Getting to Know Your Students

RESPONSE: Classroom Environment

Regardless of COVID19, life goes on...teachers prepare lessons and students look forward to school starting, in one form or another. I have six grandchildren and they will be going back to six different schools and five different school systems. Three are private schools and three are public. Two are in gifted classes, one is designated special education and the other three are in regular education classes. Two are juniors in high school; two are freshman and two are in middle school. I am explaining all of this so you know where my heart is as schools reopen. Some will be distance learning, but at least three will go back to "normal" school days. I hope they become engaged and enthusiastic about school this year. Then, I know they will learn as well.

I think that the first month of school is the most crucial in laying the groundwork for engagement and enthusiasm for the remainder of the year. There were years, when I was teaching, that I didn't lay the groundwork because of a variety of reasons. Maybe students were pulled for testing or I was paired with other teachers and content was a priority. Whatever happened, I jumped into curriculum too quickly without adequately getting to know my students or giving them a chance to know me. Inevitably, we just never jelled. When I did take the time to help students know and appreciate each other and become accustomed to why and how I structured the classroom and lessons, by January, the class could manage itself, and by June, we had all developed strong bonds with each other.

I am hoping that, in spite of the pandemic, and in spite of missing much of the last school year, you will take the time to get to know your students and what their hopes and dreams are for the coming year in your class. If you haven't visited the National Writing Project website and/or joined them on Facebook. take some time to look at the beginning-of-the-year ideas they suggest. Many will help you build classroom community.

One of my favorite ideas in getting to know students has been the use of surveys. I start out on day 1 with a 4x6 notecard on which I have students put their name, address, phone #, etc. - whatever I need to know in order to quickly contact them. (If you are doing distance learning, online, have students text/email you this information after they complete it in class.) Then, I ask for the best way for me to contact their parents. I explain that I like to send notes or call parents to tell them about the good work they are doing in class. My next question has to do with their name - What name do you want to go by in class? I ask which they prefer, group work or individual work? Do they prefer a noisy classroom or a quiet one? I also ask them to tell me something they want me to know about themselves.

This usually fills the card. Depending on time, we do some voluntary sharing or pair/share with whatever students are comfortable sharing; I collect the cards and let them know that I will post results of the survey questions the following day. Students love seeing that they are not alone in wanting either group work or individual time...that some people prefer noisy to quiet classrooms. I assure them that we will do both kinds of work during the year.

Other surveys I use in the following days are from Nancy Atwell and Linda Rief. Each of these women have wonderful reading and writing surveys that give you a picture of your student that tests can't. Again, getting to know your students well is the key.

Please share some of your introductory ideas as we start this new school year.  Watch for more posts on this topic!

CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

“A learning space must be hospitable – inviting as well as open, safe, and trustworthy, as well as free.  . . .” Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

Welcome to a new school year.  With this ongoing pandemic it will be an unpredictable one, and creating a classroom community will be quite a challenge.  Whether you are teaching online or in person, whatever you can do to develop an environment of trust so that your writers will be willing to share, respond, accept suggestions, and work on revising is extremely important.  As we mentioned in our last post, we want to offer some suggestions for creating a learning community.  We have decided to focus on three overlapping areas: classroom environment, building community, and procedures.

What can you do to show students that you value writing?  Do you have writing quotations and/or student writing posted?  Do you share your own writing?  What books are visible? Mentor books?  Don’t forget to include children’s books as mentor texts, too. Are these books available for students to use? If you are teaching online, perhaps create a bibliography of these books, maybe download some audio/video of these books.  Encourage your students to post quotations, pictures of their writing space and/or of themselves writing.

I like to post a quotation on the board (easily done online) for the students to respond to in their writing notebooks. (More about notebooks in later post!) It sets the tone for the day’s lesson.  Students can then share their written responses to the quotation or comment orally.  

As you begin to establish this learning space, what works for you?  Whether in the classroom or online, what do you do to make your classroom conducive for students to be willing to share, respond, and accept suggestions for revising?  For whole group work I discovered that I prefer to arrange the desks in a semicircle. Then I can move easily around the room and confer individually with students.  For pair-share work students just move their desks together.  For writing groups the desks are in pods, preferably four or five (we’ll share more about writing groups later).  My students become quite efficient at moving desks!  

Also, I often use music in my classroom.  I found that in addition to setting a mood as class begins, it can be a great stimulus for ideas.  Encourage students to share what music works for them and suggest they create a playlist. 

The first days of class are critical for establishing a learning space that is supportive and nurturing for writing.  It is extremely important to take the time necessary to create that writing environment.  Here are some activities that you might try during the first week or so of class:

·     Do a 10-minute free write on a topic such as How do you feel about writing?  

·     Share a time when you felt proud of your writing or a time when your writing was a disaster. 

·     Invite students to share writing or orally tell about their writing experience.

Good luck to you as you begin your new year.  We welcome your ideas (it’s easy to add a comment to our posts).  Don’t forget to check out these resources:  mwp@umn.eduand nwp.org.  I know how frustrating it can be to teach online, especially when your entry disappears – as my first one did today!!