• RESPONSIVE CLASSROOMS

    AN APPROACH TO SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING     

    Choosing a SEL approach began with a careful consideration of what we most wanted and needed as a school community. The needs that emerged from staff and parent focus groups and from the needs assessment surveys were mostly captured in three overarching themes. 

     

    We need:

    • to help children and adults feel more deeply and consistently connected to their school community.
    • strategies that minimize the disruption in learning that results from discipline problems and unkind behavior.
    • to teach children skills to manage emotions, resolve conflict, and solve problems.

    We also considered input from staff and parents that indicated a preference for approaches that focused on culture change rather than those that were stand-alone in nature.

     

    Keeping these needs and preferences in mind, we narrowed down the  80+ SEL approaches that have been reviewed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL).  

     

    The five approaches we considered all had a professional development component, all were focused on strategies to improve communication and culture, and all contained some means of teaching social and emotional skills to children.

     

    Among these options, a clear favorite emerged: "Responsive Classroom is a widely used, research-backed approach to elementary education that increases academic achievement, decreases problem behaviors, improves social skills, and leads to more high-quality instruction."

     

    To learn more about Responsive Classroom, please take a closer look at their website , read one of their overview summaries, and/or watch the videos on their YouTube channel.