HS – Family Meeting

High School Family Meetings (Fridays from 1:00-2:45pm)

Possible Goals for Meetings:

Pass on important information (through “Announcements”)
Solve problems (as a community, where the students create or help to create viable solutions)
Plan for the future (plan, as a group, class trips, projects, activities, etc.)
Community building skills (students learn to take responsibility for themselves and the group)
Share joys (through “Golden Shining Moments” – with GSMs, students share a brief story of something that lifted their spirits)

Roles students can play:

Student chairperson/caller
Scribe
Timekeeper/timer
Gatekeeper/focus person

Rules of Meeting:

Raise hands (or, occasionally go around in a circle if it is an important issue in order to get everyone’s input)
Try not to repeat what has already been said
Respect your classmates; make it a safe place (everyone’s comments are respected; no one is laughed at)
Everyone tries to stay focused
Rules for Group Problem Solving:
The person who raised the issue goes first, describing/defining/outlining the problem
Others may add new information
When students speak:

Don’t blame, just explain
Speak from own experience only (I feel…I was)

After problem is defined, propose solutions
Students choose which solution to try

- HS Slider
Harmony School

Founded in 1974 in Bloomington Indiana, Harmony School's mission is to prepare young people to live in and contribute to a heterogeneous democratic country.

We do this by sensitizing young people to the delicate balance needed in a democracy between individual growth and community responsibility.

We are dedicated to the development of the whole student: we teach critical thinking and academic skills, nurture each student’s unique voice, all while promoting physical, social, emotional, and creative growth.