Halaby, Mona Hajjar. (2000). Belonging: Creating Community in the Classroom. Reviewed by Amy Klutzke, Purdue University

Halaby, Mona Hajjar. (2000). Belonging: Creating Community in the Classroom. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books, Inc. 156 pp. $19.95     ISBN 1-57129-084-2 Reviewed by Amy Klutzke Purdue University July 13, 2001 Mona Hajjar Halaby, M.A., is a classroom teacher at Park Day School in Oakland, California and an educational consultant who trains and supervises teachers in the facilitation of class meetings (Halaby, 2000). Ms. Halaby researched existing class meeting models and chose to adapt Dr. Francoise Dolto's model for use in her classroom. The main point of value to her was that Dr. Dolto made an attempt at helping children with special needs become better integrated in the school system. This book is written primarily for educators and provides a model of how to use class meetings in the classroom. The majority of the book is a narrative about her first year implementing class meetings. She recalls what goes on in her classroom as she is learning to facilitate these meetings. There is a discussion regarding what she learns about the children as the year progresses. A fairly detailed account of things that go on in her meetings is given. At the end of her book, she gives the logistics on how to hold class meetings. Answers to some frequently asked questions are included in this last section. Ms. Halaby wants her classroom to be one where students are comfortable. The classroom is a place where the children can feel like they are a community. Through class meetings the teacher is able to know the student very well. There is a personal relationship among all members in the classroom. They learn to function as a community. They are there to support each other. We are able to experience their joys and trials as she portrays these experiences to us. In a classic piece of curriculum scholarship, Pinar (1995, p. 518) identified twelve intersecting effects of traditional schooling. These include: Hypertrophy or atrophy of fantasy life Division or loss of self to others via modeling Dependence and arrested development of autonomy Criticism by others and the loss of self-love Thwarting of affiliative needs Estrangement from self and its effect upon the process of individuation Self-direction becomes other-direction Loss of self and internalization of externalized self Internalization of the oppressor: development of a false self-system Alienation from personal reality due to impersonality of schooling groups Desiccation via disconfirmation Atrophy of capacity to perceive esthetically and sensuously Halaby uses her class meetings to make the students feel they are an important part of the class dynamics. The students are included in the process of running the classroom and making decisions. An environment is created where the students are able to feel safe. With this type of approach, Pinar's twelve effects would be less or even non- existent. Within the classroom, Ms. Halaby encourages the children to be responsible for their actions. They learn to realize that their actions have repercussions. The students are given independence to solve their own problems. They have discussions on how problems should be solved while respecting each other. They are not to put down others in the process. These students are able to keep true to themselves by expressing their feelings. They often talk in their meetings about how a certain act made them feel. Everyone in the classroom is given a voice. Halaby is constantly trying to make the students realize that they are a community and they need to work together for the good of all. They develop a sense of empathy for each other. In Garrison's article (1996), “A Deweyan Theory of Democratic Listening,” he states “To listen well, we must actively strive to understand the meaning of others in their terms.” (p. 3) This can very easily be related to Halaby's book. In creating a community within the classroom, the teacher, Ms. Halaby, is listening to her students' problems and learning much from them. She is able to know the students in a more personal way than many teachers are able to know their students. Many of the problem behaviors in the children have a deep underlying reason. As the quote suggests, Ms. Halaby is actively trying to understand the students in a manner not usual to the classroom setting. Garrison (1996) also goes on to say, “We must be willing to live with confusion and uncertainty about both ourselves and the other person as we are attempting to understand. Openness involves risk and vulnerability, but that is how we grow.” (p. 3) Class meetings are a new situation for Ms. Halaby. The traditional role of being the one in power is given up and this power is then shared with the class. The discussions in class and where they might lead are not predictable. There is one instance in particular where she discusses being uncomfortable. During one class meeting a student brought up sexual harassment. This led to some boys accusing a student of sexually abusing them. Ms. Halaby was not ready for this type of conversation from a third grade class. She was unsure of what to do. This was not an easy topic to deal with in the class. Even though it was difficult, she handled it very matter of factly by talking about it openly with the students. The need for the students to feel that they could share things as a group was very important to her. A risk was taken in doing this, not knowing how the parents would react. The best way to get down to the root of the problem was to talk about it. This is not the only time that she shared herself and took risk or was vulnerable. Many times she tells stories from her childhood to make a point. She opens herself up to the students so that they may know her personally too. The students can better see her as a person when she relates their instances to stories about herself. I believe her stories remind the students that Ms. Halaby once was a child and went through many of the same things that they are going through. They feel more connected by this sharing of self. Ms. Halaby's struggle with class meetings is like Plato's Allegory of the Cave. In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato discusses how it is easy to just stay in the shade of our cave. It is painful to come out of the cave into the sunlight where things are new to us. A new way to run her classroom has been presented to her. The environment is a new situation for her and she has to adjust. It is not a process that happens easily. Ms. Halaby has the persistence to keep at it. As difficult as it gets, she still holds her class meetings and heads forward. She is determined not to step back in to the cave. The first time she encounters something quite difficult to deal with she contemplates calling in sick. She admitted that things were getting too hard. There were other times that she started to doubt if the method was working. The problems in the classroom were still evident and the children were not solving them independently. Through all of this she stuck to her commitment. In her postscript she states, “Learning to do class meetings involves making mistakes, falling down, and getting back up again” (p. 122). This, of course, is after she has been through all of the mistakes herself. The process was not an easy road taken. She was able to come out of “the cave” even though it might have been somewhat painful. The last section of the book is a postscript for teachers. Here, the author gives the how-tos of class meetings. A brief discussion of how she came to use class meetings in her classroom is given. There were four main questions in mind when she went searching for a method. These were: How can I provide all of my students with a safe classroom that enable them to learn? How can I provide them with an intellectual environment if the learning is constantly interrupted? How can I create an empathic and supportive class community if there is so much conflict? How do I help the marginalized student, the peripheral child with the bad reputation, fit it? (p. 124) The class meeting that she uses in her class addresses her issues fairly well. A safe environment is created for the students by teaching them to be good listeners and to support each other. The students are taught how to treat each other with respect and to solve their own problems. By doing this she is able to better provide the environment where learning can take place. Many times she asks them how a certain act made them feel. Usually there is at least one person that has felt the same way. This shows the students that they are not the only one who sometimes has felt in that manner. In one example, a child's mother is very sick. The rest of the class talks about how sickness is scary for them. The little girl sees that other children have had these scary feelings too. Ms. Halaby also creates the classroom for the marginalized student, the peripheral student, and the one with the bad reputation. Through the class meetings, the other students are able to support these students. If there are problem behaviors that need to be worked on the other students are there to cheer him/her on. This may be the hardest part of Halaby's approach. Every class is different so there will be unique dynamics in each class. I think the author has an excellent idea but, to what extent is the class meeting capable of achieving the goal of helping certain students fit in? It seems that her classroom environment would definitely be a good place to start. I am not sure that this would completely help the child fit in though. Yet, undoubtedly, this method is a good step at trying to make sure marginalized children fit in. Creating a community within the classroom helps students to see each other in a more respectful way. They have a chance to learn that they are equals and should treat each other so. The author gives us the main points of holding class meetings. A very detailed account of what must be written in the notebook is included. The notebook is used for the students to write their problems with other classmates. This is then used in the meetings to facilitate discussion. Her instructions are very easy to understand. There seems to be ample information for one to follow to create class meetings. Halaby states, “Ideally, every teacher doing class meetings needs to pair up with another professional who can observe the process, and reflect on it later.” (p. 133) There were many times that she would have given up had she not had this other person working with her. They were able to discuss critically what went on in the class meetings. The other person is there to take notes and debrief after the meetings. This person is also a very important support person. As Halaby said several times in this section, that she would not have been able to stick it out if she hadn't had this extra support. My big question is how will this work out in most schools then? Halaby says that it is the ideal to have someone else working with you, but what if you were not able to do this? The teacher would have to be very determined and strong willed to get through this alone. Halaby seems to be a very strong person, yet she relied on another to help her through these rough times. Where is a teacher going to find someone else to sit in on his or her class weekly? There is a possibility of teachers within the same school working together but that too would be difficult. The first problem with that is you couldn't really combine the classes for meetings because the meetings would take way too long. Halaby says she has done meetings with thirty children before, however, it is not an easy task. There are not too many classrooms now that only have fifteen students so this would be very challenging. The second problem would be to arrange a schedule where a teacher could help another teacher while his/her students were at a specialty class. I see some downfalls in this method but that definitely does not mean it shouldn't be tried. The point that needs to be remembered is that there will be difficult times but not to give up. If this is a method that someone is interested in they will find a way to make it work for them. Ms. Halaby has done a good job at trying to cover many questions that teachers may have upon implementing class meetings. There is a compiled list of questions at the end of the book that she has found to be common when she performs workshops on the topic of class meetings. These questions are answered thoroughly so that one can take a good understanding away. Some of the questions are more towards the basics of the class meetings such as, how do you get to all of the problems during class meetings, and what if no one writes a problem in the notebook? The author also discusses how to deal with the shy child that might not participate much and the child that monopolizes meetings. A wide variety of questions are covered to help the educator facilitate these meetings. Through reading Halaby's book an educator could take away an array of information regarding class meetings. There is enough information in this book for a teacher to attempt these meetings in his/her own classroom. It would be wonderful if the teacher were also able to attend a workshop given by Halaby herself. As she reminds us in the book there will be many mistakes when implementing these meetings. The teacher needs to be strong and persist even when he/she falls down. The will to make it work is very important. Overall, this book is an inspiration for educators. References Garrison, J., (1996). A Deweyan Theory of Democratic Listening. Educational Theory, 46(4), 429-451 Pinar, W. F., Reynolds, W. M., Slattery, P., & Taubman, P. M. (1995). Understanding Curriculum. New York: Peter Lang. About the Reviewer Amy Klutzke is a graduate student at Purdue University. She will graduate in August 2001 with a Masters degree in Elementary Education. She enjoys learning new ways to make the classroom a more enjoyable place for the students.