601 Maple St by Jeff Gray...you HAVE to read it!
Then follow it up with a two-part video (Cipher in the Snow part 1 and part 2).
I won't give any further review of either but highly enoucrage you to look into them :)
Both the book and movie have really encompassed many of my thoughts over the past month and have encouraged me to look at my students in a different light.
I pride myself as a teacher who works very hard to get to know my students both as learners and children outside of school. During the first few weeks I pay home visits to each of their homes and do my best to connect with their parents or guardians. I've found that this makes a HUGE impact as I start to get to know them better throughout the beginning of the school year. While I was able to make a strong connection with the teacher in 601 Maple St, it was "Cliff" in Cipher in the Snow that left me thinking:
How much of my thoughts, time and energy are spent on those students in my class who demand so much of my attention?? Which students do I barely spend time on because I'm too busy filling out point sheets or counseling those who had a bad weekend?
These thoughts have led me to my most recent goal: spend more time with the students who don't "need" as much of my time! These students, who are always following directions, always on-task, always working hard, deserve my time just as much as any other student in my class and I'm going to make a valiant effort to give them the attention they so deserve!
I'm curious, how do you ensure that your attention and time is spread evenly amongst each individual student in your classroom?
You are so valid in your desire to search out the students who require so little of us. They are easy to forget as we are constantly spending time dealing with behaviors and differentiating for our low and high learners. One small thing I try to do is just sit down at a table during snack each day and have a conversation with the kids at the table. They look forward to what table I'll be at each day and it gives us some quality time for them to share about whatever they want...the topics are endless!
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I love the idea of sitting at a different table each day just to "chat." In fact, just this week I tried to do that during breakfast (we serve breakfast in our rooms). I picked a different student each day and sat with them for about 5 minutes. I was surprised how uninterrupted our conversation was and what a positive start to my day it had! I knew it had really impacted them when one of the students mentioned (during our closing circle) that her favorite part of the day was "when Mrs. Geier sat down and 'chatted' with me at breakfast." :) Thank you so much for the idea!
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