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Location: Brooklyn, NY Type of school: Private Catholic school Grade levels: Pre-K–8 Number of students: 282 A Responsive Classroom school since: 2019 A few years ago, Saint Joseph the Worker Read More…
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Reading aloud can be a powerful way to build community and shared understanding at the beginning of the school year. My classes and I used to laugh and talk all year about…
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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…
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For students to belong and feel significant, they need to feel seen for who they really are and get the sense that they can be their authentic selves. Crucially, seeing Read More…
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Independent practice is a new Responsive Classroom strategy for introducing concepts and skills to middle school students by creating opportunities for them to interactively explore the content through hands-on learning. Read More…
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Students feel safe, included, and necessary if their voice is valued through patient and active listening. As we work toward cultivating a classroom community that validates students’ needs for belonging Read More…
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Students’ voices and perspectives can only be amplified in our classrooms once students feel safe to express themselves. Displays describing classrooms as “safe spaces” are becoming more and more common, Read More…
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Responsive Advisory Meeting provides an effective and helpful structure for middle school teachers who are looking for opportunities to empower their students to be assertive and use their voices in Read More…
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  Welcoming All Voices in the Classroom How can we encourage all our students to communicate and participate in school each day? How can we be culturally responsive with the Read More…
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  A new book from CRS Publishing, Make Learning Meaningful: How to Leverage the Brain’s Natural Learning Cycle in K–8 Classrooms, offers a brain-based approach to sustaining student engagement and Read More…
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  In Conversation with Wisconsin Principal of the Year Tina Miller Tina Miller has been in education for 21 years – including the last five years as principal of Howe Read More…
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  All of us, students and teachers alike, approach the end of the school year with a wide variety of feelings. Just as teachers might be feeling burned out right Read More…
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The past year has added so many additional stressors on educators: virtual teaching, juggling teaching formats, and wearing masks, to name a few. Teachers must find ways to manage stress Read More…
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This time last year, I published an article titled “Building a Positive Community Through Reflection.” The article began with excitement for the start of a new year and a new Read More…
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As they step into the 2020-21 school year, teachers across the country are facing a wholly unique set of challenges brought on by the novel coronavirus, including the question of Read More…
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Natalie DiFusco-Funk is a third grade teacher at West Salem Elementary School in Salem, Virginia, and the 2016 Virginia state teacher of the year. Natalie earned both her bachelor’s degree Read More…
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Morning Meeting and closing circle are the bookends of the day. These powerful strategies ensure that students start and close their days with a sense of purpose and connectedness. These Read More…
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As you make the transition to online teaching, here are some tips, activity ideas, and resources to support your virtual classroom: Communicate to parents the supplies their children will need Read More…
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Over the weekend, a friend shared a video with me that you may have seen as well, as it has been widely shared on social media. The video was taken Read More…
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Ensuring that all our students are academically engaged is our highest priority as educators. We want to teach our students the skills needed to creatively engage with content while becoming Read More…
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Imagine walking into a family member’s home and seeing your photograph on the mantel, or being in class and hearing your professor use a cultural reference you connect with. These Read More…
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Welcome to the new Responsive Classroom website! For the past nine months, we’ve been working with the web development company Gecko Designs to completely re-imagine our online offerings. We’re thrilled Read More…
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2017: Cambridge, MA    Teachers Conference: Making Learning Meaningful November 3-4, 2017 Keynote: Trauma-Informed Teaching, Joel Ristuccia Joel M. Ristuccia is a certified School Psychologist with over thirty years experience Read More…
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The Responsive Classroom approach to teaching emphasizes academic, social, and emotional growth in a strong school community. We believe that how children learn is as important as what they learn, Read More…
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Public discipline systems—like Class Dojo, stoplights, moving clothespins along a colored card, writing names on the board—can certainly be appealing. Some days can feel as if they’re spent just disciplining, and public…
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Suddenly in the last few weeks, I can’t keep enough band aids stocked in my classroom. It seems like every time I look over, I see one of my students putting a…
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Children learn a great deal, academically and socially, by collaborating—working together toward common goals. A good way to help students begin developing collaboration skills is by teaching them how to Read More…
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