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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…

Watching a student show up to school each day excited to learn is one of the great joys of teaching. We give our students that spark when we help them figure out what they want to achieve during the school year, then show them the ways they can achieve those…

As we prepare for our upcoming Teachers and Leadership Conferences, we’ve been thinking a lot about hope. Students’ hopes and dreams are, of course, an integral part of the beginning of the school year. In addition to providing students with a model for setting and achieving goals, having students name…

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…

It’s the perfect time of year to pause and reflect on your personal teaching and learning goals—the hopes and dreams you set when school began. First, let’s take a step back and look at that learning from a big-picture point of view. We know that the most meaningful learning happens…

Fifth grade teacher Ms. Johnson begins class by naming the lesson goal: to write an essay that includes the fundamental elements of persuasion. She displays criteria for good work on the whiteboard and gives each student a checklist of grade-appropriate elements of persuasive writing. She then asks students to take…

“What are your hopes and dreams for the school year?” Many teachers ask this question in the first weeks of school to help students get excited about learning and make a personal connection to what they will learn in school. Inviting students to name learning goals (hopes and dreams) right…

Six months ago, a second grader at Roundtown Elementary, a K–3 school in York, Pennsylvania, brought a simple idea to a whole-school assembly—to place a bench on the playground for students who feel lonely and want someone to play with—and the story went viral. First, the “buddy bench” idea was…

Recommending children's books that teachers can use to begin talking about goal-setting and with their students has become an annual ritual for me. (Here are my picks for 2011 and 2010.) This year I found so many that I can't even share them all! Hope and optimism are apparently alive…

Recently, I ran the Rock 'n' Roll USA 2012 Marathon in Washington, DC. At about mile 19 of the 26.2 mile run, I realized that the goal time I'd set for myself was not achievable. For the next mile or so, I felt defeated—I had done so much work towards…

A recent post on Facebook for more ideas about books to use with hopes and dreams made me think about why some stories work so well to inspire children to think about what they want to accomplish in school and beyond. I think it's because so many great picture books…

The early weeks of each new school year offer teachers distinct opportunities and challenges. It is during this time—when expectations and routines are established, rules generated, and goals articulated—that the foundation is laid for a productive and cooperative year of learning. As teachers, we work hard to convey, from the…

As the school year winds down, how will your students reflect on the hopes, dreams, and goals they set for this year? Many books could inspire this sort of reflection, including those I wrote about in "Read-Alouds to Inspire Hopes and Dreams" and "Revisiting Hopes and Dreams in the New…

As an art teacher, I'm always looking for ways to adapt Responsive Classroom practices to specialist areas. Here's an idea I came up with for having students do the Hopes and Dreams and classroom rule creation process while incorporating explorations in art. Early in the fall, we made a paper…

"My goal is to get into shape this year." "My resolution for this year is to get to know my students better." "I want to do more professional reading this year." "My goal is to give kids more choice about their learning." "I want to be the best teacher I…

For teachers who use the Responsive Classroom approach, talking with students about hopes and dreams (or hopes and goals) is a key activity during the first weeks of school. This discussion launches the rule-making process and helps children create rules that they have a real stake in: rules that will…

By now you probably know how much I love children's books! Here are some that would be perfect for launching a discussion of hopes and dreams—the first step in the Responsive Classroom approach to creating classroom rules with students. Last winter I shared a few read-aloud ideas in a post…

Reflection and goal-setting are often a focus for adults in January, when the beginning of a new calendar year prompts us to think about what we've accomplished and what we hope to do next. You can bring this reflective, purposeful energy into your classroom by having your students revisit the…

A few weeks before school ended last year, I wrote my fourth grade students notes stating a “hope and dream” for each of them as they moved on to fifth grade. My goals were to help them feel proud of their accomplishments over the year and to encourage them to…

Setting and working toward goals with students is a key element of my work as a speech/language pathologist. Each student I work with has an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which names goals for that child. After reading Rules in School I realized that the “hopes and dreams” process described 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…