Social-Emotional Learning: The Responsive Classroom

By Sam Piha

There has been much discussion of the importance of social-emotional learning. This discussion has been amplified by a recent study showing the effectiveness of Responsive Classroom approaches. This study was recently featured in Education Week. While they focus on the classroom, the principles and practices are very relevant to afterschool programs. Their principles and practices are very well-aligned to the LIAS principles. Below we offer a major excerpt from the Responsive Classroom website. Check it out.

___________________________

"The Responsive Classroom approach is a way of teaching that emphasizes social, emotional, and academic growth in a strong and safe school community. Developed by classroom teachers, the approach consists of practical strategies for helping children build academic and social-emotional competencies day in and day out.

Guiding Principles

The Responsive Classroom approach is informed by the work of educational theorists and the experiences of exemplary classroom teachers. Seven principles guide this approach:

1. The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum.
2. How children learn is as important as what they learn: Process and content go hand in hand.
3. The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.
4. To be successful academically and socially, children need a set of social skills: cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and self-control.
5. Knowing the children we teach—individually, culturally, and developmentally—is as important as knowing the content we teach.
6. Knowing the families of the children we teach and working with them as partners is essential to children's education.
7. How the adults at school work together is as important as their individual competence: Lasting change begins with the adult community.

Classroom Practices

The Responsive Classroom is a general approach to teaching, rather than a program designed to address a specific school issue. It is based on the premise that children learn best when they have both academic and social-emotional skills. The Responsive Classroom approach consists of a set of practices that build academic and social-emotional competencies and that can be used along with many other programs.

These classroom practices are the heart of the Responsive Classroom approach:

• Morning Meeting—gathering as a whole class each morning to greet one another, share news, and warm up for the day ahead
• Rule Creation—helping students create classroom rules to ensure an environment that allows all class members to meet their learning goals
• Interactive Modeling—teaching children to notice and internalize expected behaviors through a unique modeling technique
• Positive Teacher Language—using words and tone as a tool to promote children's active learning, sense of community, and self-discipline
• Logical Consequences—responding to misbehavior in a way that allows children to fix and learn from their mistakes while preserving their dignity
• Guided Discovery—introducing classroom materials using a format that encourages independence, creativity, and responsibility
• Academic Choice—increasing student learning by allowing students teacher-structured choices in their work
• Classroom Organization—setting up the physical room in ways that encourage students’ independence, cooperation, and productivity
• Working with Families—creating avenues for hearing parents' insights and helping them understand the school's teaching approaches
• Collaborative Problem Solving—using conferencing, role playing, and other strategies to resolve problems with students"