Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Getting to Know Students 

So now that the school year is underway, initial assessments are behind us, and desks are hopefully still organized, it’s time to focus on really getting to know students. Yes, all those assessments are helpful in learning about students’ academic needs, but what about other areas of students’ lives? What about building student/teacher relationships and making connections?

A Letter to My Teacher

Recently I came across a writing idea that snagged my attention not only because it could be used as a teachable writing piece but just as importantly as a way to get to know my students better than just the surface interests of a first day of school bingo. I call it “A Letter to My Teacher”.



Where to Begin

I reasoned that if I expected my students to write a letter highlighting three things about themselves, I had better be able to do the same for them. So I thought about what I would write if I could go back in time just a few short years ago to 4th or 5th grade…okay, maybe more like 43 years ago. What would I have wanted my teacher to know about me? Definitely things I was interested in and things that could make my 10-year-old life easier if she knew of them.
My 10 year old self.
So I crawled back into my 4th grade head and wrote a letter to my teacher. I included a couple light-hearted topics such as loving to design house blueprints with my protractor (yep, I really did such a thing). I also included the heavier topic of the on-going embarrassing situation of forever being one of the last two kids to be picked by the same ole team captains for P.E. kickball. Time after time. Without fail.

I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction my students would have when I read my letter to them. I soon found out. There wasn’t a sound in the room. As in, I could hear a pin drop, kind of silent. Many could identify with the humiliation of someone who was consistently picked last. The looks of empathy and concern were evident on their faces as they realized their teacher was human too and had survived through some not so pleasant things. A new connection had been made.

Writing the Letters

Students brainstormed their ideas, and then chose their most important three to include in their letter. From there it was fairly easy for them to compose three detailed paragraphs as we delved into paragraph structure and organization. We later added an introduction and conclusion and reviewed the friendly letter format. These letters became one of the first formative writing assessments of the year.

I was amazed at how fast and furious students dug into this assignment, with very few reluctant writers! They were eager to share about themselves and I was eager to read their pieces.


 

What I Discovered

There are a few things that stand out to me about “A Letter to My Teacher”. First, I enjoyed reading each and every letter and learned many new things about my students. I found it to be a fantastic way to make new connections. Even though there were predictable topics such as sports and pets, I also read some surprising topics such as an ornithology hobbyist and a few chefs in the making. Among the fun and surprising parts, were also a few red flags. I brought these to the attention of pupil services to see how these concerns could best be addressed.

Second, I found students had an easy time finding things to say. I believe that because I opened up about my 4th/5th grade self, they felt empowered to do the same. I also reflect that it was fairly easy for most of them to organize each of the three topics into three different paragraphs. It was truly a great way to teach the writing trait of organization.



Finally, I surprised myself with what I dredged up from those long ago ’74-’75 school years. The good. The bad. The ugly. It’s all part of the experience of learning, growing, helping others, and making positive connections with the next generations.

There are many ways to get to know students. Please share ways that work for you!

If you would like to read more about writing a letter to the teacher, here is the link where I saw this idea.


2 comments:

  1. Our 4th grade writing teacher completed the same task. It was eye-opening. A definite lesson for repeating.

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  2. In 1st grade, this task would be a little more difficult to do...but what I started this year is a daily talk task that is incorporated into our morning message time. One day, the talk task was: "Describe your bedroom." I had a student with speech difficulties share his description with the class for over 5 minutes, down to the detail of his wooden lumberjack chair that he won from yelling the loudest in the front row of the audience. It was enlightening and so cool to hear the class orally respond, "Thanks for sharing."

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