Articles

Question: In my classroom this year, I am implementing two teaching strategies, Morning Meeting and Rules and Logical Consequences, but I’m concerned about parents’ reactions. I can imagine that they will worry that we’re "wasting time" with play or are too "soft" on discipline. I’d like parents to feel the…

Integrating academic choice into a prescribed curriculum Several years ago, the school at which I was teaching adopted a new series of teacher’s manuals for reading and spelling and asked that teachers use them to guide their instruction. The manuals included "red check" skills that students needed to learn each…

In the days and weeks following the events of September 11th, many teachers and children around the country gathered each morning in the comforting routine of Morning Meeting, a daily ritual that can provide a measure of safety and stability in the midst of troubled times. No matter what children…

Question: The number of students speaking English as a second language (ESL) is steadily increasing. These children come to the classroom with diverse cultural backgrounds and varying degrees of proficiency with English. We asked several educators, "What are your ideas for helping second language learners feel welcomed and supported in…

I love the beginning of each school year with the coming of fresh new faces to excited to learn. Most of my students have been to kindergarten and come to first grade with some ideas and expectations about what they’ll be doing there. But they also come with an eagerness…

Imagine spending every day in a physical space designed for people much bigger than you. To wash your hands or get a drink of water, you’d have to drag a chair over to the sink or ask a friend for a boost. Your feet would dangle in mid-air when you…

Question: The end of the school year offers a unique opportunity for students and teachers to reflect on their year of learning together. It’s a time to recognize efforts, celebrate achievements, acknowledge challenges, and look forward to the year ahead. We asked several teachers, from kindergarten to eighth grade, to…

A basic belief underlying The Responsive Classroom approach to teaching is that how children learn to treat one another is as important as what they learn in reading, writing, and arithmetic. We believe that social skills such as cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control are essential to children’s academic and…

It's a cool, crisp, autumn morning as 100 second and third graders burst onto the playground for a much-needed break from the academic demands of the day. Some make a beeline to a kickball game starting up in a far corner of the playground with the "recess/lunch teacher" serving as…

Question: Many teachers spend a lot of time creating good beginnings to the school day through carefully planned morning meetings. But what about the end of the day? In this newsletter's Teacher to Teacher section, NEFC consulting teacher Carol Davis talks about using a closing meeting to bring the school…

It's 3:23 and my class has just finished a science experiment. I look at the clock and realize we have seven minutes to clean up from science and do everything else we need to do to walk out the door at 3:30 to go home. "Okay class, we have seven…

Ask any teacher, parent, student, or administrator about homework and you're likely to get a different opinion about the quality and quantity at their school: there should be more, there should be less, it's too easy, it's too hard, it should start when children are very young, it should start…

Effective classroom displays are one of the most powerful—and overlooked—tools for teaching. They can generate excitement about the curriculum, increase children’s investment in learning, help children appreciate their own work and the work of others, and foster a powerful sense of individual and group ownership of the classroom. Granted, in…

When I was a child, music found its way into the daily life of most elementary classrooms. My sixth grade teacher, Mr. Monahan, started each day with the pledge and the piano. He would sit down at that old black upright each morning and we would sing a different patriotic song each day,…

Question: In the book The First Six Weeks of School, co-authors Paula Denton and Roxann Kriete emphasize the importance of helping students feel a sense of comfort and ownership in the classroom from the very first days of school. How do teachers do this? We asked a few to share their…

How one teacher deals with interruptions and keeps learning running smoothly. Picture this: My reading group is attentive and prepared for a discussion of a favorite novel. "What if Darry had called the police?" I ask, urging them to consider other possible outcomes. Jenny initiates a thoughtful reply, but Eric…