Included below are comments from students, parents, teachers, special
educators, paraeducators and administrators taken from our end of
the school year survey of Vermont classrooms testing the Supportive
Classroom curriculum.
"These are all good teaching practices which benefit the
entire classroom community! These practices are more than going
through the motions. They are the heart and soul of community
and prepare the students and teachers for positive learning experiences.
They create more safe environments where we can ask
questions, investigate and not be afraid to fail." Classroom
Teacher.
"We have changed. Before we implemented the curriculum
we had cliques; the popular, the not so popular. Now we are one
class. Now people are actually accepting other people for what they
are, not what they expect them to be." Middle School Student.
Working with the instructional support team has been the
high point of my days and weeks. I wish others could
see the power of this process. Elementary Special Educator.
I fully believe students become better people as a result
of this curriculum. Manners were impeccable for the most part throughout
their school day. They became much more sensitive to everyones
needs. Students that once were reserved became much more open, socially
and academically. Students on several occasions pointed out that
they or someone else used one of the skills to help them out.
Elementary Teacher.
This curriculum allowed me to look more carefully at why
I teach and ask whats important. I always felt supported by
my team to try new approaches to the collaborative skills, not to
get discouraged and to ask more questions. Elementary
Teacher.
The best thing about this curriculum was that it created
a quality classroom environment where children grew emotionally,
academically and physically in a supported atmosphere.
Elementary Teacher.
It is easy to make assumptions about what kids know about
trusting, sharing, belonging and respect. The biggest impact
in my class from this program has been that discussing, directly
teaching, and practicing and evaluating these skills transferred
to the kids everyday behavior.
My assumptions were wrong - they needed to be taught these skills
directly. Middle School Teacher.
As for myself, I have really enjoyed teaching each concept
and seeing the students use the skills. It has helped me to reflect
on my teaching as well as my personal life. The four core concepts
are so important to remember in order to be a successful part of
the classroom, community or family. Special Educator.
The core concepts are the thread that held us together
as a community. While these concepts existed before, teaching about
them led us to act on them. The special educator and I really worked
at modeling and using concrete examples of the concepts for the
children. Not only our class, but other adults and students were
all using the concepts to guide their behavior by the end of the
year. Elementary Teacher.
The teacher and instructional assistant internalized
the curriculum core concepts and applied them generally towards
the whole class as well as used knowledge of students strengths
and interests when interacting and teaching students. The kids really
bought into it! Special Educator referring to a third
grade classroom.
The Success Plan was a very good tool for assisting families
to define their goals at parent/teacher conference time. It was
also a nice framework to use with instructional assistants to pinpoint
individual childrens needs. Special Educator.
Entry routines have shown me that I can trust people and
help people, care about people, and that a lot of things
are fun - like helping people. 5th Grade Student.
"The students were inspiring. They took the curriculum
to heart. Their
vocabulary, time on task and manner changed as they worked to incorporate
class norms throughout their day. They independently brought in
childrens literature books to share with each other as a bridge
to their norms." Middle School Teacher.
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