Classroom Procedures
- Entering the Classroom: Upon entering our class at the beginning of the day, or your respective period, you should do the following:
- Enter the room quickly and quietly.
- Remove your textbook, workbook, notebook, and any other items that will be needed during class from your book bag, and place your bags in the designated spot (your student number will be there) on the shelves in the back of the class.
- Retrieve your composition notebook from your specified class’ bin, in order to complete the bell ringer. Sharpen any pencils at this time. Place your lunchbox in the designated bin by the door. Check the make-up work at this time (see Procedure 5).
- Find your seat. Although the desks may be arranged differently, your desk will always have your student number written on a sticker which is placed on the desks. (Strategy 2, Pinto, 67)
- Place your homework on the front, right corner of your desk, so that it may be checked for completion.
- Begin answering the bell ringer activity in your composition notebook.
- Bell Ringer: Each day there will be a riddle, word problem, or writing prompt on the top left hand corner of the white board, when you enter the room. You will respond to this daily in your composition notebook. Your entries can occur on the same page, but they should be in order and contain the following:
- Your name, student number, and the date in the top, right of the entry area.
- The prompt that is written on the board.
- Your response.
- Heading Papers: You will be required to turn in several things throughout this course. All of those papers should have the following heading at the top right of the paper, in specified order:
- Student Number
- Student Name (First and Last)
- Date the Assignment was assigned (not when it is due)
- Name of the assignment (will always be written on the board)
- Homework: As aforementioned, you will place your homework at the front of your desk for a completion check. This will be done while you are responding to the bell ringer. Once the composition notebooks are put away, we will go over any questions that might have occurred in the assignment. When there are no questions remaining, the homework papers will be passed in (see procedure 6).
- Make-up Work: (Notice the small table, which has “Make-Up Work” above it, in the back corner of the class. This is where you will check your make-up work if you were absent the previous day. There is a composition notebook which has the bell ringer prompts from every previous day of class. Open the notebook and find the page that has the prompt(s) from the day(s) you missed. You may take it to your seat to copy the prompts and then return it to its rightful place on the table. In addition to the bell-ringer, there is a “Notes” binder. The last pages will be the notes from the most recent day when notes were taken. Each page has a date at the top. You can either take a picture of the notes to copy them, or bring them to your desk and copy them in your free time, making sure to return them in the correct order. Lastly, there is an “Assignments and Activities” File Container. Each file folder is labeled with a date. If the date you were absent is not shown on a tab, you did not miss an assignment or activity. If there is a tab with the date that you missed, pull the folder out. Written on the inside of the folder will be any assignment (homework, bookwork etc.) that was given that day, and any handouts given will be in the folder. There will be a handout for every student that is absent (your name will be on yours); take the handout with your name on it, and return to your desk. The make-up work will be due 3 school days after your absence; whereas the bell ringer and notes will be expected as usual. (Strategy 4, Pinto, 71)
- Passing In Papers: In addition to passing in homework and bell ringer notebooks, there will be many other times throughout the course where you will need to pass in your papers. This is how it should always be done, when we are in our general setting (3 rows of semi-circles (Strategy 1, Pinto, 65)):
- Starting at the left most desk. Place your item (whatever we may be passing in) on the desk to the right of yours.
- The next person will pick up what is placed on their desk, join it with their own item, and place them on the next desk. This will go on until it gets to last desk.
- Once the students sitting in the right most seats have their entire row’s items, the student sitting in the back, right most desk will standup, collect the three stacks, and place them in the designated area (i.e. composition notebooks will be placed in the class’ bin).
- Passing out Papers: This procedure will be much like the previous one. The student in the back, right most desk will be given the papers, and he/she will divide the papers into three. Ten will be given to the right end of the front row, ten will be given to the right end of the middle row, and the last ten he/she will keep for the back row. Once the papers are at their respective rows, the students on the end will take one for themselves and place the remaining papers on the desk to the left of them. This will continue until the student in the left of the class have their papers. If there are leftovers, the student in the back, left most desk will collect them and bring them to the teacher. (Strategy 1, Pinto, 65)
- Bathroom: You will be given three bathroom passes for the 9-week period. If you wish to use one, you will take it out and raise your hand with the pass in your hand. I will give you a response. Notice the small dry-erase board and the clip board hanging on the wall beside the door. The top portion of the white board is for bathrooms, and the clip board has a sign out sheet. Upon receiving permission to leave, write your name on the bathroom area of the dry-erase board, and fill out a row of the sign-out sheet. The following items will be on the sheet:
- Name
- Reason for leaving (bathroom in this case)
- Time leaving
- Leaving the Room: If you have to leave the classroom for any other reason, you can raise your hand and ask. If you receive permission, write your name on the bottom portion of the dry-erase board and fill out the sign out sheet. Grab a pass that coincides with your destination. When you return, replace the pass, erase your name, write the time you returned on the sign out sheet, and return to your seat quietly.
- Quizzes/ Tests: Throughout the course, you will have weekly quizzes and unit tests. On the days that this will occur, you will do the following after we turn in homework:
- Take out 3-4 pieces of paper (1-2 for quizzes) for computations
- Leave one or two pencils on your desk
- You will be called by row to place your things with your book bag in the back of the room:
- When your row is called, stand up with all of your things
- Turn to the right, and follow the line out of the row of desks to the back of the class
- Place your items where they belong
- Continue the line back around to your desks, and sit quietly
- Going to Lunch: When it is time to go to lunch, place your things on your desk and stand up. When your row is called, turn to the left and follow the line to the door. When everyone is in line, we will begin down the hallway, grabbing your lunchbox out of the designated area by the door. When we return, form a line outside of the door. When I unlick the door, enter quietly, place your lunchbox with your things at the back of the class, and sit quietly.
- Recording Assignments: You will be given some type of homework assignment daily. This will almost always be assigned towards the end of the class. When I begin to write the assignment on the white board on the side wall of the room, titled “Assignments for the Week,” you should take out your classroom planner, find the date, and write the assignment down.
- Getting up during class: There will be plenty of time throughout the class period where I am not in the front of the room talking (group work, silent individual work, bell ringer, etc.). During those times, you are welcome to get up to get a tissue, place something in your bag, etc.; however, you will be responsible for completing the work for which that time is designated. If I am talking, or we are doing something in class, you can simply raise your hand and ask.
- Tissues: See the previous procedure for getting up during class. The tissues are located on the table by the door, along with hand sanitizer. When you need to use a tissue, grab one out of the dispenser, step outside to use it, return inside, place the used tissue in the garbage can, and get a squirt of hand sanitizer before returning to your seat quietly.
- Exiting the Classroom: At the end of the day (or your respective class period), you will be prompted to gather the items at your desk and stand up, by row. You will then do the following:
- Follow your line out of the right side of the row to the back of the room
- Place your things in your book bag, and put your book bag on your back
- Follow your row back to your seat, and stand behind your desk