Classroom Meetings Springfield Elementary School

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Classroom MeetingsSpringfield Elementary School

• Presentation by Kristen Salamone

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What Are Classroom Meetings?

• An exchange of ideas between teacher and students
  to enhance social, emotional, and intellectual
  development for all class members.

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Whoa! Stop and Look!

• 160,000 children miss school everyday due to fear
  of attack or intimidation by other students.
  (NEA)
• Every seven minutes a student is bullied at
  school. (Dan Olweus)
• One of of twenty students has seen a student with
  a gun at school. (NYVPRC)
• Suicide was the third leading cause of death for
  young people 10 to 19 years old in 2000. (NYVPRC)

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Solutions?

• Build Emotional Intelligence
• Increase student Empathy
• Open environment vs. Closed doors
• Lasting relationships built upon trust

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Purposes of Class Meetings

• Sense of Belonging.
• Solve Conflict.
• Make suggestions, take ownership, plan
  activities.
• Improve academics.
• Classroom management tool.
• Unify the class.

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Skills to Live by!

• Intrapersonal Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Strategic Skills
• Judgment Skills

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Key Components of Class Meetings

• Consistent-conducted every week at the same time.
• 15-30 minutes per meeting.
• TeacherFacilitator
• Create a talk ticket or item that participant
  must be holding to talk.
• Suggestion box visible.
• Secretary and visual aides used.

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5 Kinds of Class Meetings

• Good News- Who has some good news to share
• Goal-setting
• Problem Solving
• Individual
• Group
• Complaints and recommendations
• Planning
• Concept

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Steps in a Class Meeting

1. Circle Up
2. Set the Code
3. Compliments and Thank Yous
4. Set the Agenda
5. Pose the Problem/Question
6. Personal Thinking Time
7. Partner Talk
8. Signal for Quiet
9. Whole-Group Discussion
10. Close the Meeting

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Circling Up

• State rules for circling up
• Decide floor or chairs
• Everyone MUST be at same level
• 1 minute or less time students, becomes a great
  activity

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Code for Class Meetings

• Give students ownership
• 3-5 rules
• Model code

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Compliments and Thank Yous

• I would like to compliment ___ for ___.
• Compliments are given for
• Helpfulness
• Accomplishments
• Sharing
• Just say Thank You!

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The Agenda

1. Call the meeting to order.
2. Compliments and Thank Yous.
3. Old Business-Brief summary on last weeks
   meeting.
4. New Business- Today our class meeting is _____.
5. Close the meeting.

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Pose the Problem/Concept

• Example Several people have reported (via the
  class meeting box) that there has been much
  pushing in line. How can we solve this?

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Personal Thinking Time

• Give the students a minute of silence to think
  individually about the problem and possible
  solutions.

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Partner Talk

• Pair Share
• Have partners discuss thoughts with each other
  for 1-2 minutes.
• Have partners come up with possible solutions for
  1-2 minutes.

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Signal for Quiet

• Establish signal (during first meeting) that can
  be used to call class back together.

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Whole Group Discussion

1. Review steps in solving problems
2. Related Solutions
3. Develop Consensus
4. Make a plan (if needed)

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Problem Solving Steps

• Identify the Problem- It sounds like the problem
  is
• Brainstorm Possible Solutions
• Discuss/Choose A Solution
• Make A Plan

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4 Rs of Solutions!

• Related
• Respectful
• Reasonable
• Revealed

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Methods to Close a Meeting

• Learning
• Partners
• Silence
• Remembering
• Complete the Sentence
• Evaluation