Following is an article written by a sixth-grader in 1997 about Responsive Classroom problem-solving strategies introduced by her teacher.

In my class we have different ways of solving problems. Many problems involve many people and many possible solutions. There are different ways of solving a problem – for example, our classroom has the problem-solving book, which may include two or three people or the whole class. We also have a class problem-solving meeting, which has each person confess their side of the situation. With these tools, I think our class has done well resolving problems.

The problem-solving book is for when we have a major situation that someone wants to solve. Write it down, and the whole class can solve it, or, if it only involves certain people, they can solve it together.

It made the air go out of everyone’s heart …
There once was a problem which brought sadness to everyone’s eyes. This problem led to a class problem-solving meeting. It was a situation where someone mean and rude talked about a classmate and made the whole class off track and made the air go out of everyone’s heart. Everyone told about something that happened to them so they had drips of tears. The situation was so sad – there were about three people who got teased because of their last names. I thought that maybe teasing about a last name wouldn’t hurt, but it meant a lot to them.

There was another problem where a girl in my class got a new jacket and got teased about how fat she looked in it. There was crying and being upset, but that meeting was special, and it showed us how much teasing hurts others.

Role plays
Sometimes our class problems lead to role plays. In role plays, someone has a situation and wants to know how to solve it. There was situation where a boy liked a girl and didn’t know how to ask her out. We did a role play of that situation. I like how we handle problems by doing role plays.

Talking it out
When we have problems involving only two or three people, we make them go out in the hall and talk alone, so they have to handle their own problems. I don’t usually know when people have these kinds of problems, because it is done privately and quietly.

I think Room 213 is a good role model for other classes. We have good ideas for solving class problems, individual problems, and problems among two or three people. Most problems are solved in these ways.