One of the most constructive uses of classroom meetings is to use them to address problems. Students and the teacher may request a class meeting about a problem. Students may want ideas on handling conflicts with friends. Elementary students often have class meetings about things that happen at recess.

Class meetings can help individuals or the whole class determine what to do about issues like gossip, bullying, teasing, name-calling, excluding others, tolerance for differences. Teachers may want a class meeting to discuss interruptions during instruction, problems with homework assignments, or other classroom behavior.

There are many different ways to set up a classroom problem solving meeting. Below we see a relatively unstructured approach where the teacher engages the children in a conversation. On the following page we'll look at a more formalized model.