This teaching strategy was originally designed for use in a face-to-face setting. For tips and guidance on how to use this teaching strategy in a remote or hybrid learning environment, view our Contracting for Remote Learning teaching strategy.
This teaching strategy was originally designed for use in a face-to-face setting. For tips and guidance on how to use this teaching strategy in a remote or hybrid learning environment, view our Contracting for Remote Learning teaching strategy.
Contracting is the process of openly discussing with your students expectations about how classroom members will treat each other. It is an effective strategy for making your classroom a reflective community. Reflective classroom communities are places where explicit rules and implicit norms protect everyone’s right to speak; where differing perspectives can be heard and valued; where members take responsibility for themselves, each other, and the group as a whole; and where each member has a stake and a voice in collective decisions. These type of classroom communities are usually created through deliberate nurturing from students and teachers who have shared expectations about how classroom members will treat each other. The instructions below describe how to discuss classroom norms with students and then draft and agree to a formal contract of behavior.
Contracting is an effective strategy for building a reflective and respectful community, especially in remote or hybrid learning environments.
Students work together to create a contract with the aim of developing a reflective classroom community, which is conducive to learning and sharing.
Students develop a contract establishing a reflective classroom community as they prepare to explore the historical case study of this unit.
Students develop a contract establishing a reflective classroom community in preparation for their exploration of this unit's historical case study.