When I was getting my master’s degree and teaching college ESL, our Professor/Director explained that classroom ROUTINES should be the BUILDING BLOCKS of our teaching.

Routines provide functional structure in an otherwise wide-open time table. They also reduce our own cognitive load as well as that of our students – freeing up our minds to use its energy to focus on things like academic learning and social emotional strategies.

I could say A LOT more about WHY classroom routines are important. In fact, check out my blog, “Stop the Chaos: Why Routines are So Important.” Pop over and read the why if need be, then come back here to learn more about the HOW.

Let’s start digging deeper into this HOW.

The Natural Order of Developing & Facilitating Classroom Routines

Brainstorm & Development

The natural beginning is identifying the why, when, where, and how of routines. This is where you analyze YOUR CONTEXT to determine where routines may benefit you and your learners.

Identify areas of struggle or chaos, repetitive or daily tasks, and activities that you will be doing frequently. For example, a common time of chaos is the START OF CLASS. Building a routine for how students come into the room and get started on their learning is a FANTASTIC way to help them focus in and maximize class time. I had specific routines for the first 5-10 minutes of my class period and the last 3-5 minutes of class too!

Additionally, I created routines for activities I knew we would be doing frequently. Journaling took up a solid 15 minutes of our time on the days we completed it. Therefore, in order to avoid any wasted time, I created a routine that students could easily follow during that time slot.

Students knew when they walked into the room where to get their notebooks, where to find the prompt, how they needed to start and complete the activity, where to locate support when needed, and how to wrap up the activity when the time was done.

The BEAUTY of this is that I didn’t have to spend time every day going over all of this with them again…which meant I could do things like take attendance, get the day’s lessons/materials finalized, or check in with specific students who needed extra support. Plus – any time a substitute was in my room, this was an activity I KNEW my students would be successful doing!

Once you’ve identified where or for what you’re creating a routine. You want to pinpoint what the goal or outcome of the routine will be. How can students be successful if you haven’t even identified for yourself what that means?!

This second step will help you narrow down what actions are needed to achieve the goal. Then you can be SUPER SPECIFIC about how it looks to be successful while doing the routine (i.e. desired student behaviors versus undesired).

Referring back to my journaling activity, we worked with NORMS in order to illustrate what the expectations (academic and behavioral) were of the activity. Check out the poster on the right to see what I mean.

Laying out the STEPS and providing EXPECTATIONS made it easy for students to feel successful, built motivation for the activity, AND increased academic learning all around.

Model, Practice, & Reinforce

This step is SO IMPORTANT and is pretty much the make or break of classroom routines. If we do not model, practice and reinforce the routine, students will either never fully apply it OR they’ll drop it like a bad habit a day later!

When modeling the routine, make sure to give them the WHY. In other words, share with them the goal you identified when you decided to create the routine in the first place! Better yet – make a game out of it and see if they can guess the reasons! Often when they come up with the WHY on their own, it gives them more motivation to follow it too!

Show them how to complete the routine from start to finish. You can show them with a diagram, with visuals, teacher modeling, or student role-playing. This could take many forms and is only limited by your imagination. My only suggestion is to model in at least two or three different ways in order to support varying learning styles.

Again – back to the journaling example. When I started this routine, the first entire week of “doing” the routine was as follows:

• Day 1: Brainstorming & Explaining the WHY
• Day 2: Familiarize Them Materials & Tools of Routine
• Day 3: Model Day 1: How to Video (to be posted in class resource later on) and Live Modeling
• Day 4: Model Day 2: Paired Practice and Reflection
• Day 5: Practice Day #1: Independent Practice

It is important to note that, depending on the complexity and duration of the routine, it may take a week to an entire month to really get the routine underway. Try not to rush it! The time you take now is what ensures the effectiveness of the routine later!

Another approach to teaching a routine is to start small and build on it day by day or week by week. This helps them focus their energy on small bits at a time, gain success there and build excitement and confidence as they learn more!

Build in a grace period time. What does this mean? I do not enter any grades on the activity for the first week for sure – – then I will start with a smaller point system and add to it as students become more skilled and confident with the routine. Additionally, try to be more understanding of what may seem like behaviors during this time period. Keep an open mind and ask to understand versus asking to judge.

Providing reinforcement in the form of NUMEROUS verbal cues and visual supports will also increase the success of the routine you build. Remember that even we as adults benefit from reminders and visual supports ALL THE TIME. It is developmentally appropriate for our students to need them too!!

Assess, Revamp, & Reteach

It is COMPLETELY NORMAL and even ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to make changes to and reteach classroom routines that you put into place.

Again, this is simply the nature of human beings and the nature of a school year. Between holidays, extended breaks, school-wide celebrations, field trips, standardized testing and all of the other interruptions I’m missing, assessing, revamping, and reteaching routines will be paramount in retaining classroom management and success.

As you ease out of the practicing and the majority of your class has a good hold on the routine, simply observe how things go. Try to pay attention to what students are succeeding and who may be struggling. Ask yourself important questions

• Are students finding success? If so, who is, who isn’t?
• Should the routine be taking the amount of time it’s taking? Should it take more or less time?
• Does there seem to be consistent confusion in any part of the routine? Starting it, off-task behavior, turning in work, etc.
• When can I PLAN on reteaching in order to support my students? Every-other-week, after a break, etc.

As you begin to think about adjustments, involve students in this process. Not only might they agree with what you’re seeing, but they’ll likely bring something to your attention that you hadn’t even been aware of! They’re a wonderful asset for determining how our space is functioning.

Simply make sure to hop back into the Model, Practice, & Reinforce part of building in routines. This will ensure that you avoid further confusion, and students are able to integrate the changes that were agreed upon.

CLASSROOM ROUTINES: Tips & Tricks

Check out the three images below to get a quick overview of suggested times for classroom routines, what each routine should have, and some tips and tricks to keep in mind when incorporating them.

Just as with your students, HAVE GRACE WITH YOURSELF. Building classroom routines, while EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL AND WORTH THE FUSS, takes practice.

It is a skill, like so many others within our teaching profession, we gain from experience! All of the hiccups along the way are PART OF THE LEARNING and will make every routine moving forward stronger for them.

Sending lots of love, lots of PATIENCE, and lots of self-grace in your direction.

Talk soon, teacher friends.