Below is a short reading on the notion of "Funds of Knowledge" -- the idea that all households, regardless of education level and background, possess valuable knowledge that can contribute to the educational experience.
(Feel free to go to the settings area on these videos and set the speed to 1.5!)
Look at the question sets that begin on page 6 of this document. Which one(s) might be interesting to discuss with your students? Make note of one or two questions you would like to ask in the "try it" section of this module.
These are the basic steps for a class problem meeting, as described in Positive Discipline in the Classroom by Jane Nelsen, Lynn Lott, H. Stephen Glenn:
Steps in facilitating a class meeting
1. Form a circle – no one outside the circle
2. Compliments and appreciations
3. Review previous issues and solutions: are the solutions working? Go around the circle and check.
4. Introduce a new issue to be discussed, summarizing comments in the agenda book.
5. Discuss the issue without offering solutions. Students describe the problem.
6. On the next round, students offer suggestions for solutions for the problem.
7. As a group, come to consensus about which solutions to try.
8. Finish the meeting with announcements for the class.
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Below is a longer set of readings on Class Meetings. You do not need to read through all of it, but there is useful information on teaching kids to give compliments on page 3. Unlike the directive on the bottom of page 1, classroom meetings do not have to be held every day! Once a week can be quite sufficient, as it usually takes 30 minutes to complete all the steps in a class meeting.
Using the above "Steps in facilitating a class meeting" (or a similar protocol), facilitate a class meeting with your students that begins with compliments and appreciations, and includes either a community problem-solving session or a question from the questions sets in First Ask, Then Listen.
On Canvas, you will be reporting on the following information:
How did the compliments and appreciations component of your meeting go?
What did you have the students discuss after the compliments and appreciations (what problem did you solve or topic did you discuss?)
What were two things you learned from your students as a result of the discussion?
How might you use class meetings in your future practice?
1. Share your Turning Learning Upside Down experience with a colleague in your school. Who did you learn from? What did you learn?