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Articles

American School of Bombay Named International School to Watch

In early 2018 I presented my first Responsive Classroom course at the American School of Bombay (ASB) in Mumbai, India. This independent day school follows a college preparatory curriculum that supports an American Diploma or an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma for grades K-12. During that time I met Casey Faulknall, middle school…
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Aug 20 2020
Reflection

Check the Boxes of Self-Reflection

Our beliefs drive our actions and the results of our actions reinforce our beliefs. When we endeavor to change our actions, often we focus on the relationship between our actions and their results, rather than reflecting on the power of our beliefs on our actions. When we consider our role…
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Dec 04 2019
Co-teachers

How to Create Meaningful and Rewarding Relationships with Colleagues

A guiding principle of Responsive Classroom is “How we work together as adults to create a safe, joyful, and inclusive school environment is as important as our individual contribution or competence.” In order to create meaningful and lasting change in schools, we must have good working relationships with our co-teachers…
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Sep 08 2019
Creating Lasting Change

Creating Lasting Change

Michelle Gill is a professional development designer at the Center for Responsive Schools, and former educator at Garfield Elementary School in Fairfax County, Virginia. During her time at Garfield, she was part of a transformative Responsive Classroom initiative that established a climate of growth, possibility, and high achievement. We asked…
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Sep 21 2018
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Taking Positive Language Schoolwide

Positive language is a powerful tool for building a calm, safe school climate. The words we use when we talk to students, the intention behind these words, and how we deliver them shape the way students see themselves and their school. When all school adults—not just classroom teachers—use positive language,…
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Oct 01 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Changing a School Climate: How Responsive Classroom Helped

A little over a year ago, I became the principal at a school where discipline referrals and staff stress were at all-time highs. Change was clearly needed, and soon. I’d spent the previous eight years leading another school into becoming a safe, joyful learning community, thanks mainly to our use…
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Apr 22 2015
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Morning Meeting Visits: Sharing Ideas and Insights

I enjoy planning Morning Meetings for my students, and each year I see how beneficial these gatherings are in creating a positive classroom community. I’ve also found that sharing and being exposed to new Morning Meeting ideas is a great way to keep things fresh, deepen my practice, and learn…
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Mar 30 2015

Lively Learning for Professional Development

With increasing demands to meet rigorous curriculum standards and improve the quality of instruction, efficient, productive professional development (PD) and staff meetings are more critical than ever. Too often, though, these sessions fall short of being fully engaging and productive—and opportunities for professional growth are lost. The familiar lecture-style meeting…
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Feb 03 2015

The Power of Responsive Classroom

Sometimes a few little numbers can tell a great big story. That's the case with the changing numbers of disciplinary referrals at Palmyra-Macedon Primary School in Palmyra, NY. When the Responsive Classroom approach really began to take hold in this school, disciplinary referrals (overall numbers of referrals as well as…
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Oct 07 2014
Photograph by Tim Wessel.

Hyde-Addison Elementary School

A strong community and a student-centered focus have long been the heart of Hyde-Addison Elementary, a well-regarded public school in Washington, DC. Since Hyde-Addison began using Responsive Classroom practices in 1999, staff have credited the approach with helping them build a welcoming and inclusive community for their very diverse student…
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Jul 29 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Kensington Avenue Magnet School

Teachers and administrators at Kensington Avenue Magnet School view the Responsive Classroom approach as a foundation upon which they can build. "We look at each new initiative through a Responsive Classroom lens," says Sheree Nolley, a faculty member for twenty-three years and currently the school's Responsive Classroom coordinator. That mindset…
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Apr 16 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Strong Leadership Results in More Effective Teachers

Research has confirmed it: Principals play a crucial role in teachers' use of Responsive Classroom practices. The study. A recently completed three-year study conducted by the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education looked at whether the Responsive Classroom approach improves student…
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Apr 16 2013
Photograph by Jeff Woodward.

Chewing on Ideas

Like many educators these days, the teachers in my building have new initiatives added to our plates each year. We need (and want!) to collaborate as a faculty about them, but it's difficult for us to find time to meet as a group. At my school we've found a solution…
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Feb 06 2013
Photograph by Tim Wessel.

SOAR Schools

At SOAR, a network of public charter schools in Northeast Denver, Responsive Classroom practices are embedded in the daily life of schools, and the approach itself is integrated into the network's core elements and values. Schoolwide implementation of the Responsive Classroom approach was part of the plan from SOAR's inception.…
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Dec 14 2012

Garfield Elementary

Garfield Elementary, a K–6 public school, began its Responsive Classroom initiative in 2005. Located in Fairfax County, the sixth-largest public school district in the U.S., Garfield is a Title I school with 360 students and 40 staff members. 53% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and breakfast,…
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Apr 10 2012

Lessons from Co-Teaching

In my kindergarten classroom, there are two teachers: Pat Douglass and myself. We combined our classes two years ago by opening up the wall between our classrooms and merging them into one. Now we teach thirty-three students—the equivalent of two full classes—together, all day, every day. Co-teaching with another kindergarten…
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Apr 10 2012

Coaching: Not Just for Athletes

Everyone knows that coaching is a key to top performance and excellence in athletics, so why don't we apply the same idea more widely to teaching? In "Personal Best," a recent article about coaching in The New Yorker, Atul Gawande reflects on this question and others as he considers the…
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Oct 17 2011

Leadership That Inspires Change: Three Keys to Success

When Rita White stepped into her first principalship at an inner-city school in Memphis, Tennessee, she faced daunting challenges. The school of 980 students was on the state’s “needs improvement” list, students were not making adequate yearly progress, and discipline referrals exceeded 1,000 a year. The approach to discipline was…
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Apr 01 2011

What Keeps You Inspired?

In the throes of a winter snow storm, progress reports, parent conferences, state testing and the flu season, imagine what might have inspired these comments: "This was totally worth giving up two weekends!" "This was fabulous . . . we lost two weekends in January and it well worth it!…
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Feb 02 2011

Encouraging Classroom Visits and Peer Observations

Heather Anderson remembers the year she decided to go to art with her second grade class as “magical.” As she worked on art projects alongside her students, she saw children who struggled academically “shining in these different ways,” and she learned art techniques that she brought back to the classroom.…
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Feb 01 2011

Our Passion for Teaching

I was so moved by your responses to my last post about the importance of bringing joy to classrooms! The images of college students being read to, classes dancing at "boogie breaks," and teachers letting students help decide what to do at centers brought me my own measure of joy.…
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Apr 15 2010

Better Together

"This year, in partnership with the United Way of Greater Toledo Women's Initiative, the Toledo Public Schools, and the Toledo Federation of Teachers, our focus will be on creating caring learning communities that help us all do our best," announces East Side Central Elementary School principal Tony Speaks. It's the…
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Feb 01 2010

Have You Read This?: Organized Chaos

I read quite a few blogs written by elementary teachers, and Organized Chaos: A think tank focused on creative solutions for future problem solvers is one I particularly enjoy. The author, a special educator in a diverse and rapidly-growing public elementary school outside of Washington, DC, tells classroom stories that…
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Dec 03 2009

What’s a Responsive Classroom book that you rely on?

A: Our school finds The First Six Weeks of School incredibly helpful. At the beginning of each year, new and returning staff members meet weekly for a book study on this book. We share how things are going in our classes and bounce ideas around for the upcoming week. The…
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Apr 01 2009

Including All Staff in the Responsive Classroom Journey

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…
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Feb 01 2009

Afternoon Meeting

The classroom at the end of the corridor rings with happy chatter. But the voices belong to teachers, not children. School has ended for the day as the teachers circle up for another weekly session of our book study group. After a few minutes, they get their books out and…
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Feb 01 2008
Collaborative decision making

Rebuilding Community by Reuniting School Staff

“We used to have pictures like these going back for years,” says Peter Harrison, principal of Young School, indicating a pair of large framed photos by the school’s entrance. Each picture shows about 300 children and forty adults gathered outside the compact modular building that now houses this K–2 school.…
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Apr 01 2007

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Classroom Management & Discipline
Positive Community
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