Articles

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 desks and smiling back at you. Because there is so much to be done, getting started can often…

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 littlest learners, I like to set my room up for play therapy. I call it “the playroom.” But…

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 time and energy to students. The summer is a chance to step back, decompress, and recharge. But why…

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 the road and sky again. Because they spend their summers teaching workshops across the country, Responsive Classroom consulting…

The summer is a special season for educators. Our relationship to time changes in the summer: the sense that we are racing the clock to get everything done is replaced by the pleasure of getting lost in activities that help us rest, relax, and rejuvenate. Reading exemplifies summer’s rich possibility…

In July, the school is quiet. The daily stream of buses has stopped rolling in. Students, educators, and families have signed off from final Zoom meetings. July is a month for every member of the community to take a collective deep breath, soak in the warmth of the sun, and…

  In Conversation with Wisconsin Principal of the Year Tina Miller Tina Miller has been in education for 21 years – including the last five years as principal of Howe Elementary in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin – and was recently named the 2021 Wisconsin Elementary School Principal of the Year by…

Jean Holenko is a Responsive Classroom consulting teacher in her 27th year of teaching. She has been using the Responsive Classroom approach with students since 2001 and has been sharing it with teachers since 2006. This past year, along with teaching health, Holenko has taken on the new position of…

I recently had the opportunity to reconnect with educators I worked with at the school where I began my teaching career. Many of them came straight from productive days in their various current school assignments, and everyone had a lot to share. One teacher showed pictures from a science experiment…

From closing circle to Academic Choice to problem-solving conferences, we all know that student reflection plays a central role in Responsive Classroom teaching practices. It may be less well known how important reflection is to teacher growth and well-being. Like many self-care practices, it’s one that‘s easy for teachers, myself…

Educators spend the school year establishing and then nurturing classroom environments in which students feel a genuine sense of belonging. The exceptional challenges of this particular year introduced greater opportunities to create learning environments in which students felt comfortable expressing their thoughts, feelings, and opinions in nonconventional spaces and circumstances.…

This year tested us, our students, and their families as everyone worked to meet new and challenging expectations. Yet our students, when faced with seemingly impossible circumstances, were able to both learn academic skills and build social and emotional skills. As we close out a school year full of challenges,…

There is no other way to say it—this school year has been full of unique challenges and demanding questions. Whether you have been teaching remotely, in-person with social distancing, or a hybrid of the two, you probably found yourself grappling with questions ranging from How do I build community when…

  Social distancing. Hybrid classrooms. Remote learning. These are among the many phrases that, in the past year, have become central to every educator’s vocabulary. But of the many terms that have become commonplace for educators since 2020, not all of them are new. While learning loss is a dilemma…

In June 2020, the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company released “COVID-19 and Student Learning in the United States” a report that outlined the alarming potential impact of school closures on learning. The report’s results were based on statistical models for school reopening timelines given three different epidemiological scenarios. In…

  Regardless of if your model of instruction has been remote, hybrid, or in-person during this unique school year, your students have grown over the course of their time in your class. They have added to their bank of knowledge and increased their stamina for focused academic work. Classroom routines…

  All of us, students and teachers alike, approach the end of the school year with a wide variety of feelings. Just as teachers might be feeling burned out right now, it is normal for kids to be exhausted and disengaged in the final stretch. The end of the year…

  For the past six months, educators have been put through the ringer – learning multiple new digital platforms, communicating non-stop with anxious parents, and constantly pivoting when technology errors or lapses occur. Needless to say, they’re tired. They are burnt out. They are fatigued. As schools enter the final…

This school year, more than ever, teachers have been labeled by many as superheroes. According to Wikipedia, “a superhero or superheroine is a stock character that possesses abilities beyond those of ordinary people, who typically uses his or her powers to help the world become a better place, or is…

The past year has added so many additional stressors on educators: virtual teaching, juggling teaching formats, and wearing masks, to name a few. Teachers must find ways to manage stress to avoid emotional and physical exhaustion. Book clubs, fitness classes, eating healthy, and getting enough sleep all help teachers recharge…

Recently, my third-grade class and I were reading books about learning challenges and the strategies characters used to overcome them. During our discussions about the books, I wanted to guide them into thinking about their own learning challenges and how they could be overcome.  As a class, we noticed that…

Cultural relevance can be defined as empowering students to maintain cultural integrity while succeeding academically. Culturally responsive teachers and leaders are reflective and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and how they impact others, leading to more cohesive and productive academic and social-emotional development for all students. The connection between…

Picture this: you are in a stressful situation – a really heated moment – and out of your mouth slips a sentence or two that you instantly regret. We’ve all experienced times like this, when our mouth was faster than the filter in our brains, and we ended up saying…

How can we encourage all our students to talk and participate in school each day, with an emphasis on empowering Black and other traditionally marginalized voices? How can we be culturally responsive with the methods and styles of communication in our classrooms?  Who Makes the Rules? As a White educator…

Early in the morning, as I am getting ready to go teach, I take a moment to look in the mirror and ensure I’m ready for the day. I make sure that my outfit matches and that there isn’t any food stuck in my teeth. And I take a moment…

As we turn the page to 2021, I find myself reflecting on the lessons I've learned and what I want to take with me into the new year.  Throughout 2020, we’ve seen students forced to adapt because of changed plans, less than ideal learning conditions, and adversity of all types.…