As children collaborate, they learn to take turns, share, give and get help, and listen to others. Children participate in meetings to solve classroom problems. When teachers use classroom meetings to solve these problems rather than rely on their own authority, they build initiative in children. We have the power to solve our problems. Classroom meetings give children opportunities to practice the skills of exchanging ideas and listening to one another.
Children have opportunities to make choices.
Giving children choices encourages creativity. Sometimes choices may involve simply selecting a book to read or topic to write about. But choices can also allow children to decide how they can express themselves through their work. After reading a book or studying a topic, for example, they might make charts or graphs, draw pictures, paint a mural, create a computer design or game, build a model, put on a skit or puppet show, or write a report. Often these artistic expressions mingle personal aspects of a child's self along with the newly learned material.