Mr. Wong in APRIL! Zoom Expectations and Routines


This guy fills my month of August.  Every educator knows that every school year must start with the routines and procedures that Harry Wong outlines in his classroom management books.  When the year starts off strong with routines and procedures in place, they become normalcy.  However, this year had a completely different turn of events.  This is the first year that I had to revisit Mr. Wong in APRIL!

After my first week of zoom sessions, I realized that something needed to change quickly.  As I was turning my wheels, I realized that I needed to re-set my classroom environment, culture, procedures and expectations.  In this whole new environment, students no longer understood the behavioral expectations that were required of them.  I quickly had to re-outline what those expectations were and have the students practice their online routines.  Below I came up with a couple quick steps to quickly place some routines and expectations into your zoom sessions.

STEP ONE: Online Classroom Rules

THE Classroom Management Book PaperbackMy core classroom rules remained the same RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY and RELIABILITY, but I needed to discuss with the students how these rules look different in a zoom session.  To start each of my zoom sessions, I do a quick reminder of each of these expectations and have the students give me an example and non-example of what each of those rules would look like in this new setting.

STEP TWO: Classroom Procedure Practice

We also had to set some basic etiquette procedures.  I had my students practice how to mute their buttons and how to un-mute their buttons to speak.  Just like we practice procedures in the classroom, over and over until it is a routine, the same applies for online teaching.

STEP THREE: Classroom Routines

As we all know students thrive on routines.  I decided to create an online zoom schedule routine.  We always start with a meet and greet.  This is just a discussion time when students are logging in.  Then, I do a quick attendance call.  After this, I transition to a team builder zoom game. See this post for ideas on zoom games (https://teachthrivetriumph.blogspot.com/2020/05/amping-up-your-zoom-sessions_2.html)).  Then, I do a homework help session, where I let students ask questions on their homework.  I transition to a whole group lesson, followed by guided practice.  Then, I end zoom with another team builder game.  I also ask my students for feedback and ideas that they would like to implement next zoom.  For example, many of my students like doing zoom dress up days or planning to bring their favorite items to zoom to share.  Then I give a quick reminder of important information and we log off.

STEP FOUR: Engaging Lesson

While this seems like a no-brainer, it is so true.  The lesson that you use must still be interactive with the students.  Some ideas of how to make your lesson interactive would be to use peardeck, interactive google slides or a kahoot game.  These simple activities will help increase your student engagement and will help keep them focused and following classroom expectations.

STEP FIVE: Positive Rewards

I also think it is vital to have some positive rewards in place.  You must decide on some feasible rewards that students could work towards. For more ideas on positive rewards, go to this link.  https://teachthrivetriumph.blogspot.com/2020/05/pbis-in-your-online-classroom.html

After one week of putting these simple ideas into place, I quickly noticed that my zoom sessions became more like a classroom setting and students started falling into the new norm of our routines.


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