A major shift has taken place first thing in the morning at the Lower School. Students are arriving earlier so they can be settled in their homerooms for Morning Meeting, a newly added way to start their day—just one aspect of the newly adopted Responsive Classroom, a more intentional approach of adding social-emotional learning, student well-being, and character development to the school day.

About a year ago, in the fall of 2024, a cohort of Pingry teachers who were already familiar with Responsive Classroom spoke about their experiences with it, so the Lower School decided to make it a school-wide endeavor. Lower School Dean of Students Erik Hove, who formerly taught Grade 5 Social Studies and assumed his administrative position in July 2025, has been working to incorporate Responsive Classroom into the school day.

Much of the early work has involved teacher training by Responsive Classroom educators, who focused the professional development sessions on what they call the program’s two “cornerstones”: Teacher and Student Language and the aforementioned Morning Meeting. Teacher Language falls into three categories: redirecting (if a student is off task), reinforcing (specifically acknowledging what a student is doing well), and reminding (if a student seems to be forgetting certain norms of behavior, help them reset).

“Responsive Classroom recognizes that the impact of authority figures on young children is significant—we need to be precise in the language we use,” Mr. Hove says. Teacher Language encompasses how teachers speak to children, speak about children, and build positive relationships with them, and the importance of children speaking for themselves.

“One thing that teachers, including myself, might do is: if a student says something—answers a question, for instance—we might rephrase what they said so everyone hears it. But the negative side of that can be that students might learn that it’s only important if the teacher says it. So, this method is having us think about, if we really want students to value listening to each other, we need to create an environment where, when a student expresses their thought, everyone is tuned in and listening. So, in that situation, it might be better for the teacher to ask, ‘Did everyone hear that? Can you say that again?’”

Morning Meeting, which many educators think of first when they talk about Responsive Classroom, is a 30-minute structured start to every school day—a significant-enough amount of time that the schedule had to be reconfigured to accommodate it. Students used to arrive at school anywhere from 7:50 a.m. to 8:10 a.m., with some brief time in homerooms before the first class of the day. Now, students are being welcomed for arrival between 7:45 and 8:00, with Morning Meeting on the schedule from 8:00–8:30 in every classroom.

Those 30 minutes are intended to set a tone for respectful and engaged learning in a climate of trust, with the development of five social-emotional competencies: cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control. And the structure?

First is the greeting, when the students say hello to each other. Second is the sharing, when students share some kind of information with the class, which can be followed by questions and answers. Third is the group activity that helps build community and, as the year progresses, will incorporate academics. Fourth is the morning message, which has been written on the board and sets the tone for the day, and can provide another opportunity for practicing academic skills or building community.

“I have noticed that Morning Meeting brings an extra layer of community connectedness,” one Lower School teacher observes, “because we can bring different issues that come up to the meeting, talk through them, and participate in activities that bring us closer together—especially with people that we might not normally connect with.”

When academics are introduced to Morning Meeting, four more competencies will be developed: academic mindset (“I can do this”), perseverance (small steps; small successes), learning strategies (how to organize, for example), and academic behaviors (regular attendance; being ready to learn).

As Mr. Hove points out, Responsive Classroom’s emphasis on social and emotional skills is critical because “when students feel safe, they learn well.”

And as another Lower School teacher shares, “Morning Meeting has really helped our class feel like a little family. The kids are more comfortable sharing and listening to each other, and it sets a positive tone for the rest of the day.”


Read about changes to Upper School advisory, another example of student and teacher connection.


Contact: Greg Waxberg ’96, Assistant Director of Communications, Writer/Editor