Engaging students to learnWhen students arrive back to school from summer break, the room echoes with excitement as kids reconnect with classmates. But that quickly fizzles when it is time to actually do some work. Groans can be heard and the grumbling starts. Some are happy to do the activities planned and others want to get outside and play or take out electronics and zone out. And so it begins. Kids are not always excited to return to school and start studying again. What can you do to engage your students and get them excited to learn after a summer break from learning? The answer to that question will be different for each person depending on their personality, experience, and classroom situation, but there are some things that could work for most teachers. Here are a few suggestions to get your kids motivated and wanting to learn the first weeks back at school. Take learning outsideKids have been enjoying the summer break and hopefully they have been spending time having fun outdoors. If you wish to keep them interested when they return to school, try to incorporate some outside activities during the day. These could be review activities, exploration, science activities, or maybe even body breaks and daily PE. I know that my students were eager to get outside and do hands on activities and it helped to make the transition back into school easier for them. Check out my blog post about taking learning outdoors for the fall for some specific types of activities. Community buildingHave you ever had a group of kids that were a challenge? Did you wonder if you would be able to get them to sit still, listen and cooperate? Building community is especially important with these types of situations. It is important to build respect and caring in the classroom. This can be encouraged by doing partner activities and group activities that help kids to meet their classmates and learn more about them. You may even need to add some specific classroom management systems. As you are figuring out where they fit in academically, you can start doing games and activities that foster teamwork and respect. Activities that foster positive self esteem and help to develop self confidence could also be a focus. Focus on developing positive self esteemBeginning the year with activities that focus on positive self esteem and classroom management will ensure that children have the tools for a successful year. There are many different ways of creating a caring and positive classroom. It is important that you choose what works best for you. I always start out with teaching about optimism and a positive attitude. I also use bucket filling activities and acts of kindness as a focus. Here is more about what I tried in my classroom to develop positive self esteem and help kids blossom and display increased self confidence about themselves. Move, move, moveJust like teachers, kids are tired at the beginning of the year as they start up new routines and stay in class for several hours. Incorporating movement and organizing classroom activities for transitions will help keep kids energized so that they stay focused and alert. Games and body breaks work well to keep kids active. Doing hands on activities and partner games also work well. Rules and routinesKids are creatures of habit as well as adults although they may not be aware of this yet. When you give students routines and schedules to follow, you can help them regulate and focus on daily and weekly expectations. With pre-planning and teaching for when unexpected events and situations happen, we can help them avoid meltdowns. Create classroom rules and establish routines that work for your students. Depending on the age of your students, you can take their ideas into consideration and create the rules together. This is a great community building activity as well. Here is a set of routine and schedule cards that I created that may be useful for the classroom. I have made them in both English and French. You can get a free copy by clicking on the image. First week back activitiesWhen selecting activities for the first week of school choose a mix of fun activities that review concepts and skills from the year before to ensure that they are not lost somewhere in distant memory after a summer of no school and that they will be able to use them to build on for new concepts and skills to be taught. We have all probably experienced the situations where kids stare blankly at us as if they had never heard of the subject before. If you get your previous students back for the first few days, you will want to ensure that they are doing something that is not a direct repeat of the previous year. It can be similar, but they will respond better if it is varied and approached from a different angle this year. You may have new students in your class as well. They will need to be able to handle the material given as well. They won't be familiar with your teaching style yet, and they may or may not have covered the same material last year, so there will need to some differentiation and extra support in certain cases. If you are looking for some back to school activities, check out my back to school category. These activities are geared to primary and cover some basic math and language skills. I hope these ideas help to make your school year start up successful. Have a wonderful year. Related Posts
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Tips For Planning Ahead To A New School YearIt may seem crazy for some teachers to be talking about preparing for the new school year so soon, but for other teachers, your summer break is already half over. If you are anything like me, your mind is already thinking about how the new year might look, what you want to do in your classroom to make it fresh for your students and yourself, and what resources and materials you might want to start gathering. You may even be thinking about ways you will build classroom community and set up the rules and routines. Here are 6 tips and ideas that can help you prepare for a successful year. 1. Give your classroom a fresh lookChanging up your classroom arrangement and giving it a fresh look can help you to feel refreshed and ready to begin a new year. In our district, we get our former students for the first week of school as the numbers are tallied and the classes are formed. Even though we try to organize things before school ends for the year, there are always changes in the fall. New students come, some students move away, some go to online instruction, etc. These all affect the numbers and how they are distributed throughout the grades. Once the classes are organized, kids are moved into their new classrooms. Usually, some remain because of all the split grades. Changing up the room and giving them special roles help them to feel like they are important and not missing out. Do you change up how the room looks or add a new decor to your room? If you are looking at adding some color to your room, you might want to check out my rainbow set. It has many different elements in it to make your classroom look cheerful and ready for a new year. I have created an English and a French version so that it will work in French Immersion or core French classrooms as well. 2. Use ice breakers to build classroom communityBuilding a classroom community will help with gaining trust and respect in the group. This is an important part of creating a caring and successful learning climate for the students. There are many different ways to build community. We will look more at this another time, but for now, here are a couple of ice breaker type ideas that might help with getting started. Getting to know each other is an important part of developing class community, so I like to do many different group activities and partner games to mix up the kids and help them to learn to work together with others. Here are a couple of the activities I have used in the past along with a twist to make it a bit different. Find Someone Who Find Someone Who is a well-known icebreaker that is used in various forms. This is my newest version. It is more extensive and can be used for getting to know classmates better. There are interview questions for the 5W and there is also a game component where teams can work together to guess who the person interviewed was. Check it out by clicking the image. If you would prefer a simplified version that is a fast icebreaker, I have made another version that just asks a couple of questions. Click the image to get your free copy. inside/outside circles Choose a topic and have the one circle share with the person they are facing. Then switch roles. This is a great way to learn information about several others as you can continue to have one circle move so that the partners keep changing. You can ask the same question multiple times or you can change up the questions to find out more information. Choose questions that will guide the conversations to learning more about the class members. Ipad glyphs Here is a great way to combine getting to know each other and math. Each glyph has different information on it depending on the likes and interests of the person creating it. After the glyphs are completed, many different questions can be asked for analyzing the data. 3. Have some classroom management strategies plannedClassroom management is an important part of teaching. There needs to be some sort of classroom routine, structure, or rules that are agreed upon in order for good learning to happen. These can be given, mutually developed, or a combination of the two, but they should be established during the first few days so that they can be practiced and followed as soon as possible. I found that using a t-chart for creating some of these routines worked well. Here are some that I used. Classroom rules and manners posters can also help to remind the kids of expectations. Here are some that I created for the primary classroom. There are a couple of different patterns available as well as a black and white version if you prefer. 4. Have some quick and easy activities readyThere are often times during the first few days when you are trying to adjust to getting back into the school routine that you may be scrambling to fill in a few minutes here and there. If you have some quick and easy activities or brain break games ready, you can just grab one of them to use. This will also help to avoid confusion, management situations, and it will help to keep the kids engaged. 5. Remember to have some funThe temptation may be to get started on academics right away, but remember that both you and the kids need to get back into a routine. It is important to make sure that you keep the fun in the activities and interject the academics in a way that isn't too intense as you do review or introduce new topics. Taking some time at the beginning to review and engage with your students will pay off later on. 6. Make sure to take care of yourselfThis is actually one of the most important tips I want to share with you. If you want to be able to get through the next year without burnout and stress, it is important to focus on self care. Every year we seem to forget how tiring it is to start a new school year. Teacher tired the first few weeks of school is real. Make sure that you are getting lots of rest. Take some time for you. Don't just focus on your job. Even if it is only a few minutes a day, do something for you that will help you to de-stress and relax. These are just a few ideas to think about as you leave school for your summer break or as you continue to enjoy your summer holiday. Next week I will talk more about back to school ideas and setting your year up for success. Until then, continue to enjoy your summer break. You deserve it. Related PostsTeaching Has Been ChallengingTeaching during a pandemic has been challenging for teachers. They have been struggling to meet the needs of their students during a time of constantly changing teaching situations. Some teachers are still teaching remotely while others are teaching in-person or doing a combination of the two. Kids are struggling or flourishing or somewhere in between. This leads to a huge range of learning needs in a classroom. Teachers are looking forward to the end of the year and a break from all of this. However, it is important to think about how things may be different when school resumes in the fall. The Need For More Differentiated TeachingAs we start to move forward from the pandemic and head towards a more "normal" classroom situation, it is really anything but "normal". There are huge learning gaps for some kids and yet the expectations are the same for them to be functioning at "grade level". In order for this to happen, we will need to make many adjustments and accommodations in the classroom and in our teaching. The need for differentiated teaching will be much greater as we help our students move towards grade level expectations again. It is important that we continue to keep working towards this and not lower our expectations because of the wide range of needs in the classroom. We will need to be flexible in our teaching to make sure that we are able to accommodate the learning needs of all our students. I recently listened to a couple of podcasts from a fellow Canadian teacher, Patti of Madly Learning, that hit home with me. Here are a couple of nuggets from her podcasts. Instead of saying "this is too hard", say "our students are not ready yet, but they will get there". "Accommodations are when we are changing how a student is completing their work. It is different from modifications because we are still expecting students to complete the same level and complexity of the work as another student. We're expecting students meet grade level targets and demonstrate grade level knowledge and understanding of concepts but how they get there is different from other students." She also used the analogy of a platform being the grade level target and ladders being the means to help get the students there. She emphasized that we not lower the platform, but that we meet them where they are and give them the ladders they need to help them get where they need to be. I have been an advocate of differentiated learning and accommodating choice to best highlight a student's knowledge and understanding for a few years now, and I saw much success when I implemented this into my teaching. I realized early in my teaching career that teaching whole class lessons worked for some kids, but left others either lost and overwhelmed or bored and inattentive. This led to developing small group activities and lessons that still focused on the skills and concepts required, but made it more appropriate for the needs of the kids. Most Classrooms Are Academically DiverseNowadays, there are often split classes with two grades combined. Here is a possible scenario from a late primary class. In the same class there are students who are struggling with phonemic awareness and connecting sounds and written language, students that are emergent readers with simple decoding skills and reading abilities, students that are reading beginning chapter books, and students that are advanced readers that can handle novels and nonfictional material with ease. The writing abilities are widely different as well. Some are still writing simple sentences with little or no detail and description. Some are struggling to get started because they are unsure of how to spell words. Some are writing detailed and descriptive stories. These same children have varying levels of competency with math concepts ranging from simple number recognition to more complex computational skills. They may be strong in math but struggle in reading, or they may be strong in reading, but struggle in math. Perhaps they are strong in both subject areas or weak in both subject areas. Obviously, these strengths or weaknesses can carry over into other areas of the language arts, social studies, and science. Now, imagine having to cover a set curriculum for all of these kids with the wide range of readiness skills that they have. No wonder teachers are stressed out. Differentiation Is Essential For SuccessDifferentiation will not only be helpful, it will be essential in situations like the one above. We can no longer do whole group lessons and expect that this will meet the needs of all the students. Some will be totally lost, and others will be bored because they need more of a challenge. Only some of the kids will benefit from the lesson. It is possible to do some whole group instruction, but it will need to have differentiated activities and extensions to go along with it in order to meet the needs of all the kids. This differentiation can be small group activities, one on one support, hands-ons practice, extra research activities, etc. The topic, requirements, and specific student needs will dictate how best to differentiate the lesson. The goal is to ensure that the students can understand the concept taught and use the skills practiced. They will also need a way to share their knowledge and understanding. This could be in a wide range of different means that will best suit their individual strengths. Provide A Solid FoundationMatching up lessons and curriculum requirements can be tricky, but it can be done if we look at the overall big picture and what is most important. From there, different activities can be provided to include these big ideas in a way that helps all students to participate and gain a better understanding. In my opinion, it is more important to make sure the students understand the concepts first before moving on to new material or concepts. Otherwise, we are leaving them feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. We still want them to learn the more complex material, but it will need to have a solid foundation in order to truly be applied. I worked with several older students supporting them in math prior to the pandemic. It was amazing to see how weak they were with basic computational skills. They were unable to do the work given in class because they didn't really understand the basic concepts needed to complete the work. Once we spent time solidifying the basic skills, they were able to move on. They started to feel confident and they were more willing to attempt new concepts. This may mean that it will take a bit longer to get to the more complex concepts and skills, but kids will be more successful when they are introduced. Make Accommodations Based On Student NeedsI have always been a big advocate for hands-on learning. If we focus on the concrete first, when we move to the abstract, it will make more sense. This is particularly true with math. Even older students sometimes need to have some hands-on experience in order to understand the concepts. With basic facts, I often used dice or base ten blocks to help with the visualization of the concept of making tens, adding, subtracting, grouping, etc. From there, I would focus on the more abstract concepts of math. Some kids were able to make the transition easily and didn't need the visuals to be successful. Others needed to continue to use visual cues to fully understand the concepts. That's okay. Some people are visual learners and that works well for them. It is important to know your students and make your accommodations based on what they need. Giving kids a solid foundation in math when they are young will help to make sure that they are ready for more complex and abstract situations that they encounter in the real world. Guided reading was my go to with reading and the varying levels of kids. This allowed me to work with specific concepts and ideas that were tailored to the needs of the kids in the different groups. Through rotations and small group activities, those who needed more one on one support got extra teaching time and the others got to do activities that extended what they were working on. I have shared how I ran my groups and how you can set up guided reading in the primary classroom in previous posts. For social studies, I created projects that allowed the kids to show their learning in a variety of different ways. This gave those who struggled with reading or writing, but were strong in other areas, a chance to shine. It was amazing to see them share their knowledge with pride and confidence when they did things this way. The hands-on nature of science through experiments and observations also works well and requires less differentiation. Working in pairs often helps when recording information or reading instructions is necessary. One can help the other with this. There can also be some choice and differentiation here for some situations. My solar system project is a good example of this. In-class science fairs, where kids can have choice of projects or experiments to investigate and share, is another great way for kids to share their knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts. As you think about next year and the demands that it may have due to the gaps created during the pandemic, I hope some of these suggestions will help you with your planning. I wish you the best as you near summer break and a well deserved rest. Related PostsHow Self Confidence Impacts Our Self WorthDo you sometimes feel like you are surrounded by people who are better than you? Are you sometimes afraid to participate because you don't think you will be good enough? It may surprise you to find out that this is a common feeling and most people experience it at one time or another. Many people will try to fake it and attempt to hide it from others, but I suspect if you did an anonymous survey, you would probably have a high percentage of people saying it is true. Believe in yourselfSometimes when you are surrounded by others who excel, it is hard to put yourself out there. You feel like you don't measure up and you might get criticized or ridiculed by others. I get it. I have a high achieving, talented family and I often feel like I am the "weakest link". The funny thing is, others feel that way when they are around me because they look at me as being the high achiever and talented one. What I have learned along the way, is you sometimes need to put yourself out there and try, even when it is hard. Asking for help is difficult for us as adults, but we are always encouraging our students to do so. I guess we should take our own advice and do the same. A Personal Example In school, I found writing difficult, particularly poetry. This feeling carried over to my teaching, and I found it difficult at first to embrace teaching poetry. I could do the basics and I could help my students get started, but I found it challenging because sometimes I didn't feel that I could do it well myself. I needed to remind myself that I could do it and focus on this. When I was in school, we would have to do many different types of writing, including poetry, and sometimes I was successful, but often I felt that I wasn't doing a great job. I got varying reactions from my teachers which made me start to doubt myself. It wasn't until I was in Grade 11 that I felt I could even write well. That year was a changing point for me because I had a teacher who believed in me and encouraged me to keep writing. My short stories improved and my confidence started to build. Poetry was still a challenge, but I felt that I was able to at least meet the criteria. I realized that writing is subjective and what some people like, others don't. It wasn't always a case of my writing being "bad", it was a case of my not being able to convey my feelings in a way that connected with some individuals. Once I learned that, I attempted to write more and use more variety and description. I started to get more positive feedback and this helped me to get through the assignments. I continued to keep trying and I started to feel like I could write well. How it made a differenceFast forward to my classroom and my students throughout the years of my teaching career. I was able to see this struggle with my kids in different subject areas and I was able to be the teacher that encouraged them. Sometimes it took a while, but in most cases, I was able to see growth and even a love of reading and writing develop in them. Math was a bigger challenge, but that even began to take on a different effort as kids started to see themselves as capable. Confidence began to flourish and successes became more evident. I used the following posters as our classroom themes. I believe these sayings and I tried to help my students to take them to heart and believe them too. How teachers make a differenceAs teachers, we have a huge influence on our students, whether we want to admit it or not. It is important to help them to become strong, confident, and valued people that are able to go out into the world and be successful. We don't know what they will choose to do in their lives, but we can give them the tools to strive for their goals. If we encourage them to continue to keep trying when things get tough, they will learn perseverance and determination. If we acknowledge their progress, they will start to gain confidence and realize that they are capable of more. If we treat them as valuable, we will help them to see their own self worth. In this time of mental health struggles with young people, this is very important. We need to be our students' cheerleaders and guides. Teachers need encouragers tooWe also need to be encouragers to our friends and colleagues who may be struggling to feel like they are worthy and valued. Especially now with the struggles of teaching during a pandemic. Our confidence has been shaken and we are sometimes beginning to doubt ourselves. If you are feeling uncertain or wondering if you are doing a good job, I want to assure you that you are not alone. You should be proud of yourself for hanging in there during difficult circumstances. If you are feeling like you need help, don't be afraid to ask for it. There are many people out there who would be happy to help and provide support and encouragement. I can tell you from experience, that you can get through tough times with support. Who knows, down the road you may be the one providing support to others as they struggle through tough times. It happened to me, so I know if can happen to others. You've got this. You are valued, appreciated, and worthy. Believe in yourself. Here are some posters I made that may help remind you and your students that you are valuable and worthy. Click on the image to check them out. Sign up for my newsletter and get a free sampler of posters.
Too Much Technology And KidsLast week I wrote about changing technology and how we can often learn from kids as things continue to progress. It is okay to sometimes let them be the teacher and us the student. We can learn many things if we are open to this. Although kids are more adept at technology in many cases, this can have a negative side if not careful. Kids are spending so much time on technology nowadays, especially since the pandemic and moving to online learning, they can become addicted to the technology and the feeling of excitement it can provide. It can become a problem if it interferes with social and emotional connections. It is important to find a balance between online and offline activities and interactions. Technology Balance Is Important For Kids' Mental HealthSocial interactions and group activities are still important. A fellow teacher told me the other day that she was very concerned about some of her students who were not engaging in the group activities and participating in the centers activities the same way as they used to. She was worried that they were getting too much stimulation from technology. Many of her students indicated that they stay up late playing video games or they get up early and play before coming to school. She noticed that they were less attentive and often very tired as a result. Because our kids get so much more stimulation at home, it is important to provide as many opportunities as possible to remain unplugged at school. Hands on activities, community building games and projects, active games and even walks are some ways we can do this. Sometimes, good old paper and pencil activities can work well also. Pre-pandemic, getting to do digital activities was a treat and it was used sparingly. Kids were excited to have the chance to interact with these activities. Nowadays, digital activities don't have the same enticement factor and they can actually sometimes be considered "boring" by our students because they have become used to action packed activities. When we choose to use digital activities, we need to make sure that all the kids are actively engaged in them. They don't need to be fancy, but they do need to have value. If kids don't engage, then we need to find other ways to help them with their learning. Technology Balance Is Important For KidsThis doesn't mean that using digital materials and technology shouldn't be part of the school day, just be careful about how much time is spent using it each day. There are many different positive reasons to use technology. Technology opens up different ways of portraying knowledge, allows for differentiation of material, and opens up access to more resources and information. Finding a good balance will help with your kids' mental health and with community building in the classroom. I would love to hear ways that you have created a balance with technology in your classroom.
Hopes and dreams changed by the unexpectedTwo years ago we headed into the New Year with hopes and dreams for an exciting year ahead. No one was ready for the change that happened in March of 2020. All of a sudden, we were thrown into unknown territory and a completely different way of teaching. There was lots of uncertainty and we were overwhelmed with learning how to navigate this new world. Teachers, students, colleagues, parents, and the community at large were worried, scrambling to figure out how to work virtually, scared of the unknown. and wondering how to stay safe. Fast forward to December 2021. We thought we had things more under control and we were starting to reconnect with family and friends and beginning to return to a more familiar way of teaching and living. Plans were being made for holiday celebrations. Suddenly, this all changed as a new variant arrived. All the things we had been doing that were working, were no longer enough. Getting through the next waveThis new variant is reacting differently and we need to make adjustments again to get through this wave. How are we going to navigate through this next wave and still stay safe? I am sure this is a question on everyone's mind. Some places are going to online learning again while other places are still going to do in person instruction. All the protocols from the first wave are back in place, but are they enough? From what we are experiencing, they don't seem to be enough. We need to be even more vigilant than before. Hang in there. You've got this.I get that it is important for kids to have interaction with others, but I also wonder what kind of balance is needed between personal interaction for mental health and distancing for physical health. Nobody seems to know what will work right now. This crazy variant is finding us no matter where we are or how careful we are trying to be. This is one of those times when we have to do whatever we can to protect ourselves and those around us. If you are teaching in person, take care of yourself and try to focus on the kids and how you are there for them. I pray that the protocols in place will protect you and that your students will realize how much it means to be there for them. If you are teaching virtually, hang in there. I know that this is not why you became a teacher, and that it is difficult for you to be away from your students instead of interacting with them in the classroom. I pray that this will not be for too long and that you will once again be able to get back to teaching in a way that is satisfying and fulfilling. I have such admiration for you and all the teachers that are using every creative way they can think of to weather this next wave. Hang in there. You are appreciated and you are making a positive impact on kids. If you are looking for some ideas for how to incorporate projects and real life learning into your instruction during this time, check out some of my ideas in these posts.
Teaching And Learning Online And In Person Using Projects For Student Learning Learning At Home And Keeping Kids Engaged Back To Basics Is KeyGetting back to basics is key this year as many children strive to catch up after a year of online learning and missed opportunities for individual support due to the pandemic. Last week I spoke about focusing on the mental health of the kids first and academics second. That doesn't mean that we stop teaching the academics and following the curriculum, but we need to find the balance that will support the students where they are at. Returning to some of the basics will be key. Literacy IdeasFor younger children, literacy is huge. Developing and nurturing literacy skills is important. This may include phonics, phonemic awareness, word attack skills, emergent reading and writing activities, and guided reading groups. Sometimes all of these will be needed as the range in primary classrooms can be developmentally wide. Choosing activities that are interactive and hands on will be more engaging than worksheets and will also allow for small group work so that everyone can be working on different skills or concepts that are appropriate. This will require some assessment, preparation, and scheduling, but it will be worth it. Check out my guided reading post to see how I managed this in a multi-level classroom. Math ideasFor math, most curriculums work with a spiral approach so that skills are reviewed and then built on as the concepts are mastered. This is a good practice and makes it easier to adjust to meet the needs of the kids. In the primary grades it is important to make sure that the activities start with the concrete before moving to the abstract. Some kids are able to do this quickly and others will require additional practice with hands on activities. Small group activities and guided math situations will help with this as well. As with the literacy activities, you will need to assess, prepare, and schedule things to make them run smoothly. Check out this blog post for tips that help kids struggling with math. Social studies in the primary grades can be global or community based depending on the specific concepts being taught. Mapping activities can be simple or complex to fit the needs of the children. Studying about the community and more global ideas can also be made simpler or more detailed for the children. Project based activities work well for this. Check out this post to see how I successfully used projects with my primary classes. You can also grab a mapping activity from my followers free resources page if you have subscribed to my newsletter. As for science choose a few different areas and focus on them. It isn't necessary to do all the different topics. This will allow deeper learning and concept development. Kids love doing science experiments and learning about how things work. You can even add in a project if it works. There is a free gravity experiment on my followers free resources page as well as some other free resources in my TPT store that may help you out. Related PostsMental Health First and Academics SecondI remember talking to a friend of mine one day about how things had changed and she reminded me that there were some positive things that came out of last year that hopefully would be continued this year. For instance, kids were washing their hands more often, staying home when they weren't well, taking more care with belongings, cleaning up better, and focusing more on their own work instead of socializing so much. Of course, there were also many things that were missing that were important for social emotional learning. Being able to return to in person learning and carefully starting to do group activities really made a difference for some kids. I realize that not all schools went totally back to in person teaching, but hopefully they will soon. We learned how important personal connections are as we were prevented from being together for so long. This was a wake up call for many as the number of children suffering from mental health issues increased significantly in the last year and a half. It goes to show how important it is to ensure that we focus on the social emotional well-being of our students. Academics are important, but not at the expense of a child's mental health. Teaching SEL Helps Develop Good Mental HealthWe, as teachers, nurture the kids and help them to develop positive self esteem and self confidence. It is important that we help them to see that they are special and valuable. Often, when kids act out, they are really crying for attention or help with issues that they may not be able to voice or even recognize. We need to look past the behavior and try to see what may be causing it. This is not an easy task and we may not get it right, but if we are able to let the child see that we care, hopefully it will make a difference. Getting back to the basicsI heard from many teachers that this year has been a big challenge because of the wide range of levels they need to teach in their classes. Since the start of the pandemic this gap has grown. Some children flourished with online learning and others floundered or didn't even show up. Assignments were left incomplete, comprehension was sporadic, and trying to teach a skill or concept to everyone at the same time virtually was often very difficult and unsuccessful. Now that many children are back in the classroom, the teacher needs to reassess what they know and where the gaps are so that they can continue on. This may lead to many stressful moments for both the kids and the teachers, especially during assessment times and testing times for those schools that are required to do standardized testing. I know it may seem unmanageable at times, but it is important that the focus be on what is good for the kids. If it means stepping back and revisiting material that was previously covered in order to provide the base for future learning, do it. If it means that you have to teach in small groups to reinforce and reintroduce concepts, do it. If it means that you won't get to some of the material this year, then so be it. Pushing through the curriculum just to complete it won't benefit anyone. You will feel like you didn't do your best teaching, and the kids will not get the understanding and knowledge needed to be successful in future lessons. Everyone will feel frustrated and stressed. You've got thisYou may be reading this and saying to yourself, "But you don't understand. It isn't up to me. I am responsible for teaching this curriculum so that my students can do well on the tests." I get it, but I also get that the kids won't do as well on the tests if they don't have a proper understanding of the material. As I said earlier, we need to protect their mental health. Even if it means the academics have to be limited for a short time. When you give extra support and teaching in the areas that are weak, the kids will develop the skills and confidence to move on to more difficult material and they will ultimately fair better with future assessments and the curriculum requirements. Remember that every group has had some disruption and that there are many children that are struggling with the academics across the country, and maybe even across the world, so you are not alone with this predicament. You've got this. Your students will start to catch up as you support them where they are. Remember to encourage them along the way and help them to see that they will be successful and they will be able to reach for their goals and succeed along the way. Next week I will give some specific ideas for getting back to the basics for primary children. Hang in there. The holiday break will be here soon and you will be able to recharge and regroup. It may not always feel like it, but you do make a difference for your kids. You are a star. Keep on shining even if the light doesn't seem very bright at times. Related PostsCommunicating Student LearningIt is that time of the year again. Communicating student learning is important, but can also be exhausting at times. Writing report cards, preparing for student led conferences or parent teacher conferences, and doing all the assessments for these events need to be added to the already jam packed weeks of lesson planning and instruction. Teachers know that student assessment is important in order to direct teaching so that it helps kids where they are and provides directions for improvement. On-going assessments and formal assessments both have a purpose and are valid for checking student learning. But it is sometimes difficult to fit it all in and still feel that you are able to teach effectively. Types of assessment and their purposesThere are a variety of assessments that can be used for determining how students are doing, but they are generally categorized as informal assessments and formal assessments. Informal assessments: These are usually on-going and based on data collected for daily/weekly activities. The data collected is then communicated to the student and parents. This information is critical if we want to provide instruction and resources that will help students to continue to move forward in their learning. Sometimes you will hear it referred to as formative assessment. Communicating student learning can be done with phone calls, emails, weekly or monthly journals, e-portfolios of work, or in person conversations. It is important to remember to share successes as well as areas of concern. Formal assessments: Reporting to parents provides a snapshot of learning for a specified term. It is an overall look at how students are doing in the various subjects and in their social emotional learning. Report cards and student/parent meetings are a couple of the ways this is done. There are a variety of different types of report cards being used now depending on the location or school district. Some schools use letter grades and percentages, some use a numerical rating, some use rubrics, and some use anecdotal formats. Student led conferencesStudent led conferences are a great way to share successes and learning with parents and still have a meeting with the teacher. I started doing these in the mid-nineties and I never looked back. If you would like to find out more about how I did them, check out this post. Not everyone is comfortable with this format, but many who have tried it have found it to be less stressful and very positive. If you are interested in a plan for your student led conference or a package of materials for setting it up, check out my student led conference materials resource. I have created a learning journal for gathering up information that can be used for communicating student learning on a monthly basis. You can get a free copy by signing up for my newsletter. I know this can be a stressful time for you, but what you are doing is important. Remember to take care of yourself too. Thank you for all you do for the kids. Related PostsDifferent Physical Abilities In The ClassroomThe ParaOlympics has just taken place over in Tokyo and the Terry Fox Run just happened as well. This reminded me to think about how we can make accommodations for different physical ability issues in our classrooms. Often this is overlooked as we go about our days unaware of the obstacles that children with different physical abilities must face in school. A few years ago, I had a student that broke her leg and she needed to be in a wheelchair for several weeks. This was the first time I made it a point to focus my attention on creating an environment that would accommodate kids with physical disabilities so they could participate in our daily activities. Classroom ArrangementIt is important that we consider the physical arrangement of the classroom, especially if we need to allow for equipment such as a wheelchair to maneuver around the room. Accessibility to materials and equipment also needs to be considered. When I go to the grocery store, there are often things that I cannot reach on the shelves because they are too high, or too far back on the shelves. Imagine how it must feel for those in a wheelchair when they are unable to access things in the classroom for similar reasons. Being in a wheelchair, on crutches, or perhaps wearing a sling or having a cast on an arm or leg makes it more obvious to us that people need help. But, not all disabilities are readily visible and we need to be reminded to consider these as well. Accommodating Kids With Hearing ImpairmentsIn many classrooms nowadays, there are children with hearing impairments. Special equipment is now being used to help these children. Amplifiers, microphones, and hearing aids are provided and teachers and students use this equipment when giving oral instructions or for sharing during conversations and discussions. Not only is this helping the hearing impaired child, but it is taking some of the strain off of the voice of the teacher who is speaking to be heard in a classroom and it is helping others to hear better as well. Using closed captions or a transcript program when required to follow a movie, videoclip, or presentation would be helpful so they can have the added support of reading when things might be difficult to hear. Learning and teaching sign language would also be helpful if they use sign language. Even if it was only the basics, it could still help with communicating. Accommodations For Visually Impaired Students Visually impaired students also need some changes to make their learning successful. It is amazing how much they are capable of doing if given the right environment. The degree of impairment also needs to be considered. Some students may be able to partially see and may just need to have larger fonts, less clutter, and brighter, clearer colors to function successfully. Others may have more severe visual impairment or even be completely without sight. They would need more accommodations to make learning successful. This could be audio recordings of any written material or transcripts in braille. Having a buddy to help guide them when maneuvering around the classroom until they become familiar with where everything is would definitely be useful. It is important that the classroom arrangement stay the same unless the student is prepared and shown when things have been moved around to avoid a dangerous situation. Some students may need to use a cane to help with getting around as well. Helping Others To Understand The DifficultiesIf we want to help those who have different abilities to participate fully, it sometimes takes some understanding of the difficulties they experience to fully get what to do. When my student had to be in the wheelchair, I decided to create some scenarios to help the other students to understand some of the difficulties. We also came up with some solutions together to make things work. I then went further and we talked about some of the accommodations that might be needed to help someone who was blind, or who had a broken arm, who was on crutches, etc. We did some role playing and set up situations where students had to become the person with the ability issue. I brought in a wheelchair and crutches, we blindfolded students, and we used slings for a broken arm. Kids took turns being the one with the ability issue and the others found ways to help them with various situations. This gave them a bit of an understanding of what it might be like for the person with an ability issue. Following these activities, the students were able to think ahead and make sure that my student in the wheelchair had the necessary help and they worked together to make sure she was able to participate fully in all activities. After doing the role playing, they also found solutions to other situations I gave them a reflection sheet to fill out. It was interesting to see how it changed their thinking and how much more aware they were of others and their needs. There are many other situations and scenarios, but I hope you get the idea. If we want to make accommodations that work for everyone, it is necessary for all the students to work together. This requires understanding the situation and creating solutions together. Working Together To Create SolutionsI have created an activity booklet that focuses on some of the different physical abilities that need accommodations as simple scenarios that require discussion and possible solutions. Hopefully this will help make all of us more aware of things we can do to make learning successful for everyone. You can find it here in my TPT store. I am giving a sampler booklet to my subscribers. Get your free booklet now. These are just a few tips or suggestions to help make it easier for accommodating different physical abilities in the classroom. I am sure there are so many more ways we can make things work better. I would love to hear some of the ways that you have made accommodations in your classroom.
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About Me Charlene Sequeira
I am a wife, mother of 4, grandmother of 9, and a retired primary and music teacher. I love working with kids and continue to volunteer at school and teach ukulele. Categories
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