How to Use Class Meetings in Shubert’s Classroom

Class Meetings provide a forum where children feel safe to connect and solve problems. Your class meeting is where you would brainstorm ideas for your School Family chant and classroom commitment, celebrate achievements, and solve chronic problems.

Class meetings often take place in a circle time setting. The procedure for these meetings is discussed at length in Chapter 15 of Creating the School Family. The P.E.A.C.E process is the Conscious Discipline tool used to help solve chronic problems in these class meetings:

Problem: I’ve noticed ______. It’s a problem for me because______.

Explore: Has anyone in the class noticed this? Is it a problem for you?

Alternatives: So the problem is _______. State the problem reframed to focus on the action you want to see and relate it to safety if possible. (Instead of saying, “The problem is pushing and shoving in line,” you would restate the problem as, “So the problem is that some students are having a hard time walking safely in line. What could we do differently to create a safe classroom for everyone?”)

Consensus: As a class family, we will: ______.

Evaluate: How will we know the problem is solved?

A template for the P.E.A.C.E. process and other helpful classroom items can be found on the School Family Make-N-Take, available as digital downloads as part of our Premium Resource Toolkit. Music that supports the Class Meeting includes “Let’s Celebrate” on It Starts in the Heart.