In teaching, there’s no denying the benefits of instructional routines. Every good teacher has them: the Turn and Talks, the Stop and Jots, the What do you Notice? What do you Wonder? These types of practices—and there are many, many more—are essential to any teacher’s toolbox. Discovering how they fit into our teaching and using them consistently can be challenging, but they are powerful (and necessary) vehicles for student learning.
Instructional routines are so powerful and carry such weight that they often overshadow the many non-instructional routines needed to produce a healthy, thriving classroom. In my experience, non-instructional routines, which usually never appear in a lesson plan, represent the glue that holds a classroom community together.
I can have all the shiny, research-based instructional approaches I want. Still, effective, holistic learning cannot take root in my class without a good amount of hearty, wholesome non-instructional practices. These routines work to connect us as humans and bridge a divide between us and the content. Students can learn without these routines, sure. But to what degree?
Non-instructional routines vary greatly from teacher to teacher and stem from the interests of the teachers and students in the room. I’ve written a lot about some of the routines I use in my classroom. Beverage Friday was the newest, which I invoked last spring. The set of routines constantly evolves and adapts to the students before me.
This year, my school has made it a goal to focus on routines that further learning. I love this idea. I just hope that, in addition to the heavy emphasis on outright instruction, we also hold space to discuss non-curricular and non-instructional routines that foster trust, community, and love. Our students need these, too.
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lazy 0ch0 