Musings about the first full week of school.

 

This was our first full week in the classroom.     The students are awesome. Of course I'm partial. While the excitement of a new classroom (we moved down the hall to have a bathroom), the excitement of seeing our friends and in making new ones will wear down to routine; everyone one of my students worked so hard this week to meet the expectations I sat before them. As I look back over the week two areas stand out:  

Summer retention:  After working on pre-assessments to document their current level of understanding for basic Kindergarten and First Grade materials I have been please at the ones who have retained what they learned during the five months I was with them at the end of the last school year. I'm fortunate in that I was able to assess the same students I taught, so I could reflect on what was retained, which lessons seemed to work and then couple that with the home life of the individual during the summer. Those new First Graders not only retained their basic Kindergarten knowledge, but also their behavior routines. I was pleased to see that we can now build upon that base for this school year. 

Summer loss: We worked on alphabet retention, numeracy, socialization and other IEP goals all the students last school year. At the end of the school year I did an assessment with them before school ended in order to document their level of understanding at that time. When we did the same assessment at the beginning of this school year, the students with loss, had regressed to the point of where they were when I first took over the classroom. I was sad, for them and for me. I had failed them somehow by not moving that learning into long term memory. My fellow educators tells me that there is always some regression in the summer ("we all forget what we don't use"), but I don't like lumping people into generalities. Each of my students (like yours) is unique and different. They learn at different paces, different levels, and use different processing methods. 

So, what do I do with this new knowledge? As any first year teacher should do, you turn to educators that you can trust (keyword) and seek advice, counsel, as well as read up on teaching methods and strategies you can use with each learner to help them to advance.

 That's why I've been up early on a Saturday morning pouring over my Professional Learning Network of individuals from around the world, to help me put specific arrows in my quiver in order to help each student advance this year.  I’m reviewing techniques, strategies, and thinking hard about how each individual learns so that my assistant and I can maximize the time we have to help each to not only advance, but to place the teaching into long term memory and use it for the higher level of cognition that will be required as they move through life.

While the classroom behavior is positive and the students understand that we have to "first work" and then "reward," I must up the expectations on myself first and then with each of my students.

Okay, I have some work to do and I’m ready for the challenge.

 |D|