Teachers ask me frequently if minor but annoying student behaviors are enforceable.

They give me examples and want my opinion.

This happens so often that I thought I would create a list of the most common that are indeed enforceable.

A quick note, however: Although SCM allows you to create the exact classroom you want, personally I would enforce a consequence in response to every behavior on the list.

The reason is because . . .

  • They’re disruptive.
  • They negatively affect learning.
  • They lead to more misbehavior.
  • They’re antithetical to a culture of excellence.
  • They break at least one of the core four SCM rules.

With this in mind, what follows is a list of annoying student behaviors that are indeed enforceable.

  1. Humming or singing in class.
  2. Slamming books or making loud noises.
  3. Approaching you to tell on a classmate.
  4. Waving their hand at you to get your attention.
  5. Making noises while raising their hand.
  6. Giggling or whispering during silent work time.
  7. Lightly kicking the shoes of the person ahead in line.
  8. Leaning back in their chair.
  9. Taking the long way to the carpet.
  10. Banging on . . . anything.
  11. Making hand signals to a friend across the room.
  12. Muttering under their breath.
  13. Asking an off-topic question.
  14. Pantomiming a TicTok dance in time-out.
  15. Walking a foot or two out of line.
  16. Cutting in line.
  17. Sticking their tongue out at a classmate.
  18. Lightly making fun of a classmate.
  19. Cursing.
  20. Having their laptop open without permission.
  21. Being disrespectful when they don’t believe they are.

This isn’t an exhaustive list.

It’s simply the most common situations brought up by teachers when I give talks at schools or while doing personal coaching.

—Which underscores the importance of teaching, modeling, and practicing your classroom management plan in a highly detailed way. Your students must know what is and isn’t okay so well that all 21 are obvious.

Even if each one isn’t expressly stated.

For example, kicking a classmate in line isn’t something you have to define as against the rules. It clearly is. No explanation is needed. You see it and you enforce. End of story.

A bigger concern than whether students know what types and categories of behaviors are unacceptable is whether you do.

Because you can’t be consistent, nor can you create the polite and well-behaved class you want, unless you know without hesitation whether any given behavior breaks a classroom rule.

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