Responsive Teaching Research

The power that language has in a classroom is sometimes unimaginable. A simple interaction between a teacher and a student, can either make or break the child's ability to grow in that classroom. Responsive teaching is relatively new in the education field, and it’s making a loud roar. Teachers are taking the ideas and theories of responsive teaching, and changing their classroom towards a more responsive way of educating their students. There are many categories to responsive teaching, but the overarching idea of it is having a classroom and teaching pedagogy that supports students academically, culturally, emotionally and promotes differentiation for each unique student. Although a complex idea with varying paths to take, responsive teaching is always being continuously learned and expressed in a classroom. Incorporating responsive teaching in the classroom can lead to an increase in academic scores, a feeling of culture in the classroom, and promotes social emotional development in students.

Photograph by: Ajla Ahmetovic

Responsive teaching is this large umbrella and under are there many ways that you as a teacher can successfully teach your students with a responsive outlook. Granted there are probably hundreds of ways to incorporate responsive teaching in your classroom, we will be covering responsive teaching in terms of where students stand academically, being culturally responsive and creating a classroom community, and the social emotional development of students. 

Academic Improvement 

Students will experience difficulty, confusion, and stress in the classroom. These feelings usually stem from the idea of not understanding what they are learning. There are many responsive teaching strategies that a classroom teacher can use in order to effectively get frustrated students to understand concepts. The Model Resource Room Project of the Plymouth-Canton Community School District of Plymouth, Michigan created a visual guide “to  promote dialogue about effective strategies for a specific student and to stimulate examination of personal teaching approaches” (Mayle & Riegel, 1979). This chart lists possible skills or tasks a student can have difficulty with, and 5-7 solutions of how a teacher can be responsive and effective in order to help. The first difficulty is that a student has a hard time becoming interested in academic material. Traditional forms of teaching tend to ignore students who behave like that, or punish them for being off task whereas the responsive teacher puts themselves in the students shoes and does everything they can to get that student to feel motivated and interested. Some tips that The Model Resource Room Project offers for this kind of behavior can be, “tell stories that relate the lesson to peoples lives, seat students closer to the teacher; distance affects interest, reward often (perhaps with attention) as lesson begins” (Mayle & Riegel, 1979). In responsive teaching, being aware and present is a common characteristic. Educators must understand that students may be struggling, and it is up to them to give students the support needed for students to build academic and social emotional competencies (“Principles and Practices,” 2020). Not only does responsive teaching positively impact the student engagement, it also has been proven that mathematical academic scores have increased. “The association between teachers’ use of Responsive Classroom practices and math achievement appears to be stronger for students who are initially low achieving than for others” (“Principles and Practices,” 2020). The impact of responsive teaching is much greater than its surface. 

Classroom Community and Culture

Setting the students up for academic success is a large part of responsive teaching. The simple act of sitting down with your classroom as a family can do this. We are all familiar with the term morning meeting: a teacher collectes important papers, announces what will be for lunch, lets students know what their math lesson will cover that day, but morning meetings are much more than that. “The Morning Meeting Book” is a book written by Roxann Kriete that shines light on the effect of morning meetings in the classroom as a form or responsive teaching. “In a responsive classroom, the greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction. We must know our children individually, culturally, and developmentally” (Kriete, 2002, p. 4). Morning meeting is a lot more than just collecting lunch money and stating early dismissals: through social and positive interactions with students, they can start to feel a community developing in the classroom. Kriete starts by focusing on the simple act of greeting your classroom. The purpose of greeting your classroom and students individually is that it sets a positive tone, provides a sense of recognition and belonging, helps children learn names of peers, and gives practice in offering hospitality towards others (Kriete, 2002, p. 34). Being able to communicate with your students respectfully and culturally is an important aspect when greeting them. The Education Alliance of Brown University identified culturally responsive teaching as a central learning factor to benefit student teaching. “It plays a role not only in communicating and receiving information, but also in shaping the thinking process of groups and individuals. A pedagogy that acknowledges, responds to, and celebrates fundamental cultures offers full, equitable access to education for students from all cultures. Culturally Responsive Teaching is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning” (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Being able to understand students' backgrounds, respect them, greet them, and make sure they feel seen in the classroom is a way to be responsive and create the community that students feel accepted in. 

Effects on Students Social Emotional Development 

Embedding a responsive pedagogy can ensure growth in students' social emotional development. Cohen describes social emotional development as including “the child’s experience, expression, and management of emotions and the ability to establish positive and rewarding relationships with others” (Cohen, 2005). As a classroom teacher, everything you do throughout the day can impact the social emotional development of your students. The first and most powerful way of being responsive and positively developing social emotional factors, is by language. “When our language is direct and authentic, when we say what we mean and mean what we say, children learn what they can trust us. Direct and authentic teacher language simply allows children to feel respected and to know clearly what the teacher means” (Denton, 2007, p. 13). The way you speak to your students can impact the way they see you, the way they see themselves, and the way they treat their peers. Students mimic our behaviors, so when a teacher calls students out for doing something well, they will keep doing well and in turn feel happier that they are being noticed in the classroom. When students believe in themselves they are more likely to work harder at learning which in turn benefits them academically (Denton, 2007, p.19). Responsive teaching is similar to a domino effect, but in a positive way. Being a responsive teacher and watching the way you speak and act creates a classroom community which flourishes student growth developmentally and academically. “In order to be successful in and out of school, students need to learn a set of social and emotional competencies—cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control—and a set of academic competencies—academic mindset, perseverance, learning strategies, and academic behaviors” (Responsive Classroom, 2017). These emotional and academic competencies all step from creating a classroom environment in which a student feels welcomed, loved, and accepted. 

Responsive teaching is not a simple topic, and can not be taught and integrated within a day, but as a classroom teacher incorporating simple changes can lead your teaching pedagogy to be responsive. Understanding that your students are human beings at the core, not robots that are there to soak in information, respect them as they respect you, create a family not a classroom. These are simple things that you can do to be a responsive teacher, to in turn create a community, increase academic scores, and allow students to be emotionally there. 

References 

Cohen, J. (2005). Helping Young Children Succeed: Strategies to Promote Early Childhood Social and Emotional Development . Washington, DC: National Conference of State Legislatures and Zero to Three. 

Kriete, R. (2002). The Morning Meeting Book. Strategies for Teachers Series. Northeast Foundation for Children.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The dreamkeepers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishing Co.

Mayle, J., & Riegel, R. H. (1979). Maladies and remedies: guidelines for modifications of materials and methods for mainstreamed adolescents with academic difficulties. Plymouth, MI: Plymouth-Canton Community School District.

Principles & Practices. (2020). Retrieved February 25, 2020, from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/about/principles-practices/

Responsive Classroom. (2017). Retrieved March 1, 2020, from https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Supporting-SEL-Through-Morning-Meeting.pdf