One-day professional development workshops are open for registration!
SEL professional development for the whole school or entire district at one time in one place!
Responsive Classroom is a CASEL SELect Program!
  • Register
  • Login
  • Subscribe
0
Responsive Classroom logo
  • About
    • Who We Are
      • About RC
      • About SEL
    • What We Do
      • Principles & Practices
      • Center for Responsive Schools
      • Research
      • RC in Action
      • Build Connections
  • Professional Development
    • On-Site ServicesBring Responsive Classroom training to your school!
    • Four-Day CoursesEnroll in the core and advanced courses for educators.
    • One-Day WorkshopsLearn more about one-day workshops on a range of topics.
    • WebinarsRegister for an upcoming webinar and access our free recording library.
  • Resources
    • For Educators
      • Articles
      • Downloadables
      • Videos
      • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
      • Teacher Beliefs
    • For Leaders
      • Schoolwide Responsive Classroom
      • Kaleidoscope Observation Tool
      • Consultant Observation & Feedback
      • Quick Coaching Guides
      • Professional Development
  • Articles
  • Shop
  • About
    • About RC
    • About SEL
    • Principles & Practices
    • Center for Responsive Schools
  • Professional Development
    • On-Site Services
    • Four-Day Courses
    • One-Day Workshops
    • Webinars
  • Resources
    • Articles
    • Downloadables
    • Videos
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
    • Teacher Beliefs
    • Schoolwide Responsive Classroom
    • Kaleidoscope Observation Tool
    • Consultant Observation & Feedback
    • Quick Coaching Guides
    • Professional Development
  • Articles
  • Shop
Register Now
Already Registered? Login
facebook-yellow twitter-yellow instagram-yellow pinterest-yellow youtube-yellow

Articles

Ten Ways to Set Up Your New Classroom for Success, Literally!

The physical space of the classroom plays a significant role in both the culture and community of your learning environment. In fact, I consider the space to be a third teacher, alongside the students and myself. Classroom space is most effective when it invites and encourages learning: bookshelves invite readers…
Continue Reading
Aug 19 2022

Empowering Educators to Get to Know Their Students: A Conversation with Authors Andy Moral and Heather Young

  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…
Continue Reading
Sep 24 2021

Increase Student Engagement with Your Lesson Design

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,…
Continue Reading
Nov 20 2020
Virtual Learning

Tips, Activity Ideas, and Resources for Virtual 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…
Continue Reading
Mar 27 2020
organized classroom totes

Classroom Organization: Assess How It’s Going

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…
Continue Reading
Sep 23 2019
Organized classroom

Creating a Place for Learning

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…
Continue Reading
Sep 17 2019
Challenge is a part of learning

Challenge Is a Part of Learning

“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…
Continue Reading
Apr 03 2019
Clearing the Way for New Growth

Clearing the Way for New Growth

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…
Continue Reading
Mar 07 2019
This Room Was Made for You and Me

This Room Was Made for You and Me

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,…
Continue Reading
Jun 20 2018

Is Your Classroom Organized for Learning?

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…
Continue Reading
Jun 15 2016
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Keeping Rules Front and Center During the Winter Slump

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…
Continue Reading
Feb 05 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Our Classroom Library: Reflections

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…
Continue Reading
Nov 15 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Building Our Classroom Library

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…
Continue Reading
Oct 16 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Whose Classroom Is It?

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…
Continue Reading
Oct 08 2013

Ask Yourself Why

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…
Continue Reading
Aug 06 2013

Classroom Display Ideas

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…
Continue Reading
Aug 29 2012

Classroom Jobs

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…
Continue Reading
Aug 23 2012

If Classroom Walls Could Talk

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…
Continue Reading
May 24 2012

Asking the Right Questions

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…
Continue Reading
Jan 24 2012

Decluttering Starts Now!

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…
Continue Reading
Jun 15 2011

A Comfortable Way to Work

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…
Continue Reading
Nov 03 2010

Displaying Student Work

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…
Continue Reading
Aug 18 2010

Success with Signals

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…
Continue Reading
Aug 12 2010

Classroom Connections

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."…
Continue Reading
Aug 01 2010

Furniture for the Classroom

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…
Continue Reading
Jul 12 2010

Community Supplies

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…
Continue Reading
Jul 06 2010

How do you manage to have private conversations with students?

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…
Continue Reading
Nov 01 2008

Categories

Classroom Management & Discipline
Positive Community
Whole School
Teacher Language
Morning Meeting
First Weeks of School
Engaging Academics
Energizers & Activities
Positive Language
Families
Special Times in the Year
SEL Skills
1 2 Next »

Registration is open for one-day workshops.

Learn More
footer logo
facebook-yellow twitter-yellow instagram-yellow pinterest-yellow youtube-yellow

© 2023 Responsive Classroom. All rights reserved.

Website by Gecko Designs
  • Contact Us
  • Download Catalog
  • Funding
  • Cancellation Policy
  • Work for CRS
  • Terms of Use
  • FAQ

Pin It on Pinterest