A funny thing happened in our family a few months ago. My husband and I were engaged in, let’s say, a disagreement. It was nothing major, in fact the tiff was over something silly, but the perception of a tense moment got the kids’ attention. Our five-year-old marched up to us with a poster-sized paper in his hand, pointed to it, and said, “mom and dad! The social contract!” Incidentally, this was the child most disengaged during the creation of our families’ social contract, yet he’s usually the first one to call our attention to it when needed. That big ole paper was with us all summer. We folded it up and brought it on vacation, displayed it in the boys’ bedroom when summer fight mode broke out, and have reflected on it in moments of celebration.
We’re big advocates for Capturing Kids’ Hearts, having been trained in many of the Flippen Group’s programs over our years in education. The philosophy is game changing, and their foundation to successful classroom management is a tool that can be transformational. “Can be” is the key phrase. The social contract can be just words on a bulletin board like the rest of classroom decor; or it can be a catalyst for student self reflection, growth, and peer accountability.
If you’ve not made a social contract with your students, or you’ve never heard of Capturing Kids’ Hearts’ approach to it, check this out. Thousands of teachers and other organizations rave about the effectiveness of creating and using a social contract.
My eighth graders made a social contract and we put it right to use. We’re preparing for our first debate in history class, so the groups discussed which ideas from our contract should be their focus in order for our debate to be successful. Each hour chose 2-3 ideas. As we’re prepping for the debate, I ask two kids each hour to monitor how the class is upholding those 2-3 expectations. Then, at the end of our time each day, those same two kids report out to the class with critical or positive feedback. So far they’ve owned it and taken it serioisly; I’ll count that as a win.
If your past experiences with a social contract have left you skeptical, I recommend watching this video from Edutopia. I love two ideas from this clip. First, the way the instructor ties her class’ social contract norms into their group discussions is brilliant. As a history and language arts teacher, I can see doing this as we reflect on events from history or key ideas from a text. Asking questions like, “where/how do or don’t we see evidence of [insert word/idea from social contract]?” Second, I love the 3,2,1 rating where students give feedback on themselves, the class-as-a-whole, and give specific examples as a verbal affirmation.
Whatever your experience with a social contract is, surely it deserves consideration, another look or a refreshed approach.
Wishing you all the best in your classroom today and always,
Lindsay