Chapter 10: Environmental Perceptions
This chapter, along with the rest of the book, focuses so heavily on building relationships with students. This I love! Whether your class is full of achievers, underachievers, gifted, special needs-our MAIN goal as an educator is to build trust with our students. They should know that, although sometimes we may be disappointed, we love and value them as learners and thinkers. Showing support to students in the classroom should include active listening. Many times I find myself doing all the communicating and never asking my students what they think or how they feel to better understand them. I believe another way to support students is to clearly set goals and expectations. Teaching younger students has shown me that all students love structure and what is expected and what they should expect. This cuts down on missed learning opportunities and miscommunication from me or the student.
I love the part of this chapter that speaks about what students hear from educators. This hits home-I have great intentions to be as clear and forthright, but when I ask students to clarify they don't know. I have found in many PD sessions by practicing collaborative feedback and asking students to share what they heard another student say, or if I para-phrase what I heard the student say it helps in more clear communication.
Building relationships, as I stated earlier in the blog, is crucial. Probably #1 of goals for me each year! Some ways I try and build those important relationships for me starts before I ever meet my class. The day we get our class list I get my yearbook from the year before and start putting a face with a name. That way, at Meet the Teacher, I can greet them by already knowing their name. Seems so simple but it makes a HUGE impact! Throughout the year, I use lots of humor-not sarcasm-silly humor that only a 1st grader could appreciate! I also give out surveys to parents early in the year to get to know the child and who they are outside of school-interests, hobbies, family dynamics. My most favorite part of the day is first thing in the morning, when students are trickling in, is spending a minute or 2 greeting each child and doing a little check in with things going on with them. I love this special one on one time and by the time the announcements come on I've made a personal connection with each child for the day!
Chapter 11: Developing Self-Regulation and Study Skills
I love the sentence on the first page of this chapter that says, "...making school more meaningful appears to be the most effective strategy to address student underachievement with gifted students."
Next year what will I do if I have an underachieving student? Great question, I think its so hard to know what you will do until you meet that student. I know for sure that getting to know that child personally and with the help of their parents to know what makes them tick and is meaningful to that child will be my best ally. From experience, taking time with students who say they are bored or work is too easy and really try to understand what they mean. I find myself trying to fix the issue without using the student to help with the problem. Also, using parents as a great resource. They know their child far better than I ever can and have probably already witnessed what I may see in class. Asking for help from parents can be a great resource!
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