I've been out of school for a week y'all due to snow, ice, subzero temps... I don't tolerate cold well so we cooped up in the house. I didn't accomplish much more than social media circles and making the decision to get some help with my blog design. I have already designed my new store banner... what do you think?
That is exactly how I work most of the time! Squatted on the couch with my laptop, a stack of books and a carefully balanced cup of coffee sitting there.
And my new button! This is all about my attempt to become more tech savvy, make better use of our classroom iPads and bring you resources and tips that I find along the way. If you are following my Facebook page or me on Twitter you have been getting lots of tips from me lately. I also share a lot of tips on Pinterest so follow me there too.
Ok... enough about that! I'm writing this post to share some tips to help you build success with some of your most challenging, most needy, yet most rewarding students.
I'm not claiming to be any sort of expert, and these are things you most likely already know and do! Sometimes maybe we just need a reminder of why we do it, or why it is so important. And I have a freebie for you so read on!!!
He comes in to school most mornings with his faded, tattered, and oversized coat. There are many mornings that he doesn't come in. He is "sick" a lot. His attendance and performance demonstrates that education is not really all that important... to him or his family.
He tries my patience to the bone every day. He is sloppy, I'm a bit of a neat freak (things must be "surface clean" at least). He doesn't like to work, I'm a workaholic. He is slouchy, I'm a former Marine (that means we walk with our heads up, shoulders back and pick up our feet, we have pride in ourselves and how we act). He takes things, blurts out, laughs inappropriately, and props his feet on the desks. He spits on the sidewalk, EWWWW!!!
But I have to wonder... was he warm last night? Did he have dinner? Were things calm or chaotic at home last night? Is this how his older siblings and parents behave?
It is clear in my rural, high poverty school that he is one of the many students who struggle with poverty. I am working with him on these things. Hoping and praying that we can find common ground. Having faith that he can build a foundation that will help him to be successful as a student and as an adult.
Here are what I believe to be the most basic building blocks in building that foundation in the classroom.
Build relationships. The first thing we must do with our students in poverty is to build a relationship. I'm sure you are all familiar with the James Comer quote "No significant learning occurs without significant relationships." He is not talking about text to self connections here... Haha?
Have you seen/heard all the talk about the 2X10 strategy? It's drawn so much media attention in teaching groups that I can't find where it originates but here is a good post about the 2x10 strategy. Essentially it is making the time to let a/some students come talk to you for at least 2 minutes over a 10 consecutive day period.
I think we all want to do this... we make attempts at it... but sometimes it seems impossible! But wouldn't it be worth it to carve that 2 minutes out if it could save numerous disruptions.
I give him 2 minutes just to say what's on his mind and find out what I can about his home life. Then I take another minute to work on #5. See below for more discussion on that and a freebie!
Build stable, dependable environments. Students need to know our rules, routines, and expectations. We must be consistent with these. When changes are necessary, we will have to give an adjustment time for them.
I have had some trouble maintaining constant routines and expectations this year as I just changed grade levels after 8 years in first grade. Second grade curriculum and behaviors of second graders presented me with a learning curve. When I change my procedures, I remind them verbally and on the board everyday until it becomes routine.
With him, this is part of our discussions in the morning. We discuss any changes that I know will occur to our plans for the day, and since he is pulled out a lot for resource I discuss his differentiated assignments that he has from me for the day.
Build confidence in their safety. I know we all have safe classroom settings. Sometimes we might just need a reminder of how important that is to learning. We need to explicitly let our students know that they will be safe and have their needs met while they are at school. This may happen during your 2 minutes. You may find out your student didn't have breakfast and so you give him a snack.
I am fortunate that my school provides free breakfast, so when he comes in t one of the first things I ask him is "Did you get breakfast?" If not, I can send him up to the cafeteria quickly.
Build community. Many teachers have classroom jobs, this is great for all students. They need to have ownership in how your classroom looks, how pencils stay sharpened, how to take care of things.
For our students in poverty, we may need to give a little more guidance. Sometimes they have no responsibilities at home. Sometimes they have too many. I wrote this post a while back "That Messy Desk" and shared some tips and tools for desk organization.
He has no responsibility at home. It seems that his mom does all of the housekeeping and such. There is no father in the home. Often the single parent in poverty will take all responsibilities on themselves out of guilt about the situation.
I give him his job according to a particular area that I see he is having difficulty with. If he is leaving his coat on the floor by the cubbies, the cubby area is his job. If he is moving his desk too far out of the "table" area, his job is to straighten the desks for the week. I teach him how we want things to look neat and straight. It's not a punishment, it is to help him understand how and why we need to take care of things.
Build goals. Our students in poverty tend to live in the moment. They sometimes have little understanding of the outcome of long-term goals. We can take the opportunity to teach a life-long skill here! We need to explicitly teach them about setting goals and working towards them.
He often gets in trouble for the same things, over and over, day in and day out. We set behavior, academic and organizational goals one at a time. I help him notice the things that he is struggling with one of those things will become a goal for the week, or until it becomes a habit for him.
I created this Goal Setting Notebook to help him and myself track the goals has set, have ownership in them and see the outcomes of his long-term goals.
He will set his goals each day here, which are actually the same for at least one whole week. He will come back to it at the end of the day for a self evaluation. This helps him remember the goals he set, allows him to see the progress toward the goals, and holds him accountable for achieving them.
I will post again to let you know how this is going. Would love to hear from you all about how you build relationships and foundations for success. If you try any or all of these please let me know how it works for you.
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