It might be hard to believe, but our elementary and middle school course presenters were once themselves Responsive Classroom beginners. In this installment of The Presenter’s Point of View, they Read More »
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JUL
08
2022
The Presenter’s Point of View: What is your favorite part of a Responsive Classroom course?
This summer, educators across the globe are beginning their Responsive Classroom journey by attending one of our core courses for elementary or middle school. These transformative four-day courses would simply Read More…
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APR
22
2022
Words Matter How to Reflect, Correct, and Project, by Jenni Lee Groegler Pierson
Words Matter: How to Reflect, Correct, and Project We’ve all been there: that dreaded moment when words come out of your mouth before you have a chance to think Read More…
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APR
15
2022
Recover from Failure with a Dose of Self-Empathy, by Ramona McCullough
Recover from Failure with a Dose of Self-Empathy In my classroom, I encourage risk-taking and often reassure my students that making mistakes is an opportunity to learn. However, I do Read More…
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APR
01
2022
Relationships
Dr. Thomas L. Benson, a high school principal with twenty-six years of experience as an educator, shares the simple routines that create positive relationships between everyone in the classroom. Read More…
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MAR
25
2022
Valley of Voice
Teacher language can have a transformative effect not just on your students’ approach to learning, but on your relationship to teaching as well. In the poem below, Julie Kelly reflects Read More…
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MAR
11
2022
What Kind of Teacher Are You? A Question Revisited
Nine years ago, I wrote a short article to explain to myself what it meant to be a Responsive Classroom teacher (which you can read in its entirety below). Here Read More…
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NOV
05
2021
Apps That Grew My Responsive Classroom Practices Despite the Hurdles COVID Created
The past two years have undoubtedly shaken up the way I approach teaching. Beginning the 2020–2021 school year virtually produced many daunting questions. How could I build community? How could Read More…
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OCT
22
2021
Redefining Student Success
Traditions feel good. It is why we sing songs that we know well, why we go to the same store each week, and why we drive to work the same Read More…
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OCT
15
2021
The Power of Purposeful Assessment
Every educator had hoped to begin this school year in a more familiar fashion, but as the year kicks off, it is clear that we are still not even close Read More…
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OCT
01
2021
I’m Not Acting as Role Model, I’m Serving as a Role Model: A Conversation with Authors Julie Kelly and Kirsten Howard
Julie Kelly and Kirsten Howard are Responsive Classroom consulting teachers and contributing authors for the forthcoming Empowering Educators series (Julie worked on Empowering Educators for Grades 3, 4, 5; Kirsten Read More…
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MAY
04
2021
Responding to Learning Loss
In June 2020, the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company released “COVID-19 and Student Learning in the United States” a report that outlined the alarming potential impact of school closures Read More…
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MAR
09
2021
Self-Care Doesn’t Have to Wait Until After School!
The past year has added so many additional stressors on educators: virtual teaching, juggling teaching formats, and wearing masks, to name a few. Teachers must find ways to manage stress Read More…
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MAR
09
2021
Overcoming Learning Challenges with Envisioning Language
Recently, my third-grade class and I were reading books about learning challenges and the strategies characters used to overcome them. During our discussions about the books, I wanted to guide Read More…
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JAN
26
2021
Looking to the Future with Positive Teacher Language
As we turn the page to 2021, I find myself reflecting on the lessons I’ve learned and what I want to take with me into the new year. Throughout 2020, Read More…
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JAN
26
2021
What We Pay Attention to Grows
In March of 2020, just before widespread quarantine, I serendipitously attended a silent meditation retreat in the mountains of Tennessee. It was my first real introduction to the teachings of Read More…
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JUN
23
2020
Our Words Matter
Our students have experienced unprecedented changes in their daily routines and communities. The focused attention on racial injustice after George Floyd’s murder and calls for societal and governmental change at Read More…
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JUN
18
2020
More Grows in the Garden Than the Gardener Knows He Has Planted
I once observed a classroom where a teacher attempted to gain the attention of a classroom actively and excitedly engaging in a science experiment by using her loudest voice possible Read More…
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APR
20
2020
Supporting Students’ Self-Care Virtually
It’s important to practice self-care, but doing so on a regular basis can be challenging at the best of times! One way you can develop your own self-care practices, as Read More…
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DEC
16
2019
Use Envisioning Language and Goal Setting to Promote Student Reflection
Showing Students What Is Possible The language we use with students every day influences how they see themselves. Our words can shape students’ views of themselves years after our direct Read More…
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NOV
12
2019
Strengthening Students’ Speaking and Listening Skills
Having productive conversations requires students to listen deeply, reflect on what is said, express ideas clearly, sustain attention, ask insightful questions, debate respectfully, and develop comprehension of information taken in. Read More…
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SEP
05
2019
Preparing Students to Become Independent Learners using Routines & Procedures
It’s the start of a new year! Day one is either right around the corner or has just recently taken place. The beginning of the year is filled with so Read More…
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APR
03
2019
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 Read More…
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DEC
06
2018
Responding to Misbehavior with Empathy
Taking proactive steps to build a strong learning community, with practices like positive teacher language, interactive modeling, and investing students in rules through Hopes and Dreams, does a lot to Read More…
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MAY
10
2018
Our Actions Speak Louder Than Our Words
In 1991, Ruth Charney, co-founder of Responsive Classroom, wrote a book that impacted K-8 educators all over the world, Teaching Children to Care. A reflection of her 20-year teaching career 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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FEB
08
2018
Teaching Students to Speak Confidently
“As their teachers, we hold in our hearts our own hopes and dreams for [our students]. We want them to engage in academic rigor and to be ideamongers who contribute Read More…
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