The following activity is part of a teachers' training unit. It was developed within the framework of a 9 month programme "Education for Democratic Citizenship Core Competences for Teachers" organized by the "Pestalozzi Programme" Council of Europe (November 2009 through July 2010) .
Student-led meetings
General aim: Have participants take active part in the operational life of schools.
Specific aims:
To be able to set agendas and arrange procedures of meetings.
To lead discussions and debates.
To make decisions.
To deal with conflict.
Methods/techniques used:
Case study “Student-initiated and -led meeting”
Role play
Debating
Decision making
Self-evaluation
Resources:
Post-it: self- adhesive paper
Bulletin board
Flipchart
Practical arrangements:
Whole group work
Instructions/procedure:
Before-meeting activities: Participants write on post-it their proposals concerning the purpose and scope of the meeting. They clip their proposals on the bulletin board. They go through all proposals. Then they debate and decide upon the agenda and practical arrangements of the meeting (what, where, when, why).
During the meeting: A coordinator (member of trainees) is appointed. Discussion starts. Issue(s) is presented. Participants ask clarifying questions. The issue is discussed in groups. Group representatives present the decisions of their groups. Then follows an inter-group debate. Students arrive at final decisions.
Follow-up activities: Participants sit in circle and get involved in reflective self-assessment discussions.
o Was the meeting well prepared?
o Everybody was heard and respected?
o All members of the groups participated?
o Was the coordinator fair? Was she/he assertive? Did the coordinator encourage everybody’s contribution?
o Is there room for improvement? In which of the following areas:
practical arrangements (space, time, resources)
participants’ cooperative skills
participants’ argumentation and debating skills
participants’ conflict resolve techniques
participants’ decision making skills (see also Leachman and Victor, 2003).
Leachman, G. and Victor,D. (2003) Student-Led Class Meetings. Educational Leadership, 60(6): 64-68. www.ascd.org
