Each year I have at least one student who LOVES to share with me. It seems as though every free opportunity they have they come up to me and share something about their lives. Why do they do this? In general, students love to share themselves with others both their teacher and their classmates. When we share with others we feel more connected to them and our students feel the same way! Having a student share with you every time you’re trying to catch up on some grading, or with each other during your lesson isn’t ideal. So create a time in your classroom to have students share! There is no better time or place than in class meeting sharing!
Class Meetings and Sharing: Why They Matter
Classroom meetings are amazing and extremely important in the classroom! They give us the chance to check in with our students and help them prepare for a day of learning! If you want to know more about the importance of classroom meetings and why you should make them a priority, check out my other blog post all about it here!
After you have started your classroom meeting with your daily greeting, the next step is sharing! Class meeting sharing is the opportunity for students to share their thoughts, ideas, answers, anything about themselves, etc. Students love to share about themselves and they feel more connected when they do. Giving students the opportunity to share in class will teach them how to be good listeners, improve their speaking skills, and help them feel more connected.
Sharing for Class Meetings
How to do Classroom Sharing
Class meeting sharing generally comes right after you finish greetings in classroom meetings. At the beginning of the year make sure that you set high expectations and procedures for sharing time. Teach students what good listening and speaking looks like and make sure to model them yourself. Sharing gives students a great opportunity to learn to be good listeners by looking at the speaker and using active listening. It also helps students learn how to share and speak confidently in front of other students.
How you choose to share is completely up to you and may differ depending on your time frame and what the students are sharing. You should always have at least 3-4 students share outloud to the whole class during sharing time. Also, you should try to make sure that every student has a chance to share each day or week. You can also do partner and group shares so that more students have time to share in a shorter amount of time.
Ideas for Sharing
Class meeting sharing can be so many different things! There are TONS of ways for your students to share, and if you ever feel like you’ve run out of ideas, just ask your students! Students always have ideas about things they would like to share! I’ve listed a few simple ideas for class meeting sharing.
- Answer a question. Student’s love to share their answers to questions that you pose so this is always a great and easy option. The questions can range from fun, silly, thoughtful, academic, or just simple get to know you questions. I have asked a “get to know you” question to my students each day this year, and I am amazed at how much I have learned about my students!
- Show and tell. This one is as old as they come, but I am always amazed at how much students love to share things that are important to them! Home and school life can feel so separate for students, so they love to bring and show a little about their lives outside of school with you and their peers.
- Sharing writing. I have always been amazed at how often my students want to share their writing! You may have some students who are reluctant, but most students really enjoy this. The purpose of writing is to share!
- Share ideas. Our students love to share their ideas with us. I have always found it really powerful to have students share their ideas on what we can do to improve our class. This helps them to feel heard and like a contributor.
Sharing with a Purpose
Class meeting sharing should be fun, but there is also a great opportunity in sharing. You can teach your students skills and learn important information about them through the type of sharing you do and questions you ask. In my classroom meetings I generally ask questions that fall into the CASEL model. My questions focus around the topics of; self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and social awareness. Asking questions in these categories allows us to have important discussions in class as well as gives me insight to where my students may need some extra support. Sharing is more than just fun for the students, it is an important window for you into your students’ lives.
Benefits and Risk of Sharing
There are a lot of included benefits mentioned above that come with class meeting sharing. I will list them again here just for easy reference.
- Students learn how to speak and listen.
- They feel more connected.
- It helps you to teach students in meaningful ways.
- You learn more about your students.
It is important when teaching your students about sharing that you clarify what is and is not appropriate to share with the entire class. Most students will already be aware of this, but some students may be willing to share too much. If you set up clear expectations and remind them at the beginning, this shouldn’t be a problem. Let them know that if they ever have something to share that isn’t appropriate to share with the whole class, they may share it with you or the school counselor. Putting these guidelines in place will help to prevent a student from sharing information that may be inappropriate or unnecessary for other students to know.
Teacher Share
Just as important as it is for your students to share, you should share too! Students love learning more about you and will feel more connected to you as you share about your life. As always, be conscious of what and how much you share. Allowing your students to get to know you more will help in all areas of your classroom!
Classroom Meeting Sharing
Class meeting sharing is a powerful teacher tool! Are you ready to add it to your toolbelt? My No Prep!-Class Meetings-Building a Positive Classroom Environment is perfect for beginners or experts alike! It includes a sharing idea for every day of the year! Plus it is color coordinated to the CASEL model to help you easily see what skills you are helping to build. It also includes greetings and activities too! This is the perfect product as you begin preparing for a new school year or are wanting to add classroom meetings in now!
