A responsive classroom is a student-centered and evidence-based approach to teaching and discipline. This approach is becoming more popular in classrooms and schools nationwide due to positive feedback and success.
The social impact has increased positive relationships within schools and encourages students to be comfortable and safe within social environments. This approach focuses on:
- Engaging academics
- Positive community
- Effective classroom management
- Development awareness
What is a Responsive Classroom?
The responsive classroom principles were developed to help with social skills with academic learning. The approach is designed to help support students’ social and academic growth. As a veteran teacher with more than 22 years of experience in education, I am so excited about these strategies that focus on positive social skills and relationships in the classroom.
Classrooms have changed dramatically over the past two decades, and students are dealing with more deficits in social skills now more than ever. This is also an era in which students deal with social media pressures. Many students do not attend any other social institutions other than school, making it more critical to teach social skills at school.
Personally, I see students that are not in situations where there is positive communication, and they do not know how to communicate effectively. This can be due to spending hours on technological devices and not in social environments, especially during a global pandemic. Thus, a program like this needs to weave positive social interactions into the school day.
There are seven guiding principles of a responsive classroom. Students need to learn a set of social-emotional competencies:
- Cooperation
- Assertiveness
- Responsibility
- Empathy
- Self-control
They also learn a set of academic competencies:
- Academic mindset
- Perseverance
- Learning strategies
- Academic behaviors
What are the Advantages of Responsive Classrooms?
There are multiple advantages of responsive classrooms and teachers, and stakeholders verify the effectiveness. Responsive classrooms create joyful, excited, engaged, caring, and invested students and teachers. This approach makes better relationships, and kids know they matter. They become stronger socially since it focuses on social skills and the benefits of socialization.
Teachers verify they are reconnected to why they began teaching. This approach allows teachers to become closer to the ideal classroom; these principles create a positive community within the school and classrooms.
Some testimonials for responsive classrooms include:
- Increase in positive student behavior
- Academic growth
- Fewer behavior problems
- Overall successful learning environments
Why are Responsive Classrooms Especially Beneficial Post-COVID?
The principles of a responsive classroom create a proactive approach to discipline. Students feel more supported and less intimidated by teachers’ discipline methods. Currently, students are coming to school with less well-developed social skills. The COVID-19 pandemic created environments where students were less social than ever before, and this was a crucial times in social and academic development.
Teachers nationwide face challenges post-COVID, and social skills suffered greatly in all classrooms. Incorporating responsive classrooms provides teachers with the tools needed to bridge the gap between social and academic deficits.
Responsive Classroom Training Strategies
There are multiple training strategies to incorporate into classrooms to reap the benefits of responsive classrooms.
Morning Meetings
The core focus of the meeting is to focus on building social skills and creating a positive social atmosphere where students feel safe and supported. Students love morning meetings because they can start their day right, allowing them to adopt the right mindset for the day.
This part of the academic day is becoming one of the most important parts of students’ and teachers’ days. The morning meetings can last anywhere from five to 30 minutes. There are no rules on conducting these, and the sky is the limit. Teachers are some of the most creative individuals, and the meetings can be designed to meet many specific needs.
Student Choice in Learning Experiences
Student choice is one of the most beneficial strategies for all classrooms. Students love autonomy, and this creates classrooms with high levels of engagement. They are learning at high levels of engagement in these classrooms, and socialization is supported because they are typically working together in small groups.
Interactive Modeling
This is an explicit practice for teaching procedures, routines, and academic and social skills. Examples of this are: how to respond to text or lecture engagement in class or how to give and accept feedback.
Interactive modeling also includes how students enter and exit the classroom. Teachers need to have modeling because students do not know precisely what is expected unless teachers model it for them. It is also an effective idea for teachers to practice these interactive ideas.
Interactive Learning Structures
Activities that provide students the opportunity to engage with content in active and interactive ways include hands-on activities in the classroom, and social, group opportunities. Group work and collaboration with others are perfect examples of how to incorporate interactive learning structures.
Teacher Language
Teachers intentionally use language to enable students to engage in learning and develop the academic, social, and emotional skills they need to succeed in school. What teachers say and the tone in which they say it is imperative in a classroom setting. Teacher language is essential for students to know what is expected and have that modeled for them.
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