Tip: Norms > What?
SKU:
Learners need to recognize, as part of being in a Community of Learners, the standards or norms by which that community lives. While the terms norms, expectations, and rules all involve behavior and classroom management, they are not the same. They might be commonly (and mistakenly) used interchangeably, but the three differ.
- Norms - unspoken standards or patterns, especially of social behavior, that are typical of a group. EXA: Listen while others are speaking.
- Expectations - generally understood guidelines that outline the behaviors that students are presumed to exhibit in all areas of the learning environment. EXA: Be safe, be responsible, and be respectful.
- Rules - explicit statements that authority figures impose on the community to define the appropriate behaviors that educators want students to demonstrate. EXA: Keep your hands to yourself.
Both norms and expectations are unspoken ways of behaving; both rules and expectations are imposed by an authority figure; both rules and norms are standards.
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