Articles

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 promotion of the Obama administration's Healthier U.S. Schools initiative. Their visit was timed so that they could help…

I recently had the privilege of witnessing an encounter that made me think about how important it is to communicate our faith in children’s positive intentions. The assistant principal of a school I was visiting had just delivered a brief but powerful message about “great expectations” in the morning news…

When I describe the Responsive Classroom approach to educators from urban areas, somebody always says, “That sounds great, but it would never work at my school.” When asked why, the person usually cites issues familiar to all of us who work in urban schools: a high poverty rate, turnover of…

“My teacher’s coming, my teacher’s coming,” squeals a gleeful six-year-old as he catches his first glimpse of his teacher as she steps out of her car and walks to his front door. His eight-year-old sister was equally excited a half hour earlier as she sat on the front steps, nervously…

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 practices and a few high-impact schoolwide initiatives. In both areas, the contributions of educational assistants and other support…

When Steve Bahn became principal at Ideal Elementary School, a K–6 school with 245 students, he didn't like how the school day began. "It felt chaotic and fragmented," he recalls. Students entered the building from several directions, depending on whether they arrived by bus, by car, or on foot. There…

In this climate of high-stakes testing and fast-paced teaching, inviting student passion into the classroom can be difficult. Where do we find the time? How do we do it without compromising required academics? Can we find projects that actively involve and engage all students? Last year, I found a powerful…

Teachers Help Build Bus Communities At Grafton, all 707 students are assigned to a bus. "That means fifteen buses with all the usual problems, including bullying," says fifth grade teacher Martha Hanley. Recognizing that children's experiences on the bus were affecting their ability to learn in school, she and seven…

Come to Talent Days at our school and you’ll see children sharing a kaleidoscope of skills and interests—doing magic, photography, cooking, writing, gymnastics; training pets; and singing or playing instruments. No matter what the sharing, though, an audience of classmates, teachers, parents, and others invited by the children offers enthusiastic…

At a time when many policy makers are concerned primarily with children's cognitive development and how they do on standardized tests, educators from around the country gathered in Amherst, Massachusetts, to reaffirm the importance of educating the whole child and to share effective ways to do so. The two-day conference,…

“You can see our school from the bridge,” a fifth grader proudly points out about the recently renovated Regional Multicultural Magnet School (RMMS). Built into a hill overlooking the New London waterfront, RMMS is indeed visible from the bridge that spans the harbor below. The handsome building combines a historic…

Our school celebrates and welcomes our new kindergartners with a special all-school Morning Meeting affectionately known as “Crowning Day.” Planning for Crowning Day begins before the kindergartners start school. The fifth graders look forward to their new responsibility as we match each of them with a K-buddy. The third and…

In a school with over 500 students and more than eighty staff, it can be difficult to get to know one another. At K.T. Murphy Elementary School in Stamford, Connecticut, the staff and administrators addressed this by creating an all-school meeting format that uses the structure of Morning Meeting. Every…