By developing a class contract with your students, you let them know that they are important members of the class community and that their ideas are important. This contract is a symbol of teamwork, collaboration and respect. It allows children to know and remind them of their role as individuals. This is a powerful thing! Do you have any suggestions on how to check the contract more regularly in class? How do you think with your students about how they follow expectations or not? Mindfulness is a superpower that your students can master with just five minutes of exercise a day. Check out this list of 18 quick and amazing mindfulness activities for teaching. The process of developing community agreements teaches students that even though we have just met, I am confident that they know each other better – as learners, as individuals and as participants in the space where we will treat each other with dignity. Community agreements allow students to build a set of expectations for themselves, the students who are there every day, and to hold each other accountable for those expectations as they get to know each other better. Ask your students, “What would the world look like without respect?” That`s great! I like the way you do it specifically for each part. Is the class contract your regulation? Or do you have something else to do with the rules? Or is the class contract the expectations that students must follow? Wondering how to make lunar sand for the classroom? This simple recipe uses only two ingredients that are safe for children. Hi Cindi. It depends on you and your beliefs related to behavioral management. I prefer positive strategies to punitive ones.
I talked to them, looked at expectations, and worked together to develop an improvement plan. We also hold weekly classroom meetings to review expectations and examine what works and what doesn`t. This type of meeting helps tremendously. I hope this helps! This reveals to me something that I have been warned about in teacher training. Paulo Freire criticized what he called the “banking” concept of education – the idea that teachers “deposit” information with students. This is still what many students are used to. But when I ask my students, “Who are we as people, learners and teachers?” I make it clear that I am not the only teacher in the room. Every student has something to teach, whether it`s how to change a tire or cook pupusas or write an effective argument. The next step in creating a class contract is to ask your students to propose three behaviors or actions that they want to include in the contract. Encourage your students to start their sentences with “do” instead of “don`t do.” Rules written before students arrive simply don`t work, in my experience. How can I expect things from people I don`t know? How can students understand what to expect if they don`t know me? It is precisely these questions that bring us on our journey. My students and I write the agreements together and modify them as needed during our time together, regularly reflecting them with our personal and collective values.
Link your class contract to your class reward system and reward your students for meeting their commitment to the class contract. When stickers are added, we see a few ideas from each section that stand out. Once all the stickers have been added, count together and write down the number of stickers next to each “big” idea. These “big” ideas become the main components of the class contract. If children believe that these ideas are the most important, then they will be more inclined to realize them and work hard. Here, creating a student-led class contract can be invaluable. Instead of handing out a list of class rules to your students and then moving on to the next assignment on your list, consider working with your students to create this year`s teaching social contract – including rules not only for them, but also for you! Teach the rules as a normal lesson. This should be your first lesson.
Discuss each rule individually, explain the reasons, and ask for examples of how it might be broken. Explain that rules help make time spent at school more enjoyable for everyone, and use examples to illustrate this point. It`s also a good idea to post the rules as a reminder and send a copy home with each student. It is human nature, especially for a teenager, to refuse fakes. Most teenagers appreciate transparency and clarity. Community agreements give students the opportunity to shape the experience they hope to have and to show and maintain those expectations for themselves and each other every day as an act of integrity. Are you interested in helping your students accept mistakes and learn from them? Read our tips (with examples!) on how to give positive feedback. Finally, we talk about how a “big” classroom feels (what feelings they have in them when they are in school and how people make them feel).
This part is a little more difficult for children. As you speak, encourage them to think about how they feel on a good day and when good things happen. It is a good exercise for children to identify different emotions. The next step in creating a class social contract is to lay the groundwork and discuss the value of respect. Whether you`re new to the Elf on the Shelf Christmas tradition or have a lot of experience, take a look at our fun ideas for your class elf! Everything you need to know to set the stage for good behavior in your classroom. and if students behave badly, how to deal with it with finesse. Read it and practice it with the class. Each child can put their name or fingerprint on the final contract to show that they agree.
Publish the class contract in a visible place and discuss it frequently with the class. I usually post it along a wall higher than we all see and to which we can often refer. An easy way to do this is to use class contract task cards. .