Class Meetings

Bridgette: The Power of Class Meetings

School District 83 produced a 15 minute Video to introduce an effective classroom technique called Class Meetings. This involves the teacher and students sitting down on a regular basis and arriving at joint decisions through a collaborative decision-making process. Learning Outcomes from the Personal Planning (K-7) curriculum can be reached through the skills and processes demonstrated.

The video is presented through the eyes of a Grade Five student, Bridgette, who is the chair of the meeting. Scenes from her neighbourhood and her classroom and her school playground at recess, all add to the interest in this video for both teachers and their students. Student comments from the class indicate student support for this weekly session.

Class meetings help the students learn the skills of talking with one another productively, and reaching collective long-term and short-term goals. Decisions are considered, discussed and reached through a set Class Meeting agenda format. Preparatory lessons on Problem-solving and on Encouragement techniques combined with regular class meetings provide students with life-long leadership skills.

The class which is shown in the video is Donna Style's Grade 4/5 class at Highland Park Elementary School in Armstrong, B.C. Five teachers at Highland Park school use class meetings on a regular basis. They credit this teaching technique with creating a school-wide sense of community.

Jodie Dettelbach, a new teacher, also reviews on the video what class meetings meant to her as a young student, and how she now incorporates the technique into her own classroom. Turning over the reins of power to students, albeit on a controlled basis, is a scary thought to many teachers. "What if I don't agree with their decisions? What if someone gets hurt?" Teachers are wary of the concept at first and are often uncomfortable with sharing a meeting with students. Many commonly asked questions about the circle format and the processes to follow step by step through the meeting are shown.

This video guides teachers by explaining the philosophy underpinning class meetings and showing an example of a meeting format "in action". Teachers may wish to do extra reading on the topic through a Reference Book List.

Copies of the video are available to interested educators through the School District office in Salmon Arm. Contact Wendy Woodhurst (250)804-7826 to order a copy.

Class Meetings Menu

• What kids say about class meetings
• Reading References for teachers
• Order the "Class Meetings" book
• Commonly asked questions
• Samples
• Correlation to learning outcomes in the personal planning IRP (K-7)
• The gallery

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