The Democratic Classroom
How One Teacher Learned To Lead
His Class By Not Being The Boss.

It’s fair to say that the biggest and most exciting new development in classroom management these days is the idea of “The Democratic Classroom. It’s understandable that some teachers are reluctant to share power with their students. But as you will see from the following letter (from a real teacher with real problems), having a little faith that your students will respond positively to being treated with respect and can handle the challenge of responsibility, will pay big dividends, even with a “problem” class.

In April of 2002, I was teaching a French Course that was composed of several different levels in one class. Many of these students had been exempted from taking French in earlier grades because of behavioral problems but had to take grade nine French in High School. I have memories of these students throwing Christmas decorations around the classroom, disrupting my class and the neighboring classes.

I tried all kinds of punishment, detentions, phone calls to parents and administrative intervention which led to several suspensions – none of which worked! The students were proud of all this attention. In fact, they told me that three different teachers had mental breakdowns because of their class.

In desperation, I decided to take a classroom management course. I made a few changes but it was way too late to do anything with this group. However, during the summer, I read your book and decided to apply your techniques. By the Fall of 2003 I was teaching a grade 10 Religion class. Needless to say a lot of these same students were in my class. I went over the class rules and consequences. Next, I told the class that I would like to get to know my students likes and dislikes and passed out a questionnaire. Then, we started the elections for class meetings! Personally the idea of a class meeting seemed silly to me. However, I have often been wrong in my life and decided to give it a try. I was displeased with their choice of Class President but I pretended it didn’t matter and told him of his responsibilities.

I soon discovered that my job was easier. I didn’t have to pass out or collect all the books or papers. I had a secretary who took notes at each meeting an often wrote things to be done, i.e., assignment for tonight, etc. on the board. Students volunteered to decorate the class, organize games for the last ten minutes of class each Friday, and take turns bringing the attendance to the office.

By Thanksgiving, the students came up with some really good ideas relating to social issues and how our class could earn money to buy turkeys for needy families. I began to trust students to mark each other’s quizzes. I was very surprised when I discovered that they were not cheating but taking their task seriously. Again, I had less work to do. I used to give quizzes often and was swamped with corrections!

The second semester went even better than the first. At the end of the year, I had several students tell me how much fun they had in my class. Many students said I was the best teacher they ever had. They said things like: “You are not like other teachers.” “You really believe that we can amount to something in life!” “You really care about us!” Suddenly, I received one of the greatest surprises that I have ever had in my life. John, who was one of the boys who caused me the most trouble in the French Class, apologized for his behavior. “I know that I acted like a real jerk,” he said. “I was so young and immature back then, please forgive me.”

In conclusion, I’d like to thank you for helping me not only survive last year but also to become a far better teacher. The three greatest things that I learned from your course, which I often share with other teachers is:

1. Talk to students about their interests

2. Delegate labor (to save hours of work)

3. Set up routines: i.e., Prayer before class, journals every Tuesday and Thursday,
   class meetings every Friday. Students really love routine and structure.

I hope that other teachers will benefit from your book and course as much as I have. You have my permission to tell this story which I hope will encourage other teachers in their times of deep despair. God only knows how close I came to getting out of the profession.

Terry Craig Teacher, St. Patrick’s High School, Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Teacher Q & A

Q. I have a student in my class who has no friends. She stands by herself in the playground and the other kids sometimes tease and make fun of her. How can I help her?

A. This is a serous problem. One of the most important ingredients for a harmonious, well-functioning class is that every member feels that they belong. Your job as a teacher is to help your students develop optimal social relationships within the group so that they feel connected and accepted. Without this sense of connection, the rebellious ones become more rebellious and the shy students become more withdrawn.

This student desperately needs to make connections to some of the other kids in the class. The key to this, in fact the key to cultivating connections between all your students, is to use the tool of Sociometry. Sociometry involves finding out who would this student most like to sit next to. You also have to find out who would be the best choice to sit next to her, work on projects together, or even share the same interests – what you are looking for here is the optimum combination of popularity and compassion in another student. This careful orchestration of the class dynamic increases the likelihood that this student will eventually feel accepted.

For more on Sociometry, check out Stan Shapiro's Book entitled Classrooms That Work