Articles

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 limit for focus or endurance. Responsive Classroom teachers are always on the lookout for signs their students may be in…

There is such a sense of potential that comes with the freshly sharpened pencils, organized supplies, and stacks of books waiting to be handed out at the start of a new school year. But the strongest feeling of possibility by far comes from your list of new students. The best…

Traditions feel good. It is why we sing songs that we know well, why we go to the same store each week, and why we drive to work the same way even when we know there will be traffic. Similarly, there are many things we do in schools today because…

  Early in the school year, all educators are faced with the same important task: getting to know their new students. To learn some effective strategies for making connections with students at the beginning of a new school year, Responsive Classroom sat down with Andy Moral and Heather Young. Andy…

  Social distancing. Hybrid classrooms. Remote learning. These are among the many phrases that, in the past year, have become central to every educator’s vocabulary. But of the many terms that have become commonplace for educators since 2020, not all of them are new. While learning loss is a dilemma…

  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 now, it is normal for kids to be exhausted and disengaged in the final stretch. The end of the year…

Along with new structures and strategies teachers are employing in response to the multitude of changes to their teaching environments, the beginning of this school year is defined by the conversations across the country regarding social justice issues. Middle school students are going to want to have rich, deep conversations…

A new calendar year provides the ideal occasion to reflect on who our students are now compared to who they were at the beginning of the year. Depending on how early the school year begins, some of us have been with our students for almost six months! In that time,…

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 develop different kinds of relationships with their students than a first grade teacher who has one class of 22 six-…

You’re a master of flexibility, an expert gear-switcher, and you know and teach every student at your school. You’re a Special Area Teacher. And you’re amazing! Being a Special Area Teacher means that, on any given day, your lesson plans are meeting the needs of students in vastly different physical,…

Morning Meeting is a powerful way to start the day. It meets students’ needs for belonging, significance, and fun; provides students with an opportunity to practice social and emotional skills; and prepares students for the days’ learning. As a classroom teacher I enjoyed Morning Meeting with my students and looked…

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 band aid on a hangnail, paper cut, or other minuscule hurt. "My eye hurts," "my leg aches," and…

Fourteen-year-olds seem to have mostly gotten used to the idea of being teenagers. Their moods are not as mercurial as at thirteen. They are somewhat more comfortable in their own skin and changing bodies. They seem to communicate more easily with each other. Fourteens’ significant positive attribute is a growing…

The thirteen-year-old has lots of positive attributes to help navigate the first of these teen years. At the forefront are a keen sense of humor and a sense of silliness that makes for good fun in school hallways, on the bus. Both boys and girls are undergoing significant physical changes…

As a kid, I was fascinated by magnets: the force they exert, the way they could push and pull through tables, windows, and papers . . . sometimes without even touching! Now as an adult and a teacher, I've been thinking about those pairs of students I've taught whose attraction…

Natasha hurls a block when her carefully constructed tower falls down. Jose's flower drawing fails to resemble what he envisioned. Ripping up his paper, he stomps away. Abby tells Zara she can't join a math game. Zara scowls and shoves her classmate. Welcome to a fairly typical afternoon in my…

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. Just for the fun of it Children often act silly or show off because these are ways to have…

Closer to teenagers than to middle childhood, twelves are tweens. They have enormous positive energy for independent and group endeavors, whether at school, in sports, or in after-school activities. Twelves generally demonstrate confidence and friendliness in their approach and responses to adults outside the home. They're eager to grow in…

Powerful advocates and strong believers, elevens are passionate about their ideas and opinions, allegiances and sense of justice. They’re devoted to classmates and peer groups, and the social negotiations surrounding cliques (which often peak at eleven and twelve) can be positive practice for teenage and young adult affiliation and attachment.…

Double-digit kids, tens can take on almost anything and love almost every minute of it. It didn’t take me long as a teacher to latch onto the understanding that if you want to teach in “middle childhood,” there is no better age than ten, no better grade than fifth. Children…

Nine is not always an easy age, but it is an age of growing social awareness, of intellectual stretching, wondering, and clamoring. These are the “ing” kids: the kids who are doing, questioning, doubting, arguing . . . sometimes seemingly just for the sake of it, with no clear goals…

One of my favorite times of the school year is right after the winter holiday break. That first week back reminds me of the first days of school—many students come in wearing new clothing and with a mix of nervousness, happiness, and excitement about being back in school. It is…

When eight-year-olds wake up in the morning, new plans for adventure are often percolating before their feet hit the floor. These plans usually involve a friend, or better yet, a group of friends. They may be as simple as rounding up a game of kickball or as complicated as starting…

Sevens notice everything . . . in detail. Their drawing, writing, and play construction is characteristically small, reduced to the microcosm, miniaturized to an intricate and controllable world they're trying to make perfect. Dioramas fit in shoeboxes, providing room enough for furniture, rugs, animals, vases with tiny flowers, people smaller…

No one is more industrious than a six-year-old. Sixes take on every activity with unbridled enthusiasm. Work is completed in no time at all, though quantity, not quality, is the measure that counts for them—along with trying new things. Being first to read a new book, spell a new word,…

Have you noticed an age shift in your class now that it's the middle of the year? It always seemed to me that when we'd come back from February vacation, my students had all grown an inch, seen some new movie that changed the lingo in the room, and were…