Environment & Culture

Purpose | Engagement | Assessment | Curriculum | Environment | Collaboration

What?

Environment & Culture

Why?

Do they even know my name? What about my strengths or areas I need to work on?

I am a valued member of this class & the clear expectations & routines help me feel safe to take risks.

How?

Classroom Routines

Relational Capacity

HSD Climate & Culture

8 Tips for Talking to Your Child About Racial Injustice

The Importance of Teaching the Behaviors You Want to SeeHow do you respond when students don't exhibit the behaviors you would like to see? Do you tell students they need to change? Do you lecture them about responsibility or respect? Do you complain to your colleagues about kids these days? Do you punish or reward? How effective are those options? Telling doesn't work. Lectures create distance. Complaining doesn't empower anyone. And rewards and punishments mostly work only to get compliance and not to build better better behavioral skills.

A De-escalation Exercise for Upset StudentsA simple technique that takes just a few minutes can help an agitated student regain the state of mind needed for learning.

22 Diverse Book Choices for All Grade LevelsSuggestions from teachers who are working to offer students at every grade level book choices that represent their lives.

10 Tips for Teachers with Students Who Have Experienced TraumaFor children who have experienced trauma, learning can be a big struggle. But once trauma is identified, we can adapt our approach to help kids cope.

Five Ways to Impact School Culture Regardless of Your TitleLeadership has much more to do with one’s influence than one’s title. Too often we wait for someone with a certain job description to “fix” a seemingly broken culture, and while it is certainly fru…

What Is Class Culture? A Deep LookWe all want to build a positive classroom culture. But sometimes it can seem so elusive! This Deep Dive is here to help you consider how you can build a class culture that promotes academic achievement and social and emotional literacy. Class culture is the foundation of a successful classroom, setting the tone while communicating and maintaining clear expectations. It also sets students up to hold each other accountable in reaching the classroom expectation and their shared goals.

8 Proactive Classroom Management TipsNew teachers—and experienced ones too—can find ideas here on how to stop disruptive behavior before it begins.

Journal of Social and Emotional Learning Vol. 1 Issue 1Journal of Social and Emotional Learning Vol. 1 Issue 1

Creating a "Comfortable" Classroom EnvironmentStudents learn best in a positive, safe classroom environment. Brian Van Dyck, a middle school teacher from Santa Clara, California, makes conscious moves in his classroom to create this type of environment. He discusses the value of a curriculum that fosters opportunities for students to have open conversations without fear of judgment from the teacher or other students and shares how he strategically encourages this open, safe environment.

32 Strategies for Building a Positive Learning Environment

Positive Behavior Referrals For Students | SEL Best PracticesThe principal’s office has historically conjured stress for students. But today, a growing number of schools are exploring "Positive Office Referrals...

8:00 a.m.: I'm at the Classroom Door | Responsive ClassroomWhere are you when students arrive in the morning? At your teacher desk looking at paperwork from the office? At the projector setting up a video you'll be showing later that morning?

Give Some Snaps!Sarah Brown Wessling shares how she uses snaps instead of claps in her classroom.

Creativity as Classroom CultureCreativity in the classroom can be taught and needs to be fostered and be part of the routine. Creativity is dependent on content.

Is Your Classroom Organized for Learning? | Responsive ClassroomSchool’s over! As you clean table tops, take down anchor charts, and sort supplies, pause and take a look around your classroom. Will you be leaving a space that worked well for most of the year’s learning activities, a space you happily anticipate returning to in the fall? Or did the room seem to somehow get in the way of your teaching and students’ learning?

Nixing Recess: The Silly, Alarmingly Popular Way to Punish KidsThree-quarters of principals say that taking away recess is part of their discipline plan. Why this is a bad idea—and what schools should do instead.

Active Vocabulary: Using Movement to LearnMeg Richard, Tch Laureate and NGSS Squadster, explains how she uses movement to help her students learn science concepts.

Writing Positive Notes to Kids – Part of our Faculty Meeting

Infographic: The Importance of Social-Emotional Learning in SchoolsIn a survey, nearly all teachers and administrators said they felt it's essential to address the social and emotional needs of students in schools today.

How Strengthening Relationships with Boys Can Help Them LearnPsychologist and author Michael Reichert has found that boys learn better when they have a genuine relationship with their teacher. This should be obvious, but developing relationship skills can be difficult to support when boys receive unhealthy cultural messages about how they should behave.

Winter Break Is Hard for So Many of Our StudentsHow we can help.

School-Leaders-Guide-To-Equity-In-Education-Poster.pdf

Breaking SEL Down Into Manageable PracticesAdaptable and accessible ‘kernels' make teaching skills like self-management, focus, and emotional regulation easier.

13 Ways to Bring Hygge to Your ClassroomLet's get cozy.

Administrators share 7 tips for building positive school cultureCarefully managing hallway messaging and modeling positive attitudes can be difference-makers on student performance, teacher retention and more.

Body Language: Creating BondsLeveraging body language techniques is essential to being an effective classroom manager. One way to use body language is to establish and reinforce positive relationships with your students. Body language expert Chris Caswell uses this classroom observation video to highlight ways to convey positive reinforcement, draw in disengaged learners and communicate directly with students, all while seamlessly conducting the lesson.

Supporting students in managing their anxietiesI used to be a teacher who didn’t fully understand when students told me about their stress levels. Students would say, “I’m so stressed out about ____,” (fill in the blank with just about anything!) and I’d respond, “Well, just make sure you study!” or “Make sure you take care of yourself.” I didn

25 Tricks to Get Your Students Through the Last Weeks of SchoolThese last weeks of school are the toughest to keep kids focused on learning. Don’t worry. We have a few tricks up our sleeve to help.

Sharing Stories to Build CommunitySarah Brown Wessling builds class culture by helping students get to know each other.

Collaborative Group Work with the 1-3-6 ProtocolStudents in Kevin Sevin's AVID class work individually, in groups of three, and finally in groups of six. By working individually, students have a chance to dive into the assignment before collaborating with others. In groups of three, students hear each others' thoughts and then pair up with another group to form groups of six. Finally, the larger groups present to the class.

Implementing New Instructional StrategiesThe math content team supported the implementation of accessibility strategies by: talking about implementation in team meetings, co-planning a lesson which used the strategies, and participating in a demonstration lesson and debrief. The schoolwide leadership team supported implementation by: educating themselves about the program and working with the math coach and content team to share the strategies with teachers across the school.

How Gratitude Can Transform Your WorkplaceFrom nonprofits to Fortune 500 companies, learn how organizations are embracing a culture of gratefulness.

Using a Number System to Streamline Class RoutinesNYC teacher Olga Ramos explains her "Number System" strategy while we see her students implement it. Ms. Ramos assigns students a number based on their place in the class alphabetically. Each student has their own number and that number is used for a variety of purposes such as selecting a student to participate in a task, deciding which student from a group or pair is responsible for getting needed materials such as a laptop, and for forming a line to leave the room.

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