Clear classroom expectations increase the likelihood that students will be successful in understanding what is expected of them. The classroom schedule allows the class members and teacher to anticipate what will happen during a school day. Guidelines for schedule development are as follows.
1) Teachers should seek student suggestions after ruling out nonnegotiable events and time slots.
For example, time scheduled for art or music is 1 pm on Tuesday and Thursday; the scheduling of this event is nonnegotiable. Negotiable events can be presented to students and discussed.
2) The schedule should be on permanent display in a format that reflects the age and abilities of the students.
3) Use the Premack Principle.
The Premack Principle states that students are more likely to engage in a low probability activity if they know it will be followed by a high probability activity that they enjoy. For example, if students generally dislike math, a low probability activity, the teacher may try to schedule a high probability activity, gym, after math.
4) The length of the activity should reflect the student’s abilities.
Consider the attention span of your group. Elementary students can be expected to attend to an activity for 20 – 30 minutes. Secondary students can be expected to attend to an activity for 30 – 40 minutes.
5) Avoid revising the schedule.
It is important that the schedule becomes predictable for students. Changing the schedule will decrease the likelihood of predictability and limit the students’ ability to anticipate events during the day. If revisions are necessary, they should be announced and posted as soon as possible.
6) The schedule should motivate students.
Interesting activities should be prepared in case the planned activity is completed sooner than anticipated.
7) Students’ efforts should be reinforced.
8) Send a copy of the class schedule to families
Questions that teachers can ask themselves regarding class routines and scheduling:
How well are classroom procedures defined?
Is the daily routine predictable?
Is the classroom schedule visible to students?
Are transition periods considered as a part of the daily schedule?
Do students know what to do throughout the day?
