PERTS Elevate Resource Library

Class Organization Meeting

Learn directly from students what they feel they need to be successful in your class from an organizational standpoint in order to remove barriers to learning.

Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 All subjects

Overview

Students are the experts on their own experiences and often have many suggestions for systems and structures that will remove barriers to learning. Class Organization Meeting is a structure that teachers can use to solicit input from students to build new structures and routines to ensure that the class is well organized.

Through this activity you will be able to:

  • Solicit feedback from students and demonstrate that you take their ideas seriously.
  • Collaborate with students to develop effective structures and routines to ensure the class is organized for their success.

Conducting the Practice

  1. Set aside 10-15 minutes at the start of class for a discussion.

  2. At the beginning of the discussion, let students know they will be sharing and giving feedback about their experience in class.

    • Optional: If you like, you can share explicitly that the discussion is in response to their Elevate survey responses, and you are gathering ideas to create more of a well-organized class.

  3. Ask them to share what, in addition to content knowledge, they feel they need to be successful in your class; let them know that this might mean physical materials, tools, logistical information, or anything else they feel they need. Share that you are asking for this feedback to ensure that they are set up for success, and because you realize that there are always things that you can improve to make the classroom better meet their needs.

  4. When you have a list of effective materials and supports students need, work with students to develop systems or routines for students. This may require gathering students' ideas and also separately developing routines to bring back to students.

    • Keep in mind that these systems or routines should prioritize students' independence and remove the need for a teacher's help as much as possible.
    • Watch this video from high school physics teacher Shannon Feineis for an example of how to develop systems and routines.

  5. When you're ready, introduce the class to the new systems and routines and make sure students understand how to use or access them.

  6. Get feedback from students and/or collect data on implementation of systems and routines over time.

  7. After some amount of time with these systems and routines in place—the exact amount will depend on your context and what you are trying out—reconvene your students to discuss implementation, make improvements, create alternatives, and/or solve new problems.

This practice was adapted from the Well-Organized Classroom Guide developed by the Learning and Development Group at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research in partnership with PERTS.