Teachers create responsive classrooms
Morning Meetings foster challenging, communal learning environment
BY JENNIFER KOHLHEPP
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Stephanie Mayerson (c) and the rest of her classmates at Upper Freehold Regional Elementary School follow third- grade teacher Lesley Walulak's instructions during their Morning Meeting on Sept. 20.

Intertwining social and academic learning in the classroom has made Upper Freehold Regional Elementary School students more responsive.

For the past few years, most Upper Freehold Regional Elementary School (UFRES) teachers have implemented a new approach to education that aims at fostering a safe, challenging and joyful learning experience. Called the Responsive Classroom, the set of practical strategies brings together social and academic learning throughout the school day.

"The Responsive Classroom is more how the world really is," said Mimi Rowland, one of the first UFRES teachers to use the Responsive Classroom strategies. "I think it's amazing. It made all the difference for so many students."

Rowland said the techniques used to educate in the Responsive Classroom make students feel more at home in school and enable them to deal more effectively with socialization issues. The strategies also increase student investment and responsibility and improve learning while reducing behavioral problems, she said.

From top, students greet each other during the Morning Meeting part of their third-grade Responsive Classroom exercises at the Upper Freehold Regional Elementary School, Sept. 20. Third-graders in Lesley Walulak's class created these images of themselves during their first day back to school. Victoria McGovern reads the morning chart to her classmates.

The basic principles underlying the Responsive Classroom state that the social curriculum is just as important as the academic curriculum; that how children learn is as important as what they learn; that cognitive growth occurs through social interaction; and that teachers knowing children individually is as important as knowing the content they teach.

The Responsive Classroom includes a Morning Meeting, which is a daily routine that builds community, creates a positive climate for learning, and reinforces academic and social skills, according to Lesley Walulak, a third-grade teacher at UFRES.

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After everyone gets settled, Walulak and her 23 students start each day with a Morning Meeting. For the meeting, students make their way to the front of the classroom, where they all sit in a large circle on a rug.

On the morning of Sept. 20, both Walulak and Corey Hosler, a special education teacher, sat on the rug with the children, as does anyone who is visiting the classroom on any given day. The Morning Meeting begins with each person in the circle greeting whomever is sitting to their left.

Rowland said the greeting is important because "every child feels welcome into the class by the teacher and by each other."

Walulak's class explains a proper greeting as a "Good morning" accompanied by a handshake, eye contact and a smiling face.

Connor Ennis, 8, said his favorite part of the Morning Meeting is the greeting.

"You get to know a lot of different people," Connor said.

"And," he added, "you get a happy feeling."

Once everyone has greeted one another, the meeting continues with a classroom "share," during which a few preselected students discuss their thoughts and feelings about a topic specified by their teacher. For instance, students shared their fondest memories of second grade during the Morning Meeting on Sept. 20.

Rowland said sharing is a time when students provide a little information about what goes on in their lives along with their thoughts outside the classroom. She said she has seen students bond through the sharing process.

"During the share part of one meeting, a student shared that a grandfather was very sick," Rowland said. "Later on in the day, the class took it upon themselves to create a get-well card for the grandfather."

Following the share part of the meeting, the class participates in a group game or activity. On Sept. 20, Walulak led the class in a number game played like Hangman.

Rowland said the activity portion of the meeting allows the sense of community in the classroom to grow.

Shane Duffy, 8, said his favorite activity is called "Mrs. Marbles." In the game, each student must say a phrase without showing his or her teeth, which results in a discussion that sounds like the children have marbles in their mouths.

Walulak said, "In this game, students learn to laugh with each other and not at each other."

Morgan Gravatt, 8, said her favorite activity involves a beach ball. She said the class tosses around a beach ball that has questions written on it. Whoever catches the beach ball has to answer questions such as "What's your favorite color?" or "What's your favorite food?" Morgan said she shared with the class that her favorite food is macaroni and cheese.

At the end of the activity, the class turns to its Morning Meeting chart. The line leader of the day - a student who's chosen by the teacher - gets to choose if he or she would like to read the chart or if the whole class will read it together. The guidelines of the Morning Meeting encourage teachers to provide students with academic choice, as giving children choices in their learning helps them become invested, self-motivated learners.

When asked what she learned from the Morning Meeting chart on Sept. 20, 8-year-old Isabelle Rittenberry said she learned two new words.

"We learned what a person who studies bugs is called," Isabelle said, referring to the word "entomologist," which was written on the chart that day.

"We also learned about the word 'pursue,' " she said. "Like, to follow your dreams."

Walulak helped Rowland pursue implementing the Responsive Classroom in the elementary school. Rowland, who now teaches computers at the school, recalled going to the school's curriculum director for help during her second year of teaching third grade there.

"I felt like I was getting through to my students academically, but that I was not connecting with the kids," Rowland said.

She said the curriculum director gave her a book that at the time just happened to be sitting right on her desk. The book, titled "The First Six Weeks of School," was written by the teachers who developed the Responsive Classroom, according to Rowland.

The book taught Rowland how to set the tone and character of the classroom for the school year during the first six weeks of school, with the most important tool in this process being the Morning Meeting.

Rowland said the results of implementing the Morning Meeting were "unbelievable."

"I saw a complete change in the atmosphere of the classroom," Rowland said. "I felt connected with the kids, and they felt connected with me and each other."

Rowland said she started to notice that "petty things that used to happen throughout the school day didn't happen anymore."

Rowland said it becomes difficult for kids to pick on one another if they know each other personally. Overall, she said, the behavior of her students improved.

Since first implementing the Responsive Classroom in their own teachings a few years ago, according to Rowland, she and Walulak have helped about 90 percent of the teachers at UFRES introduce the educational strategies in their classrooms as well.

Almost all the kindergarten through third-grade classes use Responsive Classroom strategies, Rowland said, as does one of two fourth-grade classes.

Walulak said, "Teachers are realizing that socialization is as important as the academic curriculum."