20 Things Accomplished Teachers Know about Students

How much do you know about your students and their families?

     Do you really know the kids in your classroom? If you are an accomplished teacher, you need to know a lot about your students. But with everything else you do with students everyday, how can you get to know about everyone in your classroom?  Just ask!


    Most teachers know students' names and  maybe a little about how students learn. They may or may not have regular contact with parents. They might even be regular customers with businesses around their school. However, teachers need to know more than these things about their students.  


    Accomplished teachers get info about students, families and communities in order to craft lessons tailored to student needs. It is as simple as asking them basic questions and getting answers. You can garner this info  during informal conversations, through teacher observation and listening in on student conversations.


       Think about these  20 questions and how their answers  can impact student learning.  Each answer gets you closer to understanding the academic or social needs of students and families.

• what are your students' learning styles and learning strengths? 
• when is the best time for  your students to learn? 
• are your students outgoing or introverted? 
• how do your students connect with other teachers?
• what are the family dynamics of each student?
• who do your students live with? 
• what are their close families' academic histories?
• do the students' families visit or contact your school?
• are your students' families interested in technology?
• is there a computer or internet connection at home?
• are students familiar with using computers and basic formatting programs? 
• are the families able to help their children with schoolwork?
• what are the family members' experiences with school?
• do any immediate families volunteer to work with the school?
• how often do you contact parents ?
• why and when do you contact the families?
• are you familiar with the community around your school? (businesses, religious or service organizations, etc) 
• do you visit and support any of the community partners?
• have you welcomed any of the community partners into your classroom?
• do the community partners actually come to your classroom and work with your students?

After knowing the answers to these twenty questions, how do you use the new information that you've gained?  

  

Tips for Online Writing

Do you need a way to remind students about using correct grammar? I found a great poster on Pinterest that comes from the Copyblogger website. This inf0-graphic shows examples of correct grammar usage and grammar mistakes in a humorous way. This would be a great fit for the computer lab so that students will have a guide to make correct writing choices. (I found a few great reminders for my online writing, too!)

Like this infographic? Get more copywriting tips from Copyblogger.

How many of these mistakes have you made lately? If you're at all like me, I'm sure that you can appreciate these reminders, and now you might understand why a certain spelling rule is what it is. Do you think that this info-graphic will help your students?

  

Tips for Getting Organized

How can you organize yourself before the next school year begins?

This summer season is a great time for planning and preparing for the next school year. This is a great time to organize your records and information so that you have smoother sailing during the school year.

Here are two great suggestions that you might want to try:

 Student Organization Binder:

A looseleaf binder that contains a calendar, seating plan, student pix and names, basic student information, conference info, behavior plans, anecdotal reports, etc. is a great way to collate important information and keep it centralized. Check out a great example on the blog Beyond the Grades:

Source: beyondthegrades.blogspot.com via Bayyinah on Pinterest

Here is a visual of a student information binder. 

Here is the URL for a student information folder. 

Please check it out for the exact details: 

http://beyondthegrades.blogspot.com/2011/10/teacher-binder.html. 

Student Lending Library:

Establish a lending library for students. Many teachers have a bookshelf full of books for students to read, but how are they organized? You can develop a list of books using the genre or reading level to differentiate them for students. 

Beth Newingham's Third Grade is a great website that details ways that you can organize your own library. It also gives you a link to Scholastic's readability scale(or you can use the readability scale available on your computer's Word application.)  Please check out the website's Studio 13 link: 

URL: http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/library%20organization.htm

Here is a great reference for establishing your own classroom library

Why not take a little time this summer thinking about how you are going to organize your student information and your lending library?

  

A Celebration in the Hallways

Yes, we're celebrating the last days of school!

Okay, okay!  We just can't help it - we're as excited as our students about the upcoming summer vacation! Even though we plan to spend a good part of this vacation planning for next year, taking classes to improve our practice, working another full-time job and completing other assorted responsibilities - we're just tickled pink to complete our work this year and finish this chapter of our lives! Onward, ho!

                                                         





  

The Good Old Days

Remember the good old days - when we were growing up?

There was also a drug problem around, but it was a little different. Here's how:

How many ways were you "drugged" as a child?

I never get tired of reading this post about "the good old days" when we were growing up. It always brings a chuckle and a knowing nod when it's shared. It reminds me that in earlier years, there was more focus on life skills and social development, and students were much more understanding of their social responsibilities. Now, teachers are beginning to take on the mantle of teaching students how to become caring and understanding individuals. 

  

Text Rendering: A Teaching Strategy

Text rendering is a great strategy for analyzing text

Here is another strategy that is useful in the classroom. This is a great strategy to use when you are trying to get students of varying abilities to read and respond to text, and also contribute to a whole class discussion. Let's learn about toolkit strategy#2: text rendering.

What Is Text Rendering?

It’s a strategy used to read and analyze any type of reading passage.

How Does It Work?


1. Students are asked to read a selected passage.

2. They think about what they have read, and then highlight a meaningful word, phrase and sentence. This strategy asks students to read, comprehend the text, evaluate what they have read and then synthesize what they have read in order to select the most meaningful bits.

3. The teacher then asks each student to share out the sentence, then the selected phrase and lastly, the word that they have chosen. The shared selections are read aloud without comments or judgment. Repeated selections are allowed.

4. The students then engage in an oral  reflection of the rendering. There is also a discussion about any selections that have been shared  by several students. Students will often see that they share similar ideas about what they’ve read. 

Students like this strategy because it is low stress, everyone participates and it doesn't spotlight students with low reading levels or ability. (Students who are problem readers will be able to just repeat a word/phrase/sentence that they've heard.) The power of this strategy is that it focuses attention on the key elements of the text. 

How do you think that you can use this strategy in your classroom?


  Queen Bee

Our Mission as Teachers

It's great to have a public reminder of why education is so important for our students. When I saw this embroidered piece on Pinterest, I knew that I had to share it with you, my readers: 

                                                                Source: embroiderbee.wordpress.com via Bayyinah on Pinterest

Please note: this quote is from Frederick Douglass, who said, "It is better to build strong children that to repair broken men."

     Enjoy,

  

It's Never too Late to Learn

Now that summer has arrived and school is winding down, we have more time  to concentrate on honing our teaching skills. There are lots of opportunities around to gain information on strategies and techniques for the classroom.

Here are some sources for professional development:

1. Check with the teacher's union - many local chapters of teachers' unions have summer programs available for teachers. Call the union office or check with the latest issue of the union newsletter to get information on these courses.
2. Go to the professional development section of your school district's website. You will probably find a listing of some classes that you can take during the summer. The great thing about these is that they directly connect with your subject and grade content and standards base.
3. Check out the local college or university offerings. These institutions frequently have several sessions of summer programs to pick from - find out their summer schedules and jump in! Many colleges and universities have discounts available for teachers, too.
4. Online courses are sometimes available through colleges year round. Summer is a great time to orient yourself to online learning to see if it's a good fit for your particular learning style.
5. Refresh yourself by rereading your copies of college texts  or books that you've bought from the bookstore. This information can supplement your subject content and reinforce the skills that you may already have.

In short, summer is a great time to get a start on additional skills training, beginning a master's or doctorate program or just keeping your mind fresh and alive. Stretch those brain cells (just like we tell our students!)

  

Becoming an Accomplished Teacher

Accomplished teachers have a great impact on student performance!

What is the purpose of accomplished teaching anyway? Quite simply, accomplished teaching is the type of teaching that is focused on excellence in the practice of teaching, and is  teaching that results in student achievement. This definition is not easy to get across, especially if you have been teaching for a while. So, in order to break down the different elements of  accomplished teaching and explain each element, I like to refer to the core propositions of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. My experience with the National Board has shown me that to provide excellence in teaching, these key components (or propositions) are essential:

• Knowledge of your students: 
• Knowledge of your subject content, 
•  Monitoring and assessing student performance,
• Reflecting on your practice, 
• Being a member of a professional learning community. 

I want to share information about how to use these core propositions in future blog entries. I think that that these conversations will help reinforce my thinking and understanding, and perhaps will help other teachers, too.

Please look out for a future blog that's dedicated to learning about getting to know students and how that knowledge is translated into your practice.