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Learning about your students' backgrounds, interests, readiness and motivations helps you plan instruction that is student centered and meets their needs. It also communicates to the students that you care about them as a person and see them more than just a body in your classroom. Relationships between teachers and students improve participation and create safe spaces where students can productively struggle with rigorous work. The first step in creating these spaces is often just asking basic questions and continueing to show interest in your students' day-to-day lives.
At the beginning of the year:
Frontloading learning about your students can pay off for the rest of the year. It allows you to connect with your students, collect information, and identify academic readiness. Here are some resources/ideas.
Brag sheet: Ask parents to tell you about their child but focused on the positives
Paper version-- English and Spanish
Student surveys: Give students a student survey either as a worksheet (which you keep and refer to) or as a google form. Ask students for parent contact info and you will get more up to date information
Example (google doc)
To be added: How to read an IEP
Collaborating with Colleagues and Other Stakeholders
Email students' teachers and counselors: Email the other teachers of a student who is struggling in your class or has recently changed. You can learn a lot from your colleagues. Obtaining this information can give you a lot of information and help you and other stakeholders learn more about a child and identify root causes of issues in school. When this practice is normed, we become more proactive and less reactive.
Script to use when emailing colleagues to learn more about a student with some sort of issue.
Kidtalk: If you are able to meet as a team, kidtalk can be a great way to learn about specific students, their needs, and to set and follow up on interventions.
Coaches and Extracurricular connections: Students often show up in different ways outside of school. Communicate with adults they regularly interact with to learn more about them. Try to attend public events (if you can) like sports games or plays. You will often learn a lot about a student seeing them act in a play or play on a sports team.
Utilize case-managers and other related support providers: Case managers and other related service providers (social workers, psychologists, etc) provide indirect services which means they are supposed to consult and support the general educator on behalf of the student. This means that they can tell you information about students or help you identify ways to implement accommodations and other supports.
Script for emailing
ESOL support: conferencing with students, parents, OR understanding background
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