Articles

  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…

Written by Kristen Vincent, Responsive Classroom Consulting Teacher Lesson design is about planning and structuring lessons in a way that engages students in learning, practicing, and applying academic content and skills. Well-designed, engaging lessons reduce misbehavior by keeping students focused on their learning. High-quality lessons communicate a purpose for learning,…

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 for at-home learning. Set up your digital classroom rules or at-home learning rules: send students home with the rules for…

Below are some areas that can help create the conditions for students to feel comfortable and ready to start their work of learning and building a positive classroom community.  Assessing your classroom organization will help create the optimal learning environment, where all students feel invited to challenge themselves academically and…

We all can think of stores that felt inviting and organized, places that created the optimal shopping experience. Classrooms, like stores, can be places where we frequently want to spend our time, or they can be places that are unpleasant. We want our classrooms to communicate to students: “This room…

“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 out during a recent school observation.  I tend to see a lot of these on walls during observations—words of wisdom…

Recently I was in a school conducting observations, and I noticed that all of the classrooms were picture-perfect. The decorations on the walls looked like an advertisement for a teacher store, and would make some avid pinners jealous! As I watched the students in the class work, gather supplies, and…

Children need a classroom environment they can understand and trust. They need to understand the routines and to know where to find things, they need uncluttered spaces to do their work, and they need clear, safe pathways for moving about. It’s essential that classrooms be well organized, predictable, and orderly,…

School’s over! As you clean tabletops, take down anchor charts, and sort supplies, pause and take a look around your classroom. Will you be leaving a space that worked well for most of the year’s learning activities, a space you happily anticipate returning to in the fall? Or did the…

Recently I noticed my first graders having more trouble than usual sticking to our classroom rules. Several possible explanations came to mind as I began to reflect: “Am I not doing something I should be doing, such as giving reinforcing feedback when I see the children following procedures? Am I…

I'm definitely doing this each year from now on! As the end of the first quarter of the school year rolled around, I reflected on the benefits I'd seen from involving students in building our classroom library and fully realized how amazing (and fun!) this project has been. I gave…

When my new third grade students saw our classroom library for the first time this year, all of the book baskets on the shelves were empty, and although the baskets were labeled "F" and "NF," I'd torn off all the other labels I'd made to categorize the books. I put…

One way the Responsive Classroom approach has changed my teaching is that I have learned to think of the classroom as a space that belongs to all of us, rather than as "my" space. In practice, what that means is that while I am still in charge (I am, after…

What's your vision for your classroom community this year? How do you want the room to look, sound, and feel once the first weeks of school are over? In my last post, I shared a scene that captures some elements of my vision for my own classroom. If you haven't…

Last spring, I encouraged you to take a good, hard look at your classroom displays and think about how, in the future, you might increase the emphasis on displaying student work and showcasing learning. Now, for those of you who are just getting started with a new class, it's time…

Monday mornings were especially exciting in my classroom because that's when students discovered what their weekly jobs would be. They would go straight to the classroom job chart and search for their name and position. Some were thrilled—the "veterinarians," who were responsible for caring for our pets especially so. Others…

Take a look at your classroom walls and displays. What do they say about you, your relationship with your class, and your view of teaching? Are your students guests in your room, or does the classroom feel like a space you share with them? Do the walls and displays show…

Three years ago, I noticed my first grade class having real difficulty putting away the materials for one of our workstations. Although these students usually followed the cleanup routines we'd developed and practiced for other stations, they would often leave words strewn about the poetry workstation. To set up this…

How much of the stuff that’s cluttering your classroom could be gone before school starts up again? Teachers keep all kinds of stuff we never use. Why do we keep these things? Lots of reasons: Scarcity of resources can turn us into hoarders. Or we engage in “someday” thinking, as…

I remember one third grader who really struggled with sitting still. If I’d required him to sit while he worked, it would have been really hard for him to get anything done. This child needed to move to stay focused—for instance, he’d choose to work on his math journal while…

In any classroom, displays should consist primarily of the children’s work, rather than teacher-made or store-bought pieces, no matter how beautiful those pieces might be. Displaying student work sends several important messages: As teachers, we value what students do. This is their classroom as much as ours. And in this…

Simple signals for attention—whether visual (a raised hand) or auditory (a chime, rain stick, or other pleasant-sounding instrument)—are an essential classroom management tool. When I was student teaching, one of my professors said he could tell if a teacher had good management skills by watching whether she could get her…

In my first couple of years teaching fourth grade, I was surprised by how much my students argued about who owned which supplies. "Nicole, can I borrow your black marker?" Carradine would ask. "No. My mom bought these for me." Carradine would push, "But you’re letting Rachel use your markers."…

Furniture takes up lots of room, so if you’re lucky enough to have some choice about how you furnish your classroom, you’ll want to choose carefully. Look for pieces that will be truly useful, give you as much space as possible for flexible instruction, and allow the children to move…

Just like adults, children of all ages need sufficient quantities of good-quality supplies if they're going to do their best work. At the start of the year, teachers (or schools) often give out lists of supplies for each family to purchase for their child. Many parents enjoy getting materials for…

A: With kindergartners, I do a lot of quick check-ins during class time, but when a longer conversation is needed, I use the quiet corner in our classroom. It's a small space set up with soft, comforting things (bean bag chair, stuffed animals)—specifically meant for children who need to calm…