Responsive Classroom Part 1

I just finished taking a 4 day workshop for Elementary teachers put on by Responsive Classroom.

I would say that this is some of the best and most practical professional development I have ever had in my career as a teacher. I would also like to express that we had an excellent workshop leader in Amy Wade. I would challenge every teacher to take it and get her if possible. (A plug for her Husband's blog.)

One of the struggles we've seen growing in our schools is a lack of social skills amongst our students. It's reached the point that we have been asking for some sort of curriculum, lesson plans, or structure to teach social skills. Responsive Classroom will help provide that. 

We often talk about how important relationship is in teaching, but we don't often talk about how to build it. Responsive Classroom will help with that.

As a Christian I found Responsive Classroom to fit incredibly well with my worldview. They aren't a Christian organization, but I think this is an example of General Revelation. I felt very comfortable with the underlying ideas about who kids are and how people operate that drove the workshop.

I, and many other Christian teachers, will be thinking differently about many structures in our classroom in this next year and the years that follow.

I think that Responsive Classroom will help create excellent classrooms. Perhaps even the very best classrooms.

If you like classrooms that is.

If you're a regular reader of this blog you can guess that I do have an alternate opinion as well. More on this in part 2 and part 3.