Class Meetings: A
Democratic Approach to
Classroom Management
Patterned after family meetings in her own home,
teacher Donna Styles established a format for class
meetings that enabled her students to share their
thoughts and solve classroom issues on their own. In Styles's model, students take turns
acting as a discussion leader, while the teacher promotes a respectful atmosphere and
participates as a group member. Encouraged by the students' positive response to her
approach, Styles decided to share her expertise with other teachers. Included: Tips for
holding successful class meetings.
Retrieved online 10-2-07 from http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev012.shtml
"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, selfdirected, successful students thrive and grow," Donna Styles tells
Education World.
Donna Styles, author of
Class Meetings: Building
Leadership, ProblemSolving and DecisionMaking Skills in the
Respectful Classroom
A teacher for more than thirty years, Styles is a veteran educator
who has taught students in kindergarten through 7th grade, in
both regular and multi-aged settings. She has worked as a
regular classroom teacher, in English and French immersion
classes, and as a thinking skills/enrichment resource teacher.
She currently teaches grades five and six at Len Wood
Elementary School in Armstrong, British Columbia (Canada).
Styles' practical and effective approach to classroom
management did not develop from her extensive teaching
experience, however, but from her hands-on experience as a
parent!
My husband and I had successfully used family meetings in our own family for years," she
explains. "We saw the positive effects of including our children in family decision-making. We saw
firsthand how much more responsible our kids acted on an everyday basis, how much more an
integral part of our family unit they felt, and how elevated their self-esteem became when their
views were heard and considered. I realized the possible application in
the classroom setting."
Research Styles conducted for her master's degree proved to her beyond
a doubt that, in the eyes of students, class meetings are as effective as
the literature on the subject claims. In her view, class meetings can play a
critical role in the development of students' emotional, social, moral, and
intellectual development. Styles suggests that class meetings also can
promote personal growth, leadership, organizational and public-speaking
skills, thinking skills and cognitive gains, problem-solving skills, and
interpersonal skills -- creating a community of learners.
Day 3: Class Meetings
AN IDEA WORTH SHARING
"Class Meetings are most successful in classrooms that have a warm, caring, supportive
environment -- classrooms in which students feel comfortable to learn, feel safe to share their
ideas, and feel free to ask questions and take risks," explains Styles. "Students in those kinds of
classrooms are supportive of one another, work together cooperatively, encourage one another,
assume responsibility for their own learning and behavior, and are allowed to make decisions."
In her book Class Meetings: Building Leadership, Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills in
the Respectful Classroom, Styles outlines several key components that make class meetings
unique and effective:
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Students sit on chairs in a circle.
Meetings are held every week.
A set format is followed.
Students lead the meetings.
Both problems and suggestions are discussed.
Students encourage and compliment one another.
Styles maintains that incorporating class meetings is a reasonable task if teachers prepare
students for meetings in about two to three lessons during the first weeks of school. She
proposes that lessons involve the teaching and practice of encouragement, creative problem
solving, and circle formation. After several trial meetings, with the teacher leading and modeling
the process, students become meeting leaders, with each student taking a turn as discussion
leader during the school year.
CONDUCTING CLASS MEETINGS
In a typical class meeting, Styles says, desks are moved to the perimeter of the room and
students take their designated places in a circle of chairs. The meeting leader opens the meeting.
Old business is discussed and new business is dealt with. "Thank yous" and compliments are
offered and the meeting is closed.
If a student wants an issue raised at a meeting, he or she places a slip of paper inside a box
provided in the classroom. The papers, which include the name of the student and the date,
constitute the new business of the next meeting. Typically, three types of issues are put in the
box: a problem involving one or more people, a problem or issue affecting the whole class, or a
suggestion for a class activity.
During class meetings, Styles says, the teacher
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acts as a coach -- providing guidance to the leader, when necessary.
fulfills the role of secretary.
performs as a group member -- offering information only when needed, and making
comments only when necessary to keep the tone positive and helpful.
The student leader
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keeps the meeting running smoothly.
opens and closes the meeting.
follows the order of steps for conducting the meeting.
follows steps for solving problems.
Day 3: Class Meetings
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follows steps for discussing suggestions.
makes eye contact with each person speaking.
participates as any other member.
keeps discussions on topic.
lets students know if they are out of order.
asks questions, clarifies or restates problems or ideas.
summarizes.
speaks loudly and clearly.
ACCOUNTABILITY MADE SIMPLE
"Class meetings help make good classrooms even better," says Styles. "The true power of
meetings lies in their ability to empower students, to motivate them to learn, and to help them
discover their personal best. When both students and teachers are able to voice opinions and
thoughts in a quiet, respectful atmosphere, mutual respect and understanding develops. The
students realize that it is their classroom as much as the teacher's, and they take ownership and
pride in that."
Styles has found that, with classroom meetings, discipline becomes a minor issue. Problems are
discussed in meetings and students themselves determine the consequences for misbehavior.
Students become highly accountable for their actions in the classroom, she observes, when their
peers are taking note of their behavior and discussing poor behavior in class meetings.
"When students choose solutions to problems, they have a stake in seeing that the
consequences are followed," Styles states. "Problems in the classroom are no longer just the
teacher's problems to solve -- they become the class's problems. Practice with the process each
week enables students to become excellent problem-solvers, coming up with fair and effective
methods of helping classmates improve and change behaviors that interfere with others or with
their learning."
Suggestions put into the box give students an opportunity to work on committees and to plan and
orchestrate many interesting and fun activities during the year, Styles points out. This generates
excitement and energy in the classroom, helping students to "buy into" coming to school and to
feel a sense of belonging to the group. "As a teacher, I think there is no other tool that has such a
long list of benefits. Conducting weekly class meetings with this format easily makes it one of the
most powerful tools a classroom teacher can use. And it's so simple -- one period a week!" Styles
reports that -- without exception -- students love class meetings, and that the approach is
conducive to the inclusion of students with special needs.
Styles's book, Class Meetings: Building Leadership, ProblemSolving and Decision-Making Skills in the Respectful Classroom,
is available from Pembroke Publishing and in educational stores.
Copies also can be obtained by contacting
donnastyles@hotmail.com. A video, "Bridgette: The Power of
Class Meetings," published by the North Okanagan-Shuswap
School District, is also available. The video, which features
Styles' class in action, can be purchased for $10 (Canadian) by
contacting educ2@sd83.bc.ca.
Day 3: Class Meetings