Articles

According to the Child Mind Institute, there has been a 17% increase in anxiety disorder diagnoses in young people. When these children show up in our classrooms, they want to be successful just like every other student but face many more challenges than their peers. Irritability, fatigue, and sleep difficulties…

Every January 1st, we all receive a chance to start fresh. While many of us set a New Year’s resolution, often we only manage to stick with it for a week or two! What if there was an approach to starting fresh in the new year that actually produces results? SMART goals—goals…

Showing Students What Is Possible The language we use with students every day influences how they see themselves. Our words can shape students’ views of themselves years after our direct influence. Envisioning language gives children a vision of what is possible. Many of us can remember someone from our past…

There are days when, as educators, so many tasks are vying for our attention that our to-do lists feel endless. During these hectic days, reflection -- a key piece of teaching and learning – is often the first thing to go. Many of us find ourselves careening from one point…

It’s the start of a new year! Day one is either right around the corner or has just recently taken place. The beginning of the year is filled with so many fresh faces watching your every move and listening eagerly for the next direction. With all this newness, it can…

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” –Frederick Douglass This famous quote, printed on bright pink cardstock and posted above the whiteboard of a third grade classroom, stood out during a recent school observation.  I tend to see a lot of these on walls during observations—words of wisdom…

As the bustle of the after-school and after-work hours wound down for the night, I found my eight-year-old daughter in tears in her bedroom. She was hunched over her sketch pad. Colored pencils and multiple versions of self-portraits were spread all over the desk. When I asked her what was…

We all know students who seem to give up quickly and appeal for our help, even when the task is appropriately challenging, or students who are reluctant to even start a task that seems challenging and instead opt to sit and wait until we check in with them. These behaviors…

Morning Meeting is a powerful way to start the day. It meets students’ needs for belonging, significance, and fun; provides students with an opportunity to practice social and emotional skills; and prepares students for the days’ learning. As a classroom teacher I enjoyed Morning Meeting with my students and looked…

Learning and growth require hard work, and to do that hard work, students need to see themselves as capable people who can behave and achieve in ways beyond their current reality. Helping students form, own, and become excited about this kind of vision of themselves is a fundamental job of…

It's still summer, but I'm thinking ahead to winter. I'm picturing writing workshop time mid-way through the year: Students are busy at the computers, working with an intensity that's balanced by smiles and the occasional excited whisper, "Did you see my comment yet?" Each student is fully engaged in writing…

Adapted from the new 2nd edition of The Power of Our Words  Language—our words, tone of voice, and pacing— is one of the most powerful tools available to teachers. It permeates every aspect of teaching and learning. We cannot engage children in learning, welcome a student into the room, or…

Natasha hurls a block when her carefully constructed tower falls down. Jose's flower drawing fails to resemble what he envisioned. Ripping up his paper, he stomps away. Abby tells Zara she can't join a math game. Zara scowls and shoves her classmate. Welcome to a fairly typical afternoon in my…

I was fortunate to hear Parker Palmer speak last week in a program sponsored by Courage in Schools (an initiative of Courage & Renewal Northeast) at Wellesley College. There were 120 educators in the room listening to and discussing his wise and timely thoughts on the five "habits of the…

Every year we teachers have some students who present challenges to themselves, to their classmates, and to us. In Sammy and His Behavior Problems, I wrote about one such student, Sammy, a third grader who struggled with impulsiveness, paying attention, completing schoolwork, and learning to be a friend. It's the…

As a marathoner, I often think about the connections between my challenges as a runner and those of elementary school students. In both arenas, when the going gets tough—whether it's at that 20-mile mark of a marathon or with learning to read—getting encouragement at just the right moment can make…

Are there invisible children at your school? A recent series of comments on the Responsive Classroom Facebook page got me thinking again about how many children go through their school days feeling unnoticed and unseen, and about how important it is for all children to feel significant in school. We…

Chip Wood recently shared a link on the Yardsticks blog to TED talk by Sugata Mitra, an educational researcher who’s done some compelling research on child-driven education and technology. Midway through the video, Mitra describes what he calls “the method of grandmother,” a strategy that reminded me of what the…

This past summer at the Responsive Classroom Schools Conference, Dr. Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot’s keynote speech on the dimensions of respect gave me a new lens with which to reflect on Responsive Classroom and the work we do. Dr. Lawrence-Lightfoot spoke eloquently about sustaining and nourishing respect and two important educational goals:…

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…

Miguel hunched over a blank page in his notebook, scowling and biting his lip. I approached him and whispered, "I see you're having a hard time getting started. Is your writing gremlin acting up?" He nodded slightly, so I continued. "Could you calmly tell your gremlin that even though writing…

Publicly recognizing children’s accomplishments can benefit their learning and the overall school climate. But how do you do it without setting up a competition among students? This is a question that many schools face, especially as the end of the year draws near. At Sheffield Elementary, a grade 3–5 school…

When I taught fourth grade, I introduced two-digit multiplication around the middle of each year. This would always stump a number of students who had breezed through math up until that point. Patty was a classic example. Frustrated when her initial attempts at this new level of math failed, she…

Walking into my classroom on a typical day, you must take care not to interrupt a group collaborating on writing rap lyrics to explain how Hank Zipzer (“the world’s most talented underachiever” in Henry Winkler’s popular books) dealt with his “learning differences”; disturb a student creating a survey to determine…

Question: What's one way you use language to encourage positive behavior? A: When I comment on children’s work, I try to be very specific. Describing what I notice — “You took your time getting this finished, and it’s extremely neat” or “I remember when writing was a struggle for you.…

In 1993, after teaching for twenty years, I still loved my chosen profession, but I often felt frustrated. It seemed as though I spent an inordinate amount of time on classroom management and discipline. My approach at that time was basically authoritarian, and language was one of my primary tools.…