An end-of-the-year reflection on classroom management, community, and student ownership in the writing classroom.
Accomplishment + Relief: It Must Be the End of the School Year!
As another school year ends, I’ve been thinking about one classroom management strategy that has stayed with me for years- replacing classroom rules with classroom agreements.
Many teachers begin the year by establishing rules and expectations to set the tone for how students and teachers will share the classroom space. It makes sense. I mean, without expectations, there is potential for chaos. But over the years, I found myself wondering whether there was another way to communicate expectations while also encouraging students to feel ownership of the classroom community.
Inspired by The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by don Miguel Ruiz, a book I encountered during my yoga teacher studies, I decided to experiment with “Classroom Agreements” instead of traditional classroom rules.
For context, I was looking for a way to encourage student buy-in in my writing classes and communicate expectations without feeling overly authoritarian. At the time, I was teaching a group of students who settled into some familiar social dynamics: small cliques and occasional mean-girl routines, directed at classmates, each other, and sometimes even me.
I suspect they didn’t realize how much teachers notice. Standing in front of the room, we see more than students think we do. We notice when someone is excluded or when conversations turn unkind. We know when our own vulnerabilities are being clocked.
It was not my favorite season of teaching.
Returning from winter break, I decided to try something different. After a lighthearted game of “Winter Break Query,” which students seemed to enjoy, I shifted the conversation toward what I was noticing and how I hoped we could do better together. The Classroom Agreements became a way to address behavior without making the conversation punitive or threatening.
Our 4 Classroom Agreements
The agreements I use are adapted from The Four Agreements both in idea and structure, but also nodding to school-wide expectations:
Prioritize Responsibility: Take this opportunity. Respect work and time: keep up, avoid late work, and no extensions. Don’t waste time- yours or mine. Finish it: C or better.
Be Kind: This is a welcoming space for all. Create an environment conducive to tasks at hand. Be open to creating community. Move around. Invite others into groups.
Create a Respectful Space: Be mindful and attentive. “Be curious, not judgmental” (quote often attributed to Walt Whitman). Policies and expectations: cell phones, sign out, food, restrooms.
Do Good Work: Do your best. Respect the weight and expectations of the course. Academic conventions and academic integrity matter. Ask questions. Seek assistance.
Did It Work?
My assertion here is that this worked for me.
Did it fix everything and turn the classroom into a magical wonderland of learning?
Nope.
People are who they are, even when they know better.
What it did do was provide a common language for discussing behavior, accountability, and community. Instead of constantly referring to a list of rules, we could return to shared agreements about how we wanted to show up in the space.
Three Ways to Use Classroom Agreements
As we reflect on the year that’s ending and maybe begin thinking ahead to the next one, here are ways you might incorporate Classroom Agreements into your own practice.
#1: Use Them as Conversation Starters
What a great way to get to know your students from the beginning of the year. Rather than presenting a list of rules on day one, invite students into discussion or writing by asking them about what helps people learn, feel respected, and contribute positively to a classroom community.
#2: Use Them to Discuss Accountability
Once the agreements are established, this opens the door for a discussion about what will/should happen if the agreement/s are broken. This also allows flexibility to renegotiate the agreements if they aren’t working, too.
#3: Use Them to Build Community
At first glance, classroom agreements may seem to decenter the teacher’s role, but in my experience, the opposite is true.
It facilitates buy-in when it comes to behavior. If the agreements are clear, not overly complicated, too loose or too strict, they can live and breathe in the classroom space with the students.
We reference the agreements often, have them clearly displayed, I ask students to write about them once established, and periodically check to see if they should be updated.
It lets students know they are trusted and that trust, like respect, is something worth practicing.
Looking Ahead
This is all to say that classroom management is rarely about managing behavior but creating conditions where people can learn together.
I’ve been teaching a long time, and I’m less interested in controlling a classroom and more interested in cultivating a community of writers.
The Classroom Agreements have become a small way of doing this.
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