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Why not take a moment and reflect (with yourself as well as your students) how the agreements have helped with classroom management…and how they might just BE your classroom management system…or, if classroom management is a problem – how reviewing and practicing the agreements can help get it back on track.

Here are some examples:

Attentive Listening – If attentive listening is really going on, then there are no blurt-outs or interruptions. Students are raising hands (or using some other signal) to be included in the conversation, and taking turns to speak, rather than speaking over one another. What about YOU (teacher)?! Do you WAIT for attentive listening, or just speak louder than the students when you want them to "listen"?

Mutual Respect – This applies to all relationships within the classroom; students are expected to treat one another with respect, as well as the teacher and vice-versa. Mutual respect also applies to things…desks, pencils, supplies, and general order and neatness in the classroom. Do you take time each day to have students "respect" the classroom and the space around them? Do you reflect when you are not feeling respect from or among your students?

No Put Downs/Appreciation – Discipline is not a "put-down". Punishment can be… Do your students know the difference? If you feel like the animal tamer who must constantly manage behavior in order to be able to teach, perhaps a review and a lot of reflection on the value and responsibility of "no put downs" is in order. "Ideal Classroom" is a strategy that might also be appropriate. Depending on the age, the "no put down" ideal is difficult, since put-downs are modeled so well in the media and social environment (as in…"just kidding?!")

Right to Pass/Participate – This is a key piece of classroom management. Use the words "pass" and "participate" when reminding, reviewing, and setting expectations for various classroom activities. Reflect often on the value of "passing" or "participating", and the application of these two actions in the world at large…how each action can have the right or wrong effect in any given situation.