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Second graders sit in a circle on the music room floor. There’s excited chatter, the volume rising. Today, they are creating sound effects. The teacher raises her hand with all five fingers extended. Without saying a word, she is asking them to “give her five,” – eyes on speaker, quiet voices, ears listening, hands free, body still. Slowly, the kids’ hands go up in response. The room grows quiet.

“Give me five” is one common strategy Spring Lake Park Schools teachers are using across all grade levels to quietly and calmly gain student attention. It’s one of several strategies for creating a learner-centered environment that staff have focused on this school year to support student learning and engagement.

“We’ve gathered a set of common strategies to support all aspects of a student’s development and create safe, positive and welcoming learning environments,” says Kaline Sandven Marinello, director of special education and student services. “Kids need these things in order to learn and we want to support teachers in consistently creating these conditions for learning across our schools and grade levels.”

Relationships first

Knowing and using student names and intentionally taking time to get to know each student are common sense strategies that develop relationships in a classroom.

“Relationships are important. We can't expect students to perform at their best when they don't have a relationship with the people asking them to perform,” says Kaline.

At the elementary level, dedicated homeroom teachers and teaching teams help support building relationships quickly. At the secondary level, as teachers have multiple class periods and courses, it can take more time and be more challenging to develop relationships.

“At the start of the year in all my classes, regardless of Spanish level, we start with a unit focused on introductions,” says Kelsey Rathmanner, high school Spanish teacher. “Students introduce themselves to the class in Spanish. They talk about their families, hobbies, interests, and personality. This allows students to get to know each other and for me to know them.”

Focusing on relationships first sets a tone that supports learning even through rough spots.

“I like to start the year by giving students space, listening to what makes them excited or upset and just generally getting to know them on a human-to-human basis,” says Sally Holmgren, high school science teacher. “Once that has been established, then clear boundaries are easier to maintain, and students are more likely to be willing to listen to my redirection.”

Including families

At Westwood Intermediate and Middle School, one of the more impactful actions staff took at the start of the year was making more than 2,000 phone calls to families. Each family had a phone call home to welcome students and families to the school year. Families new to Westwood had a phone call in the first week of school and a follow-up call from classroom teachers. 

Angela Skauge, math teacher, made 28 phone calls to the families of students in her Panther Time class.

“I really enjoyed making the phone calls,” she says. “It was a chance for me to ask parents if there was any information that they could tell me that would help us, as teachers, to best support their child. We talked about some of the positive things I’ve noticed with them in class and Panther Time and also if I noticed any struggles. Parents were happy to make a connection and be able to share information about their child.”

The feedback from parents has been universally positive.

“I had a wonderful surprise call from Mrs. Skauge today!” wrote one parent to Tom Larson, Westwood principal. “I remember seeing teachers would be calling, but I kinda forgot about it. She was interested in my suggestions/ideas as to things that worked well for success last year… Thank you for having this be a part of the process this year. It really means a lot.”

Routines and expectations

After relationships, routines and expectations are important scaffolding to support learning at all levels. Routines are important in helping students know what they need to do to be successful and feel confident.

In Kelsey’s Spanish classes, for instance, each day starts the same way. Students enter class and greet her, “Buenos días profe.” Spanish class has begun.

“We go over any important announcements,” says Kelsey. “Then students begin working on a bell ringer activity that is posted on the board and is always a review of what students are learning. They are expected to complete the task by the time I am done taking attendance and checking in with students individually. Then we go through the daily agenda/objective and the Week at a Glance.”

This routine helps create a smooth transition into the new learning of the day. With routines in place, there are fewer opportunities for confusion or disruption. Kelsey also finds it helpful to explain and model what is expected, especially for new activities.

“I always explain my expectations before each activity,” says Kelsey. “I tell students what I want to see/hear and what I don’t want to see/hear. I ask them what they think the expectations are and model the expectation. For example, if we are doing a group activity, I will have 3-4 students model it for the class.”

Looks like, feels like, sounds like

Empathy maps help support expectations and routines. An empathy map describes what a specific activity should look like, feel like and sound like. Maps are created by the learners with teacher support. They are easy to spot throughout the district – on flipchart paper or bright construction paper hanging in classrooms to remind everyone what is expected.

Gretchen Glewwe and Ally Schleh teach second grade and often open the wall between their two classrooms. With their students, they each created an empathy map for their “What I Need” (WIN) independent work time.

“We go over it every day before we start WIN,” says Gretchen.

The maps include key points such as :

• Sounds like: “Level 1 (no talking, silent.)”
• Feels like: “Calm. Quiet.”
• Think: “Focus on reading.”
• Looks like: “Eyes on pages.”

 “It's really nice because the kids take the responsibility for knowing what's there,” says Ally. “They have ownership. They were part of the conversation. It is all of their ideas.”

That student ownership is a key ingredient.

“It’s been really helpful,” says Gretchen. “Teacher-focused direction is very different than having students create their own expectations around what the activity is. Are their expectations very similar to what we would want? Absolutely. Because they own it, they feel real responsibility.”

Down the hallway, in Emily Magner’s kindergarten classroom the empathy map for WIN time helps when she’s not there and a colleague is taking over.

“Whoever's in the room can just look and see what our expectations are for this time and roll with it,” she says.

For Emily, it’s been fun to see how serious her young students are about this.

“For kindergarten, empathy is such an abstract concept. What is empathy? It's so fun to hear them talk about it,” she says. “When they're in the hallway, they'll be like ‘we're so quiet we're showing empathy.’ ‘You're right,’ I say. ‘You are caring about other kids learning right now.’ It's cool to hear them conceptualize what empathy is at our school. I think that's my favorite part.”

The kindergarten students share the importance of empathy maps in their own words.

"Empathy maps are so we are kind to other kids at Centerview so they can do their best learning," says Linnéa.

Connor’s take is similar.

"The empathy map is so we are quiet when we are in the hallway because we care about the older kids and want them to do their best learning because they are so loved. That's what empathy is,” he says.

Madelyn focuses on what empathy is and what it means to show it.

"Showing empathy is being nice to other friends because you can feel their feelings and you know if you are nice to them then they feel happy. That's why you shine light onto them!" she declares.

Focusing on the proactive

Strategies like these focus on expending more energy and focus upstream rather than just waiting to dole out consequences when rules are broken.

“It really flips the conversation from classroom and student management to being proactive in developing an environment for learning,” says Rachel Adamek, coordinator for behavior supports and services. “This approach prevents so many behaviors we know parents and community members hear about in schools. Our aim is to be 80 percent proactive and 20 percent reactive versus the other way around.”

This is a general shift compared to how schools have traditionally operated.

“Too often, in schools, we've focused too much on reactive strategies – what happens when the rules are broken, a school handbook approach,” says Kaline. “Our hope – and expectation is that with these proactive approaches, we won't have to respond in that reactive way as much. Things will happen that still require consequences but with this approach it’s not our first move.”