Articles

The end of the school year is approaching, and with it comes a flood of thoughts and emotions, from relief to reflection to anticipation of summer’s promise of rest. One emotion that deserves to be honored is the satisfaction you and your students feel from having worked together to build…

Words Matter: How to Reflect, Correct, and Project   We’ve all been there: that dreaded moment when words come out of your mouth before you have a chance to think them through; you are hit with an immediate wave of regret, and you feel your face turn red or a…

Recover from Failure with a Dose of Self-Empathy In my classroom, I encourage risk-taking and often reassure my students that making mistakes is an opportunity to learn. However, I do not always practice what I preach: like many adults, I work hard to avoid failure.   So how do we…

Dr. Thomas L. Benson, a high school principal with twenty-six years of experience as an educator, shares the simple routines that create positive relationships between everyone in the classroom.   It’s the simple routines that create positive relationships between everyone in your classroom: Make that early morning greeting the most…

Teacher language can have a transformative effect not just on your students' approach to learning, but on your relationship to teaching as well. In the poem below, Julie Kelly reflects on the remarkable places her own journey with teacher language has taken her.   As I look back to look…

One of the most meaningful ways we as educators can engage with Responsive Classroom's fifth guiding principle (What we know and believe about our students—individually, culturally, developmentally—informs our expectations, reactions, and attitudes about those students) is to put ourselves in our students’ shoes. In the poem below, Jenni Lee Groegler…

Nine years ago, I wrote a short article to explain to myself what it meant to be a Responsive Classroom teacher (which you can read in its entirety below). Here are some thoughts I have now as I revisit these ideas through the lens of my experience teaching since then,…

Most people can recall at least one instance in which a teacher showed caring and kindness toward them at just the right moment in their lives. For me, it was my third grade teacher, Ms. Reese. Third grade was an especially difficult year for me, and Ms. Reese was a…

Growing up, I always looked forward to Black History Month at my public school in New York City. My teachers taught lessons about Black people who made notable contributions to our country. We sang spirituals that my ancestors sang and recited works from great writers such as Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn…

Centering equity and justice in my teaching practice has taken time and even caused moments of intense self-doubt and feelings of failure. Sometimes these feelings of doubt come from the sense that the process of creating equity needs to be complex and deep. But over the years, I’ve found that…

Black History Month is a critical time to acknowledge the systemic oppression and racism that Black people have experienced in this country while also celebrating their incredible contributions to American history and society. Heritage months were established to honor cultures that otherwise went ignored or underappreciated. However, observances like Black…

For students to belong and feel significant, they need to feel seen for who they really are and get the sense that they can be their authentic selves. Crucially, seeing students for who they are includes recognizing and valuing their cultural identity. Having their culture embraced by their community is…

Independent practice is a new Responsive Classroom strategy for introducing concepts and skills to middle school students by creating opportunities for them to interactively explore the content through hands-on learning. In independent practice, students work by themselves without guidance from their teacher. This kind of practice requires students to have…

Students feel safe, included, and necessary if their voice is valued through patient and active listening. As we work toward cultivating a classroom community that validates students’ needs for belonging and significance, we must not only teach expectations and skills for listening and speaking, but we must also structure our…

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…

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 and in their communities. To learn more about how Responsive Advisory Meeting can be used to support students…

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 now a distant memory, and it takes a conscious effort to get back into rhythm with them. For…

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 are ready to spend quality time with family and friends. But the holidays are not just for rest…

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 of holiday events at home and school events such as assemblies, class plays, and holiday dinners, which can…

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 I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any suggestions? A: I think asking this question shows…

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 begun to build a positive virtual community, but we were lacking practice when it came to being active…

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 school year, and we are still not back to normal. Yet we’ve persevered and continued creating highly engaging…

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 opportunities for my students to be engaged in my reading intervention class? How could I keep growing my…

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 Health and Human Services, is “bullying that takes place over digital devices” and involves “sending, posting, or sharing…

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 engaging in behaviors that are gateways to cyberbullying. What can you do? Teach safe and inclusive behavior as…

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 when we know there will be traffic. Similarly, there are many things we do in schools today because…