This week I had the pleasure of attending the Responsive Classroom Schools Conference (RCSC) in Newark, Delaware, along with many of my colleagues and about 150 elementary school leaders and teachers. What an inspiring group! I asked some of the Responsive Classroom consultants who blog here if they’d share some reflections about this year’s RCSC with you. Here’s what they wrote:

Sarah Fillion: This was my first time attending RCSC, and one thing that struck me was the power of collegiality. People’s willingness to share successes and challenges was really impressive.

Tina Valentine: Being at the conference this week was inspiring and enlightening. The wealth of knowledge that the attendees have always amazes me, and I loved being a participant as well as a presenter.

Margaret Wilson: Something Stephen Wessler said in his pre-conference workshop on Monday really resonated with me. He talked about how important it is to distinguish between intent and impact. If we can help children tap into their empathy and realize the impact of unkind words, disrespect, teasing, etc.—whether they intended that result or not—we can go a long way in creating safe and respectful schools.

Mike Anderson: I really enjoyed talking with school leaders from all over the country about their schools’ journeys with Responsive Classroom. I met some people who are just beginning to implement a few Responsive Classroom strategies and others who have been leading RC initiatives for years. It was inspiring to hear about their visions for safe and engaging learning communities and how they are working to bring them to life.

Mark Emmons: I’ve been thinking about something Karen Casto said in her session about building community among the adults in a school: “Responsive Classroom is the lens through which I look at everything.” Maintaining a focus on core beliefs can help us solve problems. Some school issues are not easy to resolve, and I love the idea of the Responsive Classroom approach as a tool that helps us examine and address those challenges.

Kerry O’Grady: For me, a highlight of the conference was bumping into teachers and administrators I met several years ago at their first Responsive Classroom workshop. It was wonderful to hear about what they’ve done since then and how their work with Responsive Classroom has grown.

Babs Freeman-Loftis: RCSC meets the needs of a wide range of principals and teachers, including those who are new to Responsive Classroom. This year, I met a principal who brought a team of seven teachers with him to the conference. It was their first exposure to the approach and to Responsive Classroom practices. A highlight for me was seeing this group sitting at one of the banquet tables in the room where we’d held our closing on the last day, talking excitedly about ideas they wanted to bring back to their school. They were so energized that they didn’t want to leave!