A CLASS STORY by Year 5/6 students in 19-3 with Anya Badu and Rachel Gregory
The How (by Cobie Harriss)
Community circle is an opportunity for students to acknowledge each other and nominate their classmates around the circle. By the end of the year we want to get everyone into the ultimate community role model quadrant.
In our community circles we start with an Acknowledgement of Country to pay our respect to the Indigenous people of our area. Then we do a ‘would you rather game’, to get everyone focused. We hear any extra information from the teacher and our Young Leaders.
Once we finish that, students have the choice if they want to acknowledge any of their classmates for something they have done. Like if they finished their work or were listening at the roll call, and so on.
Then we get to the main part of community circle – nominations. Students use nomination forms where they can write down a person and why they should move round the circle. The class will vote and if that person gets at least 80 percent of the class saying yes, they get to move to the next quadrant of the circle and hopefully get all the way to be an ultimate community role model.
The Why (by Kai Bull and Ruby Wilson)
Community circle is a great way for your class to get together and acknowledge the good and bad behaviour in the class. It’s a good way to meet and talk about how the classroom works and it’s better to vote when everyone is in a circle. It is also a good way to get your students to aim to be nominated by their classmates to be move around the circle and make it to the yellow quadrant to be one of the ultimate community role models.
People get to voice an opinion and to talk about any concerns that people have. I feel that people should get an opinion on the class set up and how something is running in the class. I feel extremely strongly that people would like to have that chance to say something and how they feel about things. I think it could help the teacher if they are struggling in how to run the class without students getting upset.
The So What – Vox Pop (by Jake Hansen and Ryley Lynch)
“I really enjoy debating and resolving issues.” (Chad)
“I like voting and seeing mine and the classes growth in behaviour.” (Jayden)
“I enjoy moving people around the circle and listening to feedback from other classmates on how to improve my behaviour.” (Dylan)
“I like nominating people around the circle” (Jaydah)
“I like that we can acknowledge people that are doing well and the people who may need more help” (Amelia)
“Teachers should do community circle with their class so everyone can share their opinions” (Margy)
