The purpose of this study was to determine the ways in which three tenth grade English teachers in a suburban school district established procedural and academic routines. Two classes of each teacher were videotaped for the first ten days of the school year. The teachers were selected because they taught students of comparable ability, and because they were confident enough of their own abilities that they would not be threatened by extensive observation. Thirteen categories of behavior were derived and used to compare the teachers, particularly in the following areas: (1) teachers' procedural statements; (2) teachers's statements concerning student behavior; (3) desists; and (4) student questions concerning procedure. Significant variance was found between the teachers, which could be explained by the differences in the kinds of learning activities used (lecture, seat-work, use of an overhead projector, and groupwork). However, analyses of the videotapes suggest that a major factor in the variance was the student expectation of the consequences of behavior that deviated from the prescribed routine. This was clearly seen in the way each teacher dealt with unauthorized talking. The conclusion is that teacher behavior during the first few class days has profound effect during later sessions. (FG)