This paper presents information and strategies designed to enable teachers and counselors to understand, practice and utilize the group prpocess known as open classroom meetings. It considers the type of classroom meetings that can be utilized such as problem solving meetings, open ended meetings, and educational diagnostic meetings. The variety of settings in which the open meeting can be used and the range of student concerns that can be effectively considered in open meetings are outlined. It looks at the developmental aspect of the process of open meetings as they relate to classroom settings and presents ideas of how to evaluate them in specific school settings. Ten guidelines for conducting successful open meetings are examined.
Open meetings can have a variety of uses in the classroom and school setting.
In addition to solving typical concerns that focus on climate issues, open meetings can become part of the overall approach to building a more democratic sense of community among students, teachers and school staff. I was invited by the volume editor, Neil J. Salkind to prepare and submit a brief biography of Urie Bronfenbrenner. This book review is reproduced on my book review page. Family Counseling Training and the Constructivist Classroom . Family counseling training and the constructivist classroom.