The end of the school year is always an exciting time—full of opportunities to celebrate and reflect. The students we met in August and September have grown in innumerable ways—they’ve Read More »
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MAY
13
2022
Pause, Ponder, and Reflect: Six Ways to Celebrate School Year Success
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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MAY
06
2022
Five Ways to End the School Year With Joy!
The end of the school year is approaching, and with it comes a flood of thoughts and emotions, from relief to reflection to anticipation of summer’s promise of rest. One Read More…
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MAR
04
2022
In Celebration of Teachers
Most people can recall at least one instance in which a teacher showed caring and kindness toward them at just the right moment in their lives. For me, it was Read More…
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NOV
12
2021
How Have We Reimagined Teaching, Leading, and Communicating in our Schools?
Recently there has been discussion in our education ranks about how students have not had an uninterrupted school year for over eighteen months. The disruption started at the end of Read More…
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SEP
03
2021
Meaningful Learning Through the Natural Learning Cycle
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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JUN
11
2021
Decades from Now, What Will Be the Story You Tell?
I recently had the opportunity to reconnect with educators I worked with at the school where I began my teaching career. Many of them came straight from productive days in Read More…
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MAY
14
2021
Growing from Challenges—Ending the Year on a Positive Note
There is no other way to say it—this school year has been full of unique challenges and demanding questions. Whether you have been teaching remotely, in-person with social distancing, or Read More…
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MAR
31
2021
Sustaining Safety, Joy, and Challenge for Students with Diverse Learning Needs
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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NOV
20
2020
Using Social Interaction to Engage Students
Written by Sarah Scavone At this point in the school year, we have spent a great deal of time intentionally building our learning community. The strong relationships we build with Read More…
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DEC
10
2019
Rediscovering the Power of Reflection
There are days when, as educators, so many tasks are vying for our attention that our to-do lists feel endless. During these hectic days, reflection — a key piece of Read More…
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OCT
20
2019
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes: Re-establishing Balance in Your Classroom
With the changes in fall weather outside, the weather inside the classroom is likely changing too. As a result, teachers often find themselves responding to misbehavior more than they did Read More…
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JUN
03
2019
The End of the School Year: A Time to Pause and Celebrate Successes
The walls of the classroom look emptier than they looked a month ago and a few remnants of the presence of students remain: a pencil here or a sticky note Read More…
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APR
25
2019
Six Ways to Celebrate Poetry Month in the Classroom
Did you know that according to poets.org, National Poetry Month is actually the biggest literary celebration in the world? It’s never too early to start fostering a love of the Read More…
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DEC
26
2018
Healthy Teachers Make Healthy Classrooms
Responsive Classroom Consulting Teachers Joe Tilley, Luke Mason, Jenny Spero, and Ramona McCullough, and Professional Development Designer Michelle Gill weigh in on the importance of self-care. You already know Read More…
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OCT
25
2018
Restoring Trust After Bullying
We do our best to create positive learning communities and stop bullying before it starts, but when bullying has already happened, how do you repair the classroom community? We asked Read More…
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JUL
26
2018
What Are Your Hopes?
As we prepare for our upcoming Teachers and Leadership Conferences, we’ve been thinking a lot about hope. Students’ hopes and dreams are, of course, an integral part of the beginning Read More…
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MAR
22
2018
It’s Time to Reconnect
Helping students build relationships with each other is a key to creating an optimal learning environment. Stronger bonds mean students will be less likely to be unkind, to exclude others, Read More…
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DEC
21
2017
The Natural Learning Cycle
It’s the perfect time of year to pause and reflect on your personal teaching and learning goals—the hopes and dreams you set when school began. First, let’s take a step Read More…
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OCT
24
2017
What is Quiet Time?
Consider the energy and intensity that often accompany the middle of the day. Lunch and recess provide students with opportunities to run, play, eat, and socialize, and teachers often see Read More…
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OCT
12
2017
Stop Bullying Before It Starts
National Bullying Prevention Month is an opportunity to reflect on a serious problem that not only deprives students of a joyful learning environment, but can have toxic effects on the recipient that…
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JUL
20
2017
Getting Started with Responsive Classroom
No matter where in the year you are, when you’re feeling ready to start using the Responsive Classroom approach, that’s the right time to begin! But where do you start? “It’s all…
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OCT
05
2016
Self-Assessment and Goal Setting Go Hand in Hand
When built into daily schoolwork, goal-focused self-assessment fosters academic achievement by helping students develop lifelong skills.
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MAR
14
2016
Breathe Life into Learning with Engaging Academics
Building the characteristics of engaging academics into lessons helps students do rigorous learning in a dynamic way. Students not only engage with and enjoy their learning, but are more willing to tackle…
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NOV
03
2015
Our Classroom Walls
During the school day we spend most of our time in our classroom and so do twenty to thirty students (give or take a few!). Many of us feel that Read More…
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OCT
08
2013
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…
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AUG
05
2013
Envisioning Your Classroom
I started setting up my classroom a few days ago, and of course I was thinking about the first days of school, but what really guided my decisions was a vision of…
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