Ms.

Whites Approach to Teaching

Dear Caregivers, I want to let you know of an approach to teaching that I use. Its called the Responsive Classroom approach. Its been used successfully by elementary teachers in schools around the country for over twenty years to create learning environments where children thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. The Responsive Classroom approach was developed by classroom teachers. It emphasizes teaching children to take care of themselves, each other, and the school environment so that everyone can learn at his/her best. Youll notice our class paying attention to how students treat one another throughout the day. Youll also see a strong emphasis on students setting goals for their own learning and taking responsibility for reaching these goals. Guiding Principles: The Responsive Classroom approach is based on theories of how children learn and on the experiences of classroom teachers. There are seven basic principles behind this approach: Learning social skills is an 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 developmentallyis as important as knowing the content we teach. Knowing the families of the children we teach and inviting their participation is essential to childrens education. How the adults at school work together is as important as how skillful each individual teacher is: Lasting change begins with adult community.

Teaching practices: The Responsive Classroom approach includes the following main parts. We will be using some or all of these in our classroom this year. Morning Meeting Children gather for fifteen to twenty minutes every day to greet each other, share news, do a group activity, 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 together 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. The 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 the materials. Academic Choice: An approach to giving children some 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. Working together with parents: Ideas for involving parents as true partners in their childrens education. Approach to Classroom Discipline: The children and I have been talking a lot during these first few weeks of school about our hopes and dreams for the year and about our classroom rules. Each child thought about his/her hopes and dreams and shared them with the class. (You may want to ask your child about this.) Then the class figured out the kinds of rules well need if all of us are to reach our hopes and dreams. Here are some of the rules we came up with:

Be in control of yourself. Be respectful of everyone. Take care of our classroom and school. Always try your best.

We recognize that no one can be expected to follow the rules 100% of the time. When children make mistakes in following the rules, Ill help them solve the problems caused by their mistakes through the use of logical consequences. Logical consequences are not punishments. They are ways to help children see the effects of their actions, repair the situation, and learn to do better next time. There are three kinds of logical consequences Time-out: If a child is being disruptive, she/he goes to a designated spot in the room to pull back together. The time-out is short. The child comes back as soon as she/he has regained control. Children may go voluntarily to time-out. Loss of privilege: If a child misuses a material or acts out during an activity, that child will be told to stop using the material or stop doing the activity for a short period of time. The privilege will be restored when the child and teacher have talked about how to prevent a similar problem the future. You break it, you fix it: If a child damages something or hurts someones feelings, she/he will try to fix the damage. In the case of hurting someones feelings, the child might offer an apology in action by writing a card, helping with an activity, making an illustration, or taking some other action beyond verbally saying sorry. My goal is to help children believe in their ability to create a caring learning environment. Learning to live by the rules theyve created is an important step. I look forward to a productive and joyful year with your child! Sincerely, Kathleen White