Lessons Learned from "Understanding Our Students"
InnovatED Course Reflection
The following is a blog response for the final assignment in the course "Understanding Our Students" through InnovatED at MUHSD. I strongly encourage teachers to take this valuable course. Although it was time-consuming, it contained helpful information, strategies, laws, and ideas for getting to know our students in order to THEN do the teaching. Check out my biggest take-aways below.
What can educators do for the hard-to-reach students?
Here is a quick-list:
1. Get to know your students, by getting to know their identities, culture, and experiences. Learn who they are. Only then can you gain their respect, their attention, and their heart. Provide opportunities for students to share their world-- through writing, projects, warm-ups, exit-tickets, pair-share, blogs, art. Allow them to speak and share-- and listen, and remember. And, know the key facts: know who your LTEL's are. Know which students self-identify as LGBTQ. Know the students who receive SPED services and have IEP's. Know the key facts that will guide your teaching and understanding.
2. Respect is key. Respecting all students, regardless of any aspect of their identity. Always give respect.... to students with trauma by being empathetic and adjusting deadlines when needed, to students who receive SPED services by incorporating what is stated in their IEP and keeping expectations high, to students who identify as LGBTQ by using the correct terminology and positive language, to students who are English Language Learners by challenging them with vocabulary and the same expectations as all others, to students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds by holding them accountable for their future and instilling the belief in them that they CAN break the cycle, to students who are homeless or foster youth by providing a packet with class information when they first arrive or by being flexible with assignments due to the absences.
3. Trauma is real- make a classroom that allows students who have experience trauma to thrive. Create a communication circle with social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other adults who should be informed and updated on the successes and struggles of the student. Create a classroom that provides consistency and structure; a student needs this to feel safe. Create a classroom that allows choice and voice, from small assignments to large projects. Create a safe space, and allow students to have an "out" plan for when they need time to find their peace again.
4. Keep expectations high. Whether a student receives SPED services or is an EL, you must keep expectations high. We hurt students when we expect less of them. They will do less if we expect less. We cannot expect students to only end up at Point X. We simply need to find ways to help students get to Point Z.
5. Be understanding. I always tell my students that I may never know all of the struggles, but I understand that they have experienced more than some adults ever do. All students have hurdles to jump, but students who are homeless or foster youth, SPED, have experienced trauma, or are low-income, EL, and others, often have to jump a little harder, especially when the education system fails them. We cannot fail them. We need to be understanding when they can't turn in an assignment because their internet as shut down, or when they didn't get the project done because they moved to a strict foster home that doesn't allow them to meet with students outside of class, or when a student who has experienced trauma needs to step out of the classroom because they had a flashback that brought on anxiety. Students are humans too. Adults often forget that.
6. Set a path for success. You need to presume success and believe that all of your students can learn-- and tell them that-- daily. Allow them to know that failure is a part of success. Teach with urgency by creating a tone that is kind but serious. Communicate with students-- from learning objectives, to rubrics, to the "why" are we learning this. Establish learning intentions for content AND language. And, foster student aspirations by creating a space where students can speak.
Here is a quick-list:
1. Get to know your students, by getting to know their identities, culture, and experiences. Learn who they are. Only then can you gain their respect, their attention, and their heart. Provide opportunities for students to share their world-- through writing, projects, warm-ups, exit-tickets, pair-share, blogs, art. Allow them to speak and share-- and listen, and remember. And, know the key facts: know who your LTEL's are. Know which students self-identify as LGBTQ. Know the students who receive SPED services and have IEP's. Know the key facts that will guide your teaching and understanding.
2. Respect is key. Respecting all students, regardless of any aspect of their identity. Always give respect.... to students with trauma by being empathetic and adjusting deadlines when needed, to students who receive SPED services by incorporating what is stated in their IEP and keeping expectations high, to students who identify as LGBTQ by using the correct terminology and positive language, to students who are English Language Learners by challenging them with vocabulary and the same expectations as all others, to students who come from low socio-economic backgrounds by holding them accountable for their future and instilling the belief in them that they CAN break the cycle, to students who are homeless or foster youth by providing a packet with class information when they first arrive or by being flexible with assignments due to the absences.
3. Trauma is real- make a classroom that allows students who have experience trauma to thrive. Create a communication circle with social workers, counselors, psychologists, and other adults who should be informed and updated on the successes and struggles of the student. Create a classroom that provides consistency and structure; a student needs this to feel safe. Create a classroom that allows choice and voice, from small assignments to large projects. Create a safe space, and allow students to have an "out" plan for when they need time to find their peace again.
4. Keep expectations high. Whether a student receives SPED services or is an EL, you must keep expectations high. We hurt students when we expect less of them. They will do less if we expect less. We cannot expect students to only end up at Point X. We simply need to find ways to help students get to Point Z.
5. Be understanding. I always tell my students that I may never know all of the struggles, but I understand that they have experienced more than some adults ever do. All students have hurdles to jump, but students who are homeless or foster youth, SPED, have experienced trauma, or are low-income, EL, and others, often have to jump a little harder, especially when the education system fails them. We cannot fail them. We need to be understanding when they can't turn in an assignment because their internet as shut down, or when they didn't get the project done because they moved to a strict foster home that doesn't allow them to meet with students outside of class, or when a student who has experienced trauma needs to step out of the classroom because they had a flashback that brought on anxiety. Students are humans too. Adults often forget that.
6. Set a path for success. You need to presume success and believe that all of your students can learn-- and tell them that-- daily. Allow them to know that failure is a part of success. Teach with urgency by creating a tone that is kind but serious. Communicate with students-- from learning objectives, to rubrics, to the "why" are we learning this. Establish learning intentions for content AND language. And, foster student aspirations by creating a space where students can speak.
