explicit instruction classroom expectations lesson
Overview
You are either a 1st-grade or 8th-grade teacher. It is mid-October and you have noticed that your students are often off task, talking to one another during transitions, and not following the classroom rules you created at the beginning of the year. Upon further reflection, you realized you did not explicitly teach and model your classroom rules. Your task is to evaluate, rewrite, and explicitly teach your revised classroom.
Throughout the pre-work for this high-leverage practice, you’ve engaged in activities designed to help you plan and design clear expectations for the classroom. These activities included:
- Reading an article and completing a graphic organizer
- Watching the HLP 7 video and answer questions
- Planning your classroom expectations
Now it’s time for you to put all of this together and create your own mini-lesson to teach.
Creative activities to teach expectations:
See Example Here
Appendix D: Lesson Plan Template (example)
Instructions: Complete tables with your own information by deleting & replacing light gray example text. Consider either (a) developing separate plans for in-person & remote instruction or (b) including examples across contexts
Creating Effective Classroom Environments Social Skills Lesson Plan Template
Educator Name:
Miss. Edu Cator
Grade Level/Period:
Kindergarten
Date: 10/20/XX
Lesson Focus:
Demonstrating _quiet transitioning _____ (expectation) in the _classroom___ (setting/routine).
Teaching Objective:
Following instruction, students will demonstrate __walking quietly to line up for specials_ (expectation) in the _classroom___ (setting/routine) by lining up quickly and quietly_(describe behaviors) across _2_ out of _3_ sampled opportunities (criteria).
Teaching Examples:
Positive Examples
(Looks, sounds, & feels like…)
Negative Examples
(Does NOT look, sound, & feel like…)
· Quietly get up from rug
· Be in control of your body and words
· Keep your hand and feet to yourself
· Walk quietly towards the door
· Line up behind the person in front of you
· Does not look like pushing and shoving others.
· Does not sound like talking loudly with others.
· Does not look like touching others.
· Does not look like dancing.
· Does not look like having the wiggles.
Lesson Materials:
chimes
Lesson Activities:
Model (I do): Today we are going to learn how we quietly line up to leave our classroom when we need to go to a special (such as PE, music, or art). Can a hand raiser helper (model hand-raising) tell me what the word transition means?
- Call on children, then provide a kid-friendly definition (e.g., Transition is when we move from one activity to another).
- In this classroom you will hear this noise/chant (play the chimes or explain a chant), we will freeze when it is time for us to transition- you will move from the carpet and quietly line up where the blue X is at the door (show students blue X).
- Now Ms. Smith (Co-teacher) and I will practice. (Ring the chimes) Ms. Smith models how to line up.
Lead (We do): Now we are going to practice. Have students “pretend” to be working on the carpet. Ring chimes. Have Ms. Smith participate with students, model correct behaviors. Point out students’ correct behavior (e.g., Wesley, I like the way you got up and kept your hands to yourself. Annabelle, I like the way you stayed quiet when lining up. Logan, I like the way you got behind Evan so quickly”).
Practice this a few times. Throughout the exercises have Ms. Smith do some non-examples (e.g., talk loudly; run to the front of the line). Stop the exercise to discuss what Ms. Smith is doing incorrectly and why students should not do it.
Test (You do): Have students line up and move to the next special. Make students are reinforced for exhibiting the correct behavior.
Follow-up Activities:
Strategies to prompt: Chimes, finger to lips, proximity…
Procedures to reinforce context-appropriate behavior: Will provide positive attention or feedback to children during AND following smooth transitions (e.g., I will provide “high fives” and “thumbs up” to children as they line up quietly and in a line.
Procedures to correct errors (e.g., context-inappropriate behavior): If a student does not exhibit the correct behavior, stop about what behavior was inappropriate and why. Then have student walk back to rug and try again.
Procedures to monitor/supervise: Monitor the pushing at the beginning of the line.
Procedures to collect and evaluate student data: 2 out of 3 tries throughout the day (e.g., music, lunch, and recess).
Please attach any handout that would go along with the assignment as well.