Welcome To The Classroom

All educators want a successful classroom. They want students to come ready to learn, ready to dive deep, and willing to take risks in their learning. Teachers can’t expect students to show up this way. Students are tired, they have baggage they are dealing with at home, some come from a chaotic home life, and many other factors that limit their desire to be at school. However, there is one important ingredient that teachers can implement in their classroom that will help students find and attain a willingness to engage and be present in class – consistency.

Consistency is essential in the classroom. The teacher sets the tone and has the ability to hold that tone if they remain consistent. If what teachers want from their students is a willingness to learn, to dive deep in their understanding, and to take risks in their learning to grow and become better, then teachers need to establish a classroom where these goals are the expectations and stay consistent in their expectations. If teachers want a classroom focused on respect and right behavior, then they must remain consistent in their expectations and consequences in their classroom. 

Students who know and understand the routine and expectations of a classroom will find themselves more willing to push themselves to meet those expectations. However, if those routines and expectations change on a daily or weekly basis, then it will be much harder to have a classroom where students want to strive to do well. Having consistency in the classroom means that teachers hold to standards that are unwavering. It means that teachers set the consequences when expectations are not met and hold to those consequences. It means teachers review the expectations on a daily basis to help students know, understand, and remember what is expected of them.

Consistency doesn’t mean that teachers need to be cold and calloused. This actually creates more problems in the classroom. Yes, teachers get frustrated, but when teachers allow for their emotions to take control, the classroom becomes chaotic, and consistency goes out the window. Being cold and callous keeps students at an arm’s length, and this tells students that they are not a valuable person, but rather just a body in a seat. Students need to know that they are loved and cared about. They need to know that they are valued in the classroom, and teachers need to be consistent in reminding students of this.

However, there are times when a teacher needs to put on a face of authority in order to stay consistent with the expectations in the classroom. Students love to test the limits and see how far they can get before they “break” the teacher. I call this “Going to Battle” with a student (I’ll talk more about this in another blog post). It’s at these times, other students are watching and seeing if the teacher follows through with the expectations they have set in the classroom. Whether or not the teacher remains consistent in the classroom will make or break the class for the rest of the year, as it is very difficult to get a class back on track when consistency has not been maintained. 

Not only is it crucial to be consistent with expectations and consequences, it is just as important to be consistent in how teachers treat students. If students see other students being treated differently or held to different expectations, not only will teachers struggle to get respect from those students, they will lose the opportunity to help those students grow and become better. Yes, some students are better behaved than others, but that doesn’t mean the expectations change for them. Yes, some students act out and struggle with their behavior, but that doesn’t mean the expectations change for them either. Overall, how teachers treat their students MUST remain consistent. It doesn’t matter if they are the best student or if they are the most problematic student, a teacher’s treatment of each student should remain the same.

Consistency is one of the most important elements to a successful classroom. The more consistency a teacher has in their expectations and treatment of students, the smoother and less stressful their class will be. Yes, students will test the limits, but when students know and understand the expectations and are consistently held to those expectations, it limits their desire to keep pushing the boundaries.  If you are an educator, make consistency a key element in your classroom. I guarantee you will see a world of difference in your students and in the classroom as a whole.