¶ … Ground Rules With Your Learners There are several effective ways for establishing ground rules for learners. The most useful methods involve both classroom participation in the germination of such guidelines, as well as mandates dictated from the teacher which serve to underpin his or her classroom authority. As an authority figure, the teacher should always have a number of ground rules in mind before entering the classroom, but the prudent pedagogue (with enough time at his disposal) will involve a classroom discussion of these matters, and with his or her gentle prodding, help students feel as though they have determined these rules on their own. Classroom participation in this critical component of determining in-class behavior often helps students to follow these guidelines themselves, since students take a sense of accomplishment in carrying out directives which they feel they have helped determine.

For younger students, ground rules are established with the deployment of minor art work used to divide the classroom's board into sad and happy faces. Two or three examples of student behavior should then be discussed, which will be placed on either side of the board, depending on how the behavior is perceived. Clever classes tend to enjoy the pantomiming of behavior, which encourages a large degree of interactivity and usually helps focus those with wandering attention spans. Once they have understood and adopted the concept, students should be separated into groups so they can finish the remainder of the ground rules on their own. The class will then share the rules collectively, which are written on the board in their appropriate sides, with the teacher making sure to tailor the phrasing and include any rules that may have been omitted. Future projects for these ground rules can include students being assigned to make posters of the specific mandates, which can then be plastered about the classroom and referred to in times of transgressions.

Another highly effective means of establishing ground rules is to have students enter into a classroom contract in regards to their behavior and demeanor. These contracts are particularly effective when dealing with just a few students who consistently present problems to the entire class as a whole. The terms of the contract, which comprise the ground rules, are negotiated both by the instructor and the students, and are signed and displayed for all to see. This manner allows for a set of expectations to be seen for both the students and the teacher, the latter of which usually delights the former. Another method of establishing and keeping students to adhere to ground rules is through positive reinforcement. By verbally remarking on behavior that conforms to the guidelines indicated in the rules and augmenting such praise with an occasional reward, students will internalize and make more of an effort to abide by these series of mandates.

Describe How Ground Rules Underpin Appropriate Behavior and Respect For Others

Ground rules are an integral component of the development, establishment, and enforcement of appropriate behavior and respect for others, since they are used to determine the specifics measures necessary for proper classroom etiquette. The overarching goal for classroom behavior is to create an environment free of judgment and derision so that the questioning, understanding, and active seeking of knowledge for all involved may be properly cultivated. Ground rules directly address the specific codes of behavior pertinent to such an environment, and outline subsequent consequences for any transgressions in them.

One of the most important ways in which ground rules underpin respect and its accordant behavior in the classroom is by the very sequence in which they are established. The most effective ground rules are established in the first few moments of a course of study, which allows for no ambiguities in terms of expectations for both the teacher and the class. Rudimentary ground rules such, as the allowances of another to complete his speech before another may speak, or the maintaining of confidentiality within the class itself, allow for a clear definition of boundaries which actively promotes appropriate behavior...

By clearly mandating punitive measures for the breaching of such principles of respect and appropriate classroom behavior, those same principles are oftentimes preserved and observed on a class-wide basis. The establishment of ground rules at the inception of a class is the ideal time to set expectations for appropriate classroom behavior which includes not only the physical environment, but the psychological climate and interactions between the students with themselves and with the teacher.
The active enforcement of ground rules is another efficacious means by which they may be utilized to reinforce notions of respectful behavior in the classroom. So long as teachers ensure that their punishments are aligned with that of the larger learning institution that they are teaching in, they will often find that the preferential treatment which offenders of ground rules must bear in consequence to their transgressions is the antipode of the behavior that they are supposed to exhibit. The mere fact that the offenders must endure some aberration to the equality of behavior which others in the classroom (who have followed the ground rules) are allowed to enjoy is commonly a determinant factor in the offenders taking deliberate action to not transgress those rules again.

Explain and Describe the Types of Resources that You Have Available to Meet the Potential Needs of Your Learners

In order to most prudently select the proper resources applicable to the learning needs of the classroom environment, it becomes necessary to detail the types of needs most instructors are likely to encounter. Varying students have different levels of motivation, as well as separate interests that fuel their motivations. The most effective teachers are able to discern what extracurricular topics incite a particular student's passion, and translate that interest into the classroom environment to produce the same level of engagement in a scholastic facility. An excellent resource for learning about various subject matters not related to the classroom, yet which may be incorporated into an erudite fashion is the internet. General information sites such as Wikipedia, which provide a fair amount of insight into popular culture, may be readily accessed to give pedagogues knowledge about non-scholarly topics that concern their students. Prudent educators will be able to correlate this information into their teaching, and increase students' motivation to learn as well as increase their attention and zest for a particular topic of study.

Instructors are also bound to encounter students who learn better through observation and participation, as opposed to study and lecture. Practical experience learners such as these often need to relate to material via more direct methods other than classrooms. Extra-classroom activities such as field trips to sights relevant to topics of learning -- museums, laboratories and fields of various ecological importance -- are excellent resources which allow students to realize the practical applications of the subjects they are being taught. Other important extra-classroom resources include the use of e-mail, which allows the pedagogy of an instructor to be accessed outside of a typical school environment to provide support in areas such as homework, paper writing or exam preparation.

The power of collective learning is another valuable resource for teachers, particularly when dealing with students who have diverse levels of confidence, aptitude, and pacing. While individual classroom procedures may actually segment classes, group activities oftentimes provide an entertaining forum for more comprehensive learning. Basic resources such as televisions, digital and video recorders, as well as internet streaming and computer monitors can help students learn collectively by watching a program about a particular area of study. Similarly, the playing of group games in which classes are partitioned and quiz one another on material in preparation for an exam, for example, are also effective, interactive means of rotating the didactic process away from the individual and closer towards the group.

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