Teachers walk a fine line between establishing authority and developing positive, supportive relationships. As the year begins, help students build trust and understand expectations. Get to know them and have some fun. In other words, ‘Plan to smile until Easter’.
Make a road map
We all feel safer when we know where we are going. The Religious Education classroom is no exception. One type of road map is an advance organizer. These tools introduce the topic, help students structure their thinking and make connections. They particularly support pupils who struggle with organisation and attention. Start with listing learning intentions, telling a story, asking big questions, creating an analogy, filling out a KWL chart, or a combination. A little goal-setting never hurts either.
Break the ice
Icebreaker games are fun and useful ways to get to know each other. In a simple one, the group sits in a circle and rolls a ball back and forth. As a participant rolls the ball, they call out the name of the person receiving it. Learning students’ names quickly builds relationships, especially if you employ that name outside the classroom too.
You can also break the digital ice. Using a virtual noticeboard, create sticky notes containing icebreaker questions. Set clear ground rules beforehand to keep everyone safe. It’s a novel way to learn about the personalities in your care.
Establish expectations
At the end of the day, the teacher manages the classroom. It is important students know the boundaries and that consequences for poor behaviour are clear. Provide students with age-appropriate classroom rules to be copied down or typed out. Also, display them where everyone can access them. Younger students may like to glue printed pictures of red and green choices into a T-chart or decorate wallposters. Most schools have a behaviour management framework. Using that common language is a powerful schoolwide tool. Also, consider formulating a class mission statement and agreed set of rules with your pupils. Students appreciate feeling some efficacy and control in the classroom.
Have a clear procedure for starting class
Lining up is an old-fashioned but effective way to begin a lesson. The method takes patience and needs to be explicitly taught in the first week. Stand silently at the head of the line, waiting tolerantly until every student self-regulates, quietly facing the front. Sometimes, it takes a few patented teacher stares for students to get the message, but classes always get there in the end. This method allows the class to enter the room calmly. When inside, stand silently in the middle of the front of the room until the students find their seats and settle, before greeting them warmly and marking the role. Silence really is golden.
This procedure doesn’t suit every cohort, so take some time to figure out what works well in your school. If students are allowed to enter without lining up, stand silently in front of the board, with your hands by your sides, until they settle. They will learn your body language and understand the cue.
It's different for young students who haven’t mastered self-regulation yet. Instead, try this wonderful little song:
Eyes are watching
Ears are listening
Lips are closed
Hands are still
Feet are really quiet
You should really try it
Listening well, listening well.
(Tune: Frere Jacques)
After singing, show a pictorial representation of the song and ask students to show their ‘looking eyes’ (students make glasses out of their hands and look); switch on their ‘listening ears’ (students mime turning their ears like a knob); zip their lips, cross their legs and place their hands on their knees. Like the first example, it relies on repetition, everyone understanding the ‘rules’ and knowing how to join in. It’s also fun!
Get off to a good start
Ensure your classroom is calm, organised and inviting; and your digital space easy to use, attractive and personal. Everything should reinforce learning. Appeal to the senses, remembering that different students favour different ways of receiving information. Consider choosing a fun colour scheme and theme for communications.
The first time you enter a classroom display your name and email address on the board and have students copy them into their diaries or glue them into their books. Introduce yourself, your favourite things and share a photo of yourself doing something interesting. Make a point of telling students why you like teaching them and what you are looking forward to this year. Send a friendly paper letter home for parents to update their contact details, even though they are already on the database. It opens supportive lines of communication and makes students aware those lines exist. Don’t forget to make a note of which forms don’t come back. Chase them up doggedly. It’s a low-stakes tussle that helps identify students who need support with organisation.
Put your best face forward
Eventually, someone will advise you: ‘don’t smile until Easter’. Consider instead the newly coined phrase: ‘Plan to smile until Easter’. It’s not a case of surrendering authority but starting the year well. That puts a smile on everyone’s face.