Why Routines Are the Prerequisites for Learning
As the school gates swing open across Australia, there is a palpable energy in the air. Fresh uniforms. Fresh exercise books. Fresh seating plans. Fresh intentions about how this year will be different. The optimistic resolve that this year, we’re finally going to nail that scope and sequence!
But before we dive headfirst into the curriculum, we need to talk about the invisible architecture that holds our classrooms together. We need to talk about routines.
In the rush to get to the “good stuff”, it is tempting to gloss over the mundane mechanics of the classroom. We assume students know how to enter a room, how to transition between tasks or how to use equipment without turning it into a weapon of mass distraction.
But as Tom Bennett (2020) reminds us, “Routines are the building blocks of the classroom culture.”
They are not merely administrative tasks; they are instructional infrastructure. Without them, our best-laid lesson plans crumble under the weight of cognitive overload and low-level disruption.
The Cognitive Cost of Chaos
When you are in the acquisition stage of learning (which is most of the time for our students), thinking places heavy demands on working memory. Cognitive Load Theory teaches us that attention is a finite resource. Every micro-decision a student has to make—Where do I get a pen? How do I ask for help? What do I do when I’m finished?—steals precious cognitive bandwidth away from the learning at hand.
When we fail to automate these behaviours, we are effectively asking students to multitask and without focus, memory’s hocus-pocus.
If we want students to grapple with the complexities of algebra or the nuances of writing a compound sentence, we must reduce the unnecessary load generated by the environment. We need to make the process of learning invisible so that the content of learning can shine.
Taught, Not Told
A common mistake we make is assuming that students share our mental model of a “good student.” We tell them to “behave,” but we rarely define what that actually looks like in granular detail.
As I’ve written about previously, this is where a Behaviour Curriculum becomes essential. Just as we wouldn’t expect a student to intuitively know how to solve a quadratic equation without explicit instruction, we cannot expect them to read our minds about what the routines of a high-functioning classroom are.
Behaviour must be taught, not told. This means applying the same instructional rigour to routines as we do to content.
Running Routines in Five Simple Steps
- Plan the Routine: Know exactly what you want students to do. Perform a task analysis to break it down step-by-step.
- Teach the Routine: Provide examples and non-examples. Do they know what success looks like?
- Practice the Routine: Start slowly with a small group and then gradually invite more students to have a go. This allows you to really hone in on providing targeted feedback (the next step). If we allow all of them to do it once, if things go wrong, it can be almost impossible to pinpoint where or who it started with.
- Follow through with Feedback: Close the loop with specific praise or correction. Behaviour specific praise allows you to reinforce the behaviours that you want to see more of. If a correction is needed, closing the loop refers to getting them to do it again and then closing the loop by praising the behaviour.
- Revise the routine: We can’t expect them to perfect it in one go.
Case Study: The Mini-Whiteboard Routine
Let’s look at a specific, high-leverage routine: the humble Mini-Whiteboard (MWB).
We love MWBs because they allow us to “check for understanding” across the entire class simultaneously. They are low-risk, high-frequency and provide immediate feedback. But without a tight routine, they quickly descend into a distraction—doodling, pen-flicking and slow transitions.
To make MWBs effective, we need to standardise the logistics.
The Distribution: How do they get the boards? Do you have station setups? Are they in seat pockets? Or do you pass them down the rows? Pick one method and stick to it.
- The Cues: Precise language cuts through the noise.
- “Hover Boards”: Students hold boards face down (preventing early revealing or fiddling).
- “Chin It”: A clear signal to show answers simultaneously under the chin (standardising visibility).
- “Park It”: Equipment goes on the floor/desk, hands are free.
Teaching the routine
For the past two years, my colleague Karina Stocker and I have run a course for Think Forward Educators on this exact topic and I’ve really enjoyed seeing how participants have used the example script that we provided build their own routines. Here is an example of what you can say to set up a routine (credit goes to Karina for putting most of this together).
For passing equipment along a line:
- Pre-cue
“In a moment, when I say go…”
Pause and wait for students to attend, scan the room making eye contact with students.
- Direction with Positive Framing
Describe precisely the behaviours you want your students to do.
“…Line leaders, I would like you to 1… [hold up 1 finger as a visual prompt]…count how many people are in your row”
“… 2…” [hold up 2 fingers as a visual prompt]…pass the equipment out, starting with the whiteboards, then the markers and cloths”
“… and 3…” [hold up 3 fingers as a visual prompt]…do this quickly and quietly”
Repeat if necessary.
- Check for understanding (CFU)
Cold Call 2-3 students to repeat the steps.
“What’s the first step you need to do… Sam?” [Hold up a finger for each step as a visual prompt]…”That’s it! Thanks”
“What do I want you to do next… Chelsea?” [Hold up a finger for each step as a visual prompt]…”Thanks, Chelsea!”
If required, provide an extra verbal prompt by repeating each individual step with the student.
By drilling these specific cues like using a “1, 2, 3” finger prompt system, we compress the time spent on logistics. We essentially “turn back time,” reclaiming minutes every lesson that would otherwise be lost to transition.
Check out Caiti Wade’s article on how we can teach students to actually use their boards effectively for learning here.
Codifying Your Playbook
If you are a school leader or a head of department, your role is to support staff in establishing these norms so that students don’t have to code-switch between different teachers’ expectations.
This is where creating an Instructional Playbook pays dividends. By agreeing on the “how” of these core routines—whether it’s entering the room, independent practice, or using MWBs—we create a predictable, safe environment where students can flourish.
The payoff
It might feel laborious to spend these first few weeks obsessing over how pens are handed out or how boards are wiped. It might feel like you aren’t “teaching.”
But you are. You are teaching students how to be successful in a classroom. You are building the infrastructure that will support their learning for the rest of the year.
Invest in the routine now, and you’ll reap the compound interest of focused attention all year long.
Want a practical framework for getting all of this right in maths?
If this article has resonated, then this is exactly what my upcoming course The Primary Maths Instruction Framework is designed to support.
This is a live-online, evidence informed course for primary teachers and leaders who want a clear, coherent and usable model for teaching mathematics well.
We go deep into:
- How learning actually happens in maths
- How to design lessons for acquisition, fluency and generalisation
- How to use routines, representations and worked examples properly
It is not about trends, gimmicks or surface level strategies. It is about building the instructional infrastructure that makes great teaching easier and more reliable.
If you are serious about lifting the quality and consistency of maths instruction in your classroom or school, I would love you to join us.
You can find all the details and register here:
https://events.humanitix.com/the-primary-maths-instruction-framework
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