Child & Adolescent Development
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Teacher Language

Three Ways to Cultivate Classrooms Where Student’s Voices Are Heard and Valued

January 14, 2022 Categories: Middle School / Middle School Teacher Language
Students’ voices and perspectives can only be amplified in our classrooms once students feel safe to express themselves. Displays describing classrooms as “safe spaces” are becoming more and more common, but, just as with teaching community guidelines and expectations, visual cues alone are not enough. For students to feel comfortable expressing themselves, they need clear Read More »
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JAN
07
2022

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…
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DEC
31
2021

Seven Tips for the Transition Back to School From Winter Break

For so many teachers and students, returning after winter break can feel like the first day of school all over again. The routines, rules, and procedures that were once so familiar are…
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DEC
17
2021

Use Responsive Advisory Meeting to Lend a Helping Hand

The holidays are a time everyone looks forward to. Some of us cannot wait to relax and binge watch our favorite TV shows; some are ready to eat delicious holiday foods; some…
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DEC
10
2021

Handle the Holidays With Morning Meeting

As the holiday season gets into full swing, maintaining a productive and pleasant classroom atmosphere can become a difficult task. During this time of year, students are frequently distracted by the excitement…
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DEC
03
2021

Inviting All Winter Holidays Into the Classroom

Q: The students in my classroom come from many different traditions and cultures. I know the winter holidays could be a great opportunity for students to learn about each other’s cultures, but…
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NOV
26
2021

How Social Distancing Helped Me Up My Interactive Learning Structure Game

Six feet of distance. Masks indoors. Individual materials for all. All the new safety requirements felt overwhelming when my middle schoolers sauntered into B-5 after ten weeks of virtual learning. We had…
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NOV
12
2021

How Have We Reimagined Teaching, Leading, and Communicating in our Schools?

Recently there has been discussion in our education ranks about how students have not had an uninterrupted school year for over eighteen months. The disruption started at the end of the 2019–2020…
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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 I create…
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OCT
29
2021

How Do You Know It Is Happening? Six Clues That May Indicate Cyberbullying

Bullying is unwanted aggressive behavior between school-aged children. It is a way that a child with physical or social power abuses a less powerful child. Cyberbullying, according to the U.S. Department of…
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OCT
29
2021

What Should I Do? Six Strategies to Use When You Notice Cyberbullying

You hear mean and unwelcome teasing as students do math activities on electronic devices. You see exclusion when a group of students are playing an online game. You suspect that students are…
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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 way even…
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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 to normal.…
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OCT
13
2021

Table Test Page


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OCT
08
2021

Bringing Things Into View: Strengthening Family Involvement

The beginning of the school year is a time to get to know our students. We prepare community-building activities and lessons to help students feel safe in their classrooms and school and…
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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 worked on…
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SEP
24
2021

Empowering Educators to Get to Know Their Students: A Conversation with Authors Andy Moral and Heather Young

  Early in the school year, all educators are faced with the same important task: getting to know their new students. To learn some effective strategies for making connections with students at…
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SEP
23
2021

Peanut Butter, Grape Jelly Song

  As seen in The First Six Weeks of School, 2nd edition!  “Peanut Butter, Grape Jelly” Peanut butter, grape jelly, peanut butter, jam Peanut butter, grape jelly, peanut butter, jam Peanut butter,…
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SEP
17
2021

Empowering Adults to Support Each Other at the Beginning of a New School Year: A Conversation with Authors Emily Parrelli and Lisa Dewey Wells

  Empowering Adults to Support Each Other at the Beginning of a New School Year:  A Conversation with Authors Emily Parrelli and Lisa Dewey Wells   Emily Parrelli and Lisa Dewey Wells…
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SEP
10
2021

A Successful Start to the Year – One School’s Story of Adults Making a Difference by Working Together

  In the first week of my teaching career, I had a colleague say to me, “You get only one chance to start the year off in a good place – if…
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SEP
03
2021

Meaningful Learning Through the Natural Learning Cycle

  A new book from CRS Publishing, Make Learning Meaningful: How to Leverage the Brain’s Natural Learning Cycle in K–8 Classrooms, offers a brain-based approach to sustaining student engagement and provides examples…
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AUG
27
2021

Rebuild, Repair, and Renew Relationships with Parents for the New School Year

The beginning of the school year is a special opportunity: both a fresh start and a chance to apply lessons from the previous year. With an especially tumultuous year behind us, that…
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AUG
20
2021

Agency and Service – A Meaningful Start to the New School Year

Start the Year with Depth Connect students to the greater good from the beginning. In a recent episode of the podcast WorkLife with Adam Grant, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the current United States…
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AUG
13
2021

Plan Proactively: Your Top Four Before Students Enter the Door

It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for…receiving your class roster for the new school year! You’re anxious to start planning and preparing for the students who will soon be sitting at their…
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AUG
06
2021

Welcome Friends

With a new school year right around the corner, the first place my mind goes to is how I will organize and prepare my physical space. As a counselor for my school’s…
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JUL
30
2021

Finding Small Moments Throughout the Year to Recharge

My grandma used to say, “You can’t pour from an empty pitcher.” We all know that teaching can be a stressful job. During the school year, we devote so much of our…
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JUL
23
2021

Summer Travel Tips

The summer is an exciting time. The warmth brings with it opportunities to travel for vacations and, sometimes, work. As we emerge from this terrible pandemic, many of us are eager to take to…
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