Belonging, Significance, & Fun

Belonging, Significance, & Fun: How Responsive Classroom Builds Stronger Communities

Imagine you're a third grader, just arrived in your classroom.

Maybe you’re tired or full of energy. It’s early in the morning, so maybe you’re distracted. Maybe you had a great breakfast, and are mentally alert. Maybe you wish you were still home in bed, or maybe you can’t wait to get started.

However you arrive, you know that in your morning meeting you’ll be welcomed into your day of learning with the rest of your classmates, and hear the message that it is important that you are here.

Responsive Classroom (utilized in kindergarten through fourth grade at Peck) is a well-researched, student-centered approach to social-emotional learning and classroom management.

It aims to build a joyful, safe, and engaging community where students can bring their full selves to school, every day.

Developed by the Center for Responsive Schools, Inc., Responsive Classroom has been designated as an exemplary approach to social-emotional learning by the nationally-recognized Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL).

There is a ripple effect to this approach that builds on learning how to connect with each other, as we do as humans and community members and friends.

The link between strong social-emotional skills, psychological safety, and better academic learning has been researched for decades, with evidence and support coming from myriad fields and hundreds of studies citing numerous beneficial outcomes relating to attitude, resilience, problem-solving ability, and performance.

“[Responsive Classroom] is the plate that holds every other skill,” said Third Grade Teacher Katie Bruno.

“It gives us an approach to strengthening things like conflict resolution, cooperation, working through differences of opinion, responsibility to yourself and to your group."

Humans have three essential social-emotional needs, as far as Responsive Classroom goes: Belonging, Significance, and Fun. Therefore, a classroom environment that can respond to those needs sets the stage for a strong, inclusive teaching and learning community.

One in which children feel seen. One in which children feel connected. And one primed to draw out the greatest growth and academic success in elementary- and middle-school-aged students.

“The micro community we make in 3B is our own smaller school family. Our kids know that if they were not here, it wouldn’t be the same, because each adds an important element or series of elements to our community,” said Bruno.

More than a philosophy, Responsive Classroom provides in-depth toolkits and tactics for teachers to cultivate this responsiveness both individually and collectively.

Morning meeting is a key component as it establishes time to intention-set, bond, and build comfort and acceptance for self-expression. Other elements promote the practice of important life skills such as active listening, self-reflection, and managing interpersonal relationships.

Every technique is aimed at reinforcing students’ validity, connection, and self-worth.

“It’s not only during morning meetings, but ways in which teachers interact with their kids during the day,” explained Buno.

“For example, we can use energizers and brain breaks as a way to message ‘I see you. I see that you need to move or slow down, so let’s do this together.’”

As students move through the Lower School and into the Upper School, the capacities built and strengthened through the Responsive Classroom approach will serve them in not only stronger academic performance and participation, but also in a stronger sense of agency and the ability to self-advocate.

“We’re showing kids how to discover all of their internal resources to connect and express themselves in a group,” said Bruno. “We have to do this all the time as adults; figure out group dynamics, make real connections, take risks, and learn to feel comfortable and present while learning something new.”