.
(15:47):
I do hope that you'll take these ideas and implement them, that you'll actually do yourvery best to take these and reteach a procedure in your classroom this week or next week.
We are so excited to have a free classroom management training available for you.
So if you say, Linda, this was great, but I would love more classroom management help.
(16:10):
You can go to teachfortheheart.com slash free, teachfortheheart.com slash free and get ourfree classroom management training.
It's called How to Reduce Disruptions so you can actually teach and we'd love to give youmore help and advice in that training.
We also have our full Classroom Management 101 course that's available anytime.
You can get all the details at teachfortheheart.com slash cm101.
(16:34):
If you've enjoyed this podcast, please do like, subscribe, share it with a friend.
That's such a blessing to us and helps spread the word to more and more teachers.
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.
We've loved being with you today and look forward to being with you again soon.
(16:57):
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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