Social Contract

The social contract is an important tool for honoring student input while developing classroom expectations. There are many versions of the social contract so for now I will describe what has worked in my classroom. The social contract is part of my syllabus, it is a working document that we go through piece by piece on the 2nd or 3rd day of class. (See below for excerpts from my syllabus pertaining to the social contract.)

Participation Points:
Every day you show up to class you automatically have 5 participation points; these points may be "cashed in" at the end of every month to earn points towards your key assignments. In the space provided on the following page list 5 reasons why you think that participation points would be taken away.

Participation points are lost when I choose to:

1.____________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________

3.____________________________________________________________

4.____________________________________________________________

5.____________________________________________________________

In the space provided here please list a minimum of 5 rules or expectations that you feel would bennefit our classroom and why? It is important to include your reason, for example if you feel we should have "candy answers" or free time why do you think that is important to our learning?
 
1.____________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________

3.____________________________________________________________

4.____________________________________________________________

5.____________________________________________________________
Classroom Expectations/Rules:Using the list that you have provided above we will decide as a class what our class rules and expectations should be.

Some things to consider during discussion/guiding questions:
What kind of environment do you work best in?

What do you find distracting when you are trying to listen to someone speak?

What does appropriate/professional dress look like?

Why is a bad idea to bring personal items from home to class, such as iPod’s and cell phones? What should be the consequence for bringing these items to class?

Class is only an hour long, how do we make the most of our time together? Homework?

Everyone needs a break sometimes, how should we handle breaks?

What are three things that make school interesting and enjoyable?

What are three things that make school boring or uninteresting?

What makes learning easy? What makes learning difficult?

What is appropriate and inappropriate language in school (or work)?

How do we make each other feel safe?

How should we treat each other, and how do we respond when someone is not treating another person with respect?

Class Structure: Time	Activity	Purpose
10 minutes	Journal Entry	To bring our focus into the classroom, to understand ourselves and express our opinions, and to improve our written communication skills.
10 minutes	Intro to Lesson	To learn a new skill or concept.
30 minutes	Individual or Group Activity Based on Lesson	To put our learning into practice.
5 minutes	Clean Up and Review	To reflect on our learning.