Students will develop a framework for speaking with kindness and respect toward each other.
Framework
For educators who hope to create a democratic classroom, one of the first steps is to co-create classroom rules with students. This lesson invites students to reflect on student-to-student verbal interactions and develop a set of guidelines for speaking to each other with kindness and respect.
Objectives
Materials
Procedures
Classroom rules are part of a democratic classroom. There are ways that democratic citizens are to speak with each other even in times when they disagree. This lesson takes a common classroom principle – that of speaking to each other with kindness and respect – and helps students delve deeper into communication skills necessary for respectful citizenry.
Inform students that they’re going to make a list of ways they like to be interacted with and spoken to.
Put students into groups of three or four. Give each student a packet of Post-It notes and ask students to discuss the ways they like to be addressed. When someone makes a statement to this effect, that student should write the statement on one of the Post-It notes. At the end, they’ll have a stack of Post-Its on their desks. If you want to model this for your students, simply use 8 ½-by-11 sheets of paper and write statements on one each and tape them to the front board.
To take a positive approach, ask students to identify ways they like to be addressed. (It’s often counter-productive to start students dialoguing about the ways that others speak to them offensively.) This positive approach sets the right tone in your classroom.
It may at first be difficult for students to frame their responses positively. The examples below may help. When students falter, just ask them if they can reframe their statements using positive language. Answers will vary, but these examples will give you enough to get students primed:
After students feel they’ve exhausted their list, have them begin to group statements that seem to go together. You can begin by showing them what to do on the front board with the 8 ½-by-11 sheets of paper. For instance, you may notice that several of the students’ statements have to do with non-verbal communication; you can put those in one row. When students know what to do, have them group their statements into rows by simply rearranging their Post-Its.
When they have their statements in rows, ask students to name each row. For instance, as in the example above, a row might be labeled “Non-Verbal Communication.”
Have students make positive action statements that address the concerns mentioned in each row of Post-It notes. For instance, on the “Non-Verbal Communication” row, students might say, “We will be careful that our faces and bodies match the kind words we want to hear from each other.” Write students’ action statements on the board.
After their summaries, let each group take one action statement and make a poster of it to hang in the classroom.
Extension Activity
Once students have identified and postered these positive principles of speaking with each other, why not have them make it contractual? Have each student come up and sign the posters with their names, agreeing that they are making a contract with others to abide by these rules of speaking with good intent.
As all educators know, ways of speaking to each other in classrooms need to be revisited often. As an extension activity, have students reflect on whether they are abiding by the principles they’ve listed. Why or why not? What seems difficult about it?
Standards
This lesson meets content standards in Life Skills [1].
Links:
[1] http://www.mcrel.org/compendium/standardDetails.asp?subjectID=22&standardID=4