If possible, discuss this classroom management in advance with the classroom teacher if you are not the primary classroom teacher. Many teachers have established classroom etiquette and “rules” that they expect their students to follow. They may have a mantra that the students know in terms of reinforcing proper classroom behavior. They may have a standard “call sign” or “quiet signal” that the students are familiar with. So, ask about the existence of these in advance.

In some classrooms, the students rotate through various roles, such as who is responsible for “passing items out” to their peers. So, it might be important to be aware of these expectations before they spontaneously appear during an activity. For instance, if there is a designated student for passing out materials, they will expect to have this role when passing out pipe cleaners to the students. If this is known in advance, you can instruct the student how to participate alongside you. Try to incorporate these established roles when possible.

On occasion, some classrooms also are structured so that students are already divided up into sub-groups for volunteering or participating in activities. Ideally, the Dangerous Decibels educator will communicate with the primary classroom teacher to coordinate these sorts of expectations in advance.

In other instances, the classroom may be very spontaneous and may not have pre-established rules or classroom management strategies. In this case, the Dangerous Decibels educator will need to clearly establish and reinforce the need for respect and classroom compliance with the rules for the activities to be successful. Experienced teachers will be a great resource for those that are new to the educator role in a classroom.