Photo of Lisa Taylor
Lisa.Taylor Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Interviews

Communication with Parents – Part 2

Getting the word out to all parents can come in many forms. Some teachers choose to Tweet classroom updates, while others use a texting service like www.remind.com. Whatever you choose to do to contact all of your parents, should be consistent, and you should be sure to only use it when contacting the whole group.

When you need to address an issue/concern with a parent directly, there are a number of ways to go about doing it. Whatever way you decide to use, make sure you document everything. Document every attempted call, every agenda note, every email you send (and don’t forget to CC your admin when you do contact them through email!). Documentation can become very important if a parent comes to the school upset that something caught them off guard, or claims that they were never informed. Having your documentation can protect you. Record dates, times, type of communication, and the reason for the communication. If you get in touch, record the outcome of the interaction as well. If you are doing this digitally, try not to use full names (instead of saying, “Contacted Lisa Taylor to discuss issues with her son Andrew Taylor….” you may want to code it as, “Contacted L. Taylor to discuss issues with her son AT.”). This just adds a level of security. If you are keeping these files in paper format, make sure you store them securely, as you may be recording the details of sensitive conversations.

So how do you actually make contact? There are several ways you can go:

Agenda Message – don’t include details of a concern/incident in the agenda, as they can often get left on the school bus, or read by other students. Just put a message that requests that the parent either contact you to discuss, or give some dates of when they can meet/when they are available to receive your call.

Phone Message – if you call and get the parent, great! Discuss away. If you get a voicemail system, if it clearly states the family name and you are 100% confident you have dialed the correct number and this is that family’s answering machine, you should still consider only identifying yourself and asking if the parent can call you, or send a message in the Agenda of times that would be good to meet/call. Do not leave details of a concern or situation on the voicemail system, as you don’t know who will listen to it, nor do you know if someone else might overhear it. You also do not want your own voice recorded, sharing information about a student, as this could put you in some hot water. Just ask the parent to call back. If the “concern” is to remember to bring a permission slip, or a forgotten library book, these messages can be left on a machine.

Email – if you decide to email a parent, treat it like a digital Agenda, and just request times for a meeting, or phone call. Do not use names in the communication (i.e., “can you let me know when you are available to chat about A’s progress at school?”), on the off chance that you have mistyped the email address. Also, always CC your principal, both to keep them in the loop, and so that there is a 3rd participant in the conversation. This is more about protection for yourself. If a parent is upset about something, they may try to take email comments out of context. If the admin has been included in the conversation all along, they will be able to defend your choices, and support you without any difficulty.

In-Person – this is always the best way to do it. Body language, tone, expression, some or all of these things are lost in the other forms of communication. If at all possible, try to just use the other 3 types to get to an in-person meeting.

Don’t forget, no matter how you communicate, make sure you document everything. Everyone is different in how they keep that information, but the most important thing, is making sure you are keeping track of the communication with as much detail as you can. These notes not only help you to remember what was discussed/decided, but they also may help you if there is a dispute or concern.

Shawna Rothgeb-Bird General, Report Cards, Student Ownership

Setting Learning Goals

One thing I really try to teach my students is a sense of ownership with regards to their education. All too often, I find students are content to just sit back, be told what to do and where to improve, and never think too hard about their own strengths and needs as learners. It isn’t ever as simple as just asking them what they think they did well and how they could improve next time, though – you have to start small and work up from there. Overall, I’ve found it a really rewarding experience to work with them to create goals, monitor their progress, and reflect on their learning.

I start on the very first day of school, where I ask them (among other things) what some of their goals are for the year ahead. Often my students’ goals are related to learning French, as I teach Middle French Immersion and it’s their first year in the program. I’ll ask them for a bit of detail – so instead of just saying “I want to get better at math,” I ask them what specifically they think they could be doing better in Math. It’s a good starting point to see what they think about themselves as learners. Sometimes it even highlights anxiety right from the start, as I have had students in the past give me a very long paragraph about how “bad” they are at reading, writing, multiplication, etc. It’s also usually very good insight into which students are highly motivated to learn and/or improve their French skills.

In mid-October, after we have gotten a few larger tasks finished and I have had time to see their learning skills and work habits in action, we have a discussion about the six different learning skills on the report card and what those mean for them in practice. I have them complete a self-evaluation using criteria that we develop as a class, giving themselves N, S, G, or E for each learning skill and answering two questions: What do you think you are doing really well? and What do you think you could be doing better? I limit them to only one area to improve, in order to focus their attention; otherwise, some students would put “everything” down for what they could improve.

This first self-evaluation often has students being WAY too hard on themselves. It’s why I always give them my own evaluation of their progress immediately afterwards, so they can see the comparison. Sometimes our opinions line up, sometimes our opinions are wildly different, but it’s an opportunity to have a dialogue with each student individually about what they think of themselves as learners and what I see as their teacher. We discuss both evaluations – mine and theirs – and then decide on a course of action. What will he/she be working towards improving? (Responsibility – managing time effectively and getting work done on or before the deadline.) How will he/she get there? (Break tasks down into steps and check in with the teacher regularly to ensure that he/she is on track.) How will we know that he/she has been successful? (If most work has been handed in on time, it’s probably an improvement!)

I send the student’s self-evaluation and our plan of action home with them when I send the Progress Report in November. It helps students be accountable to their parents about how they are doing in school. If a student is going to give him/herself an S for Collaboration, and I agreed, then the parent knows that it isn’t just me that sees it this way – the student is admitting that they need to work on this area. It allows an opportunity for students to speak with their parents about their strengths and needs, too, and vastly reduces the amount of explaining parents need ME to do come interview time.

By the time first term report cards come up, students have generally had a lot of time to work towards their goals and we can sit down and assess where they are, whether they feel good about their progress or not, etc. We do another self-evaluation following the same format as the first, and I again show them my own evaluation afterwards. We repeat the process: sit down and chat, compare evaluations, decide on a course of action, send both evaluations home with the report card. Sometimes students keep the same goal, if they and I feel that they have more work to do, but others have made good progress by this point and want to tackle another area of need instead.

For the last report card, I still have students do a self-evaluation, but I don’t help them plan the course of action that time. They’re expected to be able to reflect, think critically, and come up with their own plan of attack for how they will work towards their goal over the summer and/or as they enter the next school year. Overall, my students have been very successful with this kind of self-reflection and I have seen a tremendous amount of benefit in having them be accountable for their learning skills and work habits. It sends the message that I feel that the first page of the report card is every bit as important as the academics on the subsequent two pages, and I find that my students take their work habits MUCH more seriously in class knowing that we talk about them so often.

Sometimes I have students who honestly deserve an Excellent in all six skills and don’t have much space for “improvement,” so to speak. For these students, we try to find ways to encourage them to take on more of a leadership role in the classroom so that other students can benefit from their skills and confidence. This, too, has been highly beneficial, especially in a second language classroom. It lets them know that their work isn’t finished when they get their E and that there is always somewhere to go from there.

I would strongly encourage all teachers to talk to their students about that first page of their report card, break the language down to criteria they will understand (because honestly, some of those criteria on the report card are HARD to understand!), and get them to think critically about their strengths and needs as learners.

Photo of Tammy Axt
Tammy Axt Assessment, General

Creating Criteria With Students

Allowing students to have input on criteria for an assignment helps them gain a clearer picture in their mind of what they need to do in order to be successful at a task. Although creating criteria together for every task would be ideal, time usually plays a large factor in making this difficult, especially for planning time teachers. As a planning time teacher, you often see the students for around 30-40 minutes at a time once or twice a week.

Today I want to show you a very quick way (under five minutes) to create criteria with students.

My grade four classes are currently studying the recorder. They are about three weeks into learning this instrument and are now learning a few songs to present next month. In preparation for the assessment and evaluation for their upcoming songs, I wanted them to help create the criteria. I handed out a sticky note to every student when they entered the class. Their job was to write down one thing that they think a person would need to do to be successful at playing a song on the recorder. After about two minutes, I had some students start to share their ideas with the class and we started to listen for some patterns and began to categorize their ideas. Students had active discussions and came up with eight different criteria that they should be assessed on at this point in their learning. The criteria will change as we learn new pieces of music and gain confidence with our basic skills.

The students will all have a copy of the criteria in their duo tangs and I will give them feedback regularly on this sheet as we are working towards improving our skills.

Taking five minutes to create some assessment categories not only gave them a set of very specific skills required to be successful, but also gave me a lot of information. As you can see from the picture below, the amount of students who wrote “cover the holes”, “blow less”, “finger or play the pitches correctly”, “put the left hand on top” far outweighed tonguing or correct rhythm. I can use this information for planning my upcoming mini lessons.

In addition, over the next couple of weeks, I will also be using two or three minutes per class where one student gets to be the teacher and we will practice assessing each other using the criteria. I will play some pieces on the recorder and have the pretend teacher give me some very specific feedback according to the criteria. In just a few classes, the students’ ability to give feedback to each other will drastically improve and this will create an environment where there are multiple experts in the class and everyone can help each other.

Overheard in my Ontario Classroom…

As my family comes from the province of Prince Edward Island, I grew up participating in kitchen parties. I have been inviting my grade five students to participate in kitchen parties with me including some very rowdy versions of I’se the B’y. To demonstrate a true kitchen party, I have been using spoons, foot stomping, piano, pots and pans and basically anything I can to make the songs lively. I was singing joyfully the other day and instead of singing “I’se the B’y that builds the boat”. I sang “I’se the B’y that kills the boat.” Some of the students paused what they were doing with confused looks on their faces and finally one boy raised his hand and asked “Miss. Gallant, do you have something against this boat?” I had no idea I had even sang those lyrics.
Sometimes students are paying closer attention than you are.

Photo of Samantha Perrin
Beverly Papove Assessment, General, Literacy

Feedback in the Shape of a Tree

     Providing effective and timely feedback to students is a constant goal for a teacher, particularly when there seems to be so little time during the day. With a crew of 20+ students, it can be a challenge to find the time to sit down with each student and explain spelling and various goals targeted in writing. Often, we get really good at correcting the same errors over and over again without very much evidence of growth or improvement on the students’ part.
     For my grade 3 students, I like to use a quick and effective feedback tool someone shared with me long ago. It is fast, effective and easy for primary students to recognize and utilize.
     Here’s what I do on written work which has been either hand written or typed on the computer; as I read, I underline or circle common spelling errors or errors in syntax such as forgotten capital letters or periods. When I have finished reading the text, I choose a few spelling mistakes or goals that may be missing and write them, correctly, in a list on a corner of the student’s work. Any more than 2 – 4 items in the list can be overwhelming for a student, so I keep it short. Then, I draw a tree around the words so these corrections represent the area of growth for the student. On the page beside the tree, I make sure to write a response or a positive comment such as; “Good details!” or “great ideas!”, etc. When students write the next time, they can conveniently flip through preceeding pages in their journal to check the words in the trees.

Using this feedback strategy, students have a concrete example of how they can improve the content and syntax of their written work, and each time they write in their journal, they have a mini dictionary of some of the words or tips they can easily refer to. A tree is a simple, friendly image to use to offer student-specific feedback. I have found that this strategy encourages students to proofread their work before they submit it, helps  the ‘unlearning’ of some fossilized errors, and sets small, attainable goals for students to improve their writing.

Kelly.McLaughlin Communication with Parents and Guardians, Use of Technology

Amazing classroom tool

After having been in my LTO placement at Ancaster Meadow for more than a month now, I have finally found a perfect way to connect with parents and my students at the exact same time. A few colleagues of mine have been using the app “Class Dojo.” This app connects to parents and students devices and tracks their progress throughout the day. You can award students points for certain behaviours and the parents will see this as well as the students. At the end of the week, I have been announcing the champion of the week for most points! The kids love it and have been very focused everyday in order to earn points.

Competition in the classroom is sometimes frowned upon, but my kids have been flourishing from this app and I think that they really enjoy knowing exactly why they have earned a point. You can message parents form this app and many of them have used the app to get into contact with me. It is easier than an email because it is exactly like an iMessage but over a safe and secure app where no contact information is actually given out.

I recommend this app for all grades and it works so well in my grade six class. I know that the grade three classes in our school are really enjoying it as well! Connecting with parents and ensuring student success and motivation at the same time is the best resource I have come across in my time on my placement so far!

Photo of Lisa Taylor
Lisa.Taylor Communication Tools, Communication with Parents and Guardians, General

Communication with Parents – Part 1

Communication with parents/guardians is not just a courtesy, it is a legal requirement as part of being a teacher. How you communicate with parents/guardians depends a lot on the content of the message.

Sometimes information is for all parents. This can go out in a newsletter format. Be careful about setting up unreasonable expectations of yourself around how often your newsletters come out. If you start the year sending them every Monday, parents will start to depend on seeing them on Mondays and you will preset that expectation that they will continue to come weekly, even on weeks when there isn’t a lot to share. Don’t make work for yourself, try to make your newsletters (should you choose to send them home) more sporadic so you don’t set yourself up with these expectations that you are sometimes unable to maintain.

If you choose to go digital, make sure you provide a non-digital option for families who do not have access. If you have families who do not speak English at home, you may want to speak with your admin about resources available to you in your board for translating some of the essential information to ensure all families are getting information equitably.

Deciding on a digital format can be challenging. Many teachers choose to set up a classroom website or blog, which allows them to post information. Be careful about allowing 2-way communication happen on the page without moderation. The last thing you want is your page to become a place for parents to start complaining or chatting about unrelated items. In my experience, using the Blog format (Blogger through Google was the format I used) is a great way to share resources and activities. There is a moderate option in setting so students and parents can comment but they come to you first and you can decide if they get posted. Sometimes a comment might not need to be posted (i.e., “can you please call me tomorrow to discuss the report card?”), whereas, others add to the value of the resources and information shared.

This link (http://taylor2s.blogspot.ca/2014/03/it-is-certain-you-will-love-these-games.html) is to my classroom blog that I used last year. I shared the link on every paper newsletter I sent home, tweeted it, wrote it in agendas, had the students start there at the beginning of each session on the computers in the class – we used it all the time! My class was used to the site and they would go home and share it with their family. I could then use it share information with the families. (I went on leave at the end of the year and was even able to invite my LTO onto the site as a guest blogger to post while I was away!).

If you choose to email your newsletter, send it as a PDF and CC your principal. This adds an extra level of transparency. Be advised however, that when it is sent as an email, it is easy for a parent to hit reply and ask a question, make a comment, etc (i.e., should we send extra mittens that day just in case? – something that they can figure out on their own, or put in the agenda if it is really a burning question). Make sure you send it during normal school hours (8-5 is a good general rule of thumb) and be careful not to engage in casual conversation over email. You need to maintain professional boundaries when dealing with parents at all times. With email, it is easy to get casual.

Communication is an essential part of teaching. When you are communicating with all of the parents in your class, you can be more general in your approach. Next week, I will look at more specific communication tools for when you want to contact individual parents.

Photo of Mike Beetham
Mike Beetham Assessment, Building Inclusion, Challenging Topics, Classroom Management, Differentiated Instruction, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students

But Why?

This is a term that has become a part of my teaching repertoire since spending the last four summers working with teachers in Sierra Leone, Africa. There are two ways that I make use of this valuable term in my classroom practice.

The first is when I am dealing with classroom management concerns in my classroom. There are always students who are not following the expectations, not fulfilling the work requirements, not complying to the adults etc… The fact is that most teachers are only able to deal with the behaviour piece (tip of the iceberg). The question ‘But Why?’ forces me to look beyond the behaviour, beyond the part that negatively affects the classroom routine and to seek out the roots of the behaviour. If I can make the time to figure out why something is occurring, I have a much better chance to support a change that will be permanent.

For example, student X  in my class last year had a reputation for refusing to do his work. It did not matter whether it was numeracy or literacy he usually behaved in such a way that the teacher had to finally intervene and remove the student for the good of the rest of the class. So, student X had developed a very effective strategy of avoiding areas that he did not want to take part in. The removal from the class was actually a reward for him even though in the eyes of everyone else it was a punishment.

I had to try and figure out the ‘Why?’ for his behaviour. This took time, patience and most importantly a good relationship. The end result was that he had significant gaps in his learning due to his behaviour choices and that future testing revealed that he had a learning disability in writing. As a result, he had learned that compared to everyone else he was dumb when it came to being able to express himself in written form. The removal from a class (adult punishment) was not as negative as the inadequate feeling he had everyday in school when required to write with his peers.

The solution became the need for differentiated instruction and differentiated assessment in order to allow student X the most effective way to demonstrate his learning. He still had to write, but only when writing was being assessed. In numeracy I only assessed his understanding of numerical concepts and not his writing skills. Scribing, models, oral explanations allowed him to both gain confidence in his actual abilities and not have to focus on his area of need.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of “But Why?”.

Photo of Tammy Axt
Tammy Axt General, Professional Learning and Growth

Building Support Without a Team

There are many challenges associated with being a planning time teacher. Your group of students is constantly changing, you often teach a variety of grades and subjects, and you have a very limited time to teach the students what they need to learn. I feel the biggest challenge for many planning time teachers, however, is the fact that they don’t belong to a grade level or division team at school. This requires planning time teachers to be quite creative when building communities to continue their professional learning and growth.

Over the past week or so, I went around to all the planning time teachers at my school (Music, French, Gym, Drama/Dance) and asked what they do to build a professional community.

Music
In Peel, we have a teaching and learning community of music teachers called JEMMS (Junior Elementary Music Makers). This group of teachers sets up mentorships and offers workshop, but primarily they are just an email distribution list to which you can ask any question. Every day in Peel, some music teacher who is at a school by themselves has a group of people that they can ask about resources, special education in music, management, performance groups or any other question that they might have. Check to see if your board has one, or start a list yourself!

Gym
In speaking with our gym teacher, I discovered that she feels that tournaments are a great way to start building a community of gym teachers to consult with. She also feels that networking at the annual gym conference gives her a community of teachers she can rely on.

French
Our French teacher is not a new teacher, but fairly new to teaching core French. With a new curriculum and a new assignment, she has headed to Facebook to build that community of teachers to help with lesson ideas, selecting resources and getting French savvy. The Facebook group that she belongs to is “Ontario Core French Teachers”. In addition to working collaboratively together, one of the members of this group also leads a live question and answer period for French teachers once a week.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and many other social networking sites have sections for Music, French, Drama, Gym and Dance teachers. It is a great way to build connections provincially or even globally.

Drama/Dance
Our drama/dance teacher sits on the executive of the Peel Elementary Dance and Drama Association. Associations can be an amazing way to get some access to new resources and incredibly knowledgeable teachers. If you feel like you are too inexperienced, volunteer to be the secretary treasurer or a member at large. I guarantee you that the time you volunteer will be given back to you through new ideas, resources and great professional dialogue.

Overheard in my Ontario Classroom…
Last week one of my grade one students informed me that he was having a horrible morning and that it was truly the worst day ever. When I stopped, bent down to his level and asked him why, he informed me that his sister had cut her finger at the breakfast table this morning and he felt very sad for her. Can you imagine what our world would be like if everyone had that much empathy for each other?

Photo of Samantha Perrin
Beverly Papove General, Wellness

Extra-Curricular Involvement – All in Good Time

Your school is a community and a good way to enrich your year as a teacher is to participate in this community. Some good reasons for getting involved include, opportunities to share your expertise or vision for the school, getting to interact and connect with students and parents in a supportive but more informal way, and being part of the spirit of the school. This year, someone may ask you to get involved by organizing extra-curricular sports and clubs for students, or by taking on administrative roles such as a Parent Council, Union, or Safe and Caring Schools Representative.  Here are some things you may want to consider before you make a decision.

Anything you do outside the classroom means you have to be able to take time to do whatever you decide to take on. Make sure that you do not overdo it! I have seen new teachers sign up for as many extra-curricular activities as possible because they think they should, only to have to bow out of many due to a lack of time. Being too stretched time wise can also affect your enthusiasm for the activity and you may begin to look forward to it less and less. Remembering to balance time for your job and your life outside of work is of the utmost importance. Do not feel bad if you have to decline a request to start a club or help coach a team. It is best to become involved only when you have the time and energy! You may lose lunch hours, have to come in extra early some mornings, or stay later after school to make it happen. Some years may be better than others. Do it when you are ready.

And not everyone is able to give more of their time. There may be childcare or family obligations, lack of proximity to the school, or health concerns which may present challenges for someone wishing to coach Girls’ Soccer, for example. Also, taking Additional Qualifications or going back to school to complete a Masters’ degree may not be the best time for you to engage directly in extra-curricular activities at your school. Your studies will ultimately benefit your school community and so while you are studying, your job as a classroom teacher and your life as a student are already big responsibilities and commitments.

If you are looking for ways to become involved, breaking the school community into 3 parts may help organize how you want to participate and budget your time. Firstly, consider your academic obligations towards your own students. Secondly, you may be interested in working with colleagues and parents in the administration of the school. And thirdly, you may be ready to offer your time to run a club or sport involving students in the whole school.

Using this guide, I have always been able to manage time to run a math club or homework help all year long for my students.  And in the last 10 years, I find I have become more interested in taking on administrative roles and enjoy being part of the Safe and Caring Schools initiative – going to workshops and promoting social justice resources and issues at school. And lastly, if I can, I take on a sports or arts club once a week before or after school for part of the year. For example, coaching Track and Field in May and June, or organizing International Dance Day for one day in April. I used to have much more energy and was very happy to run a couple of clubs and teams at the same time. Now, I realize I am able to be useful in more administrative areas of the school community and so I happily leave the running of the teams and clubs I used to enjoy to the younger (more energetic) teachers.

Photo of Mike Beetham
Mike Beetham Before School Starts, Challenging Topics, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Differentiated Instruction, Learning About Your Students, Professional Learning and Growth, Report Cards

IEP Creation and Implementation

What Is an Individual Education Plan?

An IEP is a written plan describing the special education program and/or services required by a particular student. It identifies learning expectations that are modified from or alternative to the expectations given in the curriculum policy document for the appropriate grade and subject or course, and/or any accommodations and special education services needed to assist the student in achieving his or her learning expectations. For additional information on creating or understanding the IEP, use the following Ontario Ministry of Education link:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/general/elemsec/speced/iep/iep.html?view=print

The IEP can have a variety of focuses from academics, accommodations to behaviour and/or social skills. It is essential for students who have been identified as exceptional through the IPRC process. They are also used for students to whom the board feels require special education programs or support to meet curriculum expectations. The IEP is developed within the first 5 weeks of school. It is critical for teachers to seek out as much data about a student as possible (report cards, previous IEP, formal and informal assessments, OSR and any other diagnostic assessments that you are able to complete with a student).

The IEP is drafted by the classroom teacher (usually with support of a school’s Special Education Resource Teacher) and then shared with the parent/guardian for their feedback and finally signed and becomes the legal document by which a student is assessed. It is a detailed document that requires a lot of time to create. It is revisited after each assessment period and adjusted according the progress or lack of progress a student has made toward the target expectations.

This is a critical component to helping each and every child be successful as it epitomizes the need to teach to each child’s needs and not just to a curriculum standard. I highly advise that teachers take the time to familiarize themself with the IEP process.