Contracting for Back to School

We recommend that your students start the process of contracting in their third or fourth meeting, after they have learned each other’s names and engaged in community-building activities.

A classroom contract is a classroom management tool, not a behavior prevention tool. In other words, a contract in and of itself will not prevent behaviors that undermine classroom norms. Inappropriate behaviors will emerge in the best of classrooms. Instead, a classroom contract is a tool to establish norms that are essential to an inclusive and welcoming environment and to help you address student behaviors that could undermine those norms. Consistently enforcing your contract as a class is a key to successfully establishing a positive learning environment.

Classroom contracts are not static documents. Students should revisit their contracts periodically throughout the year. Good times to revisit, and possibly revise, the contract include: 

• Before and/or after reading or viewing a challenging piece of content 
• Before engaging in a discussion about a potentially controversial or challenging topic 
• When a student feels that they, or members of the group, have not lived up to one or more of the expectations on the contract

Because there is so much to cover in the opening weeks of school, such as name and introductory games, getting to know the teacher, and administrative tasks, you might find that you need two to three sessions to complete the contracting process. Natural breaks in the activity occur after students have journaled and defined contracting and worked in small groups to create their list of norms, and after the group has voted to decide on the norms it commits to upholding during activities and discussions.

To get the contracting conversation started in a more concrete way, you could share with students a list of norms, rules, or expectations that have been used in other Facing History classrooms. Ask students to discuss what they think about these norms. Which ones do they think would help this group create a safe, respectful, productive learning environment? Invite students to edit this list by deleting, revising, or adding to it. Here is a list of norms that have been used in previous Facing History classrooms:

• Listen with respect. Try to understand what someone is saying before rushing to judgment. 
• Make comments using “I” statements. 
• If you do not feel safe making a comment or asking a question, write the thought in your journal. 
• You can share the idea with your teacher first and together come up with a safe way to share the idea with the class. 
• If someone says an idea or question that helps your own learning, say thank you. 
• If someone says something that hurts or offends you, do not attack the person. Acknowledge that the comment—not the person—hurt your feelings and explain why. 
• Using insults and derogatory terms is never okay. 
• If you don’t understand something, ask a question. 
• Think with your head and your heart. 
• Share the talking time—provide room for others to speak. 
• Do not interrupt others while they are speaking. 
• Write thoughts in your journal if you don’t have time to say them during class. 
• Journal responses do not have to be shared publicly.

Another way to help students develop a classroom contract is to have them envision what they would like to have happen during certain scenarios. Scenarios could be drawn from students’ own experiences. They might include situations such as the ones in the following prompts: 

• When we have an idea or question we would like to share, we can . . .
• When we have an idea but do not feel comfortable sharing it out loud, we can . . . 
• When someone says something that we appreciate, we can . . . 
• When someone says something that might be confusing or offensive, we can . . . 
• To make sure all students have the opportunity to participate in a class discussion, we can . . .
• If we read or watch something that makes us feel sad or angry, we can . . .
• To show respect for the ideas of others, we can . . .