What is Responsive Classroom?

Central Focus The goal of Responsive Classroom Approach is to bring social-emotional learning and academic learning together through the use of language to encourage and empower children. The outcome: Increases social skills and academic achievement, creates positive classroom climate, expands learner investment and independence, and lessens disruptive behavior.

Why Responsive Classroom? Research has found children in RC schools: -Scored higher on math and reading tests -Felt more positively about school, teachers and peers -Had better social skills and fewer behavioral problems Teachers in RC schools: -Felt more effective and thought more positively about teaching -Offered more high-quality instruction -Collaborated more frequently with other teachers

Responsive Classroom Principles 1. The social curriculum is as important as the academic learning.

Responsive Classroom Principles 2. How children learn is as important as what they learn: Process and content go hand in hand.

Responsive Classroom Principles 3. The greatest cognitive growth is through social interactions.

Responsive Classroom Principles 4. To be successful academically and socially, children need to learn and practice specific social skills. Five particularly important skills are cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control. (CARES)

Responsive Classroom Principles 5. Knowing the children we teach – individually, culturally, and developmentally – is as important as knowing the content we teach.

Responsive Classroom Principles 6. Knowing the families we teach is as important as knowing the children we teach.

Responsive Classroom Principles 7. How we, the adults at school, work together is as important as our individual competence: Lasting change beings with the adult community.

The Seven Components of Responsive Classrooms (Common Practices) Morning Meeting Rule Creation and Logical Consequences Classroom Organization Guided Discovery and Interactive Modeling Positive teacher language Working with families Collaborative problem solving

Morning Meeting Children have an opportunity each morning to practice greetings, listening skills, and conversations as they share stories and concerns. These meetings establish a positive tone for the day.

Morning Meeting is a 20 minute daily routine used to begin the school day in elementary and middle school classrooms. It includes: Greeting Sharing Group Activity Morning Message

The First Six Weeks of School Expectations and routines are established, rules generated, and goals articulated. The foundation is laid for a productive and cooperative year of learning.

The first six weeks is devoted to four intentions : 1. Create a climate and tone of warmth and safety 2. Teach the schedule and routines of the school day and our expectations for behavior in each of them 3. Introduce students to the physical environment and materials of the classroom and school (and teach them how to use and care for them) 4. Establish expectations about ways we will learn together in the year ahead

Guided Discovery Teachers foster children’s interest in new learning experiences using a careful introduction to materials, areas of the room, curriculum content, and ways of behaving.

Classroom Organization Classrooms provide space for active interest areas for students and for displays of student work. There is an appropriate mix of whole class, group, and individual instruction.

Rules and Logical Consequences Classroom rules, developed jointly by teachers and students, become the cornerstone of classroom life. * To generate rules first consider students’ and teacher’s hopes/goals for life in the classroom and then discuss what rules will be needed in order to reach these desired outcomes * Rules should cover care for ourselves (self respect), care for each other (respect), and caring for the world around us (consideration for materials, equipment, furniture, belongings). Constitutional Convention: This Friday!!

Rules and Consequences continued * 3 R’s of Implementing rules are reinforce, remind, and redirect. * 3 R’s of Logical Consequences are respectful, relevant, and realistic * 3 Kinds of logical consequences; you break it-you fix it, loss of privilege, and take a break/reset

What is a logical consequence? A discipline technique that focuses on the consequences of misbehavior Emphasizes internal control rather than external control

What does guided discovery look like? Guided Discovery is a focused, playful activity to introduce students to new things 1. Introduction – naming 2. Generating ideas and modeling exploratory work 3. Children explore 4. Children share their explorations and observations 5. Clean up and care of materials

Start of Dawn’s presentation

Daily Logistics Morning drop off Lunch Recess Afternoon pick up

Policies Healthy Schools Act Dress Code Attendance Early Dismissal

Communication Robo calls Robo s Teacher communication 1 st and 5 th grade – Suriya Douglas 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th grade – Jennifer McCormick Special education – Sabrina Brown Social worker – Frankie Thompson Culture & Climate – Frank Hall Attendance – Kassandra Parker

Data Sources PIA – Paced Interim Assessments DIBELS/TRC – Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy/Text Reading Comprehension DC CAS – Comprehensive Assessment System BCR – Brief Constructed Response

What would you want to know about your child’s learning? What they already know

Cluster Focus for *Quality relationships – Responsive classroom *Feedback - Carol Dweck’s “Mindsets” *Progress monitoring – John Hattie’s “Visible Learning” *Writing

Feedback Carol Dweck’s “MindSet” Fixed MindSet vs. Growth Mindset Fixed MindSet – students believe their intellectual ability is fixed, and students with this fixed mindset become excessively concerned with their level of intelligence. Typically these students will seek tasks that prove their intelligence and avoid those that will not. Growth MindSet - students believe their intellectual ability is something they can develop through hard work and education. Typically they love a challenge.

Two Psychological Worlds In the fixed mindset, students do not recover well from setbacks and when they are challenged tend to decrease their efforts and consider cheating. By contrast, those of the growth mindset see effort as a positive thing, as it ignites their intelligence and causes it to grow.

How to build a growth mindset Process or effort feedback – fosters motivation by telling students what they have done and what they need to continue to do to be successful Witness vs. expert witness – let your children drawn the conclusions, you state the facts. This leads to self esteem.

Grow your MindSet “What did you struggle with today?” “This is hard, this is fun, what should we do next?” “You can grow your intelligence.” “You can learn. You can stretch. You can keep mastering new things.” “I don’t think there’s anything better in the world than a childing hearing from a parent or teacher the words, ‘You’ll get there.’ “ “Do you label your kids? This one is the artists and that one is the scientist. Next time, remember that you’re not helping them – even though you may be praising them.”

Feedback that judges Smart Cute Great Fast Best Pretty Good Quick Clever Beautiful Lovely Intelligent Right Amazing The best Better than ________ (another person)

Feedback that encourages “What did you struggle with today?” “This is hard, this is fun, what should we do next?” “You can grow your intelligence.” “You can learn. You can stretch. You can keep mastering new things.” “I don’t think there’s anything better in the world than a childing hearing from a parent or teacher the words, ‘You’ll get there.’ “ “Do you label your kids? This one is the artists and that one is the scientist. Next time, remember that you’re not helping them – even though you may be praising them.”