Instructing Ideas

Routines are the lifeblood of a well-run classroom.

Because, done right, they save tons of learning time. They keep students focused and on task. They cut way down on misbehavior.

They also make your teaching life a lot easier.

For everything you do as a class repeatedly, there should be a specific, well-taught way (routine) you do it.

But routines can be fraught with danger.

There are dos and don’ts that can be the difference between a smooth running of the rails and complete disaster.

For example, I recently met with a teacher who explained emphatically that she had been doing everything right.

She modeled her routines explicitly. She practiced until her students proved they understood. She consistently held them collectively accountable.

Yet, she was still struggling.

Her routines felt laborious. Her students would perform them, but reluctantly and often poorly. Every transition was becoming a downer and a drain on her patience.

Now, it’s important to point out that as students get older, they need fewer and fewer routines. The look and feel of them are also unique to the particular grade level.

For example, how you expect a second grade class to enter a classroom versus a ninth grade class would be very different.

The way you teach routines and how much modeling you do should also fit the grade level. We’ll be sure to cover this topic in the future, but it’s really no different than matching any other area of instruction to your age group and maturity level.

With this particular teacher, however, who had 10+ years of experience, this didn’t appear to be the problem.

So what was it? Why did her routines feel like drudgery? Why did they take the energy out of the room, prompt misbehavior, and induce grumbling and complaining?

The answer is a simple little thing, but it can be a very big deal: She was (and her students were) doing them too slow.

For routines to be most effective, for them to be sharp and efficient and for students to be motivated to perform them, they should be done as fast as possible without becoming sloppy.

This is where you’ll find your students the happiest and most attentive to the task. This is what keeps the train running tight on the rails from one success to the next, which then transfers to everything you do.

It works because speeding them up adds an element of challenge, which is not only fulfilling and enjoyable for students, but it will change their perspective and attitude toward performing them.

It will also save you time and stress reteaching, reminding, and redoing them again and again.

So this coming school year, try performing your routines just 10% faster. Make em’ snappy. Push your students to complete them with the same precision and excellence you expect while doing academic work.

Ask for more, better, faster, and more efficient and your routines will never feel miserable, militaristic, or laborious again.

Rather, they’ll feel like success.

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