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Articles

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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Jul 20 2017

Four Powerful Ways You Can Shift Your Teacher Language to Welcome Students

Starting the Year With Effective Teacher Language The skillful use of teacher language has the power to help create and maintain a positive, encouraging, and respectful classroom community, especially in those first weeks when there is so much to model, explain, and encourage! When we focus on using positive language,…
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Sep 02 2022

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 on learning. The report’s results were based on statistical models for school reopening timelines given three different epidemiological scenarios. In…
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May 04 2021
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Taking Positive Language Schoolwide

Positive language is a powerful tool for building a calm, safe school climate. The words we use when we talk to students, the intention behind these words, and how we deliver them shape the way students see themselves and their school. When all school adults—not just classroom teachers—use positive language,…
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Oct 01 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

How’s Your Reinforcing Language?

Once June arrives, it’s tempting to focus on the more leisurely days ahead. That’s important to do—we all need rest and rejuvenation. But before you begin that well-earned downtime, pause for a moment to bring closure to your year of teaching—to consider what went well in your teaching and how…
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Jun 04 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

What’s in a Name?

How do you refer to the students in your class when addressing them? At first glance, this may seem like a trivial issue; but consider how many times throughout the day we speak to students to get their attention. The patterns we establish for naming our class will be repeated…
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Sep 25 2014
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Naming What Children Can Do

Mr. Park's fourth grade class was the most impulsive and squirmy group of children he'd ever taught. Children speaking out of turn, talking to neighbors, playing with small objects, or making odd noises continually interrupted class discussions. Despite much time spent devising and discussing rules for group meeting behavior, the…
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Apr 16 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Want Positive Behavior? Use Positive Language

"Hello, Tasha! How's your new baby brother?" the principal says as she greets a student in the hallway during morning arrival. Just then a teacher comments to a student at his classroom door, "Good morning, Aliya. It's so nice to see you. I noticed that you remembered to walk quietly…
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Apr 10 2012

Use Reinforcing Language to Keep the Learning Going

Often, when I talk with teachers who have started trying out Responsive Classroom practices such as interactive modeling, they reflect, “Interactive modeling worked great for a while. My students did really well with whatever I modeled and they practiced. Then, things slowly started to slide.” Of course, I’m not in…
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Nov 30 2009

The Power of Teacher Language

As the children come back from lunch, they are slow to quiet down. Calmly, the teacher rings a chime, a well-rehearsed signal for attention. She waits a moment until the last child is settled, quiet, and looking at her, then says in a conversational voice, “I see that everyone is…
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Nov 01 2009

Watching and Learning

Question: In The Power of Our Words and The First Six Weeks of School, you write about how important it is for teachers to get to know their students at the beginning of the year. One technique you recommend is observation. Why is this so important? Paula: Observing children is…
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Aug 01 2008

Getting Past “I Can’t”

When I taught fourth grade, I introduced two-digit multiplication around the middle of each year. This would always stump a number of students who had breezed through math up until that point. Patty was a classic example. Frustrated when her initial attempts at this new level of math failed, she…
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Feb 01 2008
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Open-Ended Questions

Language is one of the most powerful tools available to teachers. We can use language to stretch children’s curiosity, reasoning ability, creativity, and independence. One effective way to do this is by asking open-ended questions—those with no single right or wrong answer. Instead of predictable answers, open-ended questions elicit fresh…
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Feb 01 2007

Words That Encourage Positive Behavior

Question: What's one way you use language to encourage positive behavior? A: When I comment on children’s work, I try to be very specific. Describing what I notice — “You took your time getting this finished, and it’s extremely neat” or “I remember when writing was a struggle for you.…
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Feb 01 2007

The Power of Language

A teacher's language is a powerful teaching tool. Our language can build children up or tear them down. It can model respectful and caring social interactions or just the opposite. Effective language encourages and supports students in their learning, rather than criticizing them for their mistakes. As child psychologist Rudolf…
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Nov 01 2003

Powerful Words

In 1993, after teaching for twenty years, I still loved my chosen profession, but I often felt frustrated. It seemed as though I spent an inordinate amount of time on classroom management and discipline. My approach at that time was basically authoritarian, and language was one of my primary tools.…
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Aug 01 2002

Teaching Children to Care

Editor's note: Teaching Children to Care by Ruth Sidney Charney, first published in 1991, has transformed many teachers' practices. This well-loved book has sold over 70,000 copies and is widely used as a textbook in teacher education. This is an adapted excerpt from the 2nd edition, which was published in…
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Apr 01 2002

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