Friday, July 25, 2014

Thinking about Routines and Procedures

I’ve been reflecting a lot on routines for a variety of reasons. One, because I’m attempting to write a book about classroom management, and routines always seem to fit into that topic. I recently read this book about the start of the school year:


Have you ever read something and thought, “Yes, that’s why I do that…” While parts of the book were new to me, so much of what I do each year was written in those pages. It was both affirming and enlightening. I just wrote to a friend today that I’d love to see a building PreK-6 (or higher!) that used the responsive classroom approach. I bet it would be amazing.


The second reason I’ve been reflecting on routines is that Ruth Ayres and Christy Rush-Levine are starting a Twitter chat called Teach & Celebrate Writers. The first chat is on August 3rd at 8pm EST. I’ve agreed to guest host. Want to guess the topic? Routines and procedures for writing workshop. I’m SOOOOOO excited. I love the start of the school year. I love introducing students unfamiliar with workshop model to our classroom. I love showing them how we work as a classroom community. It is the best! Well, maybe the best is when the classroom is humming along, but I do love the start of the school year when everything is ripe with possibility.


I hope you will join us on the 3rd at 8pm EST! I’d love to learn from you all and have a conversation. What routines and procedures do you teach at the start of the school year? Which do you struggle with? Is there something new you’re going to try this year in writing? Share in the comments and then come to Twitter on the 3rd to continue the conversation. Can’t wait to see you there!