They call them the wonders years and it's a marvel that adolescents get through them at all! Because of the physical, emotional and social turmoil that typically accompanies, this time in a young person's life can be the most stressful of all, but also the most significant. And you as a teacher can have a direct impact on the whole scenario. Because you have been through adolescence yourself, you are well-qualified to understand what the emotional roller-coaster can be like; these wonderful young people seem to be able to scale the emotional mountain peaks and plumb the depths of the valleys in only a matter of moments.

The facts and myths that accompany this age can make all the difference in the world when youth are preparing to make choices in peer associations, drug and alcohol use and abuse, engaging in sexual activity, in applying themselves to school work or dropping out of school altogether. A 1989 Carnegie report on early adolescence, Turning Points stated, "The period of life from ages 10 to 15 represents for many young people their last best chance to choose a path toward productive and fulfilling lives."

The challenges that young adolescents face are so great, one wonders how so many youngsters manage to safely navigate the twisting paths of this age and arrive at adulthood as basically normal and productive individuals. The most successful usually have an armor that serves as a strong defense -- a supportive home environment. Research shows that a well-functioning family is one of the best predictors of kids who are able to move through adolescence remaining calm and healthy.

As a professional educator today, you know that for more and more young adolescents, that armor is missing. The strife of divorce, separation, single parenthood and poverty in which many adolescents live is compounded by the messages all but the most sheltered young teens are exposed to daily. Our society is more graphic and less inhibited then ever before about such issues as sexuality, substance use and violence. At a time when young teens are trying on personalities, looking for the one that "fits," the images and messages they receive about what is acceptable behavior and what is "desirable" are often far more sophisticated than the emotions and reasoning skills with which they're operating. And out of that ignorance or naievete, young adolescents can make poor choices that, tragically, can affect them for the rest of their lives.

The problem of kids at risk is real, and you know it better than any statistician. Yet, the statistics are compelling. The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development estimates that of 28 million children between the ages of 10 and 17, seven milion are highly vulnerable to school failure and high-risk behaviors -- using tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs, sexual activity, with its risks of AIDS, venereal disease and pregnancy; gang activity and use of weapons. That's one in four young people in this country today at great risk of living unhealthy, unproductive and perhaps unnaturally short lives. These are some of the students that you and I teach.

Many teachers make the mistake of assuming that kids are "old enough and know how to behave." Yet observation and common sense tell us that's not true. Adolescents need the security of behavior boundaries. At a confusing time in their lives, they benefit from having fair and consistent limits on behavior. Your classroom rules tell students what is acceptable behavior and what is not.

In addition, many young people today come from homes where parents themselves are poor role models for behavior, where behavior expectations are undefined sand rules are either not stated or not enforced. These students, as well as kids from more stable homes, are also bombarded by media images of guns, sex, and violence; of celebrities whose behavior spans from irresponsible to downright dangerous. Young adolescents are very vulnerable to imitating such behavior. More than ever today, they need the structure and guidance that your classroom rules provide.

Based on that presupposition, here are some guidelines for setting rules, and how you can take some very real steps to having students who know how to please a teacher, and how you can make a real difference for those who come into your classroom!

Guidelines for Setting Rules

There's an art and science to setting effective behavior rules. Here's what I have tried to do in my classroom.

Behavior rules must be observable.
Effective rules address behaviors you can objectively see or hear. For example:

• Follow directions cheerfully and immediately the first time I give them.
• Be in your seat when I ring the bell; stay there unless you have permission to get up.
• Listen quietly and do not interrupt when someone else is talking.
• Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself.
• No note passing in class.

Rules should be enforeable at all times in the classroom.
Think through a rule to be sure there are no logical and legitimate exceptions to it. For your classroom rules to have meaning and carry weight with students, they must be in force at all times. If you find yourself making exceptions to your classroom rules, their effectiveness will be greatly diminished.

Limit your rules to a few simple ones.
Your classroom rules should address behaviors that directly affect your ability to teach and students' ability to learn. For example, "Follow directions" is essential. You cannot teach if students don't follow your directives. "No fighting, swearing or teasing" sets a tone -- that civilized behavior and the civil rights of all individuals in the classroom are to be upheld.

Set rules that are appropriate for your students.
The rules that you devise for your classroom or that your team develops together must be appropriate to the needs of your students and your teaching style(s). Certainly, follow guidelines such as those presented in places such as here, but don't adopt a rule because it was suggested in a book or by a colleague. It has to be a rule that works for you, that you believe in, and that you are comfortable enforcing.

Consider involving your students in setting classroom rules.
By asking students to help set classroom rules, you may help give them ownership over those rules and greater responsibility for ensuring that they and their classmates respect the rules. Involving students in setting classroom rules can get their buy-in to your discipline plan and capitalize on positive peer pressure. And as teachers often find, students can be much tougher on one another than you are!

Too often we equate discipline with punishment. Rules are in place to be followed, but it is only when they are broken that we react. A classroom discipline plan that incorporates positive recognition actively motivates students to follow the rules. Rather than using fear of punishment to get kids to behave, it uses the pleasure of positive recognition. Consider what a difference such a plan can make!

Positive recognition can be the key to the success of your discipline plan. Yet like those taechers who believe all students should be old enough to know how to behave, some teachers view early adolescents as old enough to follow rules without recognition for doing so.

But the truth is, we all like to be acknowledged for appropriate behavior. And given the unique needs of adolescents, positive recognition can have an impact beyond creating a more positive classroom climate.

Positive recognition can increase students' self-esteem.
When you praise students and help them to feel good about themselves, they are more motivated to continue following classroom rules, so that they continue to be recognized positively. If the majority of your responses to your students are negative, it tears their self-esteem down even more.

Positive recognition helps your build relationships with students.
Positive recognition paves the way to developing rapport because students feel good about being in your classroom. On the other hand, overuse of negative consequences creates tensions and pulls teacher and students apart.

Positive recognition discourages students from acting up to get attention.
In most classrooms, who gets more attention, the kids who follow the rules or the disruptive ones? Positive recognition changes the balance. By responding quickly to appropriate behavior, you quickly teach students that they can get the attention they want, need and deserve by following the rules.

It's just common sense. The more consistently you use positive recognition to influence students, the better students will feel about you and about being in your classroom, the better you'll feel about yourself, and the more motivated your class will be to achieve your social and academic goals.

Positive recognition puts positive peer pressure to work in your classroom. You know that adolescents want to be accepted by their peers. When it becomes cool not to act out, students will do much of the "enforcing" on their own. The disapproval of the group will go a long way toward getting all students to adhere to the rules.

How you get students to please the teacher depends a great deal on you! Please don't feel that you can pin everything back on the students when you may have been unwilling to make a change in your thoughts and actions. If you want students to please you, then what are you willing to do to change what you have been doing in your classroom to make it a different place? There's an old saying that I like to use that's worth repeating, so I'll share it with you here:
"If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting!"

A good place to start in getting some structure to your classroom would be to examine my Student Procedures Manual. Please alse feel free to refer to my Class Discipline page for some additional ideas. If you have some ideas that you'd like to share with me, or if there is any help that I can give you, please let me know! And as always, if you see something that you like on this website, please refer my site to other teachers whom you think can benefit from it.