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Setting Up a Discipline System   |   Conducting Classroom Meetings   |   Getting Parents on Your Side   |   Cooperative Learning in Action   |   Adding ADD/ADHD to the Mix   |   Dealing with the Aggressive Student
Conducting Classroom Meetings
According to Positive Discipline in the Classroom by Nelsen, Lott, & Glenn, students must have three empowering perceptions and four essential skills to have the "Significant Seven" attributes for a successful classroom meeting.

Three Empowering Perceptions
1.  Perception of personal capabilities
    "I am capable!"
2.  Perception of significance in primary relationships
    "I contribute in meaningful ways, and I am genuinely needed!"
3.  Perception of personal power of influence over life
    "I can influence what happens to me!"

PLUS

Four Essential Skills
1.  Intrapersonal Skill:  the ability to understand personal emotions, to use that understanding to develop self-discipline and self-control, and to learn from experiences.
2.  Interpersonal Skill:  the ability to work with others through listening, communicating, cooperating, negotiating, sharing, and empathizing.
3.  Strategic Skill:  the ability to respond to the limits and consequences of everyday life with responsibility, adaptability, flexibility, and integrity.
4.  Judgment Skill:  the ability to develop wisdom and evaluate situations according to appropriate values.

EQUALS "THE SIGNIFICANT SEVEN"


TIPS FROM A TEACHER

I have used classroom meetings in 1st, 2nd, and 6th grades with much success.  The book mentioned, Positive Discipline in the Classroom by Nelsen, Lott, & Glenn is an excellent resource for getting started.  TIP:  Do not expect your students to be good at meetings, or any aspect of the meeting, on the first try.  It took my students several meetings to just get the "put our chairs in a circle" step right!