Class Meeting
From WikEd
OVERVIEW
Class meetings can be a valuable multipurpose tool to classrooms of any grade level. The class meeting is simply a time set aside for students to sit together as a group to discuss classroom issues. Classroom meetings help to foster a caring environment based on mutual respect and trust as they allow students to practice democratic processes. When deciding to utilize class meetings, it is essential for teachers to research and decide what works best for them. There are many theorists and educational authors that propose the use of classroom meetings.
Synonyms and relevant WikEd terms: behavior modification, behavioral contracting, Systems Thinking, Montessori,Maria
Positive Classroom Discipline by Fredric Jones
Within Fredric Jones' Positive Discipline Model, mention of classroom meetings can be found but not stressed. Classroom meetings are used as part of omission training when dealing with chronic problem students. See Positive Discipline.
Often a class meeting would be held in the case of one student causing the whole class to lose points in a points and rewards system. The class meeting would address that the student's behavior is affecting the whole class. Instead of this student's poor behavior causing the class to lose points, his good behavior would be rewarded. This would hopefully cause the student to have the support of the whole class.
Positive Discipline in the Classroom by Jane Nelsen
According to Nelsen et al (2000), Positive Discipline class meetings differ from other methods significantly. Within this model of meetings, students decide most of the topics, the total class is involved, a specified format is followed, and valuable life skills are learned. "Holding regularly scheduled classroom meetings" is a part of the positive discipline puzzle (Nelsen, 2001). See Nelsen, Jane. The key to this method of class meetings is to begin by teaching the class-meeting format followed by the Eight Building Blocks for Effective Class Meetings.
CLASS-MEETING FORMAT
1. Compliments and appreciations
2. Follow up on prior solutions
3. Agenda items
a. Share feelings while others listen b. Discuss without fixing c. Ask for problem-solving help
4. Future plans (field trips, parties, projects)
THE EIGHT BUILDING BLOCKS FOR EFFECTIVE CLASS MEETINGS
1. Form a circle.
2. Practice compliments and appreciations.
3. Create an agenda.
4. Develop communication skills.
5. Learn about separate realities
6. Recognize the four reasons people do what they do.
7. Practice role-playing and brainstorming
8. Focus on nonpunitive solutions
The Quality School by William Glasser
Psychiatrist and educational consultant Glasser, William was also a proponent of this classroom management theory in which meetings are held for addressing and solving problems in the classroom. Glasser strongly believed that misbehavior was simply a bad behavior choice (see Control theory) and that class meetings would provide an open forum for the entire class to deal with individual and group problems. Having the problem confronted by the entire class, Glasser believes, will make the student(s) aware of his/her behaviors and promote responsibility for consequences, which is the basis of his Reality Therapy (Wolfgang, 2001).
Wolfgang (2001) describes Glasser's idea of a class meeting as everyone sitting in a circle on the rug, facing each other, and providing an atmosphere where there are no wrong answers and all students are encouraged to express their opinions and feelings. He also notes it is important that everything be kept positive and focus on the present and future rather than past occurences. There are three different types of meetings mentioned by Glasser: open ended, educational/diagnostic, and problem solving. An open ended meeting addresses imaginary problems that the teacher can pose or students can create with their own fantasies. The educational meeting allows the teacher to address a curriculum topic to assess where the students are on the subject and where they need to be taken. The problem solving meeting focuses on actual problems the class is having. This may be about stolen items, settling down before a lesson, or about a specific student who is causing problems. All types of meetings are closely monitored by the teacher who is there to encourage students to find solutions to problems as well as to make sure the meeting does not turn into "a name-calling free-for-all" (Wolfgang, 2001, p. 160).
Class Meetings: A Democratic Approach to Classroom Management by Donna Styles
"I believe that creating community in the classroom and fostering a safe environment in which students are empowered to make choices, provides the rich ground from which confident, self-directed, successful students thrive and grow," Donna Styles tells Education World.
Author and teacher, Donna Styles, shares her knowledge and exptertise with classroom meetings in this book. Styles's model of classroom meetings was patterned after her own experience with family meetings. In this model of class meetings students take turns leading the meeting, while the teacher facilitates the caring environment needed for success. The teacher will participate in the discussion just as the other students do.
Class Discussion by Rudolf Dreikurs
Basic idea is that any problem child is a problem for the whole class, and the solution to the problem grows most naturally out of the helpful involvement of all class members. Group discussions in the classroom are essential in this democratic setting. As a group leader the teacher can get important information about the children, about individual problems, and their relationships to each other. The teacher can then guide the students in the continuous educational process. Group discussions provide the teacher with an opportunity to help the children understand themselves, and to change their concept of themselves and others which will eventually change their motivations from hostile to cooperative living. It is the teacher's responsibility to confront any misbehaving pupil with his mistaken goals. Discussion is a sharing medium (Dreikurs, 1972, pp. 78-84).
Common criticism of Class Meetings
Many teachers believe that to single a child out at a class meeting would be too intimidating for that student. They may not be emotionally fit to handle this and may develope a negative self-concept. Glasser suggests that with the right direction from the teacher this can be avoided. Students should be encouraged to find helpful solutions. Another problem with class meetings is that a high school setting often does not allow the time to hold such meetings. Although they may be effective, having students for 50 mins a day does not leave much time for activities other than the material to be learned.
Today at the college level online classes are becoming very popular, especially for the working adult. Many of these online classes have class meetings. The meetings may be once a month or a few times in a semester. The class meetings are designed to allow the students to get to know each other, meet the instructor, and ask questions about the class. These class meetings allow students to feel a sense of belonging to the group. They are able to put a face to the instructor who they may have just been in touch with via e-mail. They are able to resolve some issues they may have about the class face to face with the instructor and other students in the class. Some students find these class meetings useful where others find them to be a waste of their time.
Personal testimonies
I try and use class meetings about once every week or two. I allow the students to have some imput in the things that we are doing. I make sure that the options I give them are options that are o.k. with me. Students usually appreciate having imput and even if it is something trivial it makes them feel more accepted and important. Another way I use class meetings is to discuss the positives and negatives of a project, activity, or unit. I usually learn a lot from the students and this helps me to do better next time and gives the students an opportunity to reflect on what they have been doing. I'm not sure class meetings are something that need to take place on a daily basis. I think this may work better for younger grades where the teacher has a set of students all day. B. Moore
-I think class meetings work well in a limited capacity. I try to hold one about every 9 weeks.I usually use about a 20-30 minute time period. It is a good way to allow students to discuss what is going on in class and how they believe that class is going. I even allow them to bring up ideas about how class could be conducted differently. It allows the students to feel like they have some say in the educational process. I do think you have to have some good guidelines for the meetings or they can get out of hand. I try to avoid comments that may point out certain students for example. Craig Johnson
-I hope to have class meetings every week so students can ask questions and clear the air about conflicts that they want to address. These so called conflicts can be issues that occur between students or disagreements with classroom procedure. I hope to be flexible enough to comply with the general class consensus and compromise will be the order of the day. I think Fridays will be the day for the meetings unless I am over-ruled by the students. I would really enjoy a class where the students took ownership of the classroom and their education. I have a theory that when young people are treated with trust and given responsibilities they will rise to the occasion. If I can help guide them, motivate them, and support them then learning can be exciting, challenging and successful for everyone.
-When we started this quarter I held my first class meeting with this group of students. I have used this technique with my students just not this group. Honestly, I have been scared to do this with this group because they seem to have trouble getting along no matter what techniques you use. I posted an agenda and invited students to add to the agenda. No one did. I ran the meeting which is not the greatest way to do this but it was the first meeting and I need to get it moving. We established rules about contributing to the meeting and we were not having one just to complain but to find a solution to the problems on the agenda. They actually did really well. I realize that it might be time to meet again it has been about three weeks since the first meeting. Ideally, I would like to try it once a week. For the first time I actually saw them treat each other with respect.
The school that I retired from in May 2004 (Unity East Elementary) started trying class meetings to see if it would help with some of the problems that the students were having especially on the playground or in PE. Only certain classrooms are incorporating the bi-weekly meetings into the classrooms. It has proved to be a great success and since it was only on a trial basis and not all teachers were using it, now for the next school year all classes are going to start incorporating it into their classrooms. The noontime supervisors feel it has had a positive effect with the students. Now the students are more responsive to each other and seem to be able to work out any differeces that might arise. Then if that doesn't happen then the students know that they have the class meeting to bring up the subject. I interviewed some of the students and they relayed to me that they felt more "empowered". Sharon Morrisette
-I would love to try this approach in some of my classes. It seems that some groups just can't get along. As long as there are people who have so little respect for themselves, I cannot see them having respect for others, but I do believe that this is a skill that can be taught. Our school has been teaching the Six Pillars program and many students refer back to the lessons of that program when they feel that one of the pillars have been violated. The pillars are respect, responsibility, fairness, trustworthiness, honesty, and ? This program is taught in the social studies classes, but I feel it would be much more effective in a class that had time to put a class meeting into place such as language arts, which is a double block. I get so tired of students telling me "Well, my parents tell me if someone does something to me, I should do the same to them". I tell them to live by that concept at home, if they must, but not to try it at school. Maybe scheduled class meetings are needed to teach students that different behaviors are expected in different places. N. Meeker
-Class meetings certainly can help many students resolve classroom issues so they do not get out of hand and leave the classroom. The largest issue for me concerning class meetings is the amount of time meetings require. Even 15 minutes a week would add up to 540 minutes per year or 12 class periods out of a 45 minute class. I teach a nine week class and would loose 3 periods a quarter when I already do not have enough time to teach the state required material. Class meetings would be very usefull with some groups but the time requirement is not worth the end result for me. C. Watson
-I don't hold class meetings in the traditional sense that they should be held at least once a week for 15-20 minutes. I, as well as other teachers, can't justify taking that much time out of the class period. It would be impossible to cover the needed content if the class meetings were that time consuming. Instead, I have one at least once a quarter, sometimes more. If I feel there are problems occurring in the class that can't wait until the next scheduled meeting, than I take the time to have one at that point. I've found class meetings to be a great asset to my teaching. I let the students bring ideas/problems/suggestions to the meeting, plus I have some topics of my own. My 7th graders are very honest about what they see as problems and behavior that they don't like from other students. I think more classroom problems have been resolved from these meetings than from the more traditional discipline methods (detentions, staying after class, etc.). When other students point out how the misbehavior affects them and their learning, the misbehaving student(s) tend to believe them more than if the teacher said the same thing. Amy Higgins
-I think class meetings are very important when the situation requires it. For example the day after a test is a good day when students want to express their feelings about the material and give you as a teacher some feedback. When you have a psoitive classroom environment you will know as a teacher when the situoation is right for a class meeting. I think regular meetings without an agenda can be pretty annoying. Felix Autenrieth
-This semester was the first that I had heard about the concept of class meetings. I know that through my school career I did not participare in class meetings. I like the idea of class meetings as an opportunity to build community in the classroom and to communicate as a class with the teacher. I think that it would help students with their communication skills.
Lily Jimenez
-While I have heard that class meetings are working well in some classes, I doubt their effectiveness at the middle school and high school levels. Students are not with one group of other students for the duration of the day, they switch around for almost every class. To have a class meeting at the high school level would be almost impossible. At the middle school level some teams are trying to set aside last class on Friday for team meetings. This is good, but the students are still seperate from their entire class. Having them all in one spot is not possible on a weekly basis. I think that this idea works best at the grade school level. Dheater
-I agree with most of the testimonies written...class meetings may be effective in the elementary level, but I'm not so sure about the middle and high schools. I can see how class meetings can give elementary students a voice and an opportunity to share how they feel and make suggestions to build their classroom into a safer, academic place. I like to hold my class meetings more informally and give students a chance to write things they would like to discuss in our meetings on a piece of paper and place it in a box. Then we all sit around and share about concerns in our classroom or future activities, etc. and items in the box. It does give my students that sense of community and the empowerment to believe that they can make a difference. JP
-Class meaning can be a very good opportunity for students to express their feelings towards learning, especially when the topic in meeting was familiar to students' own experiences. I attended a class meeting when I was volunteering in an elementary school. It was a 4th grade ESL class where students from diverse backgrounds gathered. The meeting started with classroom management, a problem emerged recently in this class. After students got more comfortable with the environment, a girl brought up the question of her learning 3rd language with a group of kindergarteners. Most of the students in the class were facing the problem of learning language, so this topic furthered into how to deal with the anxiety and embarrassment in language learning, a matter of which, I think, was very profound. ---X. Zheng
During my student teaching, we had a class meeting every morning before we started the day This built the student community and gave them a sense of belonging because they had a place to discuss concerns as well as share about themselves. Not only can a class meeting work to resolve concerns in the classroom, but I find them to be useful for the teacher to constantly get a feel for how the students are feeling about the class environment, other students, and themselves. E. Kilroy
Class meetings have helped create a sense of community in my classes. When students feel that their opinions effect the class, they are more likely to contribute positively. A student that misbehaves will be more likely to contribute to the class if he or she is given a say in how the class is run. I have had classes that have decided they would like more project-based work or would be willing to take homework more seriously if given time at the end of class to work with a partner. Given the recognition that the class does belong to the students as well as the teacher makes the students more likely to participate in a positive way. jjakob
Class meetings work great in a block schedule. With 90 minute classes, we can spend 45 minutes having a meeting. I always find that after a meeting, students are more focused and on task. jdelaney
Having class meetings is one of the best ways to promote trust and acceptance among students in a classroom. It takes some time and practice to get students to use the class meeting effectively. I spend time talking to the kids about the rules of the classroom and how we need to respect others. I use this time to allow students an outlet to be heard by their peers. We discuss how we would like to be treated and in turn how we should treat others. S. Nottoli
RELATED CONTRIBUTIONS
-Class meetings can help students gain a clearer understanding and perception of their behavior and the consequences of it (Boucher, 1999). Rules should be followed, including distinguishing between what may and may not be discussed, and what discussion methods are inappropriate. Topics should be open-ended in order to stimulate thinking and promote discussion. It is a good idea to add rules of classroom meetings into a contract or to maybe come up with a contract during a class meeting. See behavioral contracting.
References
Boucher, C. R. Students in Discord: Adolescents with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 1999.
Charles, C. M. Building Classroom Discipline. Boston, MA: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. 2001
Dreikurs, R (1972). Discipline without Tears, A Plume Book
Nelson, J. et al. Positive Discipline in the Classroom: Developing Mutual Respect, Cooperation, and Responsibility in the Classroom. Roseville, CA: Prima Publishing. 2001.
Wolfgang, C.H. Solving Discipline and Classroom Management Problems: Methods and Models for Today's Teachers. New York: John Wiley & Sons. 2001.
Resources
A good description of class meetings can also be founnd in Charney, R. (1992) Teaching Children to Care Management in the Responsive Classroom Greenfield, MA: Northeast Foundation for Children. ISBN 0-9618636-1-7.
