GUILFORD — There's a new program growing at the Guilford School, and it's called the Responsive Classroom.
Okay, the idea behind it isn't new and it has been incorporated into the way the school functions for years, but this is the first time the program has been implemented directly into the way teachers run their classrooms.
The Responsive Classroom was first put into action at the Greenfield Center School in Greenfield, Mass., before it came to Guilford. The GCS school board, along with overwhelming support from local taxpayers (many of whom are parents of Guilford students), voted in favor of this program after two other attempts at a similar program years before.
Roughly $20,000 in grant money was issued to GCS, so John Gagnon, principal, can make sure the faculty is trained in the new program.
Not just teachers will be a part of the Responsive Classroom. Janitors Troy Revis and Matt Hatfield, librarian Susan Hessey, nurse Janet Michaud, and secretary Beverly Kerber will also be trained, and they will use their training directly in their day-to-day duties.
By now you're probably asking yourself: what exactly are the staff being trained in?
Essentially, this whole deal is focused around teaching kids to communicate more strongly with each and build more solid interpersonal skills. The program teaches other skills, too, from how to handle altercations among fellow students properly, to how to deal with bullies.
Another big part of the program is how the staff interacts with the students. The faculty's actions and words will be geared toward making students feel comfortable in their surroundings and, more importantly, giving each student an identity bigger than being just another member of the masses.
This could come in the form of telling a student they did an excellent job on an essay.
Or it could mean simply looking each student in the eye and greeting them every morning when they come to school.