47. Back to School Series: Get Your Classroom Systems Set

Brittany 0:00

When we wake up in the morning, almost all of us tend to have a similar routine we follow each day. We might use the bathroom, put on a robe, go to the kitchen to get a coffee, scroll our phones or survey the news, maybe take a walk, and then had to get cleaned up and ready for the day. This is a routine, habit, or system we follow because we know it works day in and day out.

Brittany 0:27

Welcome to The Teaching Toolbox Podcast. I'm Brittany, and I'm here today with Ellie

Ellie 0:32

Hello.

Brittany 0:33

Today we're diving into the world of classroom systems. Specifically, we'll be discussing some classroom systems you should have in place, how middle school teachers can set up effective systems that streamline classroom management, create more responsible students, enhance student learning, and build a positive classroom environment. Let's get started.

Ellie 0:57

Let's start with the concept of systems. Systems are a set of procedures according to which something is done, an organized framework or method. When we create a system for the classroom, we're creating a procedure or a method by which we would like something to be done. It might be a system setup due to preference, ease, efficiency, consistency, to build responsibility, or for many other reasons. A few examples of popular classroom systems are how to take attendance, how to mark lunch choices, how to leave your class for another class, how to enter the classroom, how to check out books, what to do when you finish early, what to do if you're absent and need to get your work, what to do when you don't complete your homework on time, what to do when you misbehave, when and how to sharpen your pencils, how to ask to use the restroom, how to sign in and out of the classroom, what to do if you need a band aid, what to do if you don't understand something, how to find your grades, how to complete your goal sheet - and there are so many more. If a process in your classroom will be repeated and you don't want to explain it relentlessly, you should have a system for it.

Brittany 2:16

So let's talk about setting up a few systems. The important key to remember is that you have to teach the system to your students, you can't expect them to know what to do or understand what you want. Every teacher is going to be different so the teacher before you didn't necessarily have the same system. You have to model, reinforc,e and occasionally revisit your systems just like you do with the other material you teach. If you want to teach your kids how to leave the class for any reason, you might first make a sign in and out sheet where it would have the students names where they're going, what time they left, and what time they returned. You're then going to want to put that somewhere where they can fill it out easily - a desk, the top of a bookcase, or a clipboard. Next to it you need the various hall passes you or your school requires. Do you just need passes for the restroom, or anytime the students are in the hall? So you might need a nurse's pass, a special errand pass, maybe a pass for another class or the computer lab - you need to think through all those passes. I also have little versions of the pass the students then put on their desk. So we could quickly at a glance, see where they were if someone came looking for them, if I realized they were gone for a long time, or worse yet, we had a fire drill and they were absent from the room.

Ellie 3:46

Ooh I like that idea of the little passes. That's awesome.

Brittany 3:49

I would then teach the procedure to the kids, have each kid practice it by going to the bathroom sometime in the first couple of days. So they'd raise their hand, I'd call on them, they'd say they need to to use the restroom, or they'd hold up certain fingers. And then - you like the finger idea?

Ellie 4:07

That's what I do. We always like they raised two fingers, which in elementary school for a lot of them was like the quiet sign

Brittany 4:13

Ah,

Ellie 4:14

but they will raise two fingers and like they never had to verbally ask. So they just they did that. And I would like nod yes or no.

Brittany 4:21

And then they'd go sign out, say where they were going, what time it was, and then they would take their pass, put the little one on their desk and they would head off.

Ellie 4:31

Yeah, the practice is critical. We always spent the first several days practicing any routines or systems that I wanted in place like that. And even like how to pass in papers, something as simple as that can tend to be a little chaotic at times if they're passing them in. One system I loved that I had was the way I took homeroom attendance in middle school. I had a clipboard on the front whiteboard and part of the student's morning routine was to sign in by initialling the attendance for that day. I had the sheet in landscape orientation with the students names on the left side, and then the dates going across the top and I can usually fit about a month of dates on one sheet so I would switch those out every month or so - by that tim, they were getting a little wrinkly anyway. And students were really good about only signing themselves in and signing in only for that day. If there ever was a time that anybody messed around with the sign in sheet or something or signed in for days in advance, I would give a warning or a consequence if necessary and then that kind of was the end of it. And then, when the homeroom bell rang, I would take the clipboard, check to see who wasn't signed in, verify that they were actually absent, and then record that on the computer. Now, when I taught elementary school attendance was more with our lunch count. So we kind of had do two things at once I had clothes pins with the students names on them and they would hang on one side of a poster and when students came into class in the morning, they would move their clothes pin either to the packing or buying spot on a different poster and then I would check to see which students hadn't moved their clothes pins verify that they weren't actually there, verify the packers and the buyers, which we didn't have to do in middle school, and then record that and send a messenger to the office with the lunch count and attendance before you know attendance was computerized. So that setup was pretty simple. Just writing student names on the clothespins and then making the bulletin board area with the sturdy posters there for the closed pins.

Brittany 6:31

I remember the messenger thing. The students always fought for that position.

Ellie 6:37

Yeah, they loved that job.

Brittany 6:39

Another system, I taught all my students the first few days of school was the behavior system. For this system, I had a desk off to the side, sometimes it was in a corner. And sometimes it was on the wall, you know, just a side wall, and then on the walls next to it, I would put up character posters and quotation posters about having good character doing the right thing. You know, as a class, during the first days of school, we would talk about my five step system. I know a lot of people think five steps is too many. But that's how many we had to have,

Ellie 7:14

Hey, if it works,

Brittany 7:16

how it related to our classroom economy, kids had to pay fines and that sort of thing. And also how it related to our field trips. If you misbehave too much, you didn't get to go on field trips. So. And then we would also review our half page behavior form. These forms as students for their information, like their name, their date, their phone number, that sort of thing. And then it asked them to explain what character traits were missing during the incident. And why the trait's absence was important or influential to that event that happened. Then they explained the incident and their part in the incident. And then the form was reviewed by a teacher, and sometimes redone if the student wasn't honest or accurate. And then it was taken home for a parent signature. So when this was taught to the kids, all the students filled one out at their seat instead of in the character corner. And we talked about why honesty was important and honesty, the first time was important. And they just made up scenarios and had fun with it that time. And then hopefully, they never saw another one the rest of the year. But we know that wasn't always true with everybody.

Ellie 8:32

Yeah, that's awesome. That's a great system for getting them familiar with that and understanding what what the actual system is. That's awesome. Another important system you might want to set up is how students will use their daily agenda books or their planners and record their homework. Establishing a dedicated space for homework assignments really helps students stay organized, and kind of adopt their own system of recording their homework. So you could create a large bulletin board or whiteboard where important announcements and homework details are posted in the classroom. I used to use the right end of my whiteboard for the date and the homework assignments. Our team would record the homework assigned for every class on the team. So Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Math. And so I would use duct tape to create the sections and separate the sections for each subject. So that it was kind of easier to fit the homework in those sections. And then throughout the day, I would add my math homework to the board. And as students came in after their other classes, they would add the assignments for those classes. So they took on the responsibility of just writing it up there when they came into class and had a moment. And then by the last period of the day, all the assignments were on the board. And if a student had missed writing it down at the end of whatever class they were in, they could write it during the ninth period of time or if they happen to miss the class for music lessons because our kids got pulled out for their music lessons or things like that and they missed the class then they they would be able to see it on the homeroom assignment board and know what they had missed as far as homework.

Brittany: 10:05

They were still responsible for that class, even if they miss it for music?

Ellie: 10:10

Yeah,

Brittany: 10:10

okay.

Ellie: 10:11

And then we also would put any special announcements there, I want there to be a section at the bottom there would have special announcements, if there were a field trip permission slip due or something like that. And if there were long term assignments, they would stay on the board there until they were actually finished and completed.

Brittany: 10:28

Yeah, if you get like a School Planner, and it comes with a big poster that you're supposed to use to write down your assignments, it is never big enough.

Ellie: 10:41

I don't think we ever had one of those.

Brittany: 10:43

You need to use part of your whiteboard or something instead,

Ellie: 10:46

for sure.

Brittany: 10:47

I actually would go to the auto parts store and get car detailing tape.

Ellie: 10:54

Oh,

Brittany: 10:54

because it was really thin and razor thin and really clean.

Ellie: 10:58

Oh, nice. I don't think I ever have had anything like that.

Brittany: 11:02

I would use that to separate my areas.

Ellie: 11:05

Not as thick as the duct tape.

Brittany: 11:07

No,

Ellie: 11:08

actually, I don't think it was duct tape, I think was a different kind. But I can't remember what.

Brittany: 11:12

maybe painters tape?

Ellie: 11:13

Maybe, maybe that most I don't know, it was kind of thin.

Brittany: 11:16

Yeah, the car detailing tape was hard to get off at the end of the year. Okay, I had to use Goo Be Gone to clean the board. But if you use Goo Be Gone on your whiteboard, it's fine. You just have to then clean it with Expo marker after the expo cleaner after. Anyways, there are some pros and cons of having systems in the classroom. Let's go over the cons. First, it can create a rigid system where things are overly strict. It can limit flexibility and spontaneity in the classroom. If you have a lot of systems all over the place, it can also take a lot of setup time initially to make a whole bunch of systems. Implementing systems takes time and effort from the teacher to think everything through to create all the forms and the passes and whatever you need. And it also takes time to establish and teach them to the kids. You're gonna take a lot of time those first few weeks to teach those systems. And then you might get some resistance from students who don't like those structured routines. And so that's going to take additional management from you to handle those kids.

Ellie: 12:36

Adaptability can possibly be a con systems might need frequent adjustments to accommodate different classes or individual needs. So you might have something set in place and then decide that you need to change it. So that might take a little bit more time. And being dependent on the systems it's possible students can become overly reliant on the systems and then struggle without them. But some pros include consistency systems are great for creating a predictable environment and help students know exactly what to expect. They're efficient. So a well defined system can save you time. Even though there's time at the beginning it can save time later on and reduce chaos, allowing more time for learning while students are with you. The systems can increase responsibility, students learn responsibility and independence by following routines. Although they might become a little bit over reliant on them, for some students, they will start to adopt that the adopt the systems into their own behaviors. And classroom management wise systems help you maintain order and minimize behavioral issues.

Brittany: 13:45

They can also reduce anxiety for those kids who tend to be more hyper anxious. They create clear expectations which reduce the anxiety and make students feel more secure in their environment. They create organization, if you've gotten an effective classroom system, it begins with organization you have to be organized in order to create and maintain a system. And so when you have a classroom that is organized, it minimizes that chaos and maximizes your learning time. And then it centralizes all your information. If you implement a digital system for tracking assignments and grades that can save you time and reduce stress - tools like Google classroom or schoolology, or a class website can centralize information and keep everyone on the same page. You'll also have like all your behavior on tracking forms, which will centralize your information and everything like that. I've also found that come April and May when behavior starts to get out of control for most teachers. In my classroom, it's usually not an issue, because I've got systems in place and the kids know that like that won't be tolerated. And we're running like a well oiled machine when other classrooms are kind of falling apart.

Ellie: 15:14

agree.

Brittany: 15:15

By having these systems in place, teachers can create a structured environment conducive to learning, while teaching students valuable skills that extend beyond the classroom, they're learning organization, they're learning prioritization, they're learning, just good habits for their lifelong skills.

Ellie: 15:34

For sure, if you don't have any systems in place, or you're walking into a brand new classroom, that classroom might even have items left behind from the previous teacher. Personally, I walked into a classroom of a teacher who resigned kind of last minute, and she left everything, like years and years and years of stuff. So if that's the case for you, or if you don't have any systems right now, the first thing you might want to do is declutter. As you're decluttering, you can organize your items into things you absolutely need, like paper, extra pencils, trays, folders, that kind of thing. Trash. If you are sure you're not going to use it, just get rid of it. And then you can have a might use or can donate category. If you aren't sure, if you're going to use something, you can store the items in a closet for a short time, and then see if you end up needing them during the year. Don't be like me, and leave some of those initial items in your classroom for the next 25 years. I also like to remove all the items from the countertops and other surfaces almost like a clean slate before I figure out where I want all my organizational things to go.

Brittany: 16:46

Yeah, I like to take everything out of everywhere. And think about if there's a better way to organize it. For example, like if there's a sink in the room, I put arts and crafts by it because it's easy for clean up and storage if they're by the sink. And then paper should always be easy to reach, easy to sort through, that sort of thing. Once you have supplies you want and need, you can start by creating clear accessible spaces for materials and resources. Labeling bins, shelves and folders can help you and your students quickly find what you need. And as we mentioned, you can set up different areas for various needs. Notes, homework hand in baskets, absentee items, fast finisher items, and things like that. Think about where you'll keep your classroom economy items, classroom supplies, like extra pencils, rulers, colored pencils, markers, the calculators. Think about where you're going store each of those items.

Ellie: 17:47

Yeah, what makes them easily accessible, like if your students have to get up and down to get the calculators or something like that? Where can you put those that's going to be the least intrusive or easiest for students to access. Yeah,

Brittany: 17:58

and I've heard never put something behind something else.

Ellie: 18:03

That makes sense. You might even want to incorporate a color coding system. Implementing a color coding system can significantly enhance the organization of classroom materials and help students easily locate what they need. Brittany has a great blog posts on organization through color coding, and we'll put that in the show notes. But here are a few tips. You can assign different colors to various subjects or categories like blue for math, green for science, red for language arts - you can use colored folders, bins and labels to keep the related materials together. This kind of visual aid just simplifies navigation in the classroom and help students quickly identify and put away their items, reducing clutter and confusion.

Brittany: 18:46

To maintain successful systems you need clear and consistent routines. establishing those daily routines helps you stay as organized as possible. And it also helps students understand what's expected of them and reduces uncertainty for everyone.

Ellie: 19:03

We hope you heard something in this episode that you can add to your teaching toolbox. If you have other great system tips, let us know in the comments on Instagram or Facebook. Have a great day.

Brittany: 19:15

Bye