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What is Responsive Advisory Meeting?

Middle Schoolers Need 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. Advisory provides a space and structure for teachers to support middle school students, both individually and as…

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Improving Academic Outcomes Using the Responsive Classroom Approach

The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (often referred to as The Nation’s Report Card) was recently released. The results made clear that today’s students are struggling with both reading and math, as there were noticeable declines in both subjects compared to previous report cards. How Social and Emotional…

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Everything You Need to Know to Use Responsive Advisory Meeting at the Start of the School Year

Responsive Advisory Meeting is a core component of the Responsive Classroom approach to middle school because it provides middle school students with the opportunity to explore new interests, practice new skills, and strengthen their social and emotional competencies, all while developing positive relationships with their peers and with a caring…

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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 the classroom and in their communities. To learn more about how Responsive Advisory Meeting can be used to support students…

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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 sure that my outfit matches and that there isn’t any food stuck in my teeth. And I take a moment…

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MM and CC online

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 time-honored routines and rituals can provide a sense of normalcy for both teachers and students. Many educators have been engaging…

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Maintaining a Positive Community Remotely

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 in a neighborhood in Naples, Italy, a country that is currently under national quarantine. Despite that restriction, the residents of…

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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 statements. We say that every person counts. We say that the way we interact individually and as a group is…

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Restoring Trust After Bullying

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 Responsive Classroom teachers what their strategies are for rebuilding safety and trust in the classroom, and here’s what they had…

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Creating Lasting Change

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 was part of a transformative Responsive Classroom initiative that established a climate of growth, possibility, and high achievement. We asked…

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Hopeful teacher and students

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 of the school year. In addition to providing students with a model for setting and achieving goals, having students name…

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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, to call each other names, or to stand by in the face of mean behavior toward a classmate. The safer…

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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 extend into adulthood, such as difficulty sleeping, anxiety, and depression. While teachers and other adults who work in…

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Getting Started with Responsive Classroom

Getting Started with Responsive Classroom

It’s July. You’re in that sweet spot between packing up your classroom for the summer and unpacking it again for the new school year. You’re not ready for summer to end, but you’ve just gotten back from your first Responsive Classroom four-day course and you find yourself thinking about your…

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Helping Students Give Effective Compliments

Jane, a fourth grade teacher, was reviewing compliments her students had given one another on a recently completed set of projects. On sticky notes, the students had written things like “It looks like you put a lot of time and effort into your project,” “I noticed you put very detailed…

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Positive Community

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Teacher Language

Morning Meeting

First Weeks of School

Engaging Academics

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Positive Language

Special Times in the Year

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