Teachers Guide - Operation Respect

CARING, COMPASSION, AND COOPERATION
I Care, You Care, We Care
When children play and work together cooperatively, they learn to appreciate the different
contributions of each member of the community. Rather than winning at the expense of
someone else losing, children discover that everyone can be winners when they work together.
Some of the skills children begin to develop in the “I Care, You Care, We Care” unit include:
• Helping others
• Taking responsibility for one’s own actions
• Working together toward a shared goal
The Importance of Class Meetings
Class meetings are regular periods of time set aside to solve problems, make agreements,
celebrate achievements, and generally check in on how things are going. Class meetings allow
children a consistent place to experience the joys and responsibilities of being part of a
community. They provide opportunity for practicing the skills of problem solving, listening,
cooperation, compassion, healthy expression of feelings, and appreciation of differences—
building blocks which will nurture and sustain a safe, caring, and respectful classroom
environment. If children feel that they truly have a say in helping to create a caring classroom,
they will feel empowered and demonstrate a greater collective will to follow through on
decisions and agreements.
The Ridicule-Free Zone Constitution of Caring
One very important part of Don’t Laugh At Me is your classroom’s development—through
working, thinking, and sharing ideas together—to declaring your classroom a “Ridicule-Free
Zone” (page 34). In a class meeting, you and the children will develop guidelines and
agreements regarding behaviors. You may or may not have had experience involving children
in this type of decision making, but once you do this, you will begin see a positive shift in the
climate of your classroom.
Important Facilitation Guidelines: Setting Up for
Success
See Appendix B, page 87, for guidelines on encouraging caring, compassion, and cooperation,
including how to evaluate your routines, provide conducive space, correct misbehavior, help a
child who is left out, and much more.
Tips for Facilitating Class Meetings
• Keep it short. Keep in mind that children have a limited attention span and will probably
only be able to participate effectively in a group meeting for twenty or thirty minutes. Set
time limits for each discussion. Say, “Let’s discuss this for X minutes.” Even if the discussion
is still going strong, a good plan is to choose a time that seems appropriate to stop. Then
summarize the discussion up until that point and give children a clear idea of how and
when the discussion will continue at the next meeting.
• Help children develop skills. Help students develop skills with gentle reminders, modeling,
and by supplying alternative ways of behaving when they revert to unskillful behaviors.
Some important skills to nurture during a class meeting include: describing a problem
without accusing another peer or using put-downs, sharing an opinion in the group, using
“I” messages to express a particular view, focusing on the speaker, waiting instead of
interrupting, listening to someone else’s ideas or comments, saying something positive to
support another child’s idea, considering more than one possible solution, choosing to try
out a solution.
Caring, Compassion, and Cooperation © 2000 Operation Respect, Inc. and Educators for Social Responsibility 29