Buses are unloading students; two buses will be late due to weather. Three teachers have called in sick, two are at workshops, and the guest teachers are checking in at the office. Two children are waiting to talk to an adult about a pushing fight they had as they entered the school, and a parent arrives to talk to the principal about an upcoming site council meeting. Teachers are meeting their students at their classroom doors, and hundreds of children are heading towards those rooms. The scene looks like the residents of a little village coming together to begin their day.

"It takes a village"
The issues that arise within this community are no less complicated than those of a real village. I have never heard of an effort by a village to comprehensively re-make itself over a period of a few years, yet this school community is in the process of attempting to do just that. Perhaps it has received a large grant to do so. Perhaps it is on a list of schools that have not shown yearly progress, so it is receiving extra funding to fix itself. Whatever the reason, many American schools are currently engaged in the process of a complete overhaul.

Origins’ work often involves helping schools renew themselves. We like to call it "renewal" rather than "reform," because renewal sounds more hopeful and more organic. We believe that the elements for success are already in the school: most school communities have an abundance of talented teachers and administrators, children capable of great strides forward, and families who care. The question is how we can increase the best of what is there, so that it becomes the culture of the school.

What’s required
It is not easy work, even under the best conditions, and "best conditions" are rare these days. What does it take? We’ve learned a great deal about that from workshop participants and on-site in the schools. Here are some of the conditions we hold as most important to successful school renewal.

* A willingness to work together within the adult community of the school towards a shared vision
* The energy and will to work hard—to change and grow
* A commitment to renewal for the whole school that is greater than each individual’s desire to go his/her own way
* The courage to shift from a culture of complaint to a culture of hope and possibility and to show that shift in the way the adults interact with each other--less talk about
* "These kids" and more conversations that begin "I think the children will be more successful if we ….."
* Endless patience—with children, with their families, and with each other.

All of these elements have to do with the grown-ups in the school because we have found that no matter how good the curriculum, how excellent the methods of instruction, how much we focus on teaching social skills to the children, it is the adults and the ways they think, feel, act, and interact with each other that determines how all the other efforts will fare.

Teaching all the time
When the adults are together, the children learn. We are the water in which they swim and the air they breathe. When we show care for each other, they begin to do the same. When we are sarcastic, so are they. We shout. They shout. We laugh. They laugh. They are watching us all the time, and they imitate what they see. The only other job I know that has such high stakes regarding language--verbal and body--is parenting, and for exactly the same reasons.

Probably the single most important factor in a classroom or school that is fully using The Responsive Classroom approach is the way the adults talk to the children. This is what we usually call teacher language, the language we use as we interact with children. But equally important is the way that we talk to each other.

The language used to disagree with a colleague or discuss a child makes all the difference in how the disagreement is taken or whether something productive comes out of the discussion. Here are a few moves you can help the adults in your school create better adult relationships.

VISION
Make a picture for yourselves of the way you want your school to look, feel, sound. What is your vision for a caring work environment?

GUIDELINES
Establish guidelines for adult behavior, including language, and make them stick. A staff covenant is only as good as the strength of its presence in the community:

* Post it in important places.
* Read it at the beginning of every meeting (staff, teams, home groups)
* Establish ways to remind each other when you slip (a discreet note, a non-verbal signal, a one-to-one conversation. One school uses the term "pinches" to refer to moments when you tell someone that you feel they have stepped out of bounds of the agreement.
* Give up gossip. Speak to the relevant party, not your friend, about language or actions that hurt or seem to break down group spirit.
* Review the agreement at least once during the year, for example in January, and make changes that seem necessary.
* What you need is a living document that is clear and present in your daily life together.

EFFECTIVE MEETING FORMAT
Make every meeting count. Set agendas ahead of time, with clear time indications for each topic. Assign roles: facilitator, time-keeper, recorder, community-builder. Decide how you will decide: consensus or majority rule. Close the meeting—don’t just drift away. Acknowledge each other. Play—even if for just a moment!

ROLE PLAYS
Use The Responsive Classroom structure to figure out how to solve dilemmas. Model the situation till you get to the tricky part, and then together figure out the languge and actions that will honor the rules as well as meet needs.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Using "I" statements, each person or opposing group states their concerns and describes the situation as they see it, while the other person or group listens carefully. Then each recapitulates the other’s position. Brainstorm win-win solutions, and pick the best one to try. Check back with each other to see how the solution is working.

PROBLEM-SOLVING MEETINGS
Circle up and state the problem. Agree on the rules of the meeting (no names; "I" statements; willingness to work to solve the problem). Each person has a chance to speak briefly about the problem and the effect it is having on the community. Discuss the possible causes of the problem. Brainstorm solutions. Choose a solution by consensus. Decide how you will know if the solution is working and set up a time to meet again to assess progress with the problem.

These are the structures that provide a scaffolding for a community. No group of people, certainly not a group under the levels of stress experienced in many schools, can function at a high level without a structure for dealing with difficulties. Start with the areas of support you need most, and build from there the school village that can raise the children to success.

Linda Crawford is the Director of Origins.