Setting Classroom Expectations When Dealing With a

Setting Classroom Expectations When dealing with a new group of students, it is essential that clear expectations are set from day one. However, expectations cannot be established merely by telling students what they must do and threatening them with dire consequences for misbehavior. Ideally, students should want to learn, and it is essential to make them willing participants in the process of setting expectations. This is particularly true of adult learners, whom are often more intrinsically motivated than younger learners (Motivating adult learners, 2013, University of Florida).

One useful exercise is to have students brainstorm expectations themselves, either in groups or individually, and have the class vote on which ones will be the rules of the classroom. (The teacher can also contribute various suggestions). The teacher will then group the suggestions into useful categories, and finally a manageable amount of ground rules can be established. This enables students to think critically about expectations, since they will be involved in the creation of them.

Teachers can also use this experience to ask critical questions such as 'why': why is it important to pay attention in class, to do your homework, and to engage in effective time management (an important aspect of learning for adults balancing work and school commitments). Entertaining a meaningful discussion about community rules makes it more likely over the long run that students will feel an investment in trying to uphold the rules they helped create, even if doing so proves challenging at times.

"After a class has expectations in place, the teachers should treat expectations like any other academic subject by developing a plan for teaching the expectations. This plan could include listing the expectations on the board and transferring students' ideas from the chart to the expectations on the chart. This should include discussions and role playing of how expectations look when students follow them; how expectations sound as students follow them; and how students feel as they demonstrate them" (Developing classroom expectations, 2008, Project IDEAL).

Teachers should not ignore the importance of meeting expectations given the significant role they play in ensuring academic objectives are realized. Attendance, attentiveness, and conscientiousness are the first building-blocks of learning any skill. After student expectations are set, the class can begin to set expectations for the teacher. The notion that expectations are mutual will reinforce the student-teacher relationship and establish channels of dialogue.

This will also give adult learners a sense of empowerment and control over their education, and help bridge what can be an uncomfortable student-teacher dynamic because of age-related reasons. It should be added that once these expectations are agreed upon, the teacher should make every effort to uphold them, such as turning back papers on a reasonable time frame and not assigning too much homework. Defining expectations is a process, and although it must begin on the first day, it is not.