Reinforcing procedures within a classroom setting

Teaching & Reinforcing Your Procedures: clear and thoughtful plan for how to teach and reinforce procedures that includes an explanation for why the learner expects their plan to be effective with his or her student population

Teaching, particularly in the United States, has come under much scrutiny. Here, poor academic performance relative to other countries has caused much more scrutiny of K through 12 institutions. Likewise, the disparity between the overall quality of schools has also been a major point of contention for both politicians and instructors throughout the country. All of these variables are then coupled with strained state and local budgets, often requiring tough sacrifices as it relates to allocations of resources related to education. Due to these circumstances, it is important for current instructors to have a strong plan as it relates to reinforcing procedures within the classroom. This is important as it allows students and instructors to make the most out of their allotted time together. It also allows students to more readily receive and process instruction from their respective instructors, thus improving educational outcomes.

The first priority when teaching and reinforcing procedures is to emphasize the benefits to the students. Here, having a positive, engaging, and challenging learning environment is paramount to student success. Therefore, when teaching and reinforcing procedures, having a strong classroom environment ensures compliance with the procedures. Likewise, ensuring that students understand that the procedures are non-negotiable and will be administered strictly throughout the academic period. This ensures that students understand the seriously of the procedures and take their adherence seriously within the classroom setting. This also has the residual impact of teaching students soft skills related to adherence to rules, respect for authority, and discipline. Each of these elements, although not directly graded, will have an impact on the overall outcome of student performance within the classroom setting.

Next, reiterating the procedures within the classroom setting is also very critical. For many students, classroom procedures can vary from instructor to instructor. As a result, requiring students to memorize a large number of different rules can be a daunting task. This is also become much more difficult for student who may have learning disabilities or other impairments. Here, having classroom procedures posted and clearly visible will benefit students as they become acclimate to both the instructor and the classroom setting. Have the rules in a simple to understand terms also helps with adherence by students throughout the academic period.

In addition to creating a strong learning environment, and having rules clearly visible, it is important to engage in dialogue with students as to “Why” the rules exist. This again is another critical step as it fosters communication, dialogue and discussion. Like the steps above, these discussions also help to foster the development of soft skills with students. These skills include listening, communication, comprehension and discipline. These discussions also help students to better understand how they should behave in a public setting and within a classroom fostering a healthy respect for elders and authority. Through dialogue instructors can also reinforce positive behaviors on the part of their students. This is accomplished through positive reinforcement and praise on the part of students as they look to adhere to the rules. Positive reinforcement not only provides incentives for students to continue their behavior but it also shows other students what behaviors are to be commended within the classroom setting. This ultimately helps to foster faster adoption of rules and a positive learning environment for students. Finally dialogue helps to remind students of what the rules within the classroom setting are. Here, a morning meeting to go over and emphasize the rules is recommended as it helps to keep classroom procedures fresh within the students mind.

Here, the best method for instructors to use in regards to communication is the “Teach, state, explain, and model” procedure. The teach, state and explain portions of this procedure have already been discussed above. However, the modeling element is also very important in regards to physically showing student what the instructor is looking for in terms of behavior. By modeling the behavior, reinforcing those that mimic behavior, and providing rewards for those who conduct themselves accordingly, instructors can better establish as positive learning environment. Modeling also helps students who learn in different ways. Some students are visual learners, while also are much word oriented. Having rules displayed and mimicking the behaviors ultimately allows students with different learning styles to better understand the rules and procedures.