Dear Responsive Teachers,
I am so excited!
Today, my RC Consulting Teacher Partner and I are off to run our FIRST workshop!
We are holding a 2-hour workshop about Hopes and Dreams Conferences. We plan on doing a little Afternoon Message, a Direct Presentation piece, a Comprehension Tool (for an article we will read) and then a little Independent Work Time. Finally, we will pull it together with a Closing Circle.
I am a little nervous, but I prayed, and that always helps! I know that it will be a service to the children of my District if even one of the participants gives this a try this year!
Wish me luck!
Mrs. R

But I am going to take a moment to admire the view from this particular spot!

Dear Responsive Friends,
I am back from Presenter’s Seminar. I have made it! I am officially a Certified Responsive Classroom Consultant Teacher. Woo-hooo!

This has been an amazing 5-year journey for me; From finding The Responsive Classroom Approach here on Pro-Teacher, to this week when I went on a tour of NEFC and became a “colleague” of Mike Anderson, Susan Roser (my talented and inspiring Presenter’s Seminar Coaches)and many, many more dedicated RC Teacher Consultants. I am proud and incredulous at the same time.

It was an amazing two-year journey to become certified. I am grateful to my District and my colleagues for their encouragement, their enthusiasm and their support. I would like to extend many, many thanks to my Coach, Kerry O’Grady, for her thoughtful, purposeful and respectful “pushing” as I deepened my practice. My family were...

Dear Responsive Teachers,

Well, it is finally here!

I'll be leaving for the last 5 days of Presenter's Seminar tomorrow with another Colleague from my District. Thank God for her... she likes to drive and has one of those Garmin Navigators that help guide our way. And she has been a fabulous partner!

I have been thinking a lot about that... navigating my way. This next year will be challenging for me; First of all, I'll be providing training for my colleagues about The Responsive Classroom Approach. That is a huge new shift in my responsibilities. Up until now, I have only just shared what I know through book clubs, dvd viewings or the occasional “How’s It Going?” lunch meetings. Now, I will be a “Certified Responsive Classroom Consultant Teacher”. That is a pretty amazing accomplishment. But one that comes with a lot of responsibility. I will also be trying to accomplish my National Board Certification this year. NBC has long...

Dear Responsive Teachers,

Last summer I began to research the Daily Five and CAFE Approaches by the 2 Sisters. It sounded so great and I had heard wonderful things about these approaches on the PT Boards.

I was so enthusiastic. I would even bring my books to the pool club! I gathered a few of my good friends and colleagues and we had some book club meetings to hash out how this might look and sound in our classrooms. We even met during the beginning part of the year to talk about our experiences and our thinking.

I felt like I was in heaven.

A marriage made in heaven.

The Responsive Classroom Approach and the Daily Five/CAFE fit together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I am so happy teaching with these approaches to learning in my room.

The "explicit teaching", the weight on independent learning, being responsible for teaching children how to make choices and then allowing them to...

Dear Responsive Teachers,

Settle back, for story time...

Once time, not so long ago, a little girl named Lily walked into first grade. Bright eyed and eager, Lily wore her movie star sunglasses and "high heeled shoes" on her first day. Lily's teacher, Miss Happy, looked at the little girl and smiled--it was going to be a good year. That is, until the children were coloring where Lily threw a full-blown tantrum and refused to stop, cried hysterically and screamed and shouted at Miss Happy. And thus, began Lily's Miraculous Journey.

The tantrums continued all through September. Miss Happy, who after the first three days knew it was a serious situation, bought every resource she knew. She bought Solving Thorny Behavior Problems by Caltha Crowe and The Explosive Child by Ross Green. She signed up for a Responsive Classroom workshop: Responding to Misbehavior. She studied and read. She asked other teachers' opinions in the building. ...

This is such a common practice in many classrooms. We've all used this approach many times. But let me tell you a personal story that helped me really understand the importance of Teacher Language.

My DD attended the school where I teach. She was in a first grade classroom across the hall from me and during planning periods I could hear the teacher teaching her lessons. One time I heard her say; "Everyone, look how DD did her paper. Do you see how she wrote the answer? Look how she showed 2 ways of doing the problem. This is just what I am looking for!"

So, this seems great! It helps DD gain confidence and it shows all the other kids just how to answer the problem. Win, win! Right?

Nope.

My DD shrunk back into herself. She felt like everyone was sneering at her... She hated being put...

Dear Responsive Teachers,

I had a question today from a colleague (and I do consider her my colleague...even if she is a "virtual" one!) about using Daily 5 in the Responsive Classroom.

I have my opinions about it. But I was interested in hearing what you all had to say.

So, if you use Daily 5 in your Responsive Classroom: How is it going? What worked well for you? Do the Daily 5 components mesh with the Responsive Classroom Approach? How so?

Let's see if we can get 5 comments on here! Share your thoughts, boys and girls!

Happy Climbing,
Mrs. R

Dear Responsive Teachers,
I am only a few weeks out before I head back up to Turners Falls in order for me to finish my work to become a Certified Consultant. YIKES!
One of the first things I want to do for my colleagues is to run a Hopes and Dreams Conference training session for them in July. I’ve given many of them the link to this article at the RC website: http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/pdf_files/feature_31.pdf I am excited to help them along on their journey with this type of family partnership. It is exciting to be able to offer people who understand Hopes and Dreams the opportunity to deepen their commitment to them through the use of this tool.

So, my wondering this morning is: What other tools do you as a Responsive Classroom teacher yearn to understand more fully?

Thankfully, we can see many of the tools in action here: http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/multimedia/index.html If you haven’t had the time to visit the multimedia portion...

So, I received a copy of this book a few months back, and immediately read it. I couldn't put it down. But I waited until now to write about it, and I am glad I did.

Three years ago, I wasn't the accomplished Responsive Classroom teacher I am today. However, I did use many of the Responsive Classroom strategies, and had already completed RC1. I was pretty confident about my skills as a teacher of children, and thought I could handle just about any behavior.

Then Bobby* came my way. "Buckle your seatbelts" I was told. "He's a handful" I was warned. That wasn't the half of it...

That year, many things transpired between Bobby, myself, his mother, the school psychologist, the school social worker and our principal. It began the first day of school with Bobby slapping other children across the face... HARD at Morning Meeting as we were circling up. It ended near the end of the school year with Bobby drawing pictures of me, noose...

Dear Responsive Teachers,

I can't believe how quickly the end of the year is approahing. I am excited about upcoming challenges, looking forward to quiet summer days with my family, and getting ready for nect school year. However, I do feel as though the summer will fly and I need to make the most of it.

So, I have developed a plan of attack. I need to plan my summer much like I plan my school year. I know I need to keep it open-ended, but I am needing to sit down and really look at the next 8 weeks.

I am going to NEFC in July to finish my training, and I'll need to complete my homework assignments. I am 1/3 of the way done, but still have 2 assignments that need my attention. Once I am certified, I will need to begin planning our RC1 course for our District with my co-consultant. So exciting!

I am also headed up to Wrentham Mass. to go to a Daily 5 conference, so that will be great, but I know I'll want to get a ton of lesson planning...