Rules: 1) Please treat me with the same level of respect I will treat you. This is easily the most most important rule I have. This is because without being treated with respect, I would be unable to teach students. This holds an expectation of the “treat your neighbor how you’d like to be treated”.
2) You can do anything that doesn't cause a problem for anyone else. This rule is in place so students are able to do things that they want within reason as long as it doesn’t bother others. This is useful in cases such as when students might drum on the paper etc.
3) When a situation occurs how I handle it depends on the situation. Often times teachers spell out certain consequences for certain actions. In my classroom that will really depend on the situation. This will ensure that students don’t throw a fit over unfairness.
4) I will teach when there aren't problems or distractions. I picked this rule because it is far easier to teach when there aren’t any issues or things going on simultaneously that might compete for my attention.
5) I will listen to one person at a time. This is because I don’t want to try and listen to two people at once. This also ensures that students take there turns talking. In terms of my phrasing of this it is backed up by the following: “During the discussion of the rules and related behaviors, it is best to emphasize the positive “do” parts of the rules rather than their negative counterparts”. (p30 Classroom Management book).
Additional rationale: I hate the rambling of negative rules. When schools have a rule list that includes everything imaginable that you can’t do in a classroom it’s so negative and makes me wonder if I were a student “then what can we do?”. This is backed up with the passage “there is no need to recite a long list of forbidden behaviors during your initial discussion of rules” p30. I will also make sure to post the rules n the classroom especially since there isn’t an exhaustive list. Students will be able to ask me questions about the rules for clarification on the first day but they should be and are designed to be self explanatory. The concept of the rules align to the principles of the Love and Logic classroom management approach.