Responsive Classroom

What is Responsive Classroom?

The Responsive Classroom approach has been successfully used by K-8 teachers in schools around the country for over 30 years to create learning environments where children thrive academically, socially and emotionally. It emphasizes teaching children to take care of themselves, each other and the school environment so that everyone can learn at his/her best. There are seven basic principles behind the approach:

• Social skills is as important as learning academic skills.
• How children learn is as important as what they learn. Process and content go hand in hand.
• Children gain knowledge most effectively through social interaction.
• To be successful academically and socially, children need to learn cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control.
• Knowing the children we teach-individually, culturally, and developmentally-is as important as knowing the content we teach.
• Knowing the families of the children we teach and inviting their participation is essential to children’s education.
• How the adults at school work together is as important as teacher competence.  Lasting change begins with the adult community.

Strategies

The Responsive Classroom approach includes the following strategies:

• Morning Meeting: Children gather for twenty minutes or so every day to greet each other, share something about themselves, complete a group activity, read the morning letter and look forward to the day ahead. This daily routine builds community, creates a positive climate for learning, and gives children practice in a wide range of academic and social skills.
• Rules and Logical Consequences: The teacher and children create rules for the classroom that will allow everyone to do his/her best learning. When children break the rules, there are clear and non-punitive consequences that help them learn from the mistake. This approach teaches responsibility and self-control.
• Guided Discovery: A structured way of introducing materials so that children become interested and motivated to explore different ways to use materials. This also helps us teach the children where materials go in the classroom, and how to take care of the materials.
• Academic Choice: An approach to giving children choices in their learning to help them become invested, self-motivated learners. Academic choice can be used to teach any subject.
• Classroom Organization: Arranging materials, furniture, and displays in ways that encourage learning, care, positive social interaction, and independence in children. For example, in the next 6-8 weeks of school, children will know exactly where to find each and every material they will need in the classroom in order to be an independent learner.
• Working Together With Parents: Ideas for involving parents as true partners in their children’s education.

Approach to Discipline

Bell School uses the Responsive School discipline approach.  The goals of this approach are to ensure that children feel physically and emotionally safe in school so they can learn at their best.

Our schoolwide rules are:

1. Respect our community and our environment.
2. Be safe in all areas of the school.
3. Do your best work.

The adults at Bell School take time to model and teacher children how to translate these rules into action in different situations.  At the beginning of the year, we introduce rules and behavior expectations and guide students in practicing them.  We use positive language to reinforce and remind students of the rules on a daily basis. 
 
When students misbehave, the adults at the school handle the misbehavior firmly while preserving the child’s dignity.  Our first step is to stop the misbehavior quickly and simply.  If needed, we take further steps to help the child regain self-control, fix any problems caused by his/her mistake, and get back to productive learning.
In deciding how to handle students’ misbehavior, we take into account how severe the misbehavior is and how likely it is to happen again.  We may:

• Give a reminder
• Have the child sit closer to the teacher
• Use “take a break”
• Limit the child’s choice of activities for a while
• Guide the child in fixing problems caused by his or her mistake
• When a child needs additional supports, we may:
• Use buddy teacher take a break
• Use private take a break (in-school or out of school suspension)
• Meet with the child and his/her parents to find other solutions

When a child is suspended from school, a parent must accompany the child to school the next day for a re-entry meeting with the teacher and administrator.

We at Bell School believe that children want to and can meet expectations.  We value partnering with parents to help students do well in school and feel good about going to school.
 
(Responsive School Discipline, Northeast Foundations for Children, Inc., 2011)