1. Map the Curriculum- really cool idea for not just incoming teachers. I think this would allow teachers to be more flexible and realistic with their lessons, instruction and activities!
2. Use assessments as teaching tools- feedback, feedback, feedback! Students need to be assesses both formatively and summatively and meaningfully. Why assign something if you are not going to be looking at it or grading it? If we expect the students to take time to learn/study/complete it, we should also be expected to give them meaningful and effective feedback.
3. Teach study skill- in the middle school we are just starting out this process and I firmly believe we need to start very basic. If we tell them and model successful ways to take notes and study in school, they will be more successful. We can't just expect them to know how to do these things.
4. Communicate with frequently parents- I like the analogy the books used about being a team. If you only communicate with the students you are basically only inviting half a sports team to a game. I also think that its super important to communicate with the parents at good times in the students educational career as well. At my school we have positive parent contacts. This is a great way for us to reach out and an praise students when they are doing well in class and being to build a friendly relationship with parents. By building this relationship right away, parents feel like you are not just a negative person but rather truly concerned about their childs' education-the good and the bad!
Mapping the curriculum is great. I know when I started teaching Japanese, I was handed a binder with the curriculum all in it, the units and what students were expected to do.
ReplyDeleteThat helped out a bunch. Plus the head of our department explained the curriculum to me this way, "We're all going to the same place.... we just take a different route." That really, really put me at ease (about that) my first year.
I also agree about feedback. I always tried to have very complete assignment with lots of detail. I would then give them as detailed of feedback as I could and then provide them with an opportunity to redo it using the feedback.
Shawn- That's an awesome statement about "getting to the same place just using a different route" and also what an awesome dept. head! :)
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