Independent Practice in the Middle School Classroom

January 28, 2022 Categories: Academic Choice / Middle School

Independent practice is a new Responsive Classroom strategy for introducing concepts and skills to middle school students by creating opportunities for them to interactively explore the content through hands-on learning. Read More »
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JAN

21

2022

Three Activities That Bring Students’ Lives and Interests Into the Classroom

Students feel safe, included, and necessary if their voice is valued through patient and active listening. As we work toward cultivating a classroom community that validates students’ needs for belonging Read More…
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JAN

14

2022

Three Ways to Cultivate Classrooms Where Student’s Voices Are Heard and Valued

Students’ voices and perspectives can only be amplified in our classrooms once students feel safe to express themselves. Displays describing classrooms as “safe spaces” are becoming more and more common, Read More…
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JAN

07

2022

Five Ways You Can Use Responsive Advisory Meeting to Help Students Find their Voice in the Classroom

Responsive Advisory Meeting provides an effective and helpful structure for middle school teachers who are looking for opportunities to empower their students to be assertive and use their voices in Read More…
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SEP

24

2021

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 Read More…
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SEP

23

2021

Peanut Butter, Grape Jelly Song

As seen in The First Six Weeks of School, 2nd edition! “Peanut Butter, Grape Jelly” Peanut butter, grape jelly, peanut butter, jam Peanut butter, grape jelly, peanut butter, jam Read More…
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SEP

17

2021

Empowering Adults to Support Each Other at the Beginning of a New School Year: A Conversation with Authors Emily Parrelli and Lisa Dewey Wells

Empowering Adults to Support Each Other at the Beginning of a New School Year: A Conversation with Authors Emily Parrelli and Lisa Dewey Wells Emily Parrelli and Lisa 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

18

2021

Learning Gains, Reflective Practices, and Looking Ahead: A Conversation About Teaching Middle School During a Pandemic

Jean Holenko is a Responsive Classroom consulting teacher in her 27th year of teaching. She has been using the Responsive Classroom approach with students since 2001 and has been sharing Read More…
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JAN

27

2021

Using the Responsive Advisory Meeting for Self-Reflection

Early in the morning, as I am getting ready to go teach, I take a moment to look in the mirror and ensure I’m ready for the day. I make Read More…
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SEP

22

2020

Using Interactive Modeling to Create Consistency in a Changeable Situation

As they step into the 2020-21 school year, teachers across the country are facing a wholly unique set of challenges brought on by the novel coronavirus, including the question of Read More…
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SEP

17

2020

Creating Space for Students to Discuss Social Issues

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 Read More…
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AUG

20

2020

American School of Bombay Named International School to Watch

In early 2018 I presented my first Responsive Classroom course at the American School of Bombay (ASB) in Mumbai, India. This independent day school follows a college preparatory curriculum that supports an Read More…
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MAR

31

2020

Providing A Sense of Normalcy Amidst Uncertainty

Morning Meeting and closing circle are the bookends of the day. These powerful strategies ensure that students start and close their days with a sense of purpose and connectedness. These Read More…
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MAR

19

2020

Maintaining a Positive Community Remotely

Over the weekend, a friend shared a video with me that you may have seen as well, as it has been widely shared on social media. The video was taken Read More…
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JAN

01

2020

Goal Setting: An Ongoing Method for Channeling New Energy

Every January 1st, we all receive a chance to start fresh. While many of us set a New Year’s resolution, often we only manage to stick with it for a week Read More…
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OCT

25

2019

Randolph Middle School is School to Watch New Jersey 2019

In March 2019, Randolph Middle School was recognized as a School to Watch by New Jersey Schools to Watch. Randolph Middle School is the tenth school in the state Read More…
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SEP

03

2019

Setting Goals, Hopes, and Dreams: Connecting Students to the Community

Watching a student show up to school each day excited to learn is one of the great joys of teaching. We give our students that spark when we help them Read More…
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JAN

02

2019

Highlighting Academics with Belonging, Significance and Fun

“When we start the day with everyone together, face to face, welcoming each person, sharing news, listening to individual voices, and communicating as a caring group, we make several powerful Read More…
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DEC

20

2018

2018 – The Responsive Classroom SEL Year in Review

It’s been another great year at Center for Responsive Schools! We are grateful for the opportunity to continue sharing the Responsive Classroom approach to Social-Emotional Learning with educators around the 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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SEP

21

2018

Creating Lasting Change

Michelle Gill is a professional development designer at the Center for Responsive Schools, and former educator at Garfield Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia. During her time at Garfield, she 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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APR

12

2018

Setting a Vision for the Future

As the bustle of the after-school and after-work hours wound down for the night, I found my eight-year-old daughter in tears in her bedroom. She was hunched over her sketch 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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NOV

14

2017

What is Responsive Advisory Meeting?

Responsive Advisory Meeting serves as an anchor for adolescents, a predictable routine that students need more than ever as they undergo rapid physical, emotional, and intellectual changes. Just as Morning Meeting helps…
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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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