Asking the Right Questions

January 24, 2012 Categories: Classroom Management & Discipline / Classroom Organization

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.
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JAN

05

2012

Try This: Y-Charts for Revisiting Rules

Are you looking for a strategy to help your students navigate particularly tricky times of day, such as transitions, recess, lunch, or dismissal time? Try making a "looks like/sounds like" chart (often…
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NOV

16

2011

Need a New Mattress?

At this time of year, people who work in schools often start feeling a bit frayed. Now that the school year is well underway, the "honeymoon period" of the first weeks is…
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OCT

24

2011

Three Types of Logical Consequences

Teachers who use the Responsive Classroom approach learn a variety of strategies for responding to misbehavior; logical consequences are one of those strategies. Depending on the child and the situation, teachers might…
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OCT

24

2011

Responding to Misbehavior

No matter how carefully we teach positive behavior, students will still sometimes misbehave. They'll forget the rules, their impulses will win out over their self-control, or they'll just need to test where…
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SEP

02

2011

Punishment vs. Logical Consequences

The use of logical consequences is one part of an approach to discipline used in the Responsive Classroom. It’s a powerful way of responding to children’s misbehavior that not only is effective…
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JUL

25

2011

Downtime

By mid-July, my two children had finally settled into summer. I knew when I got downstairs one morning and saw my nine-year-old son, Ethan, coming through the back door in his bathrobe…
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JUL

01

2011

Mudge

How can you create a powerful sense of community in your classroom? With the leisure of summer, we can ponder questions like this and plan ahead for next year.
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JUN

15

2011

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?…
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MAY

20

2011

Celebrating Friendship

Take time at the end of the school year to help children reflect on how they have worked to get to know each other, efforts they have made to be kind, and…
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MAY

18

2011

Reflecting on Hopes and Goals

As the school year winds down, how will your students reflect on the hopes, dreams, and goals they set for this year? Many books could inspire this sort of reflection, including those…
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MAY

18

2011

Read-Alouds for Remembering

How has your class grown this year? What acts of kindness have they done for each other? What have they learned? What do you hope they will remember? Children's books can be…
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APR

01

2011

Bringing the School Year to a Strong Finish

The end of the school year is an emotional time. By this time, many students (and teachers!) are eager for summer vacation, yet many children have mixed feelings about leaving the comforting…
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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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FEB

14

2011

A Real-Life Rules Story

I was sitting stock-still on the interstate in a rental car I needed to return before catching my flight home. As minutes ticked by the on the dashboard clock, I became increasingly…
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JAN

01

2011

Starting Over at Mid-Year

Last week on Facebook we asked, "What's your advice for someone who's taking over for another teacher in the middle of the year?" and you shared so many great ideas! Several people…
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DEC

06

2010

Holiday Celebrations

Winter holiday celebrations! They’re such a big part of American school life. But as our schools grow more diverse, traditional celebrations can leave some children and families feeling excluded or uncomfortable. Also,…
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NOV

29

2010

Interactive Modeling: Responding to a Signal

A step-by-step example of how it might look and sound for a teacher of older students to use interactive modeling. 1. Describe a positive behavior you will model “Sometimes when we’re having…
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NOV

29

2010

Keeping Routines Crisp

(This is one of a series of posts about reteaching everyday classroom routines, such as lining up or responding to the quiet signal.)Once you and your students have gotten classroom routines back…
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NOV

23

2010

Reteaching Routines

It's never too late to revisit or reteach any classroom routine. In fact, here's a story from the Responsive Classroom newsletter by a teacher who started her whole year over in November!
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NOV

22

2010

Why Wait?

Oddly enough, I have been thinking a lot about New Year's resolutions lately. Specifically, I think about how I can't wait for January so I can start getting back into a healthful…
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NOV

03

2010

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.…
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NOV

01

2010

Keep Learning Going During Holiday & Vacation Times

Suddenly, it seems like the class is falling apart. Classroom routines that were going smoothly just a few weeks ago now seem rough around the edges. More and more children are forgetting…
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NOV

01

2010

Welcoming Hannah

One November morning, I learned that Hannah, a transfer student, would join my third grade class the very next day. Feeling fortunate to have a little notice, I shared the news with…
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OCT

12

2010

Read-Alouds: Duck! Rabbit!

Before I moved to California, I had the pleasure of being part of a children’s book club—a group of adults who gathered together once a month to read and discuss children’s books.…
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SEP

01

2010

Who Goes First?

I often hear teachers tell students, "Don't worry about who's first—we're all going to the same place (or "going to do the same thing"), so it doesn't matter who's first." This reasoning…
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AUG

18

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:…
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