Osseo schools take on social studies

Making eye contact and smiling when you say "hi" are just as important in Kristine Knutson's Fair Oaks Elementary School kindergarten class as learning the alphabet.

Knutson runs her class along the lines prescribed by something called Responsive Classroom, a teaching plan that puts good behavior and strong social skills on equal footing with taking those first steps toward reading and writing. The idea is this: Teach kids to forge a strong connection with their teacher and fellow students, and they're less likely to misbehave and disrupt the class. When that happens, kids learn more.

Knutson starts off her class with a 15-minute "morning meeting," designed to get her 19 students started on a strong social note. At last Wednesday's morning meeting, her kids formed a circle in the front of the class, then went around the circle, greeting one another with smiles and "high fives," saying each student's name, and not too softly either.

"Nice big voices today," Knutson said when the greetings got too whispery.

Responsive Classroom started in 1981, and came out of the Massachusetts-based Northeast Foundation for Children.

In the upper Midwest, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit educational services company called Origins distributes the program to schools and trains the teachers to practice it. Linda Crawford, Origins executive director, said both public and private schools use Responsive Classroom. She cited such districts as Inver Grove Heights, Richfield, Bloomington and Columbia Heights among those that use it to varying degrees.

At Webster Magnet School in St. Paul, Responsive Classroom got much of the credit for reducing suspensions, mostly of black students, by 65 percent last year. Fair Oaks has a large minority and low-income population, but Knutson said demographics don't make any difference when it comes to Responsive Classroom.

"It works across the board for children from different backgrounds, from different cultures," she said.

Crawford cites University of Virginia research that shows higher reading and math scores for Responsive Classroom children and fewer discipline problems.

'Hello, neighbor'

The Responsive Classroom philosophy emphasizes addressing everyone by name. That's why all the kids in Knutson's class wear nametags. After their greeting, Knutson's kindergartners turn to each other and sing a "hello, neighbor" song. Responsive Classroom has its own language that teachers use when addressing students.

"Instead of saying, 'no talking,' it would be, 'Boys and girls, what's it like to be good listeners?'" said Tony Dylong, who teaches fifth grade in another Osseo district school, Maple Grove's Rice Lake Elementary.

Instead of dictating rules, Responsive Classroom teachers work their way toward rules by asking students what their goals are for the school year, and how they can go about achieving those goals.

"If someone wants to make a friend, a rule might be that we're caring and respectful of all the people in the room," Knutson said.

If that sounds a bit warm and fuzzy, Responsive Classroom teachers say it works.

"It cuts back on discipline, tons," Knutson said. The word "punishment" is not one that would find much favor in such a classroom. Behavior, Dylong said, "is predicated on logical consequences," and not letting your teacher and classmates down.

"I used the word 'expectation' at least 20 times a day," Dylong said.

Last year, the Osseo district awarded $10,344 from that part of its operating budget reserved for staff development to seven schools for Responsive Classroom training.

Fair Oaks Principal Phil Sadler, who had turned Osseo Elementary into a Responsive Classroom school, brought the philosophy over to Fair Oaks this year after Osseo Elementary shut down. Besides Knutson, other teachers at Fair Oaks use the program to varying degrees. Sadler wants to eventually transform his new school entirely into a Responsive Classroom school. But that takes time. There has to be more training for the teachers, and even the school's other employees. Leaders have to be trained to help the other teachers.

And not everyone wants to jump right into this. Some teachers fear it cuts too much into the time they increasingly need to be teaching academics. Others don't want to abandon their own teaching styles, which might stress an entirely different sort of rewards and penalties system -- for instance, giving kids treats or pizza parties when they do well. But for Dylong, the choice is obvious.

"I can't imagine teaching any other way," he said.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547