TCs: IDEAS FOR GETTING TO KNOW THE SUPPORT AT YOUR SCHOOL
Getting to know the varied professionals at your school who support both students and teachers is an ongoing process! Start by finding out what roles exist at your school and who serves them—ask your mentor, look at your school’s website, and visit the offices of the school. Make a plan to talk with colleagues about their roles at the school. You can go by their office, email them, or set up an appointment to talk. Download PDF > Getting to Know Support Staff at Your School Download Word doc > Getting to Know Support Staff at Your School ...
TC practice: Getting to know your students as learners
Getting to know your students as learners is more than formally assessing students’ content knowledge. It requires a targeted and systematic inquiry into your students’ ways of thinking, how they “do school” and how they understand the subjects you are teaching. This includes knowing about your students’ prior learning experiences and resulting habits of mind, their cultural norms and social status within the class, their self-esteem and sense of efficacy, and also their dispositions and attitudes — and goes hand in hand with getting to know students as individuals. The accompanying tool helps the TC understand a particular student as a learner in the classroom. It poses questions like: What is working well for this student: strengths & interests? (e.g., likes to work alone, with a friend, in groups; fast in answering questions vs. mulling over ideas; likes to doodle, to move around, to help others; etc.). What is this student avoiding or needing help with in class: struggles & dislikes? (e.g., sharing ideas publicly, reading long paragraphs, listening to other’s ideas, etc.). This sketch of one learner allows the TC to ask effective questions and allow them insights about how to serve them better. ______________________________________________________________ Download PDF > TC Guide: Getting to know your students as learners Download PDF > Tool- Structured reflection on student as learner Download Word version > Tool- Structured reflection on student as learner...
Connecting with Teacher Colleagues and Staff
What is this about? The school community encompasses students, teachers, education (ELL, SpEd, STEM, etc.) specialists, administrative staff, nurses, security and cafeteria personnel, maintenance experts, volunteers, and others. Every one of them is there to support students’ well-being and learning. Connecting with teaching colleagues and other school employees is a good way for you to find out more about the culture and workings of your school community, and about the families and neighborhoods it serves. Tips for doing this When it comes to supporting your students, the staff and fellow teachers can offer important resources. When choosing with whom to connect, make sure you include ELL and special education specialists, counselors, and instructional coaches. They are all part of the ecosystem. Prepare a brief introduction about yourself and your role as a TC and use this prepared “quick-intro” whenever you meet someone new at your school. Of course, it is common sense to use courtesy and a professional demeanor when interacting with other adults at the school (as it is when interacting with students). More...
Getting to know your school and the communities it serves
What is this practice? No matter your level of familiarity with your school placement and the communities it serves, knowing communities as a teacher is different. Inquiring into your school and its surrounding neighborhoods from the perspective of a teacher will give you a head start at the beginning of the school year. You can find valuable information from publicly available data, the school’s website or other school-related resources, or by visiting and talking with people. Why is it important? The work of teaching is strongly influenced by context. Knowing this context will help you do numerous important things—connect with students and colleagues, search for and find resources, contextualize your experiences and other information (like policies and regulations), and more. Most centrally, it will help you make your teaching relevant for your students, as you cannot anticipate how the learners in front of you will respond to ideas or points of view you bring up unless you literally understand “where they are coming from.” Where to start? First of all, find out what communities and neighborhoods your school serves. Then think about what you already know about the school and the surrounding area and try to generate “authentic” questions—those that you, students, families, or community members would actually want answered. Next, seek answers! Do you know people who live in the area? Whom could you ask for information or stories? What data are publicly available? Follow your curiosity and the tips below. More...
Getting to know your students as individuals
What is this practice? Getting to know students as individuals in and outside your classroom is more than just knowing what grades they usually get in class and anecdotes you may have heard about them. Knowing your students as whole people means getting to know their interests, backgrounds, experiences, challenges, passions, and more. After all, the time they spend in your classroom is only a fraction of their daily life. Why is it important? The most effective first step you can take in the clinical experience is to find out who your students are. This means taking time to talk with them and building relationships, but it also means understanding the community they live in (see TC Practice: Getting to Know Your School and the Communities It Serves). Learning about your students right from the beginning is crucial for creating rapport and the safe environment that is so important for their learning, and has been shown to positively affect academic outcomes[1]. Getting to know students is also a matter of equity—of understanding what all students have to offer (beyond what they first put forth) and growing in your capacity to support students within and beyond the classroom community. Tips for doing this practice effectively Consider getting to know your students with a three-pronged approach: observation, communication, and information. More...
Observation-communication-information guide for start of year
Using observation, communication, and information to get to know students as individuals This guide provides you with some concrete steps you can take to learn more about your students as individuals at the start of the school year. Note that you will often have to actively seek out opportunities and information yourself; placements do not necessarily provide these opportunities for you. Observation: Listen to the sounds of your school. When you are outside the classroom in the hallway, schoolyard, or cafeteria: What do you hear? Are the sounds subdued, relaxed, and calm? Are the sounds lively? Is there laughter, or do you hear what might be aggression in some students’ voices? How are the sounds changing over the course of the day, over the course of the week? Take time to observe students outside the classroom. Which students stand together, and how do they interact? Which students are on their own? Why do you think this is the case? How do adults and students interact? Do you see patterns? Is there something that surprises you? What can you learn from these observations? Observe how your mentor and other teachers greet their students when they come to class. What do you notice? Examine artifacts (e.g., on bulletin boards, in the hallway) of how students express who they are. You may find photos, poems, or drawings from students displayed. Communication: Try to connect with your students often via eye contact and a smile. (However, be sensitive to the fact that not all cultures appreciate or even allow for as much eye contact as is custom in the United States.) In most schools, it is customary to greet students at the door when they come to class. You may prepare greetings and questions for your students. Make sure you check in with different students each day (keep a tally). Seek to become a “real person” in students’ eyes. Laugh at yourself, share a bit of yourself with students. Be available to “just talk” and demonstrate that you are approachable by greeting students in the hallway and sharing when you are available for drop-in conversations. Introduce yourself to your classes: Work with your mentor to decide how you want to refer to each other and define your roles with students, and identify ~5 minutes in each class for introductions during the first days of school. Prepare a slide or two with pictures that help tell about yourself,...