Title:
Practice Makes Perfect: Modeling Democracy Through Classroom Norms

Context:
The items in this entry include a classroom management plan, two different letters home to parents, and a group norms sheet used during group discussions. This plan was used in a 7th grade Washington State History class for the purpose of giving students a voice in how their classroom norms would be constructed. I will be reflecting on the idea of not only teaching democracy in the classroom but also practicing the democratic process through classroom management.

UW TEP Goals and Targets:
Target 3A-Communication Strategies - The TEP student will understand and use effective verbal and nonverbal communication techniques that encourage learners to work effectively as individuals. I demonstrate effective communication strategies by building a framework of group norms into my lesson that encourages democracy in the classroom along with effective group work.

Target 3B Classroom Management - The TEP student will understand and use classroom management strategies that encourage learners to work effectively as individuals and in groups. I demonstrate classroom management strategies that encourage learners to work effectively as individuals and in groups by presenting a philosophy of classroom management and examples of successful classroom management practices.

Reflection:
In designing a classroom atmosphere that encourages discussion, debate, and inquiry, it is important to establish a classroom management plan that builds community. I want students to feel comfortable to participate in all classroom activities. In order for all students to feel comfortable in the classroom they must be given a set of norms that will foster eagerness to participate. But instead of the teacher setting and enforcing the norms it is essential for students to have an input on the norm process and learn how to democratically decide what are important classroom norms.

One artifact that helped me develop strong community is my group norms handout. This handout was given to students during our first group work activity. We went over each point on the list and I asked for each student's input on each idea. After we had discussed the issues we voted to keep each of the group work norms. During lessons in which the students were working in groups I would review our established classroom group norms with the entire class. The students soon did not even need to refer to their norms sheet in order to review the norms. They had them memorized.

Though the norms were very short and simple, they had a huge difference in how my students worked in groups. At times when someone in a group would begin to get off task, there was always someone in the group to remind the student of the norms the class had agreed to. Also, I noticed that students who seemed very shy in the first few weeks of school began to participate in small group discussions. While some of the quietness could be do the fact that these were 7th graders in their first year of junior high, many of the students seemed to buy into the group norms.

My cooperating teacher also said that the students began to open up during group work after the norms had been established. She said that without set guidelines for students in groups, many times it becomes an unbalanced group where one or two students dominate the group responsibilities while the rest do nothing.

There is also a vested interest in supporting norms that have been voted on by students as a whole. Gene Edgar in his article titled "Developing Civility in the Classroom," addressed this issue of norm following. He states, "If the entire class discusses their expectations and actually has a role in establishing these guidelines there is a higher probability of support for the standards."

Though I did witness some of my students become bored with the idea of voting on norms, by and large most of my students took the norm-voting seriously and consequently took the norms seriously when they were put into practice. I spoke to each of the students who were reluctant to participate individually and explained why their opinions were important to the class decisions. I explained that for a democracy to really work we need the input of all people, even those who are upset with the system. We discussed the fact that if they were upset with a specific rule the only way for them to change it is discuss with the class and vote. Most of these students understood and became more active in the voting process.

The social dynamics of a junior high classroom is very intriguing to observe. In most cases students desire to fit-in and by well-liked by their fellow peers. By using this information in crafting my classroom management plan, I developed a system where students vote on issues involving classroom rules and work to enforce their norms. Once the majority of students claim ownership to the classroom norms the issue of norm-breaking students is minimal. While some people will always rebel against the norms, instead of consequences, they need to be taught the rationale for obeying the norms. Once the students understand the benefits of following norms they usually begin to monitor themselves.

I believe you can teach important concepts in all activities. Many teachers I talked to expressed dismay in the first week of school because "nothing gets taught except for rules and regulations." Though the first week of school does require a lot of time discussing classroom procedures, these discussions can be shaped into models of the democratic process. Now students have practiced the concept of democracy that will be learned later in the school year.