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 Michelle to share her advice Read More »
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AUG

23

2018

Building a Joyful Foundation

I can remember my first days as a principal as if it were yesterday. The vividness of the memory is largely because my first days of being a principal were also the…
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APR

22

2015

Changing a School Climate: How Responsive Classroom Helped

A little over a year ago, I became the principal at a school where discipline referrals and staff stress were at all-time highs. Change was clearly needed, and soon. I’d spent the…
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MAR

30

2015

Morning Meeting Visits: Sharing Ideas and Insights

I enjoy planning Morning Meetings for my students, and each year I see how beneficial these gatherings are in creating a positive classroom community. I’ve also found that sharing and being exposed…
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FEB

03

2015

Lively Learning for Professional Development

With increasing demands to meet rigorous curriculum standards and improve the quality of instruction, efficient, productive professional development (PD) and staff meetings are more critical than ever. Too often, though, these sessions…
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JUL

29

2013

Teach Effectively

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,…
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APR

16

2013

Strong Leadership Results in More Effective Teachers

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…
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FEB

06

2013

Chewing on Ideas

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…
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DEC

14

2012

SOAR Schools

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…
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APR

10

2012

Garfield Elementary

Garfield Elementary, a K–6 public school, began its Responsive Classroom initiative seven years ago. Located in Fairfax County, the sixth-largest public school district in the U.S., Garfield is a Title I school…
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APR

10

2012

Lessons from Co-Teaching

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.…
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OCT

17

2011

Coaching: Not Just for Athletes

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…
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APR

01

2011

Summer Reading for Teachers

We asked four Responsive Classroom consultants,"What's one great resource for teachers as they look ahead to the next school year?" Here are their responses:
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FEB

02

2011

What Keeps You Inspired?

In the throes of a winter snow storm, progress reports, parent conferences, state testing and the flu season, imagine what might have inspired these comments:"This was totally worth giving up two weekends!""This…
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FEB

01

2011

Encouraging Classroom Visits and Peer Observations

Heather Anderson remembers the year she decided to go to art with her second grade class as “magical.” As she worked on art projects alongside her students, she saw children who struggled…
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JAN

18

2011

“Good teachers are . . .”

Last summer I spent several weeks working with teachers who wanted to learn more about the Responsive Classroom approach. My travels took me from New York City to Winnipeg, Canada! The group…
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APR

23

2010

RC Works!: Capitol Heights Academy

Michelle Flores, lead teacher at Aspire Capitol Heights Academy in Sacramento, California, contacted us last week to share the news that her school had been designated a California Distinguished Elementary School for 2010.
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APR

12

2010

How Responsive Classroom Can Support PBIS Initiatives

Recently a teacher contacted me, frustrated over her school's adoption of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS. Her biggest concern was that PBIS would replace the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching…
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FEB

01

2010

Better Together

"This year, in partnership with the United Way of Greater Toledo Women's Initiative, the Toledo Public Schools, and the Toledo Federation of Teachers, our focus will be on creating caring learning communities…
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DEC

03

2009

Have You Read This?: Organized Chaos

I read quite a few blogs written by elementary teachers, and Organized Chaos: A think tank focused on creative solutions for future problem solvers is one I particularly enjoy. The author, a…
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NOV

23

2009

RC Works!: Hollin Meadows School

Perhaps you've seen the news that First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Hollin Meadows Science and Math Focus School in Alexandria, Virginia, last week as part of their…
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AUG

01

2009

The Responsive Classroom approach can be used to implement PBIS

Did you know?Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), also known as PBS or Positive Behavior Support, is used in schools nationwide to create a positive climate for learning. The U.S. Department of…
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APR

01

2009

What’s a Responsive Classroom book that you rely on?

A: Our school finds The First Six Weeks of School incredibly helpful. At the beginning of each year, new and returning staff members meet weekly for a book study on this book.…
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FEB

01

2009

Including All Staff in the Responsive Classroom Journey

When Bristol Elementary School, a public school in a small Vermont town, started its journey of Responsive Classroom implementation a few years ago, it took a two-pronged approach, focusing simultaneously on classroom…
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FEB

01

2008

Afternoon Meeting

The classroom at the end of the corridor rings with happy chatter. But the voices belong to teachers, not children. School has ended for the day as the teachers circle up for…
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APR

01

2007

Rebuilding Community by Reuniting School Staff

“We used to have pictures like these going back for years,” says Peter Harrison, principal of Young School, indicating a pair of large framed photos by the school’s entrance. Each picture shows…
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NOV

01

2006

Boosting Literacy While Building Community

When test scores indicated that students at the Lawrence Barnes School needed more work on vocabulary and reading comprehension, staff at the K–5 school devised a way to build skills and community…
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