Athens elementary schools are trying a new program to make students accountable for their actions and create a school community.
The Responsive Classroom - started in 1981 by the Northeast Foundation for Children Inc. in Turners Falls, Mass. - includes six different components: morning meetings, rules and logical consequences, guided discovery, academic choice, classroom organization and working with families. Students participate in activities such as generating classroom rules, attending parent-teacher conferences and doing group activities.
Athens West Elementary School second-grade teacher April Louthain worked at Sherwood Elementary in the Forest Hills School District in Cincinnati when she first used the Responsive Classroom approach.
I was told that I could do morning meetings and logical consequences - two of the key factors of the Responsive Classroom - so I did them right away when I started here
Louthain said. I think it's a very positive program. It's talking 'up' to people instead of talking 'down' to them and it makes them accountable for their actions.
Joan Linscott, principal at West Elementary School, said she observed one of her teachers using the technique and found it to be an effective way to work with kids.
I observed (Louthain) who originally taught in Cincinnati
and I liked how she dealt with the children
she said.
Linscott received approval from her advisory committee and used district money for professional development to send Louthain to be trained for the Responsive Classroom approach. Linscott said she could afford to send only one teacher, who would then teach the rest of the staff.
West Elementary School started using the program last school year with morning meetings.
This year the school added rules and logical consequences to its curriculum. As part of this, the students gathered to discuss rules for the entire school and put their thumbprints on a document saying they agreed with and would obey the chosen rules.
To solve behavior problems
it is important that kids feel that they are important and that we care about them
Linscott said.
The Plains Elementary School started morning meetings this year as a building-wide activity.
In my classroom
I've seen a lot of kids who normally don't socialize with each other get together
said Heather Skinner, a sixth grade teacher at The Plains Elementary. There's more talking and more involvement in kids who normally don't participate. ... It creates a safe atmosphere for students
especially for shy students.
Skinner said The Plains Elementary School plans to continue morning meetings and make them a standard activity. The school will follow West Elementary School's example and add more components to its Responsive Classroom approach, such as rules and logical consequences, in future school curriculums.
