The Path to Change
When planning my Final Project for this Media Literacy course, I was asking myself what kinds of things I want to improve in my classroom and how they connect to my belief about how students learn. As I said in the "About Me" post, I was a middle school science teacher the last two years and will be making the move to third grade this coming fall. The transition from middle to elementary level teaching provides a whole new perspective when considering changes and things I want to see in my classroom.
The middle school teacher in me automatically thinks about wanting to change how students encounter and apply vocabulary, since this is a challenge I notice every year. I believe that the vocabulary (and content) that students are learning should be relevant to things they experience in the real world. This makes content and knowledge much more concrete and the student retains that information much better.
As an elementary teacher, or just a teacher in general, I would like to change how I communicate and share what is happening with families. I believe that when teachers and families have a strong connection, this benefits the way student's learn in and out of school. The work that the teacher is putting in during the school day can then be applied to what is happening at home when parent's know what is being taught. In addition to the content, keeping families in the loop in terms of how their student is doing is, also, super important. The earlier these conversations are started, the better! Technology improves every single day and there are a ton of resources that allow teachers to reach out to families and build those relationships (Talking Points, Zoom, class websites, etc.).
Great post, Carly. With distance learning having the potential to be in full swing come fall, connecting with parents is crucial. I also chose making connections with families as part of my final project.
ReplyDeleteHi Carly, I struggled with the parent communication piece during distance learning. I did not want to call or text parents directly, although I was comfortable doing this during brick and mortar school, as I did not want to stress the family more that it already was. I did send home group emails (blind CC'd) to parents to inform them about expectations, assignments, projects and reminders about classwork. These emails were very positive and encouraging. I alerted my supervisor directly about students I was concerned with so that the guidance department and the social workers could address these concerns. My daughter goes to Cumberland High School and her teachers had a similar strategy in their communications with me. I am very interested in improving my communications with parents and would like to incorporate technology and strategies right from the start of the school year so that if closures do happen again the communication system is already fully in place. I do worry about confidentiality with some communication tech tools as I work primarily with RTI students and students with diverse learning needs.
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