What class rules are essential to a positive teaching/learning experience? How do plan to create a positive learning environment when you have your own classroom?

There two rules that I have noticed are becoming more important to me as my time progresses as a student teacher. The first rule that I will enforce without any mercy or hesitation deals with keeping people from touching each others work. Some students have this sense of entitlement or an unusual amount of curiosity and think that they can or should put their hands all over projects that aren't their own! There are several reasons why I become severely irritated and angry when I see this happen.

Reason #1:
This could obviously lead to damage, destruction, or an unwanted alteration to the project.

Reason #2:
Most of the students I see only receive 40 minutes of art per week, which translates to about 30 minutes of actual work time when you include cleanup, transition times, and demonstrations. We don't have time to make projects over again if someone ruins or breaks another persons work.

Reason #3:
I don't want to have to break the bad news to a student that their time was wasted and their project was destroyed.

Reason #4:
I don't want to have to reprimand a student and have them miss out on an opportunity to learn because my rules concerning handling other students' work wasn't clear enough.

Reason #5:
Students should feel that their work environment is safe for not only them, but also their work. How much motivation would anyone have if they felt like their hard work could be destroyed as soon as they left the room?

The second rule concerns students' comments on each others work. Students' will not demean the work of their peers. While I realize that some level of criticism is necessary to grow as an artist, there is a time and place for it in critiques. If students don't believe that someone's work is good, they need to learn to offer advice rather than to make hurtful comments. I have witnessed students of all ages shut down and become unproductive because of negative feedback that was given the wrong way. This rule also deals with creating a safe environment for students to work in. If students can't express themselves without fear of ridicule, they will play it safe in the art room and never take risks that payoff with big rewards.

While I have read through the rules in the student handbook and believe that they are all valuable, these two rules are particularly important for me.