ERO/Second Term Review

Democratic processes - voting, reaching consensus

• Students were shown Democratic Schools video
  • Discussed how a class meeting should be run
• Facilitator appointed by hand raising
  • Facilitator asks for a scribe
    • Runs meeting

and then....

Meeting Rules

• Hand raising
• One speaker at a time - picked by facilitator
• Those choosing to sit outside meeting boundaries are are not able to vote
• Motions agreed to by majority
• All votes equal

Quotes from students

• "this morning has worked better than I thought it would, and the sport was like cooking two minute noodles"
• "when is a class meeting?"
  • "if nothing is up there (meaning whiteboard agenda) - no meeting"

Class rules

1. Don't run at inappropriate times and places
2. When someone is talking don't over talk them
3. Appreciation - no put-downs
4. Respect others - mutual respect
5. Don't do distracting things
6. We will use language that appropriate to that time and place
7. When we leave the classroom we need to let the teachers know where we are going to work
8. Don't sleep in class
9. If you break the rules you will have privileges taken away

Some motions passed by the children this term

• Only the senior class allowed on the oak tree
• Draw names out of the jar and who gets picked gets to choose a song/station to clean up the class to
• First name pulled is responsible for turning on the radio
• If someone does something wrong and you have asked them politely to stop, tell the teacher what, where and when
• Only playing webkinz at morning tea and lunchtime on cold days

Meeting resolutions

This term has seen significant emphasis given to the class meeting process,
it was eventually modelled for the whole school 

• Students have been empowered to raise issues about behaviours of others
  • Emotionally charged and well run with positive outcomes
• Some rules even though they had not been written were seen as implicitly known and understood
  • No stealing, graffiti or hurting others

Student Work

Students reported that they have enjoyed working in this manner and achieved as much as would normally be expected

• Variety of topics chosen

Next Steps

Some students wriggled out of their work agreements not achieving goals or changing goals

• Key competencies
• Work/planning to include 2 or 3 areas of study
• Completion dates
• Assembly review - what and why were items shared

Work in progress, expect frequent changes. Help and feedback is welcome. See discussion page.