Designing Classroom Norms & Shared Agreements to Build a Student-Centered Culture

By Nicole Quinn, 6th Grade Teacher

At the start of every school year, even after 21 years as an educator, I think and rethink everything from lesson development, to supply organization, to student groupings, whether or not a teacher desk is crucial, and down to what I put on the walls of the classroom. One question always stands out in my mind… Who am I designing my classroom for?

Designing for Every Learner

I work to design lessons that reflect the diverse cultures and experiences of my students. Student workspaces are designed to allow for consistent and ongoing collaboration and communication. Supplies are gathered in a way that promotes autonomy and agency, and, as the year progresses, our walls become filled with examples of student voices.

All of these components only work together and cohesively if a strong sense of community is built. Often that starts with an establishment of rules for students to practice and follow. Over the years, I’ve used many different structures that focused on rules for my class. For the majority of my career, I put up pre-made, mass-produced posters that state expectations; like “Be Prepared, Be Kind, Be Responsible”. These became expectations that the students were to adhere to, that were assumed to be understood by all students. Expectations can quickly become white noise in a classroom when they are not tethered to meaningful experiences that allow students to see that there are multiple ways to be and live out expectations in the classroom.

Transitioning from Classroom Expectations to Norms

The global pandemic allowed me the opportunity to pause and truly reflect on my practices around classroom rules. In a distant learning structure, being kind, prepared, and responsible quickly began to look very different than in a traditional classroom. Being kind became making sure your camera was on, but also making sure you understood that some students are not comfortable with turning on their cameras. Being prepared became making sure you know how to access digital material, but also persevering and pivoting when technology fails. Being responsible became showing up on time for class, but also letting your teacher know when circumstances arose at home that prevented you from being present. This was an unprecedented time. Our system was shaken up. Teachers and students were flung into a space where everything changed, and we had to adjust in turn.

I quickly realized that traditional ways of establishing rules no longer worked for our learning environment. It was then that I established norms. While the norms are very similar to “rules”, our classroom norms were more open and fluid. “Choose Kindness, Stay Present, Believe in Yourself, and Step Up & Step Back” became the foundation of our classroom. I provided the “what” or the expectations to the class, but I did not provide the “how”.

How to Uphold Classroom Norms

The “how” is built when students participate in learning opportunities that foster the development and use of the norm. There is no limit to that type of activity that allows for this learning. Community building activities, such as morning circles, become opportunities to reflect on how students showed staying present, stepping up to share their thoughts, and stepping back to allow for equity in voice. Academic content is also a space where this learning lives. In fact, SEL should be woven into every facet of a classroom.

A math lesson, for example, is a space for academic content but also a space where students practice their development, being able to stay present and hone their ability to believe in themselves. Math lessons should end with a reflection on both the academic experience and the social and emotional experience. Sample questions could be: What is something new you learned? What math strategy did you connect to most? What were the most difficult skills to learn? What did you do to show that you were staying present in the lesson and/or discussion? What positive self-talk did you use when the task became challenging? Ultimately, shared agreements are student-developed after experiences have been provided that allow students to show, practice, and reflect.

Typically, this process takes a few weeks at the start of each school year. As a class, we engage in community-building activities and low-affect learning opportunities that force students into learning experiences that foster communication and collaboration. Students are then encouraged to reflect on their strengths and struggles. On sentence strips, we list everyone’s ideas on how to live out the norms and students place their ideas under the most applicable norm. After roughly four weeks, we debate and finalize the location and relevancy of each shared agreement. Daily, we reflect on how we are best living out the norms and set intentions on how we will show our use of a shared agreement.

Opening and closing circles are a great place for this to happen. A typical day in my class would begin and end in this manner:

Morning Circle

Low-affect question

Examples:

What’s your favorite ______?

Would you rather ______?

What will you do today to be your best learner?

Examples:

Today I would like to stay present, and I will do that by making eye contact with the speaker.

I’m going to step back by letting other people share their thoughts before I share.

Closing Circle (end of day):

What did you do today to be your best learner?

Examples:

Today I believed in myself by using positive self-talk when I struggled with my math.

Today I chose to be kind when offered help to a classmate.

The beauty behind this structure is that it is not prescribed or set. It is fluid and organic. Establishing norms for your classroom gives your students a clear picture of what you expect of them. Allowing students the opportunity to develop how they live them out, allows for the autonomy and agency to be successful.

Nicole has been an educator in the Sacramento City Unified School District for the past 21 years. During that time, she taught grades 1–6 and served as an SEL and Equity Training Specialist. She is currently teaching 6th grade in Sacramento and has recently been selected as a 2023–2024 Teacher of the Year in her district.

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