Classroom Expectations

Teaching is a delicate matter, it takes courage, effort and an endless amount of patience. New teachers leave the profession a lot of times because of stressors that stem from classroom management and a heavy workload, or lack of admin support.

At the outset of a new career as an educator, it's normal to struggle with feelings of insecurity about your ability to manage your classroom. You may think, for example, that if you're too nice, your students won’t respect your authority.

Still, it's possible for you to create a warm, friendly classroom and gain your students' respect at the same time. Allowing your students to make simple decisions, such as which assignment to do first, will improve your chances of developing a cooperative classroom and give your students a boost in confidence.

Teachers are human beings and teaching is a profession that deserves all the respect it can get and expecting a certain level of understanding and behavior from their students.

Each classroom and school will require the development of a unique set of expectations, such as every teacher wants their students to follow classroom rules, they expect them to be on time and stay punctual. Every student comes to the class prepared, respectful towards their peers and teachers. They return assignments on time, stay at the end of the day in the class until the teacher dismisses them. Participate in discussions that take place in the class, Stay seated during classroom activities and events, Help each other. Work quietly and follow directions. Raise their hand before speaking. Now of course, these are just some of the things that teachers expect from their students.

Obviously, you want to see your students succeed, but at the same time you may feel pressured to get through the curriculum and may not devote sufficient time to learning about your students' personal abilities and interests. Before barreling through the content, get to know your students so you can better comprehend what to expect of them. Starting with the first day of school, create an open dialogue with your students and encourage them to share information about themselves. For example, ask the students to pair up and interview each other, and then share what they learned with the class. Community building activities are a great way of doing this.

Practicing Self-Management Skills

To build confident, independent students who can think for themselves, practice self-management skills early on. If you plan to have your students participate in learning centers and small groups at some point, they will need to practice working independently. It may take weeks to build independent learners. If this is the case, then hold off on the learning centers and small groups until your students are ready.

Keeping It Simple

When you keep routines and independent work simple, you're helping students to build their confidence and self-management skills, which in turn will help them become more successful learners. As these skills become more ingrained in your students, you can increase their workload and their access to a greater variety of academic materials.

The reason teachers have to practice skills to maintain their students disciplined is because students do not just agree with their teacher to follow the rules of the class, or act in a responsible way and stay respectful towards their peers as well as teachers. Teachers have to inject the idea like planting a tree, so students can develop a deeper  perspective over time.

Teachers work hard to provide quality education for their students and when their class turns out not making an effort to keep the environment of the class healthy it becomes a let-down for teachers and for that reason some lose their motivation and eventually leave the profession.

When teachers first enter their classrooms they expect that students will behave, yet some classroom management courses make assumptions that every student will be waiting anxiously when the teacher gives instructions. One minor detail that’s always skipped in those courses is students don't always respond to us the way we think they will. In fact, some of them actually completely ignore us. Some will roll their eyes, and some will be extremely disrespectful. Some might even sleep in class or text through the lesson, or daydream during class. Some just flat out refuse to do the work.

But wouldn’t it be great if you had a pack of all the right tools and information so you can leverage your skills and expertise to help your students?

Teachers want students to come to class each day ready to learn. They want them to come prepared, focused, and motivated. They want students to enjoy the learning process and to be active participants in their learning.

Teachers want students to be respectful. They want students to respect their authority. They want students to respect each other. They want students to respect themselves. A respectful and trusting environment allows teachers to maximize learning opportunities each day.

Teachers want students to understand that the concepts they are teaching them are meaningful. They want their students to make real-life connections. They want their students to see the big picture and to understand that they truly are there because they want to make a difference.

Teachers want students to be critical thinkers. They want students who desire to understand the process of finding the answer as much as the answer itself. They want students who don’t put their best foot forward, and are as invested in learning as the teacher is in teaching.

Teachers want students to recognize individual strengths and weaknesses. They want students to apply their strengths so that others in the class can learn from them. They want students to be aware of their weaknesses and to make a continuous effort to improve upon those weaknesses.

And last, the only thing that teachers look for is respect and compassion from their students who appreciate their efforts by working hard and proving it to the teacher who taught them all year long.

The Critical First Two Weeks of School

Schools are now opening around the world with alternative days in many areas and hopefully soon things will return to normal. Children will be returning back to school after summer vacation, and teachers will have to establish rules and procedures, to ensure a well-disciplined class.

Their perceptions about school and about themselves as learners will be in flux. It’s a new year with new teachers, new books, new classes, new schedules, and new friends. All of these new things come with the hope this year could be different and better than all previous years.

That flexibility in their perceptions continues only until teachers administer the first quizzes and assessments. When teachers assign grades to those first quizzes.

The first two weeks of the school year is the honeymoon period.

Students are eager and wanting to please. They’re bright and happy and on their best behavior, for the most part. They take seriously your teaching of rules and consequences, and it shows. Which is wonderful, of course, and proof that you’ve done well laying out your expectations.

But there is a danger lurking.

You see, it’s easy to get so caught up in how well things are going that you make small, barely perceptible decisions that cause trouble down the line.

For example:

One of your best students asks a question without raising their hand and you answer back. After giving your signal to line up, three students approach to ask if you want to join them for lunch and you enthusiastically accept. During group work, one student leaves their group to ask another group member an on-topic question and you let it go.

In and of themselves, these behaviors appear harmless. But if they cross the line, if they break your rules as you defined them for your students, then you just took your first step down a very slippery slope.

You’ve sent a message to the entire class that you don’t really mean what you say and have now put yourself in position to judge subjectively when and whether a student deserves a consequence—that’s not cool.

Meaning, your classroom management plan will be based not on objective truth, but on who is breaking the rule, how you feel in the moment, or how disruptive the behavior.

You’ve also made being consistent nearly impossible and opened yourself up to the very common tendency to be more permissive as the year goes on.

The result of which is certain resentment, disrespect, and more and more misbehavior. You see, minor, seemingly harmless misbehavior in the beginning always leads to major disruptions once the honeymoon period ends.

When there is no definitive boundary that both you and your students know and understand without question, then they’ll push and push until you either lose control or reestablish where the line is.

The Critical First Two Weeks of School are about proving that you’re a person of your word, that you really do mean what you say. So many students have had teachers in the past who post rules and consequences, but only kinda-sorta follow them. And they assume you’ll be like all the rest.

So much so that you’ll be tested in small and subtle ways right off the bat. And they’ll all be watching how you respond—thus making your consistency those first two weeks of school everything.

So how do you do it? How do you make sure you begin on the right foot? --by following through 100% of the time.

First, you must know precisely what does and doesn’t constitute breaking your rules. Because if you’re unsure, then you can’t possibly be consistent.

Second, just knowing how critical it is, knowing that your very peace of mind, and effectiveness is tied to your commitment to your classroom management plan makes it far easier to stick to your word.

And third, every day before school begins take a few minutes to sit by yourself. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and then decide, make a conscious decision, to follow your classroom management plan as it’s written, no matter what.

Visualize yourself recognizing misbehavior when it happens, calmly enforcing your plan like a referee, and then moving on as if nothing happened.

No hesitating, no waffling, no judging. Just fulfilling the promise you made to your students to protect their right to learn and enjoy school.

It’s a simple strategy that takes less than five minutes a day but is remarkably effective. And here’s the good news: Once you prove that you can be trusted to do what you say you’ll do, everything gets easier.

Your students will stop challenging you. They’ll stop sticking a toe—or their whole body—over the line. They’ll stop probing and testing to see if you’re just another wishy-washy pushover.

Instead, they’ll be free within your boundaries to focus on learning, making new friends, and truly enjoying being in your classroom.

And you’ll be free to love teaching.

The first day of school isn’t just about setting the tone for your students. It’s also about setting the tone for yourself. You’re laying the groundwork, developing the habits of exceptional teaching and classroom management.

The keys above not only position you for a successful first day, but for a successful year. They instill in you a demeanor and style that allow you to naturally build rapport, elicit devotion, and cause your students to want to behave.

They make them receptive to your instruction and nodding along in agreement with your soaring expectations.

They pave the way for the best school experience your students have ever had.

Here are some of the things to take in account before you begin your first day at school. There are 5 tips I want to share with you.

1:                    Be Likable

The old maxim that you shouldn’t smile the first two months of the school year is terrible advice. In fact, you should lavish your smile upon your students. It’s easy to get so caught up in your objectives that you forget the human connection. A genuine smile creates instant likability, builds effortless rapport, and activates the power of reciprocation.

2:                    Be Calm

Your calm demeanor alone, without having to say a word, has a powerful effect on students, much more than most teachers realize. It settles first-day jitters. It allays fears and uncertainties. It sweeps away misbehavior-causing excitability, and allows your students to focus on you and your message.

It also helps establish the peaceful but focused learning environment you want by providing an example for your students to follow. Fill your classroom with positive, all-is-well vibrations, and they’ll respond in kind.

3:                    Be Clear

When it comes to effective classroom management, clarity trumps all. Present every lesson, activity, and transition with utter simplicity. Pause often while speaking, make eye contact to assess understanding, and model explicitly through each moment of your instruction.

It’s critical in the beginning for your students to develop the habit of successfully listening and understanding everything you teach. In this way, as you move on to more complex, multi-step material, they’ll be right with you.

4:                    Be Confident

If you’re unsure about what to do next, if you hem and haw, repeat yourself, change your mind, think out loud, speak too much or too fast, or appear befuddled, you’ll lose your students. A compelling teacher perpetually provides value. They’re worth following and listening to.

To engender confidence and begin grooving the habit of keen attentiveness, you must make your words count. When giving instruction, tell your students only what they need to know. Be direct and concise. Speak with conviction and don’t waste their time. They’ll remember everything you say.

5:                    Be Fun

For many, many reasons—which we’ll cover in a future episode—it’s important that your students leave for the day happy and excited about the upcoming school year. It’s important that they run home and excitedly tell their parents how much they like you and love being in your classroom.

Although playing a first-day, getting-to-know-you game is a great idea, it’s your personality that will resonate the most. It’s your openness to laughter, your generous spirit, and your love and enthusiasm for teaching that will shine the brightest and mean the most.

Preparing the Classroom for the First Day of School

After teaching for more than a year now on google class room and zoom, it is hard to imagine what it used to feel like teaching in a physical classroom, as much as we loved or hated online teaching and studying for that matter, it does have some limitations and with things finally going back to normal, teachers need to prepare themselves as well as their classrooms for kids to join with the same enthusiasm they had before.

This is an area where new teachers especially struggle, a lot of things that are often missing in teacher preparation programs are important. Now you can debate about having an energetic attitude, engaging with students etc. is important, and you would be absolutely right, but that does not mean there is no room left for improvement or anything left to add in the classroom to make it better for students.

Preparing a classroom for the first day of school can be overwhelming and exciting for teachers; so we'll try to guide you great educators so that you can make your first day of school a day to remember.

Remember, if you want to keep a certain arrangement In the class or want stuff to be in a certain order, the best way to do it is to arrange your class prior to the start of school. It is only human nature that when we visit a place for the first time, we make a mental note of the normal setting and almost every time, people accept it as the natural setting.

So as an educator you know the best distance between desks, how far should your desk be, you want to put a chair in the corner, where the stationary box should be, the class notice board, assessment rack, paper organizers, you name it, all of this should be in place before any of your students see their new class. This way not only it will be easier for you to manage, but your students will automatically follow the preset placement as natural and it will be easier for them to be comfortable with the setting sooner.

Moving forward we will talk about the physical aspects of how you can prepare your classroom for the first day as well as we will take a peak at what interpersonal skills you can practice for a smooth and seamless day one.

There are 10 tips that I want to share with you. This is by no means an exhausted list, but just some of the more important ones I feel would be a great help.

Number 1: Decide How to Place Student Desks

During the first days of school, you want to arrange your desks whereby every student can see you and that you can see every student. You, as the teacher do not want to see the back of anyone’s head.

Now after several days into the new school year you’ll want to move the student desks into clusters for easy discussion and collaboration. If you want to minimize distractions and chatting, consider separating each desk from the one next to it, leaving a little buffer space to discourage misbehavior. You could also place the desks in rows or in a semi-circle, or stadium seating.

Teacher discretion is in play here. So, whatever you choose, work with the room and materials you have, leaving plenty of aisle space for you and the students to move around with ease.

Number 2: Strategically Place the Teacher's Desk

Some teachers use their desks as a central command station, while others use it primarily as a paper pile repository and rarely sit down to work there. Depending on how your desk functions as part of your teaching style, choose a spot where your desk will meet your needs. If it's very messy, consider placing it in a less conspicuous spot. Obviously, placement of your teacher desk should not obstruct the traffic flow of your classroom.

Number 3: Determine What Belongs up Front

Since students spend most of their days facing the front of the classroom, be very deliberate about what you place on the walls up front. Perhaps you want to emphasize discipline by placing the class rules on a prominent bulletin board. Or maybe there's a daily learning activity that requires easy-to-view space that all students can see. Make this prime time space engaging, but not distracting. After all, all eyes should be on you, not necessarily a colorful explosion of words and images that distract from the core instruction at hand.

Number 4: Organize Your Class Library

Just like a public library, your classroom book collection should be organized in a logical manner that will be easy for the students to maintain throughout the school year. This could mean sorting the books by genre, reading level, alphabetical order, or other criteria. Labeled plastic bins work well for this. Also consider providing a little comfortable reading space for students to lounge with their books during silent reading time. This could mean some inviting bean bag chairs or a dedicated "reading rug."

Number 5: Set Aside Space for Your Discipline Plan

It's wise to post your class rules in a prominent spot for all to see each day of the school year. That way, there's no opportunity for argument, miscommunication, or ambiguity. If you have a sign-in book or flip chart for rule offenders, set up a station for this activity. Ideally it should be in an out-of-the-way spot where curious student eyes can't easily stare as a rule-breaking student signs in, flips the card, or otherwise does his or her penance.

Number 6: Plan for Student Needs

Make sure basic school supplies are strategically placed for easy student access. This may include various types of writing paper, sharpened pencils, markers, erasers, calculators, rulers, scissors, and glue. Organize these materials in one clearly-delineated part of the classroom.

Number 7:    Define the Role Technology Plays in Your Classroom

Placement of your computer center communicates the role technology plays in your teaching. If you aim for a more traditional approach to instruction with technology as an occasional compliment, the computers likely belong in the back of the room or a cozy corner. If you integrate technology into most of the lessons, you might want to mix the computers in throughout the room so they're easily accessible. This is a personal choice based on your beliefs about teaching in the 21st Century in combination with how available technology is in your school.

Number 8:     Express Yourself Through Bulletin Boards

Almost every elementary school classroom has bulletin boards on the walls, requiring themes, displays, and regular rotation. Consider designating one or two bulletin boards as seasonal, and thus focus on keeping those boards timely and relevant to current holidays, instructional units, or class activities. Make it easy on yourself by keeping the majority of the bulletin boards "evergreen" and constant throughout the school year.

Number 9:    Sprinkle in Some Fun Stuff

Elementary school is primarily about learning, for sure. But it's also a time for fun personal touches that your students will remember for a lifetime. Think about having a class pet and make space for cages, food, and other required materials. If a pet's not your style, place a few houseplants around the room to add life and a touch of nature. Make a game center for educational activities that students can use when finished with their work. Pop a couple personal photos from home on your desk to express your interests and personality. A little bit of fun goes a long way.

Number 10: Minimize Clutter and Maximize Functionality

Before your new students and their parents enter the classroom on the first day of school, take a look around your classroom with fresh eyes. Are there any little piles that could be put into a cupboard to tidy up? Does each part of the room serve a clear, functional purpose? What messages are you sending with your classroom's overall appearance at first glance? Make tweaks as necessary. 

Now that we have your classroom covered, let’s get you sorted for your first day as a teacher back to school.

The first thing as students enter the class you’ll want to do this:

Build excitement about you

Your students are as curious about you as you are about them, and they’re just as likely to have the jitters. Mixed with their nervousness is excitement about meeting a new person, and they’ll have questions – Who are you? What do you like? Are you a fun teacher?

In short, they want to know everything they can about you, and indulging them is a great way to build excitement.

Show them an introductory video about you, Create flyers or brochures with some fun facts about you, Play a question and answer game

Of course, once you’ve introduced yourself, it’s time to get to know them. They’ll be all the more open once you’ve told them some things about yourself, so kick things off with a fun icebreaker activity.

Secondly, establish your rules

The world of Rules alone sparks the feelings of strictness in student minds, they imagine being in jail where they cannot be themselves. They must follow a set path, but as a teacher you understand the importance of discipline more than any one in your class.

Part of maintaining a healthy and collaborative classroom environment is consistency. Establishing rules early, both explicitly telling them verbally or written out and implicitly (showing them how you react to different situations. it can be done best once you have created a picture of fun and a joyful person of yourself.

For the first day you’ll want to introduce the rules that matter most… explicitly, but keep it short and sweet – they need to be remembered and you don’t want to come across as overbearing.

Where possible, involve your students in setting additional rules. By including them in the process, they’ll naturally feel more ownership of their class and their learning.

Continue by establishing your energy

Set the tone of your energy on the first day. Whether you’re calm and collected or more boisterous and outgoing doesn’t matter – what matters is that they come to understand what they can expect from you and that you’re excited to be teaching them.

It’s important to be genuine – you have to be able to sustain your energy. You don’t want to burn through a week’s worth of enthusiasm on your first day.

Before the day ends give them something to look forward to

Before the day’s end, after you’ve introduced yourself, learned about your new students and kick-started the learning momentum, you’ll want to give them a reason to look forward to day two. Leave your students with a mystery or the promise of something exciting for the next day, and maybe send a follow-up email to their parents summing up the first day.

Establishing Rules and Procedures

Geoff Petty brilliantly said, "Good teachers don’t deal with problems, they prevent them from occurring." What amazed me about this quotation is that it gave considerable thought to every seasoned teacher’s class I attended as a student. The teacher never had to spend too much of their energy in dealing with routine issues in the class.

And the reason for that is they have certain rules and procedures for students in the class. Don’t take college students into account just yet, they are sensible people, and know the purpose of their presence in the class but when we talk about middle school, that’s where teachers start losing their sleep on the problems in the class.

Rules and procedures are strong words and pose the dominance of the imposer but in reality they are here for discipline in any setting. Imagine why we have rules at work places, dress codes, time to arrive and leave, hierarchies, all these things combine to create a disciplined environment where everyone knows the appropriate way to perform simple actions. The concept remains pretty simple and similar in educational environments but the rules are flexible and teachers have all the control over how to enforce them. Ground rules are fundamental to order in the classroom, and order in the classroom is essential if effective teaching and learning are to take place. Here we will consider how to prevent problems from occurring through the establishment of appropriate classroom rules.

You can simply tell the learners what the rules are - you have complete control in this case, they are YOUR rules and it is your responsibility to enforce them. By letting them decide the rules learners have a greater commitment to keeping them. This latter approach sounds good, but it's likely that the rules won't meet your perceived needs: words like 'silent' and 'respect' and 'on-time' might be missing!

Better that Rules are agreed between teacher and learners, and best that they are established 'up front'. The age, maturity, size and purpose of the group are important in this regard: 'no mobile phones' might be less appropriate in a class room of six year olds, than it is in upper grades, students of age 16 plus, for example.

Every teacher wants to have a smoothly running classroom, but that's difficult to achieve when you don't know where to start. As a new teacher, you might be feeling as though you're groping around half blindfolded, with only bits and pieces of information, rather than the whole picture. What you need is a vision of what you want your classroom to look like as a positive learning environment. Then you need to take that vision and use the first day of school to lay the groundwork for making it a reality.

Rules then are about establishing a respectful atmosphere appropriate to learning - the major problem being that we live in a society where the individual is lauded above society, and it’s all about me, me, me. Respect is a character trait in sad decline in the West, and it's interesting to read reports of higher academic achievement coming out of schools in countries / societies where respect for others, the older generation in particular, is the norm.

Agreeing to the rules together can be used as a good introductory activity with a new group. Writing them up keeps them to handy for frequent referral, and writing them down helps fix them in the learners heads. A well balanced and mutually agreed set of ground rules should enable the teacher to prevent problems occurring in their classroom.

The very essence of having simple rules like how to ask a question, how to disagree with your peer if you have alternate opinions on something that is being discussed in the class, how to get yourself excused if you have emergency, and why you should keep your phones off if you cannot turn them off, they should be on silent.

These simple rules create an environment where teachers and learners have respect for each other, they develop a habit of clearly thinking before their words leave their mouth. Generally we see students being rebellious towards rules in a class room and it’s only natural, at their age, being in someone else’s control is the last thing they want to experience. it’s up to teachers to find a way to harness their energy and to maintain the decorum of their class.

Rules should be simple, and easy to remember; they should be written up in big letters on a classroom poster, to remind students; and they should be written down as the class discusses what they understand by each, and are thus 'embedded' in each brain as they are accepted by every member of the class. 

Moving forward we are going to discuss a list of procedures with brief details, remember these are not all, but the most important procedures.

Number 1:                Bathroom & Water Fountain Procedures

It’s inevitable. Kids have to use the bathroom and get drinks of water frequently throughout the day. This can be disastrous if there is not a proper procedure associated with the process.

During the first week of school, explain the bathroom and water fountain rules. Explain to students the procedure for asking the teacher to go, times that are appropriate to go and times that are inappropriate to go, and expected behavior at both locations.

These procedures should be taught as early as possible to start the trend of expected behavior.

Number 2:                Behavior Management System

One of the most important things to teach children the first week of school is the classroom behavior management system and expectations.

Each teacher has a unique behavior management system and expectations for what is acceptable classroom behavior. Whatever your strategy is for managing student behavior, it is important to start it as soon as possible in order to maintain an orderly classroom.

Some teachers like to use green, yellow, and red cards where kids have to change their cards for certain misbehaviors. Other classroom management systems include clipping up and down depending on positive or negative behavior or earning points on an individual point sheet.

In addition to these individual classroom management techniques, it is also important to explain any group reward systems you have, such as table points or a “teachers vs. students” game.

While introducing the reward side of the system is important and a fun way to engage students, you also need to very clearly explain the expectations and consequences for your classroom.

Number 3:                            Line Procedures

Lining up is a procedure that happens multiple times a day. Between specials, lunch, recess, and dismissal, students spend a lot of time lining up.

Teach this procedure the first day of school so that students know what to do. Then practice, practice, practice that first week to help students develop good habits.

Before the year begins, consider whether you plan to establish a line order. If you’ve had trouble with line behavior in the past or want to avoid any potential issues with students fighting over where they stand, this is a good solution.

Lining up the kids in set spots, typically in alphabetic order, is a good way to keep order in the line. This will prevent kids form fighting over spots in line and pushing to be the line leader or next to their friends.

Spend a few extra minutes on line up procedures the first few days of school. While it takes time, by practicing these procedures early and often, you can make transitions easier for the rest of the school year.

Number 4:  Morning Work Procedures

Morning work sets the tone for each school day, especially if students arrive at a variety of different times.

As students come in and unpack, you need some sort of task to get them focused for a day of learning. You might decide to use this time for silent reading or use it as a chance to do some spiral review for language arts or math.

Regardless of what you decide, it is important that you use this time to set the tone for the day. If you start the day with activities that create chaos, you can expect that chaos will trickle over into the rest of the day’s learning.

During the first week of school, you set the tone. Teach students specifically what is expected upon arrival and reinforce your expectations daily.

While your first day activities will likely look different, you can take time later that afternoon to teach the expected morning routine, and get started as early as day 2. This can help build a routine that can carry your students through the whole school year.

Number 5:                Supply Procedures

Crayons, paper, notebooks, rulers, oh my!! Supplies are a huge part of the school day. That’s why it is so important to have a well-planned system for how students will manage these tools.

It is important that you establish supply rules and procedures to ensure a smooth process of using and accessing supplies. For example, you’ll want to decide how many pencils students will keep at their desk vs. how many you’ll store and hand out as needed. In case you’re wondering, 3-5 pencils typically works well for older students. You can bump that down to 2 pencils for younger kiddos, as they tend to get lost more easily. 

Think about how you’ll manage sharpening pencils. Can students just walk up and sharpen their pencils or can it only be used during certain times?

Alternatively, you might consider having pencil sharpening be a classroom job. In that case, as their pencils become dull, have a “dull” pencil box that they can place their old pencils in and a “sharp” pencil box where they can grab a new sharp pencil.

At the end of each day, your pencil sharpener volunteer can take care of the dull pencils and have them ready for the next day. This prevents students from loudly sharpening their pencils during lessons and gives them quick access to sharp pencils when needed. Create similar procedures about the various other supplies used during the school day.

How to Set Reading Goals for Students

Reading is the most essential activity a student can have but if you ask a kindergarten student or even 1^st or 2^nd grader how they find reading you will probably hear the word boring.

It is fair for them to feel this way, often teachers find it hard to make reading fun for their students, in fact, it takes more than an interesting book to get kids excited.

Children lose interest easily and each book that is left un-turned keeps a story, a life lesson that can help them socially, academically and personally. But kids don’t understand any of that and it’s up to us to make the reading part fun to help them develop a habit of learning long after school ends.

Establishing reading goals at the beginning of the school year can set the tone for the kind of reading work you expect from your students and what they should expect from themselves.

Just like we set goals for everything else in our lives, book reading for students is as much important as anything else, in fact setting a goal for reading in the beginning of the year for every student determines what kind of books they like, what are their interests, what is their level of reading. This way as a teacher you have clear understanding of what the individual reading goals should look like.

Teachers spend a lot of time teaching students reading behaviors, skills and strategies, but often forget to teach students how to identify which of those behaviors, skills, or strategies they need to work on by setting goals for them.

Having students set reading goals is a very common practice in most schools. Typically students set three different types of reading goals:

Students set a reading goal to reach a certain reading level. Example: By the end of the year, I will be reading on a level Q.

Students set reading goals that are based off of mastery of the state exam. Example: By the end of the year, I will score 85% or higher on the end of year test.

Students set goals that are based on mastery of the standards. Example: By the end of the year, I will have mastered 95% of the reading standards with at least 80% mastery of each standard.

Sadly this approach does not work, it’s great that students set reading goals but the examples I just talked about are not the most effective ways of encourage and motivate students to grow in an academic environment.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why the types of goals we have do not really work for every student, a small group of students from certain demo graphics may be able to leverage the mainstream rules of making goals for their benefit. but not every student and it may be  possible, that none of the students from that group are present in your class.

Annual goals take a long time to achieve. It can be really challenging to keep students engaged and invested in working on one goal for an entire school year. If kids have to wait 10 months to see if they have met a goal they are going to lose interest and not be as excited about working towards that goal.

Goals that focus on reading levels are really abstract for students. Even if the goal is to get to a specific reading level, our students don’t really have a clear and solid understanding of the characteristics and attributes of each reading level. I mean, let’s be honest, teachers have a hard enough time telling the difference between a level Q and a level R. If WE don’t really know the difference between all the levels, why do we think our students will understand what it means to try and get to a level R?

None of the goals I just talked about are fun. Even if we try to make them fun and exciting, they are all based on some standardized reading process which just takes the joy and excitement out of reading.

Working towards a goal should be fun and exciting, as a teacher you don’t want them to make goals based on the outcome you understand, you want them to be inspired by the goals they make. They should be able to understand the process of progress. Inspiring students to read is the best way for them to explore the world of reading. And before we get into the details of how you can motivate a 10 year old to read while they have a hundred other things going on In their head every day that are more important to them than perhaps school.

The most important thing I have learned as a teacher who preaches the importance of book reading for students is that we should not tell them that the books they read will be graded, because that way it becomes another assessment.

Though I am the teacher I may tend to pick the area, like If one of my students likes science, I will guide them to picking out the first book that they will find interesting hopefully. If the book it is above their level they will read a page or two and will realize it’s not for them and if it is below their level they will have the feeling they know it already and will move to the next book.

As a teacher I want to be available when they are choosing books and the idea here is to inspire them first, and let them be inspired by what they find in the world of books. It boosts their confidence, they find the freedom of doing what they love. Instead of everything being hand-picked by their teacher or the system.

When you're helping your students set reading goals, let’s talk about what we should consider.

Number 1:                Goals should be measurable

You want your students to set very clear and specific reading goals. You want to make sure that their goal is something they can measure and they will know for sure if they have set their goal. A lot of times I have seen my students set goals like I want to become a better reader.” While this is a great concept for a goal, it’s not a goal that has a clear and specific end-point. Your students won’t really know when they have achieved this goal, But if they say I want to read 100 books this year. That is very clear and specific and they will know exactly when they have met that goal.

Number 2:                Goals should be short-term

Students are going to be more motivated if they are working on a goal that is only going to take them a few months or weeks to achieve. Encourage your students to set weekly, monthly, or quarterly goals. For example:

I want to read 5 hours this week.

I want to read 20 new picture books this month.

I want to read books from 18 different genres this quarter.

Even if you have students set annual goals, encourage them to break down those annual goals into smaller milestones so they don’t have to wait until the very end of the year to know if they have met their goal. Smaller goals help students stay motivated to keep growing as a reader.

Number 3:               Goals should be tracked and celebrated

Regardless of the type or length of goal, you want your students to be tracking the progress they are making towards their goal. If students are going to set a goal it should help guide how they spend their independent reading time everyday. You can give students a goal setting journal, a book log, a reading tacker, or any other template to help them keep track of the progress they are making towards their goal. You also want to make sure that you are celebrating all the progress students are making. Anytime a student meets a goal you should celebrate in some small way. This is part of the reason why short-term goals are so effective. If a student meets a reading goal every week or month and gets to celebrate, that is going to motivate them to keep on reading and setting more goals. Make sure you celebrate every goal that gets met.

Number 4:                Working towards the goal should be fun and exciting

You want your students to be excited about working towards their goal. Goals are meant to inspire and motivate your students to WANT to read. If students are dreading working on a reading goal then they have the wrong goal. There are lots of things you can do to make the process of achieving the goal fun and exciting.

You can regularly incorporate reading challenges

You can spotlight students who have met their reading goals

You can even create a bulletin board that tracks the progress your entire class is making towards achieving their goals.

Number 5:                            Plan to Support Your Students

 Now your students’ goals are established and proudly displayed in your classroom, there are so many ways to support them throughout the year. Taking stock of the goals of the class will help you to create the right plans to help them achieve and exceed their reading ambitions. This might be anything from

 Partner work to literature circles based on similar goals, you can plan guided Reading work and create opportunities for group discussions

Like classroom booktalks.

Number 6:                Validate and expand the process of reading

Children need to read widely and experience a range of texts as part of their literacy education. But some readers express strong preferences in the books they like gravitating toward specific genres, writing styles, topics, and authors. Validate their choices while pushing the envelope.

Encourage students to try new books by reading across all genres. Show students connections between texts of different genres like Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever 1793 and Jim Murphy’s An American Plague, or The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan and D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths.

Take a look at the genres that students avoid. Many of my students report nonfiction as their least favorite category. Select high-quality nonfiction to share during book talks or to serve as mentor texts. Try pairing fiction texts with nonfiction texts on the same topic.

Students need encouragement and practice to develop the habits of well-rounded readers. Every day, I ask, “What did I teach my students about reading that they can use with other texts? What did I show my students about reading that they can use outside of school?” We must never lose sight of our goal fostering a lifelong love of reading, which lasts long after school ends.