Responsive Classroom
What is the Responsive Classroom� approach?
The Responsive Classroom is an approach to teaching and learning that fosters safe, challenging,
and joyful elementary classrooms and schools. Created by classroom teachers and backed by
independent research, it consists of practical strategies for bringing together social and academic
learning throughout the school day. Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc., a non-profit
organization in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, is the developer of the Responsive Classroom approach
and offers professional development, services, and materials about it for educators.
Guiding Principles
The Responsive Classroom approach is informed by the work of many great educational theorists as
well as the experiences of exemplary classroom teachers. Seven basic principles underlie this
approach:
The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum.
How children learn is as important as what they learn: Process and content go hand in hand.
The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.To be successful academically and
socially, children need a set of social skills: 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 working with
them as partners is essential to children's education. How the adults at school work together is as
important as individual competence: Lasting change begins with the adult community.
Teaching Practices
The Responsive Classroom approach includes the following main teaching practices:
Morning Meeting: A daily routine that builds community, creates a positive climate for learning, and
reinforces academic and social skills.
Rules and Logical Consequences: A clear and consistent approach to discipline that fosters
responsibility and self-control.
Guided Discovery: A format for introducing materials that encourages inquiry, heightens interest,
and teaches care of the school environment.
Academic Choice: An approach to giving children choices in their learning that helps them become
invested, self-motivated learners.
Classroom Organization: Strategies for arranging materials, furniture, and displays to encourage
independence, promote caring, and maximize learning.
Working with Families: Ideas for involving families as true partners in their children's education.
A Look Into How Our Classroom Community Is Formed
The First Six Weeks of School
http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/12_2NL_1.asp
The benefits of Morning Meeting
http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/newsletter/13_4NL_1.html
The power of creating Hopes and Dreams and Classroom Rules
http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/PDF_files/13_3nl.pdf