Monthly Archives: November 2011

Expat Teacher Thanksgiving

Posted on by
Reply

The last few weeks, I’ve received a number of thank-you notes. They made my day. I started wondering how often we take time to write a kind note to our fellow educators.

Then I started thinking about Thanksgiving. Expat teachers often miss the traditional Thanksgiving celebration. Those of us lucky enough to live in cities where we can find turkey (however obnoxious the price), still may not get the day off work.

So we improvise. We alter tradition. Students bring food and the whole class shares an international feast. Some students bring samosas, others bring spaghetti, and still others bring spring rolls. If we have a turkey dinner with family or close friends, the meal is on Saturday.

Since I no longer sit around the table stating things for which I am thankful, I am using this post to share my thanks for the colleagues who enrich my life and the lives of my students.

I challenge my blogger friends (both expats and non-expats) to do the same. Write a few notes or a blog post in appreciation of those with whom you work.

I am thankful for…

  • My teaching partner. You are the true professional and make me a better teacher.
  • My teaching assistant. I couldn’t survive without you. You model kindness and generosity to all. I can only hope to write emails as thoughtful as yours.
  • My grade level team. You challenge me to see the craft of teaching from a multitude of angles.
  • The school librarian. Your knowledge of books, research, and students inspires both young and old to read.
  • The grade level learning specialist. I know why kids love visiting you. You bring a smile to the faces of all.
  • The extended learning specialist. You know how to keep all students engaged and challenged. Thanks for helping me expand my repertoire of instructional methods.
  • The literacy specialist. Thanks for introducing initiatives slowly enough so that I can adapt and feel successful.
  • My administrators. I appreciate the years of mentorship and the positive feedback you give me after visiting my classroom.
  • The counselors. You bring peace and harmony to our community of learners.
  • The tech guy. Thanks for keeping my computer running and intervening with unnamed companies.
  • The colleague who lives around the corner. We have theoretically solved all the world’s problems over my Oregon-label microbrew.
  • Colleagues who encourage me to keep writing this blog. I never knew I had so much to say! And, the practice of regular writing has made me a more reflective educator.
  • Pastors and church staff. You keep me grounded, reminding me of the One who is ever-present. I’m so glad you’re such an active part of our school community.

Who can you thank this week?

Parent Conferences: Crafting the Conversation

Posted on by
1

It’s that time of year again. Every hour on the half-hour, a new set of parents arrives. They sit across a table, unsure what to expect.  I’m not sure what to expect. We have 20 minutes to communicate.

We’re a quarter of the way through the school year and this is my first real conversation with parents. Parents know the child’s lifetime history. I know the child as a learner and a part of the classroom community. In order to make the conference a conversation, I’ve learned the following:

Begin the Conference by Setting the Expectation
Explicitly state, “I’d like to use this time to celebrate learning that has already happened. You (look at parent), you (look at child), and I will all share what we see is going well. Then, we’ll focus on one or two areas for growth. Finally, we’ll make goals and develop strategies to achieve those goals. Fair enough?”

I find that parents smile or relax after that. They know the agenda. They know the conference will be positive, and they know the areas for concern will be addressed.

Start the Conversation with Student Strengths
I ask the student to talk first. He/she can lists strengths beyond the academic: friends made, fears overcome at camp, increased self-motivation, personal accomplishments such as playing an instrument or getting to the top of the rock-climbing wall.

Then I ask the same of the parents. Some parents want to quickly get to the areas for growth. In that case, I have to acknowledge their concerns, let them know we’ll make a plan, and then re-ask the question about student strengths and achievements.

Most strengths get mentioned by parents and students. If a parent or student has difficulty stating the positive, I make a note to talk privately with the parents at a different time.

Focus in on the Area(s) for Growth
In my conferences today, I had to stop a few parents from calling these “weaknesses.” Most of my students perform at or above grade level in all subjects. If a student was not performing at grade level, I would have met with the parents in September.

Areas for growth are often areas where the student, with a bit of extra effort, could perform to an outstanding level. What is the student’s passion? Two students are passionate about starting their own blogs, writing about life from a ten-year-old point of view. One student is passionate about learning and analyzing the stock market. A couple of students are passionate about proving their independence so that parents stop nagging them about homework.

Before the conference, students are asked to identify SMART goals. Students I serve generally know their areas for growth. Parents do too. The next question relates to strategies. What structures can we put in place (or what distractions can we remove) so that students can achieve their goal? If the goal is to be more independent at home, the strategy might be to make a schedule, post it, and see how many days in a row the child can follow the schedule and turn in work without parent intervention.

End the Conference by Restating the Strengths, Goals, and Strategies
All parties should be clear about students strengths and areas for growth. When parents, students and teachers leave the meeting, action steps should be immediately implemented.

What ideas do you have for parent conferences?

If you like what you read, consider subscribing to Expat Educator (below).

Preparing Parents and Students for Fall Goal-Setting Conferences

Posted on by
4

I’ve spent more than one late night preparing for Fall Parent Conferences. Preparation is critical, but I now plan very differently than I planned in my early years.

My first years of teaching, I compiled folders and notebooks of student work. I made detailed notes on each child, anticipating any possible questions parents might ask. By the end of each 20-minute parent conference, I had shown parents roughly 50% of the items I had compiled.

One Fall, I realized I could predict (with surprisingly good accuracy) what parents wanted most to know. Here are some of my tricks:

Re-read letters and notes that parents have sent.
Before the school year begins, I send parents a note, asking that they respond to some questions. These questions help me see their child through the parents’ eyes. I re-read their responses, noting the tone and special details they have highlighted.

Some of the letters are very personal – I want to keep in mind the parents’ areas of sensitivity. They relate friendship issues their child has experienced or recent family tragedies. Other parents spend more time writing about their child’s achievements and the hopes they have for the child’s future.

I make sure I am prepared to speak to the issues parents raised in the initial parent letter. I might reference the letter, noting things about the child that are similar at home and school. I can also speak to behaviors that are different between home and school.

With regards to academics, parents tend to be more concerned either about literacy or mathematics. With former letters and emails, I can reliably predict which subject the parents will want to spend the most time talking about.

Find out students want to talk about.
I ask students to make SMART goals, or goals which are Strategic, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. My teaching partner and I walk students through the process.

My teaching partner made this poster to model his need to learn more about parenting before his first child is born. Part of the beauty of his example is that it doesn’t influence students’ goal choices. When teachers model reading or math goals, students tend make goals that sound similar to teacher examples.

Students (at least at age 10), have a pretty good idea of the areas they need to improve. Since one of my goals is to make students self-directed or self-motivated learners, I find it helpful when students set their own goals. Also, I find that many student goals reflect ongoing conversations they have with their parents.

What kinds of goals do students make? Over the years I’ve seen a huge variety.

  • One girl wanted to do and report (in Mandarin) at least one science experience. The girl was a native English speaker who enjoyed science and wanted to improve her Mandarin skills.
  • One boy wanted to write and publish his own comic book.
  • Many students want to improve their computation skills by practicing with online games and saving their final scores as screenshots.
  • Some want to improve handwriting or typing.
  • Many want to read a greater variety of genres – so they work with the librarian and the teacher to plan reading lists for the next few months.
  • Others want to improve their reading fluency by reading to a class of second-graders once per month.

Send parents an email, telling them what to expect at conferences.

  • Explain that the conference is intended to be a celebration of learning so far and a conversation to set student goals.
  • Tell parents whether or not students are expected to attend the conference and the rationale behind student attendance (or lack of attendance).
  • If students are attending the conference, reassure parents that they can request 5-10 minutes of the conference time to be 1:1 with the teacher.
  • Ask parents to send a list of three things that have been going well this year. Also, they should indicate one or two areas they would like to discuss at the conference.
  • Let them know that they (and their child) will discuss goals for the year, and talk about action plans to achieve those goals. Action plans often involve the help of both parents and teachers.

The Big Picture
Parents have seen their child’s electronic portfolios already, so they know what kind of work their child has been doing. I have soft-copy assessment records at my fingertips.

I focus my preparation time targeting parents’ specific areas of concern. I differentiate my instruction. Why would I think parent conferences would be any less differentiated?

What other ideas do you have for parent conference preparation?

If you like what you read, consider subscribing to Expat Educator (below).

Making Report Card Comments Manageable

Posted on by
3

Yesterday, a colleague got a bit disgusted at me for discussing report card comments when our school’s comments are not due until January.

The child will be different in January, my colleague said. Yep, I responded, and I’ll note those changes in January.

I start early because blank sheets of paper (or blank screens) make my mind go equally blank. If I can write a sentence or two for each child at the end of each unit, then I can procrastinate revising/editing until the night before the comments are actually due.

So I make sure I write meaningful comment notes at the end of each unit of study and at the end of Quarter 1 parent/teacher conferences.

At the End of Each Unit of Study…
I think it’s best to write comments while ideas are fresh. We just finished a unit of study on Early American colonization. At the end of the unit, students were asked to represent a character for a Living Museum. As I assessed students, I was looking for historical knowledge, empathy, perspective, and participation. I created the following generalized set of comments:
The comments were then modified so that they sounded more like a narrative. For one student, I wrote:

“{name} participated well in the Cultural Encounters activities and simulations. She understands the hardships that early colonists faced, but can work on seeing the events from multiple perspectives.”

For another student, I wrote: “[name] took the perspective of a colonist coming off the boat for the first time. His work demonstrated both knowledge of history and empathy for historical characters.”

My comments are most accurate when they directly follow the completion of a unit.

Those of you lucky enough to have teaching partners or Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) can share duties of writing generalized comments for each unit. The generalized comments can be used year to year.

After Parent Conferences
In my early years of teaching, I took notes during conferences and made the necessary, immediate actions. Then, the notes collected dust.

I now use those notes to begin my first paragraph of report card comments. By stating the habits of character and work habits that were discussed by both the parents and me, I can permanently note areas of strength and areas for improvement.

When reprts are due at the end of quarter 2, I can note changes (especially improvements). I really enjoy writing the phrase, “[name] has already made great improvements in his/her ability to…”

Alternately, I write, “[name] continues to work on…”

Honest, but Positive
I recently consulted with a teacher who wondered whether or not we are lying to parents if we make comments positive. I think all comments can be stated both honestly and positively.

For the really hard-to-state behaviors, I modify some of the following phrases:

  • Demonstrates intermittent effort at…
  • Is still learning to…
  • Is still struggling to…
  • Makes good choices when…, but continues to struggle when…
  • Will be ready to…when…

Bottom line: We, as professionals, can’t lie. But we never give up on a student.

When we write comments early, we can begin looking specifically for instances where students demonstrate effort or growth. We can celebrate that improvement with the student.

What are other ways you can make report card comments manageable?

If you like what you read, consider subscribing to Expat Educator (below).

Report Card Comments: Outlines and Examples

Posted on by
4

I’ll never forget the first time I was required to write report card comments. I stared at the blank page, wondering where to start. Over the past eight years, I’ve learned that report card comments communicate two major things to parents:

  1. You know their child.
  2. You like their child.

I’ve refined an outline that works well for my self-contained classroom.

Paragraph 1: Talk about the student’s habits of character and habits of mind. Questions to ask yourself:

  • What words come to mind when I think of this student?
  • How would I positively describe his or her disposition? Here is a list of Character Traits (students use this list to describe characters in the books they are reading).
  • Does he or she make good friends? What makes the child a good friend?
  • Does he or she participate well in small/large group discussions?
  • How would I describe his or her school work habits? homework habits?
  • What is the ONE habit of mind or habit of character that should be the focus of improvement?

Paragraphs 2-5: Each paragraph is dedicated to a different subject area. Sentences should specifically describe what students know and are able to do.

  • Reading: How many minutes or books has the student read in the first quarter? How would I describe the student’s reading fluency? What strategies does the student use to comprehend fiction and nonfiction? Is there a skill he/she needs to improve? Does he/she demonstrate research skills? In what areas has the student already shown improvement? 
  • Writing: Does the student follow through all stages of the writing process? Does the student write fluently or with prompting? Are both fiction and nonfiction writing pieces clearly organized? Can the student use standard writing conventions? Does the writer consider audience when he or she writes? 
  • Math: How accurately and fluently does the student compute? Can the student apply computation skills to real-life, contextual situations? Is he or she able to communicate thinking and reasoning? Does the student have particular strengths or areas for growth related to number sense, geometry, data analysis, or problem-solving? 
  • Social Studies and Science: Does the student understand the major concepts? Does he or she reflect on concepts at a deeper level than would be expected? What are his or her behaviors and levels of participation during simulations or labs? Do written responses or lab reports demonstrate understanding? 

Final paragraph (or sentence): Let the parent know how much you look forward to working with the student more this year.

If you sign up as an email subscriber to this blog, I’m happy to send you some examples of report card comments. Names have been changed, of course.

How do you structure your report card comment narratives?

If you like what you read, consider subscribing to Expat Educator (below).