Responsive Classroom Summer Enrollment Now Open: Professional Development for Elementary Educators

TURNER'S FALLS, Mass., Jan. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This summer, educators from the U.S., Canada, and overseas will attend week-long institutes to learn about the research-backed Responsive Classroom® approach to elementary education. The approach, used in elementary schools throughout the United States, teaches the social curriculum side-by-side with the academic curriculum, building safe, engaged learning communities in which students can do their best learning and teachers their best teaching. Research has confirmed the benefits: higher academic achievement, fewer behavior problems, and more high-quality instruction.

Each highly interactive institute lets teachers experience and practice techniques they can use immediately in their own classrooms. "Hands down," says Sally Davis of Glendale, California, "this has been the most practical and beneficial professional development experience I have ever had." Teacher Melissa Nye, from Indianapolis, Indiana, also notes the very practical and informative nature of the institutes, which provided her with "specific examples, scenarios, case studies, directions, and language."

Registration is now open for institutes at 28 locations in 16 different states. In Responsive Classroom I, participants learn to build classroom community and use a positive approach to discipline. Topics include Morning Meeting, interactive modeling, creating rules with students, positive teacher language, and responding to misbehavior.

In Responsive Classroom II, teachers build on these fundamentals, learning about guided discovery, academic choice, classroom organization, and collaborative problem-solving, along with more on positive responses to misbehavior. In addition, one-day workshops on child development, bullying prevention, and an overview of the Responsive Classroom approach for administrators will be offered at several locations this summer.

According to Karen Casto, NEFC director of professional services, the goal of every institute is "not only to teach Responsive Classroom practices but to help teachers feel renewed and excited about teaching. We're always looking for the kind of response we got recently from Amy Schoengarth, Thornton, Colorado; Amy told us that we gave her 'the opportunity to really become the teacher that I've always wanted to be.'"

Tens of thousands of teachers around the country have already attended Responsive Classroom institutes, which are offered by Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc., developers of this unique approach to teaching, and by Origins, its Midwest affiliate. Another 5,000 are expected to attend this summer, seeking what Waterford, New York, teacher Karen Harris calls "top-quality professional development."

Complete schedules and more details are available at http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/workshops-institutes and http://www.originsonline.org/workshops-school-services#workshop-calendar. All professional development offerings are also available on a contractual basis to schools and districts.

About Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc.
Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc. (NEFC), a not-for-profit organization, was established in 1981 by elementary school educators who envisioned a way of teaching that would bring together academic and social learning throughout the school day. That way of teaching, called the Responsive Classroom® approach, is now being used in schools across the country. For more information, visit http://www.responsiveclassroom.org.

SOURCE Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc.