Responsive Classrooms at the Elementary Level
A Research Based Program for Schools and Teachers to Implement
Dec 15, 2008
The Responsive Classroom concept was created by the Northeast Foundation for Children, founded in 1981. It emphasizes the importance of a social curriculum, how students learn, social interaction, social skills, knowing the students and their families, and working well with the other teachers in the school.
Practices in a Responsive Classroom
Each of the following concepts are included in the Responsive Classroom, and can be learned about in greater detail at the Responsive Classroom Website where you can find resources for your class and school.
Morning Meeting: Each morning the students and teacher begin the day by greeting each other, sharing any news or announcements and warming up with a quick activity.
Rule Creation: At the beginning of the year, the teacher is to have the students collaborate to create classroom rules. Many teachers first discuss the student’s hopes and dreams, having them write down what they hope for and illustrate it for display on a bulletin board. Once the students have verbalized their hopes and dreams, they can then create class rules that will enable each other to meet these dreams. Once you take the bulletin board down, you can turn the papers into a class hopes book for reference later in the year.
Interactive Modeling: Students learn from watching their teacher and peers, so maximize on this and focus on modeling proper social interactions and behaviors.
Positive Teacher Language: Teach students self-control through demonstrating positive words and tone of voice. This can affect student learning, as well as the community atmosphere in the classroom.
Logical Consequences: Every classroom will have students who misbehave at one point or another. Providing opportunities for these students to learn from their mistakes through logical consequences for their actions is a big part of a Responsive Classroom.
Guided Discovery: Teaching in a way that allows students to learn creatively, independently and responsibly is another big part of what a Responsive Classroom looks like.
Academic Choice: Allowing students some choice in what they learn will not only keep students engaged, but will effectively increase student learning as well.
Classroom Organization: The physical layout of the classroom needs to promote student learning in an independent and yet in a cooperative way.
Working with Families: Involving parents in the education of their children can provide new ideas and a greater collaboration for your teaching.
Collaborative Problem Solving: having a weekly conference or student meeting during which students can share problems and help each other is a great way to bring students together. This is also a time to use role playing to learn how to properly handle problematic situations that may come up.
School-wide Practices that Support a Responsive Classroom
In addition to the classroom practices, the entire school can implement practices that support the individual teacher efforts. These school-wide practices include ensuring that all school policies and procedures are in line with the Responsive Classroom philosophy, providing the time and money necessary to implement the practice, planning all-school activities to build community, welcoming families and the community to partner with them in the education of the students, and organizing the school in a way that sets a positive tone for student learning.
This program has been researched extensively since the 1990s. Children have showed increased math and reading test scores, had better social skills, and felt better about school while teachers felt more effective and were able to teach more effectively thanks to this program.
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