ArticleSearch: academic choice

An adapted excerpt from Learning Through Academic Choice, a book by Paula Denton.
Continue Reading

You’ve made it to the last few months of the academic year! From spring fever to state testing, there are lots of reasons why students might need a nudge to stay engaged…
Continue Reading

Written by Chris Carter, New York City Public Schools kindergarten teacher After multiple delays, New York City schools started this school year in late September with both hybrid and remote Read More…
Continue Reading

According to Vocabulary.com, the word “intrinsic” is an adjective that means “belonging to a thing by its very nature.” Some synonyms for intrinsic are: essential, built-in, constitutional, inherent, integral, inner, Read More…
Continue Reading

Building the characteristics of engaging academics into lessons helps students do rigorous learning in a dynamic way. Students not only engage with and enjoy their learning, but are more willing to tackle…
Continue Reading

When I look around my classroom, I see students making choices. The first graders I teach make choices all through the day, from the time they arrive until Closing Circle.
Continue Reading

Question: I'm concerned that the group activity portion of our Morning Meeting mostly has become a time to play games. I know it’s important for the students to have fun together, but…
Continue Reading

Several years ago, the school at which I was teaching adopted a new series of teacher’s manuals for reading and spelling and asked that teachers use them to guide their instruction. The…
Continue Reading

Imagine this: It’s academic choice time in your classroom and groups of three and four students are clustered around computer workstations. Two groups are planning an Internet-based inquiry project. Another group is…
Continue Reading

Elevating student voice in a school library may seem unusual to anyone who imagines a library only as a quiet sanctuary. Today’s school libraries bustle with activity and are the Read More…
Continue Reading

Let’s face it—technology is changing the way students learn. With the increase of screen time in classrooms, it is imperative that we continue to teach to the whole child, bolstering Read More…
Continue Reading

The countdown to summer can be bittersweet as fond memories of activities, moments, and achievements from the school year intermingle with the excitement of summer’s many possibilities. As our minds Read More…
Continue Reading

Jean Holenko is a Responsive Classroom consulting teacher in her 27th year of teaching. She has been using the Responsive Classroom approach with students since 2001 and has been sharing Read More…
Continue Reading

From closing circle to Academic Choice to problem-solving conferences, we all know that student reflection plays a central role in Responsive Classroom teaching practices. It may be less well known Read More…
Continue Reading

  Regardless of if your model of instruction has been remote, hybrid, or in-person during this unique school year, your students have grown over the course of their time in Read More…
Continue Reading

Continue Reading

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” –Frederick Douglass This famous quote, printed on bright pink cardstock and posted above the whiteboard of a third grade classroom, stood Read More…
Continue Reading

Students come to ACS Cobham International School in England from all over the world. Some stay for their entire pre-collegiate school experience and others make a home there for just Read More…
Continue Reading

It’s the perfect time of year to pause and reflect on your personal teaching and learning goals—the hopes and dreams you set when school began. First, let’s take a step Read More…
Continue Reading

Each of these practices promotes active teaching over direct teaching: Rather than education being a one-way street in which a teacher lectures, learning becomes a collaboration between teacher and students. And if…
Continue Reading

No matter what the weather is like where you are, it can be challenging for both students and teachers to maintain enthusiasm at this point in the school year. The beginning-of-school energy…
Continue Reading

  Friday, November 9th   Block 1   Full Block Sessions (2 hours)   Session 1.0 | 9:30am – 11:30 am   Impacts of Trauma: How Responsive Classroom Practices Support Read More…
Continue Reading

Light the spark of learning in your students! Teachers know it instinctively, research bears it out: students learn more, and with more joy, when offered intriguing lessons that connect with their lives…
Continue Reading

Teacher Belief Study Analysis of how effectively teachers acquire and strengthen beliefs aligned with Responsive Classroom practices after attending a four-day Responsive Classroom course. Download the complete analysis here. Responsive Read More…
Continue Reading

Although we hope that our students’ learning won’t stop just because school does, it’s good to help them reach a sense of closure during the last few weeks of the year. Good…
Continue Reading

A reality of teaching that all teachers know well is that no matter how effectively we teach, no matter how hard students try, and no matter how many good days the class…
Continue Reading

One of my favorite Guided Discovery lessons led children to explore ways they could use paper, glue sticks (or glue), and scissors. I was always amazed at what children could Read More…
Continue Reading