Class Meetings

Every Friday Whitney's class has a class meeting.

The other day Whitney and I got to talk about what the class meeting is all about. He told me that it is similar to the all school meeting, but it is an 'all class' meeting. The kids get a chance to talk about how school is going, what excites them or concern them about their class.

The class meeting itself has a clear structure. Proposals are made before Friday. Then on Friday morning the class elects a moderator for the class meeting. Proposals are presented by the person who created it and the voted on by the whole class. Whitney has one vote like everyone else.

Whitney told me this great story about how early in the year Joshua made a proposal for Wednesday to be Candy Day in Whitney's class. There were ideas discussed about how much money would be spent on candy and how much time of their class time would be devoted to the eating and sharing of candy. The kids asked great questions about the impact of such an idea on their families and on the class. After a whole lot of discussion and voting, it was resolved (by the kids!) that the Candy Day was not right for Whitney's class.

The class meeting would be a great way to get a sense of how the democratic education model works at Trillium on a classroom level. You are welcome to attend the class meetings and watch it unfold.