Creating Classroom Contracts or Community Agreements
This wonderful piece by the inspirational Carla Shalaby: Are We Teaching Care or Control? inspired me to write about class contract creation. I prefer “class contract” or “community agreements” over saying rules as rules feel more draconian and compliance focused, while agreements or a contract as a community emphasizes how we are all working together and sharing accountability for OUR community and space. For a deeper discussion about compliance vs care, we’ve used The Wedding Portrait (listed below). I am out of the classroom for another year, so won’t be putting these ideas to work just yet. Here is a post from 2018 back in the days when Gabby and I were co-teaching: Creating Our Class Contract! Some essential components of class contract creation for me are hopes and dreams or some type of reflection and goal setting, multiple read alouds, and starting with students’ ideas about