My cooperating teacher works at three different buildings which gives me the opportunity to observe many different sets of rules and expectations. Most of her expectations for students have to do with classroom management and the use of materials. When working with young students, each project can bring a set of tools and equipment that they have never worked with before, which is something I have sort of taken for granted working with high schoolers and middle schoolers. For instance, when working with paint, many kindergarteners and first graders may have never had the experience of using water colors or mixing acrylic paint in their lives, and so need the nuance of balancing water and paint application explained in detail or else you’ll end up with tables and sinks covered in excess paint and water or huge lines of students over filling and over washing.
That seems to be the main component of rules for younger students – repetition. It’s not enough to just spell things out for students when first introducing a class or a new unit, you have to have quick sound bites that you can call responses for, and you have to repeat them every day multiple times. For instance, when working with water colors, you can ask the group – ‘how much water should you be putting in your cup?’ to which you want the class to respond ‘half or LESS!’ enough times that it becomes automatic. In terms of behavior it is much as could be expected in terms of speaking in turn and respecting other students space and work, although these require a lot of extra support given how much in-class experience the students are missing with the last few years of remote school.
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