Dear Ms.Wormwood...

We understand the pressure that comes along with students who need extra support; however, we think that our team has come up with some strategies to better support your interactions and experiences with Calvin. It has become clear that your methods may not work for Calvin because of his learning patterns, but these patterns can be shifted to better support his learning. By taking our suggestions into consideration, you have the chance to help Calvin reach his full potential.

Instruction

While looking at classroom instruction, it is important that we understand what we are communicating to students. We can often accidentally communicate low expectations to our low achievers by not taking our time to really consider our interactions with them. By failing to give feedback to Calvin’s public response and communicating with him primarily in private, you are communicating to him that his ideas are not worth class time to discuss. This could be the result of your own fixed mindset; you may hold the belief that Calvin can’t, or doesn’t want to learn, but by not giving him opportunities to learn you are only reinforcing this pattern. In this instance, Calvin was honest with you by telling you that he could not answer your question. His attempt at diverting the topic to one that he is comfortable with should tell you that Calvin is genuinely interested in sharing his knowledge, he is just more confident with non-academic topics. This could be adjusted by taking the time in class to reteach concepts that could still be confusing.

Assessment

Assessments should be used by the teacher to know what students are having a hard time grasping, not as a source of humiliation or punishment. This interaction is another example of communication low expectations for low achieving students because you are criticizing Calvin very harshly for failure, maybe more harshly than you would other students. Interactions with students should always be calm and kind; if you cannot have a calm and kind discussion with a student, it is your responsibility to take a step back and compose yourself before addressing the issue at hand. Calvin’s treatment of his test is being viewed as defiant and intentionally dismissive or rude, but our Social and Emotional Skills tell us that Calvin may actually be using nonsensical answers as a way of protecting his pride and self-confidence. He could be trying to avoid the embarrassment of not understanding what he is learning by pretending he hasn’t learned anything. This should be seen as an indication that Calvin could benefit from different supports to better understand your class material. Coming to a student with compassion rather than anger can go a long way. We would also recommend that you communicate with Calvin’s parents about your concerns so that he is receiving support on all ends rather than judgement.

Classroom Management

Our team has analyzed your class, and we believe you are not fostering a trusting learning environment in your classroom and that has a lot to do with your classroom management style. There seems to be no organization or strategy when it comes to classroom management. This can be challenging for students who are low achievers because they do not know what to expect and that can make them check out like Calvin has here. Your method of calling on students is very confrontational. You call on Calvin multiple times without really knowing what Calvin wants. Instead, allow students to volunteer to present on their own, or maybe create a sign up sheet for presentations. In addition, you are waiting less time for Calvin, who is a low achiever, to answer your questions. This shows that you have less patience for Calvin and that reinforces more negative attribution patterns that lead to learned helplessness. Instead of expecting Calvin to be engaged, you could offer some accommodations for your students who you notice have a more difficult time paying attention in class. By offering these accommodations, you are letting Calvin know that he is capable of learning, and that his failure in class is due to a lack of effort rather than a lack of ability.

Communication with Parents

We also see that you have not been communicating with Calvin’s parents. This is an extreme misstep, because you have known that Calvin is a low achiever and he has troubles paying attention in class. It’s important that when you see these patterns, you address them with the family members so that you can figure out the best course of action to reinforce different patterns. Instead, you should be in communication with Calvin’s parents about his tendency to underachieve. Parents know their child best and they can often help offer ideas of how to engage the student. You should be sending out a weekly email/newsletter to the parent updating them on student achievement. These emails should include the details of any assignments and the materials and support needed from the parents to be able to complete these assignments. It is clear that Calvin has problems with time management and self regulation (which isn’t so surprising considering he’s six) so, you should be offering the parents every opportunity to help Calvin gain these skills, rather than expecting him to already be proficient and scolding him when he isn’t. By offering this support to the parents, you are reinforcing different attributions for Calvin and how he feels about his failure.

Relevancy

It is important that students understand the relevancy of the lessons you give them. We cannot expect students to learn just because we told them to. Education is a two way street, and students need to trust their teachers in order to learn from them. You are reinforcing Calvin’s low achievement by providing briefer and less informative answers to his questions. You are also not helping him by limiting him to an impoverished curriculum just because he is a low achiever. By continuing the path you are on, Calvin will continue to dislike school and attribute his failures to his ability rather than his effort. Calvin will continue to be learned helpless and that is not a desirable outcome for teachers. So, instead you should be explaining the relevance of your lessons to your students so that they care about learning the skills you are teaching. It might also be helpful to offer several different modes of instruction to maintain interest in easily distractible students like Calvin.

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