To be honest, I would argue that failure is not really an option for students at my school. I know that is a very bold statement, but we have a strong initiative put into place so that students don’t “fall through the cracks”. In a K-8 school of only 200, it is easy to keep a close watch on all the students’ academic, social, and emotional states. Not only do I know every child in the school by name, but I also know the majority of the parents. We have a very close relationship with parents in our school and often boast about being such a small community that takes care of one another. We are committed to being partners with the parents in our school, and I feel that we really do work together as a team. I am in constant communication with the parents of the students in my class and alert them weekly or even daily when there are areas of concern (or successes to be celebrated). Before I even got my roster of new students, I knew who was coming into my room, who needed extra support, who needed accommodations, and who needed to be challenged. In this type of setting it is really nice to be able to prepare for the needs of my students. This year I have had to do more differentiating than any year before. I have a lot of needs in my class but I also have a lot of systems put into place to meet the needs of my students. For example, I do “flipped learning” in math because I noticed that many of my students felt nervous, shy, or inadequate to participate during math. I now use math videos as a way to frontload the next day’s lesson. Now when students come into class, they have already seen the lesson, heard the math language, and have seen similar examples being solved so they feel much more confident in participating. This is also a resource for students who are struggling with a certain topic. They can always go back, re-watch, pause, take notes. etc. This has allowed me to teach math in a workshop/small group style where I am able to dig in deep with my students and support them at their level.
I am also fortunate to work with a resource team who knows all of the students extremely well. Resource offers “push-in” support to my 4th grade class during language arts block and math time on a daily basis.By having support staff like our resource team, aides, and a supportive administration, I am able to do a lot of small group instruction. If intervention is required, I am able to work with that student (or small group of students) while another adult is present to help facilitate centers, a whole class lesson, etc. For serious interventions, our resource team will pull students to work on focused content areas. In the Junior High students have the option of taking a study skills class in place of Spanish. In this class the students learn basic study and organizational skills while also having the opportunity to receive support on their assignments or preparation for a test. We also offer free homework club with classroom teachers twice a week after school in grades 4-5 and three days a week after school in grades 6-8. I know that this is a rare and very special school setting. I know that in many teaching situations you can’t always count on parents to be checking their child’s homework, helping them prepare for a test, and communicating with teachers about any issues going on outside of school. That said, I can honestly say that I don’t think failure is an option at my school.
I don’t think it is ever too late to reach competency in a subject area. With the right support from teachers (and at home) and a lot of hard work, any student can achieve success. For example, one of my current students, Theo, is extremely dyslexic. Because of this, his parents had him going to a special center for half of the day everyday last year. When he was at the center he was missing math each day. Essentially Theo missed the entire year of 3rd grade math. Before the school year ended last year his parents asked to have a conference with me. They were concerned that he had missed so much math, and had decided that he would no longer be going to that center and he would be enrolled full time at Saint James. They asked if I would be willing to work with him over the summer. With the help of the resource team, we put together a packet of work to try to get him to grade level before 4th grade. I met with Theo once or twice a week all summer long, and his mom worked with him every night. Theo is now not only at grade level in math, but he is at the top of the class and his self-esteem (once very low) is now very high. He is a happy 10 year old boy who used to hate school and now loves it. In addition to math, we have put some awesome systems into place that have allowed him to share his thoughts and learning more than he has ever been able to before. Theo dictates his answers using an iPad app. It turns out, Theo is also an excellent writer… he just used to always be too frustrated to do it.
I mentioned in my leadership platform that as a school leader, my first agenda item would be a commitment to excellence. With this mindset, I would also expect to adopt a “no student shall fall through the cracks” policy at my school. In order for this to work, the school must have a team of teachers that specializes in interventions. There must be ample opportunities for students to receive academic support and intervention when necessary. I would also promote before and after school peer tutoring programs. I think students helping one another is a very powerful thing.
Like I talked about before, it was really powerful being able to know my students that were coming into my class and to be able to talk to their previous teachers. I think “grade cluster” meetings would be a really positive experience. I think our staff would be open to the idea of meeting in grade clusters or pairs to work hand-in-hand on creating systems to support every student. I could also share my “flipped teaching” with my colleagues and teach them out to make math video screen casts to front load material or offer it as a review.
Commit to 5 things you are willing to do this semester that will make your school a increase learning opportunities:
I am also fortunate to work with a resource team who knows all of the students extremely well. Resource offers “push-in” support to my 4th grade class during language arts block and math time on a daily basis.By having support staff like our resource team, aides, and a supportive administration, I am able to do a lot of small group instruction. If intervention is required, I am able to work with that student (or small group of students) while another adult is present to help facilitate centers, a whole class lesson, etc. For serious interventions, our resource team will pull students to work on focused content areas. In the Junior High students have the option of taking a study skills class in place of Spanish. In this class the students learn basic study and organizational skills while also having the opportunity to receive support on their assignments or preparation for a test. We also offer free homework club with classroom teachers twice a week after school in grades 4-5 and three days a week after school in grades 6-8. I know that this is a rare and very special school setting. I know that in many teaching situations you can’t always count on parents to be checking their child’s homework, helping them prepare for a test, and communicating with teachers about any issues going on outside of school. That said, I can honestly say that I don’t think failure is an option at my school.
I don’t think it is ever too late to reach competency in a subject area. With the right support from teachers (and at home) and a lot of hard work, any student can achieve success. For example, one of my current students, Theo, is extremely dyslexic. Because of this, his parents had him going to a special center for half of the day everyday last year. When he was at the center he was missing math each day. Essentially Theo missed the entire year of 3rd grade math. Before the school year ended last year his parents asked to have a conference with me. They were concerned that he had missed so much math, and had decided that he would no longer be going to that center and he would be enrolled full time at Saint James. They asked if I would be willing to work with him over the summer. With the help of the resource team, we put together a packet of work to try to get him to grade level before 4th grade. I met with Theo once or twice a week all summer long, and his mom worked with him every night. Theo is now not only at grade level in math, but he is at the top of the class and his self-esteem (once very low) is now very high. He is a happy 10 year old boy who used to hate school and now loves it. In addition to math, we have put some awesome systems into place that have allowed him to share his thoughts and learning more than he has ever been able to before. Theo dictates his answers using an iPad app. It turns out, Theo is also an excellent writer… he just used to always be too frustrated to do it.
I mentioned in my leadership platform that as a school leader, my first agenda item would be a commitment to excellence. With this mindset, I would also expect to adopt a “no student shall fall through the cracks” policy at my school. In order for this to work, the school must have a team of teachers that specializes in interventions. There must be ample opportunities for students to receive academic support and intervention when necessary. I would also promote before and after school peer tutoring programs. I think students helping one another is a very powerful thing.
Like I talked about before, it was really powerful being able to know my students that were coming into my class and to be able to talk to their previous teachers. I think “grade cluster” meetings would be a really positive experience. I think our staff would be open to the idea of meeting in grade clusters or pairs to work hand-in-hand on creating systems to support every student. I could also share my “flipped teaching” with my colleagues and teach them out to make math video screen casts to front load material or offer it as a review.
Commit to 5 things you are willing to do this semester that will make your school a increase learning opportunities:
- I will suggest that we have trimester grade cluster meetings.
- I will work on developing a “peer tutoring” program before school.
- Our school does grading the old fashioned way (letter grades based on an average)... I really want to move toward standards based report cards. I will do some research and present this idea to my colleagues.
- I will make more of an effort to target areas where re-teaching is needed and work hard so that all of my students are competent in a subject area before moving on to the next topic.
- I will make myself available during lunch if students need help on assignments.