When I first began my teaching career in the early 1990’s, it felt like an exciting time to be in education. There was incredible momentum building for rich, multi-layered, developmentally appropriate teaching. The reading and
Responsive Classroom Newsletter: April 2011
The end of the school year is an emotional time. By this time, many students (and teachers!) are eager for summer vacation, yet many children
Original Article: http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol6/613-anderson.aspx?utm_source=ascdexpress&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=express613
Displays are essential tools for supporting students’ learning and making the classroom feel welcoming and engaging. They’re also something that most teachers enjoy doing—and sometimes overdoing! It’s tempting to cover classroom walls with bright, beautiful—and teacher-chosen—charts, maps, posters,
Original Article: http://unhmagazine.unh.edu/w11/bookreviews.html
What Every 4th Grade Teacher Needs to Know about Setting Up and Running a Classroom
Fourth grade is an incredible year. Students are so alive. They race down the halls each day and burst through the door ready
Original Article: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/homework-unwelcome-guest
Most Thursday nights, our family joins two other families for what we all call “Dinner and a Show.” We congregate at one of our houses, the kids play together and we all enjoy some appetizers. The kids (seven
Winter holiday celebrations! They’re such a big part of American school life. But as our schools grow more diverse, traditional celebrations can leave some children and families feeling excluded or uncomfortable. Also, even if everyone at
Q&A with the authors of the books in the What Every Teacher Needs to Know K–5 series
Responsive Classroom Newsletter:
November 2011
Whom did you have
Original Article: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/keep-learning-going-during-holiday-vacation-times
Adapted from Responsive blog posts
by Mike Anderson and Margaret Wilson
Responsive Classroom Newsletter:
November 2010
Suddenly, it seems like the class
Original Article: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/comfortable-way-work
I remember one third grader who really struggled with sitting still. If I’d required him to sit while he worked, it would have been really hard for him to get anything done. This child needed to move to
Original Article: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/make-learning-moving-experience
So you want to reduce the amount of time that your students are required to sit and to give them more chances to move. Could you build more movement into your lessons?
Here’s one idea. Let’s say you’ve
What are strategies for helping students be more physically active during the day, and how do we keep control of the group if they’re sitting less and moving more?
Try having lessons take place in one area of the room,
Original Article: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/lecture-less
So we know students need to sit still to accomplish some school tasks, but we don’t want to keep them sitting for too long. How can we minimize the amount of time we require children to sit still?
“My students have such a hard time sitting still! They call out all the time! They’re constantly out of their seats!” After hearing this refrain over and over again from teachers, I decided to do a
This interview appeared on the Responsive Classroom blog in September, 2010.
Questions for Mike Anderson, author of three books in the What Every Teacher Needs to Know series, including What Every 4th Grade Teacher Needs
Original Article: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/blog/every-teacher-tips-displaying-student-work
In any classroom, displays should consist primarily of the children’s work, rather than teacher-made or store-bought pieces, no matter how beautiful those pieces might be. Displaying student work sends several important messages: As teachers, we value what students
With new technologies arriving on the scene constantly, it can be hard for teachers to keep up. Which devices will improve the learning environment in your classroom? Which will gather dust? Here are some basic guidelines to help you decide
Original Article: http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061031/GJNEWS_01/110310182
DURHAM — It was an activity fraught with the type of make-believe danger and true adventure any fifth-grader would love.
Granted the saving of ailing chickens, rescuing of mini-zebras and deadly snake pits did not truly take place
Original Article: https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/news-and-announcement-charts
A: I incorporate bits of word study into the charts whenever possible. In the younger grades, I sometimes made a stack of word cards and asked each student to place a card into a category on the chart
Original Article: http://www.seacoastonline.com/article/20020919/NEWS/309199995
PORTSMOUTH — Crouching on the ground in front of a portable camping stove, teacher Mike Anderson placed a length of stove pipe over one of the burners and turned up the heat. The 20 or so students closed