1. Reflect how expectations come into play in classroom management, in your teaching personality, and your relationship to parents. If you have a student who you identify as having low expectations, do you think you can make a difference in your year with that student – why or why not?
2. Interview your teacher, another teacher in your building, or your principal about how to get parents involved with the class and school.
I’ve learned that going into any assignment, activity, or lesson, I need to have concrete expectations for the whole class. There are certain students that I have different expectations for, depending on their ability. In particular, I have a student on an IEP in my classroom that does not always do all of the math work, because it takes much more effort and time to do half of the work. One expectation that I always have is that all students try their best and work their hardest. At the beginning of the year, it is hard to know what a student’s best and hardest is, so I will push the students beyond what they’re showing me. If it is truly their best, then I will know. Constantly gently prodding the students to write neater, think of more combinations to make 10 in math, and sound out more words also helps them grow. Also, students will almost always ask what is the minimum to do, and having an expectation in mind before they ask keeps my teaching consistent, fair, and makes classroom management easier around independent work time. Having expectations shows parents that my students work hard to learn, and that learning does not happen without work. One student that came into the beginning of this school year had very low expectations about herself academically overall. 1st grade is an important year to impact a student’s self-perception as a learner because it sets them up to either be successful or struggle through elementary school. I have seen her growth as seeing herself as a reader, and her reading has skyrocketed. My classroom teacher talked at the beginning of the school year about how some students were just beginning to be readers, some were readers, and everyone is growing as a reader. To the whole class, she frequently talks about how our brain is a muscle, and we have to exercise it with just right books to become stronger readers. A few times throughout the year, she has briefly mentioned how certain struggling readers are working hard, and getting better at reading. She does not call them struggling readers, though. She highlights their growth to the whole class, and this particular student beams with pride when the teacher talks about her. Now, we need to see herself as a mathematician!
My classroom teacher has a few different ways to get parents involved in the class. Starting in January, she has parents come in and volunteer during the day. There are about 8 different families that have a parent come in and volunteer. She waits until that time in the year to feel comfortable with her class, know the students, and have routines set up. The parents get to see first hand what the expectations are in class, and what kind of work their child is doing. Even today, a parent had a question about how slow her daughter completes her work, and if she should be pushing her to finish it faster, as she knows it’s not difficult for her. It was a great opportunity for my classroom teacher to tell her that yes, her daughter does work slower than she needs to. She gave the mother some great tips on how to encourage her to complete her work in a timely manner, and I can see how now this student will be getting the same message at home and at school. Hopefully, we’ll see an improvement in her completing her work in school! In years past, my classroom teacher has had parents volunteer to run the scholastic books, and also help collate papers pulled out from books at home, if they cannot make it into the classroom to help. In order to keep all parents up to date about the classroom activities, my classroom teacher sends out a newsletter each month. It has one tips section, ranging from about reading with their student, a reasonable bedtime, and research on screen time for young students.
Very thoughtful answers to both questions. Keep up expecting more from your students, but just remember, expecting too much can turn the students off from trying. It's a delicate balance that both teachers and parents have to understand.
In my 2nd grade classroom we are constantly setting and reiterating expectations, both for the class as a whole and for individual students. Behavioral (how to walk silently in the line, etc.), academic (show your work; write at least 10 lines), and social (look at the speaker; no talking about birthday parties) expectations are consistent, predictable, and frequently repeated, so the kids see them as routine.
We emphasize the importance of doing one’s own personal best, and the kids understand that everyone is working on different skills (so expectations may vary from student to student). I’ve been working with one particular boy who started the year with a negative attitude toward school work – he was often restless and distracted during work time and made comments like, “this is boring” and “I hate math.” He’s actually quite good at math, and I’ve been trying to change his self-perception and help him see himself as a good math student. I make a point of giving him specific, positive feedback, calling his attention to what he’s good at, and having him help others who are struggling. The results have been good – his attitude has improved, his work is neater, and he is less disruptive. We’ve also been working at getting him to see himself as a reader. He has a “reading contract” to help him improve his stamina. He is supposed to read independently for 12 minutes every day, and when he does so for 10 days, the teacher buys him a book to add to his home library (he loves this).
Parents are invited into our classroom for the first 10-15 minutes of every day – this is quiet reading time, and many parents love to sit and listen to their children read aloud. Parents drop off and pick up their children in the classroom (except for those who take the bus), which gives them face-time with the teachers every day. Parent-teacher conferences are 45 minutes long and happen twice a year. At the end of every unit of study, families are invited to a class breakfast where students show off their work. The parents have the teacher’s email and phone number and are encouraged to contact them as need be. Parents are highly involved in the school in general – they sit on a parent/teacher advisory board that allocates funding and participates in hiring.
That's great for the students to understand that expectations are different for each student. Do you think it makes some students feel inferior?
Involving parents seems excellent. The idea of inviting parents to breakfast is terrific. Who pays for this and the book the teacher gives? Are there any non-English speaking parents in the room? If so, how does the teacher handle them or do they just not show up?
I'm glad your student is showing improved self-perception! It sounds like you've been consistently encouraging and patient. That's wonderful.
I like the class breakfast idea, but I think in my school most parents would not be able to attend due to their work schedule. Maybe a game, craft, or story night would be fun. We have a lot of games and books in our class, and maybe students could show their parents their favorites.
There have been many different people running the classroom that I work in currently, and each person comes in with their own expectation of what behavior in first grade should look and sound like, as well as what first graders should be learning, and how they should learn it. This has been confusing for me at times when I long for consistency, but it has also presented me with an opportunity to see how my students respond to a variety of leadership styles.
The main goal lately in my classroom has been to instill in students a sense of being part of a team with a common goal of learning. This means that we have been pushing the students to recognize that the school rules exist so that the behavior of the students will be conducive for everyone to learn to the best of their ability. We have been reminding the students that some behavior is non-negotiable. They are expected to come to school ready to learn, and to follow instructions so as not to take learning away from their peers.
Sometimes it feels harsh to implement silent work times, but I have been surprised to see that quite a few students whom I thought would resist this are doing better when they have more boundaries.
When I prepare a lesson, I do my best to differentiate the work so that my below, on, and above level students are all able to be adequately challenged and successful. It is important to provide students with a clear idea of what they need to be working on, and how long they have to do it. There are so many transitions and interruptions in the day, it is hard to really get quiet time for concentration. Students need to learn how to work around distractions, but they also need some time to really focus in and see what they are capable of without interruptions. One student in particular is very smart and capable, but doesn't focus on his work because he seems to have a lot of social anxiety. He hasn't learned to have confidence in what he knows and doesn't have a routine to get him off and running with his work.
Parents are not very involved in the classroom that I currently work in. Parent conferences were held in February, and about half were done over the phone. We don't have parent volunteers in the classroom.
Sounds like you are dealing with expectations by designing different level assignments for different levels of performance. How might you raise a child's performance that might do better if pushed a bit?
Please read the other blog answers for ideas on parent invlvement that you have not seen in your classroom!
Yes, that is true. I need to keep in mind that the performance level is not always an accurate assessment of student's ability.
I see a lot of great ideas for involving parents here on the blog and in the articles. I think if parents aren't able to volunteer in the classroom, there are many other ways their help can be solicited. Keeping lines of communication open will keep the parent/teacher relationship running more smoothly.
We had one mother who asked to help out one morning a couple weeks ago. She ended up being more of a hindrance than a help from a teacher's perspective, as she was quite loud and actually conveyed the wrong information to the students. But her presence was good for her child and probably for her as well.
In my class, I should also note that barely any work is graded or sent home with students. One surprising thing is how little parents seem to ask about work, homework, or how to be involved in the class. I definitely think the onus is on the teacher to reach out to the parents as much as possible.
There is one father who comes in the morning and engages children in card games during the morning breakfast. This is a huge help as it keeps kids busy and engaged. I wish this was a more official and regular thing.
Clear and consistent expectations are extremely important. At my previous job we utilized Responsive Classroom to help manage behavior and academic expectations. Everything was explicitly taught and modeled, from how to come to the rug to using a glue stick. Although this seemed excessive, it does clear up any possible misunderstandings up front. I find that I am very specific about expectations before group or partner work, but less specific with whole class daily routines. I think this is representative of how expectations change over time - I don't have to spend a lot of time on routine expectations, because it has been established and practiced all year. I think it is important to make it a discussion by having students decide what the environment and behavior should be like so that they can be self-reflective. With that said, there was one point during my unit implementation where I mistook something as a routine activity. The result was a lack of productivity and effort from the students. When I realized this I made a visual chart and we determined where along the chart each child was. This helped them realize the effect their lack of focus had, while showing me that the expectations for this center needed to be more transparent. I do have one student with low expectations. He comes to school everyday with the opinion that it will be a bad day. Although I talk to him about the school day and get him excited about the day's activities, he still comes in everyday with the same negative outlook. Part of me thinks it is more of an attention-getting strategy than a real expectation. If this is the case, I am not sure how successful I will be changing his low expectations beyond a day-to-day basis.
Our school has parent volunteers. Some of the parents ask the teacher to volunteer in their child's classroom, while others offer their services to the entire school or district with help of the PTO. Homework is rarely assigned unless a student needs extra practice or if there is a fun, enrichment activity, but the expectation is that parents are working with students on these activities. Parents are welcome to donate materials to the classroom, there is a list on the school website all year that they can choose from. The donors choose website is another avenue for families to contribute by funding classroom projects. The school also hosts events for students and families like BINGO or movie night.
If you were the teacher of record, you could talk to his parents and last year's teacher to get more insight into this child. Otherwise, just keep pointing out the good things he does and not mentioning the less positive until you see things changing.
Your visual chart sounds excellent. When you have your own class, start it the way it was at your previous job. It's much easier to let up than toughen up!
I have always felt it important to have high expectations for my students. At the same time though, I always recognize that every student is different and a uniform level of performance would be unfair. Each student must be assessed informally in comparison to their own previous work, their prior behaviors, and their relationships. Students are keenly aware of each other’s abilities - they know which students excel in mathematics, and in language arts, in science, etc. A student’s recognition of the differences can often cause a feeling of, “Why should I try when I know I will never be as good as…” or a student will just simply begin their work by requesting teacher help without even trying. Their self-set low expectations have shown me that these students can greatly benefit from some extra help. But the extra help is less in-line with extra math instruction and more in the form of enthusiastic encouragement and recognition not just of the quality of the work but also for how a student persevered in their learning. Two girls were unwilling to try a difficult mathematics word problem. I began detailing that productive struggle can help our brains grow and teach us how we can all work hard and try our best. After the quick pep talk, both girls were sitting at their table working together to become even better mathematicians. I love making a difference.
There have been ongoing discussions concerning parent involvement in the classroom and in the learning that is going on. Both of the teachers that I work with are excited by how involved or rather how curious parent are in the goings on in the classroom and how their student is performing. Some parents make it a practice to check in daily with at least one teacher. Unfortunately, beyond heir curiosity concerning performance, there is little interest in being in the classroom. I asked one of my teachers if parents are aware that they can visit and they DO know. Several parents visited early in the year when they first wanted to experience life in second grade. Since Thanksgiving, one set of parents came in and presented a science lesson to students. Another father came in and sat with his son during the first portion of the day to give him some extra attention outside of a very full and active household.
These two experiences with parents both benefit the classroom in different ways. Sitting with your student and seeing what their day is like will certainly foster a greater appreciation for what a student’s day is like. And coming in and sharing knowledge helps students realize that parents can also be a great source of teaching. We are now beginning to reach out to parents to understand where their interests lie and how those can be incorporated into the classroom.
1. Reflect how expectations come into play in classroom management, in your teaching personality, and your relationship to parents. If you have a student who you identify as having low expectations, do you think you can make a difference in your year with that student – why or why not?
ReplyDelete2. Interview your teacher, another teacher in your building, or your principal about how to get parents involved with the class and school.
I’ve learned that going into any assignment, activity, or lesson, I need to have concrete expectations for the whole class. There are certain students that I have different expectations for, depending on their ability. In particular, I have a student on an IEP in my classroom that does not always do all of the math work, because it takes much more effort and time to do half of the work. One expectation that I always have is that all students try their best and work their hardest. At the beginning of the year, it is hard to know what a student’s best and hardest is, so I will push the students beyond what they’re showing me. If it is truly their best, then I will know. Constantly gently prodding the students to write neater, think of more combinations to make 10 in math, and sound out more words also helps them grow. Also, students will almost always ask what is the minimum to do, and having an expectation in mind before they ask keeps my teaching consistent, fair, and makes classroom management easier around independent work time. Having expectations shows parents that my students work hard to learn, and that learning does not happen without work.
ReplyDeleteOne student that came into the beginning of this school year had very low expectations about herself academically overall. 1st grade is an important year to impact a student’s self-perception as a learner because it sets them up to either be successful or struggle through elementary school. I have seen her growth as seeing herself as a reader, and her reading has skyrocketed. My classroom teacher talked at the beginning of the school year about how some students were just beginning to be readers, some were readers, and everyone is growing as a reader. To the whole class, she frequently talks about how our brain is a muscle, and we have to exercise it with just right books to become stronger readers. A few times throughout the year, she has briefly mentioned how certain struggling readers are working hard, and getting better at reading. She does not call them struggling readers, though. She highlights their growth to the whole class, and this particular student beams with pride when the teacher talks about her. Now, we need to see herself as a mathematician!
My classroom teacher has a few different ways to get parents involved in the class. Starting in January, she has parents come in and volunteer during the day. There are about 8 different families that have a parent come in and volunteer. She waits until that time in the year to feel comfortable with her class, know the students, and have routines set up. The parents get to see first hand what the expectations are in class, and what kind of work their child is doing. Even today, a parent had a question about how slow her daughter completes her work, and if she should be pushing her to finish it faster, as she knows it’s not difficult for her. It was a great opportunity for my classroom teacher to tell her that yes, her daughter does work slower than she needs to. She gave the mother some great tips on how to encourage her to complete her work in a timely manner, and I can see how now this student will be getting the same message at home and at school. Hopefully, we’ll see an improvement in her completing her work in school!
In years past, my classroom teacher has had parents volunteer to run the scholastic books, and also help collate papers pulled out from books at home, if they cannot make it into the classroom to help. In order to keep all parents up to date about the classroom activities, my classroom teacher sends out a newsletter each month. It has one tips section, ranging from about reading with their student, a reasonable bedtime, and research on screen time for young students.
Very thoughtful answers to both questions. Keep up expecting more from your students, but just remember, expecting too much can turn the students off from trying. It's a delicate balance that both teachers and parents have to understand.
DeleteIn my 2nd grade classroom we are constantly setting and reiterating expectations, both for the class as a whole and for individual students. Behavioral (how to walk silently in the line, etc.), academic (show your work; write at least 10 lines), and social (look at the speaker; no talking about birthday parties) expectations are consistent, predictable, and frequently repeated, so the kids see them as routine.
ReplyDeleteWe emphasize the importance of doing one’s own personal best, and the kids understand that everyone is working on different skills (so expectations may vary from student to student). I’ve been working with one particular boy who started the year with a negative attitude toward school work – he was often restless and distracted during work time and made comments like, “this is boring” and “I hate math.” He’s actually quite good at math, and I’ve been trying to change his self-perception and help him see himself as a good math student. I make a point of giving him specific, positive feedback, calling his attention to what he’s good at, and having him help others who are struggling. The results have been good – his attitude has improved, his work is neater, and he is less disruptive. We’ve also been working at getting him to see himself as a reader. He has a “reading contract” to help him improve his stamina. He is supposed to read independently for 12 minutes every day, and when he does so for 10 days, the teacher buys him a book to add to his home library (he loves this).
Parents are invited into our classroom for the first 10-15 minutes of every day – this is quiet reading time, and many parents love to sit and listen to their children read aloud. Parents drop off and pick up their children in the classroom (except for those who take the bus), which gives them face-time with the teachers every day. Parent-teacher conferences are 45 minutes long and happen twice a year. At the end of every unit of study, families are invited to a class breakfast where students show off their work. The parents have the teacher’s email and phone number and are encouraged to contact them as need be. Parents are highly involved in the school in general – they sit on a parent/teacher advisory board that allocates funding and participates in hiring.
That's great for the students to understand that expectations are different for each student. Do you think it makes some students feel inferior?
DeleteInvolving parents seems excellent. The idea of inviting parents to breakfast is terrific. Who pays for this and the book the teacher gives? Are there any non-English speaking parents in the room? If so, how does the teacher handle them or do they just not show up?
I'm glad your student is showing improved self-perception! It sounds like you've been consistently encouraging and patient. That's wonderful.
DeleteI like the class breakfast idea, but I think in my school most parents would not be able to attend due to their work schedule. Maybe a game, craft, or story night would be fun. We have a lot of games and books in our class, and maybe students could show their parents their favorites.
There have been many different people running the classroom that I work in currently, and each person comes in with their own expectation of what behavior in first grade should look and sound like, as well as what first graders should be learning, and how they should learn it. This has been confusing for me at times when I long for consistency, but it has also presented me with an opportunity to see how my students respond to a variety of leadership styles.
ReplyDeleteThe main goal lately in my classroom has been to instill in students a sense of being part of a team with a common goal of learning. This means that we have been pushing the students to recognize that the school rules exist so that the behavior of the students will be conducive for everyone to learn to the best of their ability. We have been reminding the students that some behavior is non-negotiable. They are expected to come to school ready to learn, and to follow instructions so as not to take learning away from their peers.
Sometimes it feels harsh to implement silent work times, but I have been surprised to see that quite a few students whom I thought would resist this are doing better when they have more boundaries.
When I prepare a lesson, I do my best to differentiate the work so that my below, on, and above level students are all able to be adequately challenged and successful. It is important to provide students with a clear idea of what they need to be working on, and how long they have to do it. There are so many transitions and interruptions in the day, it is hard to really get quiet time for concentration. Students need to learn how to work around distractions, but they also need some time to really focus in and see what they are capable of without interruptions. One student in particular is very smart and capable, but doesn't focus on his work because he seems to have a lot of social anxiety. He hasn't learned to have confidence in what he knows and doesn't have a routine to get him off and running with his work.
Parents are not very involved in the classroom that I currently work in. Parent conferences were held in February, and about half were done over the phone. We don't have parent volunteers in the classroom.
Sounds like you are dealing with expectations by designing different level assignments for different levels of performance. How might you raise a child's performance that might do better if pushed a bit?
ReplyDeletePlease read the other blog answers for ideas on parent invlvement that you have not seen in your classroom!
Yes, that is true. I need to keep in mind that the performance level is not always an accurate assessment of student's ability.
DeleteI see a lot of great ideas for involving parents here on the blog and in the articles. I think if parents aren't able to volunteer in the classroom, there are many other ways their help can be solicited. Keeping lines of communication open will keep the parent/teacher relationship running more smoothly.
We had one mother who asked to help out one morning a couple weeks ago. She ended up being more of a hindrance than a help from a teacher's perspective, as she was quite loud and actually conveyed the wrong information to the students. But her presence was good for her child and probably for her as well.
In my class, I should also note that barely any work is graded or sent home with students. One surprising thing is how little parents seem to ask about work, homework, or how to be involved in the class. I definitely think the onus is on the teacher to reach out to the parents as much as possible.
There is one father who comes in the morning and engages children in card games during the morning breakfast. This is a huge help as it keeps kids busy and engaged. I wish this was a more official and regular thing.
For Jessica:
ReplyDeleteClear and consistent expectations are extremely important. At my previous job we utilized Responsive Classroom to help manage behavior and academic expectations. Everything was explicitly taught and modeled, from how to come to the rug to using a glue stick. Although this seemed excessive, it does clear up any possible misunderstandings up front. I find that I am very specific about expectations before group or partner work, but less specific with whole class daily routines. I think this is representative of how expectations change over time - I don't have to spend a lot of time on routine expectations, because it has been established and practiced all year. I think it is important to make it a discussion by having students decide what the environment and behavior should be like so that they can be self-reflective. With that said, there was one point during my unit implementation where I mistook something as a routine activity. The result was a lack of productivity and effort from the students. When I realized this I made a visual chart and we determined where along the chart each child was. This helped them realize the effect their lack of focus had, while showing me that the expectations for this center needed to be more transparent. I do have one student with low expectations. He comes to school everyday with the opinion that it will be a bad day. Although I talk to him about the school day and get him excited about the day's activities, he still comes in everyday with the same negative outlook. Part of me thinks it is more of an attention-getting strategy than a real expectation. If this is the case, I am not sure how successful I will be changing his low expectations beyond a day-to-day basis.
Our school has parent volunteers. Some of the parents ask the teacher to volunteer in their child's classroom, while others offer their services to the entire school or district with help of the PTO. Homework is rarely assigned unless a student needs extra practice or if there is a fun, enrichment activity, but the expectation is that parents are working with students on these activities. Parents are welcome to donate materials to the classroom, there is a list on the school website all year that they can choose from. The donors choose website is another avenue for families to contribute by funding classroom projects. The school also hosts events for students and families like BINGO or movie night.
If you were the teacher of record, you could talk to his parents and last year's teacher to get more insight into this child. Otherwise, just keep pointing out the good things he does and not mentioning the less positive until you see things changing.
ReplyDeleteYour visual chart sounds excellent. When you have your own class, start it the way it was at your previous job. It's much easier to let up than toughen up!
I have always felt it important to have high expectations for my students. At the same time though, I always recognize that every student is different and a uniform level of performance would be unfair. Each student must be assessed informally in comparison to their own previous work, their prior behaviors, and their relationships. Students are keenly aware of each other’s abilities - they know which students excel in mathematics, and in language arts, in science, etc. A student’s recognition of the differences can often cause a feeling of, “Why should I try when I know I will never be as good as…” or a student will just simply begin their work by requesting teacher help without even trying. Their self-set low expectations have shown me that these students can greatly benefit from some extra help. But the extra help is less in-line with extra math instruction and more in the form of enthusiastic encouragement and recognition not just of the quality of the work but also for how a student persevered in their learning. Two girls were unwilling to try a difficult mathematics word problem. I began detailing that productive struggle can help our brains grow and teach us how we can all work hard and try our best. After the quick pep talk, both girls were sitting at their table working together to become even better mathematicians. I love making a difference.
ReplyDeleteThere have been ongoing discussions concerning parent involvement in the classroom and in the learning that is going on. Both of the teachers that I work with are excited by how involved or rather how curious parent are in the goings on in the classroom and how their student is performing. Some parents make it a practice to check in daily with at least one teacher. Unfortunately, beyond heir curiosity concerning performance, there is little interest in being in the classroom. I asked one of my teachers if parents are aware that they can visit and they DO know. Several parents visited early in the year when they first wanted to experience life in second grade. Since Thanksgiving, one set of parents came in and presented a science lesson to students. Another father came in and sat with his son during the first portion of the day to give him some extra attention outside of a very full and active household.
These two experiences with parents both benefit the classroom in different ways. Sitting with your student and seeing what their day is like will certainly foster a greater appreciation for what a student’s day is like. And coming in and sharing knowledge helps students realize that parents can also be a great source of teaching. We are now beginning to reach out to parents to understand where their interests lie and how those can be incorporated into the classroom.
Remember these incidents when you have your own class. You might even use them in job interviews. Great vignettes of successful classroom practices!
ReplyDelete