At the start of the school year, as new classroom communities are forming, teachers begin planning ways to connect and form relationships with new students. By the middle of the Read More…
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FEB
01
2004
Child Development
Question:What are your goals in sharing knowledge about child development with students’ families, and how do you go about it?
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OCT
06
2023
Singing with Children: Tips for Teachers
I remember singing along with friends in my elementary school days. Teachers and students together began each day with singing. We learned about music from our music teacher, but we sang everywhere,…
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JAN
09
2018
Know Your Students: Developmentally Responsive Planning
Knowing the students in your class happens in different ways for different teachers. A middle school teacher who sees 150 adolescents for one subject, 45 minutes a day will likely Read More…
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FEB
03
2015
Lively Learning for Professional Development
With increasing demands to meet rigorous curriculum standards and improve the quality of instruction, efficient, productive professional development (PD) and staff meetings are more critical than ever. Too often, though, these sessions…
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APR
16
2013
Naming What Children Can Do
Mr. Park's fourth grade class was the most impulsive and squirmy group of children he'd ever taught. Children speaking out of turn, talking to neighbors, playing with small objects, or making odd…
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FEB
14
2013
Why Do Children Act Silly or Show Off?
Sometimes, we forget that the children we teach are just that—children. Humor, silliness, playfulness, and showing off are hallmarks of childhood, and we should expect to experience some at every grade.
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SEP
29
2011
Invisible Children
Are there invisible children at your school? A recent series of comments on the Responsive Classroom Facebook page got me thinking again about how many children go through their school days feeling…
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NOV
01
2006
Cooperative Games Children Love
Question: What's one way you've refashioned a competitive game to make it more cooperative and still fun?
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NOV
01
2004
Lunch Staff Learn Communication Techniques to Help Children Improve Behavior
“They’re fine when they’re with me. But when they step outside the walls of my classroom, their behavior falls apart,” says a fifth grade teacher. It’s a common lament. Many teachers have…
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MAY
04
2021
Responding to Learning Loss
In June 2020, the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company released “COVID-19 and Student Learning in the United States” a report that outlined the alarming potential impact of school closures Read More…
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DEC
04
2019
Check the Boxes of Self-Reflection
Our beliefs drive our actions and the results of our actions reinforce our beliefs. When we endeavor to change our actions, often we focus on the relationship between our actions Read More…
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Yardsticks Guides
Share Yardsticks Guides with families at open houses, teacher conferences, and back-to-school nights and keep one on hand in the classroom for quick and easy reference.
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Yardsticks Guides: Elementary (Gr. K-6) Sample Pack
The Elementary Sample Pack includes Yardsticks Guides for grades K-6. Share Yardsticks Guides with families at open houses, teacher conferences, and back-to-school nights and keep one on hand in the classroom for…
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Yardsticks Guides: Middle School (Gr. 5-8) Sample Pack
The Middle School sample pack includes one of each Yardsticks Guide in the Middle School grade range. Share Yardsticks Guides with families at open houses, teacher conferences, and back-to-school nights and keep…
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APR
29
2016
Responsive Classroom for Middle School
With our Middle School approach we apply the defining characteristics of Responsive Classroom--developmental responsiveness, engaging academics, positive community, and effective management--to the unique needs of young adolescents, with the goal of promoting…
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Leadership Conference Sessions
Monday, November 12th Block 1 Full Block Sessions (2 hours) Session 1.0 | 9:30 am – 11:30 am Impacts of Trauma: How Responsive Classroom Practices Support Read More…
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Teachers Conference Sessions
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…
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DEC
14
2012
SOAR Schools
At SOAR, a network of public charter schools in Northeast Denver, Responsive Classroom practices are embedded in the daily life of schools, and the approach itself is integrated into the network's core…
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FEB
23
2011
Time-Out: Avoiding the Punishment Trap
May 2002Question:I have a dilemma about time-out. I tell my students that time-out is not a punishment, but I know it can feel like punishment when I send them to time-out for…
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NOV
01
2007
On Turning Seven
One recent January, I noticed something odd each time my class of first graders settled into their writing workshop tasks: A handful of children had begun writing with tiny, tiny letters. "You…
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NOV
01
2006
Taking the Responsive Classroom Approach Schoolwide
At a time when many policy makers are concerned primarily with children's cognitive development and how they do on standardized tests, educators from around the country gathered in Amherst, Massachusetts, to reaffirm…
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NOV
01
2005
Schoolwide Rules Creation
Sheffield Elementary, a grade 3–6 school in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, faced a challenge familiar to many educators: how to develop a more consistent approach to discipline from classroom to classroom and in…
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AUG
01
2003
Nice Work
As first appeared in Education Week, April 30, 2003. Adapted and reprinted with permission.The children in Jessica Kimmel's fifth grade class at Hyde Elementary School in Washington, DC, are gathered in a…
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OCT
02
2023
Movement Activities That Help Learners of Every Age Refocus
An increase in wiggles and whispers or holes torn in papers from too much erasing can be important clues that your students are beginning to reach their individual or developmental Read More…
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Tina Darling
Tina Darling serves as an assistant principal at the Mason Early Childhood Center in Mason, Ohio. During her 18 years in education, she has served as a kindergarten teacher, learning Read More…
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JUL
14
2023
Connecting With New Families Early in the School Year
Although it is summer break, it is never too early to begin forming relationships with your new families. Caregivers and children alike have anxiety about the uncertainty of a new Read More…
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