Key Take-Aways

My class participates in morning meetings a few times a week for about 10-15 minutes in the morning.

I love the concept of students taking charge of their learning and the way the class is organized.  This definitely creates buy-in.  The way to set up expectations makes a lot of sense to let students fully understand both problem-solving and practical solutions.  With more than one class, this would become tricky to do with all students.  Realistically, it would be most applicable to homeroom.  However, we hold "morning meetings"  where students share about different characteristics and events.  These take most of the mornings, the part of the day with the most time available.  With lunch in the middle of the our class time, this hour is already shorter than my other classes.  With consideration of time, this doesn't seem implementable without much more planning and processing.  The value is clear but the practicality within a middle school setting becomes difficult.

A structured and well thought out morning meeting routine can build community in a classroom while at the same time giving students opportunities to practice academic skills.  I'm excited to implement a morning meeting into my classroom schedule/routine for the new school year.  I teach kindergarten and believe that it will build social skills, speaking and listening skills, and review/pre-teach standard from throughout our curriculum. 
From the authors: "The components intentionally provide opportunities for students to practice the skills of Greeting, listening and responding, group problem-solving and motiving and anticipating."
The four components are Greeting, Sharing, Group Activity, and Morning Message.  I hope to build a classroom that is empathetic, collaborative, reflective, and has a growth mindset.  These skills are not directly addressed by standards of learning, but are critical to learning in the classroom.

The article titled: It’s Time to Reconnect was one that made me think about the connections students have throughout the year, especially during their sixth grade year.
Students experience a lot of change
during this year. The article talked about giving student opportunities to reconnect throughout the year through class meetings. I’d never thought about this, but is something that I should include in my classroom.

The second takeaway
has me thinking anout the end of the school year. The article, Joyful Endings: The Last Few Weeks of School, peeked my interest. It is filled with a variety of activities for the end of the year. One that stuck out and I’m hoping to do this year is titled: Create Simple “I Remember Learning . . .” Presentations. This would be a fun end of the year class meeting or two. Students would discuss what they remember learning. I hope completing this activity with students will let me know which lessons are must dos for next year. 

This website is filled with lots of great ideas. Definitely one I’ll refer back to many times. 

 

I liked that she has students start off by giving their "temperatures" occasionally during meetings.  Students tell how they are currently feeling on a scale of 0-10.  They also have to accompany that by telling WHY they feel like this.  I think this is key to teach students to explain why they are feeling a certain type of way and how that makes them feel.   It helps them understand themselves and allows their classmates to understand them better. 

For years I have both scheduled and held impromptu class meetings.  I have found that empowering students to self-advocate for themselves (and others) elevates performance and minimizes internal and external issues.   The big points that I work hard to maintain during these meetings are: this is not me showing anger/disappointment and using this forum to get compliance.  In addition, teaching students how to approach these meetings with respect for all (while usually somewhat contentious) is a valuable social skill.

I think class meetings are a great way to build relationships with your students and class camaraderie. It can be good for a class who is struggling as a way to problem solve and come together. I think it is often overlooked at the secondary level because of time constraints. In my 45 minute class period, it's very difficult to dedicate time to that. In the past, I have done it with my 8th hour as a way to calm down and wrap up at the end of the day. Both of my 8th hours are pretty wild this year, so I think it would be good to start incorporating it again. Last year, we did 3 questions..."What are you happy about?" "What are you worried about?" "What are you excited about?" I really liked the way that she organized it... Temperature (Sharing feelings), Gratitute (Giving thanks), Bouquets (giving compliments), and Beefs (solving problems). I liked the unique names, I think it makes it seem a little more mature and would get better buy in from kids. We will try it out starting Wednesday!

Our schedule is so hectic and changes regularly with this new Gold Week/Red Week schedule that I love the idea of starting our day with a quick morning message to get everyone on the same page for our day. I would like to try out new greetings and find ways to work our sight words or phonics patterns into the morning message. 

some key takeaways I had were for why teachers do it. 

• Set the tone for respectful learning
• Establish a climate of trust
• Motivate students to feel significant
• Create empathy and encourage collaboration
• Support social, emotional and academic learning

Also, the way it is set up. 

1. Greeting
2. Sharing
3. Group Activity
4. Announcements

This will help me going forward on what my meetings will look like!

I will organize my class meeting space so it is comfy for students in an area where my rules and expectations are posted for easy access.

Most of the research I looked at involved social skills curriculum but the article that spoke to me the most was "Class Meetings: A Democratic Approach to Classroom Management" because it is more about creating an environment in the classroom where student voice is heard and problems are solved by students. I love the idea of having students submit ideas a week in advance revolving around one of three issues: "a problem involving one or more people, a problem or issue affecting the whole class, or a suggestion for a class activity." I will definitely try this in my classroom once I figure out some logistics and pre-teaching plans. I need to prepare: 1) Rules for meetings 2) Student leader lists 3)Pre-teaching on how to discuss issues without blame or shame and a few other logistics. I think this is a great idea that could have a profoundly positive impact on the classroom culture!

 This book helped me realize the importance of including kids in the decision making process and finding solutions to problems. Some of the activities are really easy and some are more difficult. Kids have to learn so many new behaviors to have successful and respectful problems solving meetings. It's super hard for me to sit back and let them take control but I'm getting better.  I really like doing meeting because it brings us all closer as a community.