{"id":2275,"date":"2015-08-09T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2015-08-09T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecornerstone.wpengine.com\/?post_type=podcasts&p=2275"},"modified":"2024-08-13T02:27:52","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T07:27:52","slug":"7-beliefs-teaching-routines-will-cause-lose-mind","status":"publish","type":"podcasts","link":"https:\/\/truthforteachers.com\/truth-for-teachers-podcast\/7-beliefs-teaching-routines-will-cause-lose-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"7 beliefs about teaching routines that will cause you to lose your mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

The beginning of the school year is super exhausting because our days are filled with teaching students our expectations for every. single. thing. We have to teach them how we want them to head their papers, line up, keep their desks organized, solve conflicts with their peers, and so on. It\u2019s a lot. In fact, the ninety-seventh time you\u2019ve reminded kids PUT YOUR NAME ON YOUR PAPER, you might feel like you\u2019re about to lose your mind.<\/p>\n

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Chances are good that your frustration is stemming from one (or more) of the following 7 mental traps. Once you identify and root out these unhealthy, unproductive thoughts, you\u2019ll find the process of teaching routines less frustrating.<\/p>\n

1) This is not my job.<\/h3>\n

Repeating yourself over and over again can be frustrating, but remind yourself: T<\/em>his is a normal part of teaching kids.<\/em> Your college courses and curriculum guides might lead you to believe that your job is just to teach reading or math or history. They might also insinuate that if you teach something well, kids will remember it and internalize it the first time.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not really true. Repeating yourself over and over again IS part of the job of being a teacher, or a parent, or anyone else who works with young children. So don\u2019t stress yourself out by worrying that you\u2019re wasting class time teaching kids how to keep track of their belongings and organize their homework. These are valuable skills that are essential to student success, and it\u2019s part of your job to teach how you want students to do these things in your classroom.<\/p>\n

2) The kids should get this stuff right away.<\/h3>\n

A lot of expectations we have for kids in the classroom are not expectations that they\u2019ve heard before. We don\u2019t do things the same way kids do them at home, and we don\u2019t do things the way their previous year\u2019s teacher did them. \u00a0It really does take a lot of repetition and practice for kids to internalize our expectations.<\/p>\n

So, avoid the trap of thinking that \u201cstudents should \u2018get this\u2019 by now.\u201d Those shoulds<\/em> and supposed to\u2019<\/em>s are the thoughts that kill our joy in the classroom and create frustration in situations that are actually very normal and to be expected.<\/p>\n

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3) What I\u2019m asking of them is so easy.<\/h3>\n

When you feel those shoulds<\/em> rising up in you, remind yourself: No, students SHOULDN\u2019T walk quietly in a straight line without any reminders every single day just because you practiced it the first week of school.<\/em><\/p>\n

They\u2019re children. They\u2019re children who have been sitting still a lot and concentrating on really hard skills. They\u2019re children whose favorite thing about school is the chance to talk to their friends. And now here they are, leaving the classroom that they just sat in for two hours and wore themselves out mentally trying to stay focused, on-task, processing new things, and struggling not to be disengaged for even three seconds because then they\u2019ll get fussed at for daydreaming, and they\u2019re two inches away from their very favorite person in the whole world, that friend they didn\u2019t get to talk to all morning, and they do the most natural thing in the world to do when walking with someone, which is to talk to them, and we explode, \u201cHOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU??? No talking in the hallway!\u201d<\/p>\n

4) Students should follow procedures correctly every time.<\/h3>\n

I expect some degree of quiet in the hallway<\/a>. I don\u2019t tolerate a chaotic line or students disturbing kids in classes that are trying to work. But I do try to remember: What I\u2019m asking students to do is a simple thing, but it is HARD.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the first thing we do as teachers when we\u2019re all together in a meeting? Talk! Have off-topic conversations! Check our phones! Tune out and daydream about things that are more important to us! It\u2019s very difficult to exercise the self-discipline needed to sit through a lecture or lesson and really learn.<\/p>\n

So while I don\u2019t believe in giving kids a free pass and letting them run wild, I do try to remind myself of these things when I\u2019m tempted to get frustrated or I believe the lie that students \u201cshould be\u201d on task and following directions 100% of the time.<\/p>\n

No one is on task and following directions 100% of the time. So I can choose to get mad that my students aren\u2019t superhuman and in possession of willpower and self-discipline that even I myself can\u2019t consistently demonstrate<\/em>, or I can take a deep breath, get a little perspective, and respond calmly and constructively.<\/p>\n

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5) Kids who aren\u2019t following my procedures are being disrespectful.<\/h3>\n

When kids don\u2019t follow the routine or expectation the way you\u2019ve taught them to, try to practice procedures, not punishment. Most kids, most of the time, are not being willfully disobedient. They either don\u2019t have the procedure practiced so well and so firmly embedded in their minds that they do it automatically \u2014 like brushing your teeth when you first wake up \u2014 or they don\u2019t have the self-discipline to force themselves to do something that comes so unnatural and that\u2019s so difficult to put in place for seven hours a day.<\/p>\n

Always default to procedure practice first.<\/em> Set kids up to be successful, not to fail and be caught and punished. Most kids will choose to be successful when given the support to do so.<\/p>\n

6) It\u2019s so obvious what they\u2019re supposed to do.<\/h3>\n

Also, avoid the trap of thinking that kids who have been in school for a few years should automatically know your basic procedures. You know how this goes: \u201cYou\u2019re second graders. You should know not to call out. You\u2019re fifth graders. You should know how to keep your desk clean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing we forget: A lot of the expectations we have for kids in the classroom are not expectations that they\u2019ve heard before. What we expect in school is not the same things kids are expected to do at home. Some kids aren\u2019t required to keep their rooms clean or pick up after themselves, so they haven\u2019t been trained to do that, especially if they have parents who are disorganized. So how would a naturally disorganized child know how to organize a desk, if they\u2019ve never been taught how to do it or why it\u2019s important?<\/p>\n

And you can\u2019t assume the previous years\u2019 teachers taught that skill. Some teachers don\u2019t require kids to keep their desks clean (or more importantly, they don\u2019t show them exactly what they mean by a clean desk<\/a>). They don\u2019t train their students to get quiet when the intercom comes on so that no one misses an important announcement, or they just yell \u201cStop talking!\u201d and don\u2019t ever teach, practice, and reinforce the procedure.<\/p>\n

The first time you teach your students how to wait quietly and patiently for their turn to use the water fountain might literally be the first time they\u2019ve ever been explicitly taught that skill.<\/em> And it\u2019s certainly going to be the first time they\u2019ve ever been taught to do that skill they way YOU\u00a0want it done.<\/p>\n

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7) I don\u2019t need to teach procedures after the first month.<\/h3>\n

Be\u00a0patient. Be persistent. Be explicit in what you want from kids. Give gentle reminders and lots of opportunities for do-overs so that the expectation becomes ingrained in their minds and they can do little things like passing in papers without having to expend any mental energy remembering what you want.<\/p>\n

Mentally prepare yourself\u00a0to keep up this process all throughout the school year. That\u2019s called ongoing distributed practice. Just like you wouldn\u2019t only teach subtraction in September and then never revisit it throughout the year, you\u2019re going to plan to distribute your procedure practice throughout the year. That sets kids up to be successful, ensures they don\u2019t forget, and helps them apply the skill to new contexts until it becomes automatic.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s really simple to teach your expectations and help students be successful in meeting those expectations once you understand the seven steps for doing so. Download my free 7 Steps to Teaching ANY Procedure or Routine<\/a>. I\u2019ll teach you how to:<\/p>\n