Online activities at class level
“Class assembly”
Prior to the assembly/meeting, the teacher makes sure that the platform to be used allows students to work in groups (in breakout rooms) and to conduct polls/voting. He/she communicates with the students’ council or the whole class and they agree on the topics to be discussed, that should be as simple and concise as possible. The whole class needs to agree and commit themselves on rules of mutual respect during discussions taking place in the assembly. Also, they should agree that they keep confidential what is being said during the assembly, apart from decisions that need to be implemented, and that there are no other persons attending the meeting unless they are invited for a specific purpose.
At the beginning of the assembly, the teacher announces the start of the process and the attendees, introducing a short "warm-up" game, that allows the voices of all participants to be heard. Then, the teacher invites 3 volunteer students to coordinate the assembly, one moderator of the discussion, one timekeeper and one secretary. The topics are presented, and the class is divided in random groups of 4 or 5, where they will hold the initial discussion and elaboration of the topics for 10-15 minutes. When time is over, one person from every group undertakes to present in brief their ideas and possible proposals. The moderator with the help of the timekeeper assists the representatives from the groups to present their summaries and gives the floor to students who may wish to ask clarification questions which will be answered by the presenters. An exchange of opinions follows where interested participants can express their views.
When discussion time is over, according to the original plan, the secretary of the assembly summarises the opinions and proposals that have been presented. If the class needs to take a decision, a voting follows either with hand-raising or using the secret poll tool. Following the voting, the class decides about the responsibilities that may need to be undertaken, so that decisions are implemented and followed up. The last few minutes of the assembly are dedicated to evaluation, with a few words being said orally or written in chat space. Students are encouraged to express positive thoughts and congratulate others for specific achievements. The assembly closes with planning of its next meeting.
“Treasure game”
Teachers can agree with their students to organise a set of online activities in the form of a “treasure game”. The class is divided in small groups (of 4 or 5 students) and every group takes a name. The class discusses and agrees about some issues of common interest that they want to approach together and a number of activities that are going to take place. The issues that the treasure game will touch upon and deal with could be chosen following a class discussion. They could be linked with students’ rights, challenges, skills and competences, as well as with procedures, functions and practices of the school that are connected with its democratic character.
Every activity/task could use different means, such as:
- Surveys
- Interviews
- Quizzes
- Recordings
- Social media posts and reactions
- Memes
- Creative compositions
- Videos
- Songs
- Photos
- Drawings/paintings
- Short stories
The class can agree on a reward system for every task, through which the groups will collect points. They will also agree about the “prize” of the winner, which should be modest so that the teams do not become competitive but rather complementary. On a specific agreed time, the teacher can announce every new activity/task and the points awarded for the previous activity. The treasure game should end up with a discussion about the gains of the class that went through this experience and a celebration, so that every student who participated in it is satisfied and feels to be a winner.