An engaging and collaborative learning environment is the most obvious aspects of effective teaching.

At Kingsville all classrooms create an essential agreement at the beginning of the year. For that matter Kingsville creates essential agreements for every team, working group and for the whole school in fact.

Essential agreements are not a set of rules and directions, instead essential agreements state what the shared norms and expectations are. It is a collaborative action by all those involved in that classroom or team to outline what environment will help everyone learn and achieve at their best.

The essential agreements can cover a variety of issues including:

• General classroom behaviours
• Beginning and ending the class session or day
• Transitions and interruptions
• Material and equipment
• Whole group, small group and independent work
• Teacher-led sessions