Whole School

In my article, "School Gatherings: Build Community, Boost Learning," I talk about the power of school gatherings. Over the years I've taught in a variety of settings—and no matter what the setting, when children have the opportunity to come together with other children from their grade or school, they benefit…

During my thirty-nine-year teaching career, I’ve walked school hallways in five states and taught many students in public, private, and parochial settings. Over all those years, I’ve seen the power of group gatherings, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. In schools where those gatherings are purposeful, fun, and tied closely to…

Principal Dennis Copeland had one goal in mind when he decided to survey a group of 200 students in his school over a three-year period: “I wanted to show the impact of the Responsive Classroom approach on students’ attitudes about school. I knew from being a teacher and a principal…

Morale can be hard to define, but you know it when you see it. When you walk into a school and everything immediately feels calm, safe, respectful, rich with learning, you know you're standing in a school with high morale. That's exactly how you'd feel if you were to walk…

When principal Susan Mele arrived four years ago at Stewartsville Elementary School, the discipline was in chaos. More time was being spent on discipline than instruction; teachers were exhausted from dealing with inappropriate behaviors that negatively impacted instruction; students were rude to each other and didn't seem to care. Susan…

Last week, when the national news media picked up a story about a 2nd grader's idea for making recess work better at his school, Roundtown Elementary principal Matthew Miller contacted us right away. "I want you all to share in the excitement and celebrate this," he said, "because the idea…

Ms. Simpson signals for attention and waits a few seconds, until all students are looking at her, before explaining that today they'll be learning a reading strategy called "visualizing." Using second-grade-friendly language, she defines the new term and then demonstrates it by thinking aloud about what she sees in her…

A strong community and a student-centered focus have long been the heart of Hyde-Addison Elementary, a well-regarded public school in Washington, DC. Since Hyde-Addison began using Responsive Classroom practices in 1999, staff have credited the approach with helping them build a welcoming and inclusive community for their very diverse student…

Early in my career as a school leader, I learned a great lesson: that as a principal, I needed to help children learn the skills that would enable the behavior their teachers and I wanted to see. As a teacher, I'd used myriad proactive and reactive approaches to handle classroom…

Teachers and administrators at Kensington Avenue Magnet School view the Responsive Classroom approach as a foundation upon which they can build. "We look at each new initiative through a Responsive Classroom lens," says Sheree Nolley, a faculty member for twenty-three years and currently the school's Responsive Classroom coordinator. That mindset…

Research has confirmed it: Principals play a crucial role in teachers' use of Responsive Classroom practices. The study. A recently completed three-year study conducted by the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education looked at whether the Responsive Classroom approach improves student…

Like many educators these days, the teachers in my building have new initiatives added to our plates each year. We need (and want!) to collaborate as a faculty about them, but it's difficult for us to find time to meet as a group. At my school we've found a solution…

At SOAR, a network of public charter schools in Northeast Denver, Responsive Classroom practices are embedded in the daily life of schools, and the approach itself is integrated into the network's core elements and values. Schoolwide implementation of the Responsive Classroom approach was part of the plan from SOAR's inception.…

Teachers are encouraged to reach out early and often to their students' parents and families, and with good reason. If children are to succeed at school, teachers need to get to know and establish genuine partnerships with families. But what about school leaders? Shouldn't school leaders, too, be proactive in…

The school bus is a hot spot for bullying, one of the least supervised and least programmed parts of children's school day. With nothing to do and no one to stop them, children can get out of control and mean behavior can flourish on the bus. After the well-publicized event…

Summer camp was a big part of my childhood. When I think back to my experiences at sleep-away camp, I remember a clear line between the camp with an atmosphere of safety and kindness and the camp with an atmosphere of recklessness and cruelty. At the first camp, the counselors…

A few years ago, at dismissal time at Four Corners Elementary School in Greenfield, Massachusetts, 229 students in grades K through 5 would leave their classrooms simultaneously and head for the school's front door, where a bottleneck formed each day. School staff, recognizing that this situation often left children feeling…

The playground is a hot spot for bullying in schools. Often lightly supervised, recess takes place outside the structures and expectations of the classroom. It's a time when children try out mean behaviors such as teasing, exclusion, and intimidation, and as I've said before, when small acts of meanness goes…

Bus rides are often the least supervised part of children's school days. They are also a part of the day without structured activities. That's a terrible combination. No wonder we hear about and see so many examples of children bullying and being bullied on the bus. Elementary school teachers and…

Have you watched that video that shows middle school students on a school bus, bullying their bus monitor? I watched it a few days ago. The video is painful, even disgusting, but if you're wondering why people who are bullied don't stand up for themselves and put a stop to…

Garfield Elementary, a K–6 public school, began its Responsive Classroom initiative in 2005. Located in Fairfax County, the sixth-largest public school district in the U.S., Garfield is a Title I school with 360 students and 40 staff members. 53% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and breakfast,…

In my kindergarten classroom, there are two teachers: Pat Douglass and myself. We combined our classes two years ago by opening up the wall between our classrooms and merging them into one. Now we teach thirty-three students—the equivalent of two full classes—together, all day, every day. Co-teaching with another kindergarten…

Grafton Elementary School has 750 students in grades 3 to 5. With over 200 children at each grade level, it's easy for children to feel invisible, especially in spaces beyond the classroom, such as the hallways, cafeteria, and playground. This year, Grafton's 104 staff members are trying a new way…

I have such great memories of my third grade students' enthusiasm during the gymnastics unit in physical education. After this special, they'd come back to our classroom full of excitement about what they'd practiced, asking me to come next time and see them using their new skills, and comparing what…

Several years ago, teachers at Ironia Elementary, a suburban New Jersey school with 600 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, began working with their students each September to create classroom rules—simple but powerful guidelines for behavior that set the stage for a productive year of learning. Once all teachers were…

Everyone knows that coaching is a key to top performance and excellence in athletics, so why don't we apply the same idea more widely to teaching? In "Personal Best," a recent article about coaching in The New Yorker, Atul Gawande reflects on this question and others as he considers the…