Four Things I Do When a Student Says They Don’t Like My Class!

Depending on the student and the reason why, I might actually do…

THIS

But after I do this, there are four specific things I do, that actually work, when I receive constructive feedback from my students and even their families.

I Look Back to Move Forward

At the beginning of the school year, my students complete Content Attitude Surveys. From time to time, I go back and reread their responses to determine if any of their thoughts are an indication of them not liking my class. Most times, it’s there. I respond based on what information I glean from the survey. Sometimes you have to go back, back to move forth and forth. Click here to get the free surveys!

I Check Relationship Status

Sometimes, I need to take a step back and reflect on the relationship the student and I currently have. I have to ask myself some questions:

• Are they having positive experiences in my class?
• Are they making progress?
• Am I communicating that progress?
• How am I communicating progress?
• Are they receptive to the way I am giving feedback?
• Are they receiving any positive feedback?
• Do this student and I bump heads?
• I am the adult in this situation, so what can I do?
• What do or don’t I know, about this student, that can help me to help them?
• Do I really know my student?

I Get Quiet and Listen

I take what the student says seriously (more often than not). Behavior and attitude are communication. Again, I ask questions about the behavior and attitude, then I shut up, and I listen to the response as best as I can with the time that I have. (This is easier said than done, but in the whole scheme of things, it is worth it). Sometimes, I incorporate their ideas. I listen.

I Try to Never, Ever Take it Personal

But sometimes, it is personal.

Some students do try to personally attack us or our character, but sometimes, its not usually about us at all. They could be struggling with something unbeknownst to us. Perhaps past experiences in school or in similar subjects/content areas were unfavorable. Maybe it is about us, and the student thinks we are inconsistent, are unfair, are disorganized, are unclear, or talk too much. Don’t take it personal, especially if it’s true. The best way is to validate the student, and use the feedback as an opportunity for growth. An opportunity to show a child and model what to do and how to act when they receive unfavorable feedback. I rarely take things personally.

Now with most things, these steps depend on how well you know your students.

Again, at the beginning of the year, I give surveys to my students to help with this. I also gather information from their families, former teachers, and student files. I prefer to be proactive vs. reactive. Based on what you know or don’t know about your students will ultimately determine the best way to handle when a student says, “I don’t like this class.”

How do you handle when a student says they don’t like your class? Share in the comments below.

Happy Teaching!

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Communicating with Your Scholars and Families Amid Covid-19

This week was a roller coaster! Between daylight savings, a full moon, Friday the 13th, Corona-virus, and the excitement of Pi Day and the half day we had last Friday, I cannot believe we all survived!

Roller Coaster of a Ride. Image courtesy of Pixabay.

On Friday, March 13, teachers in Pennsylvania received news from our Governor, Tom

Closed for 10 Days. Image courtesy of Flickr.

Wolf that all K-12 schools would be closed for 10 business days effective Monday, March 16 due to the pandemic spread of Covid-19 in the commonwealth. This announcement was made after our scholars had been dismissed from school. Students had a half day of school while teachers stayed for professional development. During that time, we discussed Covid-19 and began preparing for schools to close as the virus continued to spread throughout the nation. We originally thought teachers would be in school on Monday and Tuesday. Students would come on Wednesday for a half day, and then we would be out for 10 days. Governor Wolf wanted all schools closed immediately. On Saturday, two cases were reported in Allegheny County. Two more reported on Sunday. Currently, there are 6 or 7 confirmed cases in the Pittsburgh region. (The data is changing rapidly.) State wise, as of Monday, March 16, there were 76 confirmed cases. On Thursday, there were only 22, and on Friday, there were 41.

With many people following the Governor’s order to socially distance themselves from family, friends, and other large crowds, how do we help the families of our scholars remotely when our schools or districts are not necessarily set up to do so?

Here are three ways I intend to do so:

• Class Dojo is an educational app and website that connects teachers, students, and families, through communication features such as feed for photos and videos from the school day, and messaging. I messaged the families of my scholars today to check in with them. I informed them that ALL schools in the district would serve food throughout the week from 11am-1pm. I also shared that an academic packet would be ready for them at the school when they arrived. In addition to this, I left them with more contact information. I sent them my e-mail address and Google Voice number.
• Google Voice is a telephone service (app) that provides a U.S. telephone number chosen from selected area codes, call forwarding, voicemail, voice, and text messaging services for Google Account customers for free. Because I prefer to not give my personal cell phone number to the families of my schools, I have chosen to use a Google Voice Number. What is really cool about this communication service is that I can receive and make phone calls with my Google Voice Number on my cell phone. When I call families, my Google Voice number shows up on their Caller ID. Two parents called me today, and I was able to give them more information about how long we were going to be out of school, the food at the school, the academic packets that were being sent home, and just to help relieve some anxiety that some family members had.
• E-mail, well we all should know what that is, but just in case, e-mail stands for electronic mail and is a way to exchange messages between people using electronic devices via the internet. While I attempted to upload the 110 page document to Class Dojo for families to have access, I quickly learned that the file was too large to upload. I therefore e-mailed it to one of the families that e-mailed me earlier in the day, and then returned to Class Dojo to ask families to send me their e-mail addresses. However, I later learned that Dojo was having a few glitches throughout the day, and about 10 minutes ago, I was able to upload the academic packet to Class Dojo! Yay!!!

With all of this uncertainty, I think that we teachers should enjoy being at home with our families. However, I also believe that we are all in this together, and our scholars as well as their families need us to support them. These are three ways we can reach out to communicate with families amid the Covid-19 takeover.

How are you keeping in contact with your scholars and their families? What do you recommend? I have seen some really cool remote ways of facilitating communication and learning (Zoom, Google Classroom, Quizlet Live) these last few days, and I would love to hear some details on how it works and how well it works in your world!

Until next time, happy teaching from home,

Krystal L. Smith, The RenewED Teacher

How to Motivate Difficult Students to Write

Reading and writing skills go hand-in-hand. The more you read, the better you get at it. The more you write the better you get at it. But what happens when students are not motivated to read and write? What is a teacher to do? We have these state tests that are right around the corner.

Image courtesy of Pixabay and PowerPoint.

When students are unable to read on grade-level, teaching and learning can be challenging. Some teachers are unsure of what to do to provide access to those students. Some students act out and exhibit difficult behaviors for teachers to manage because they do not want their peers to know that they are inept.

In this blog post, I am being interviewed by Mrs. Keena Flournoy White of Knowledge Defines the Future. In the video below, we discuss How to Motivate Difficult Students to Write.

Image courtesy of Pixabay and PowerPoint.

To gear you up on what you are about to view, here are the questions we discuss in the video:

1) How do you encourage yourself when your students aren’t where you think they should be? How can parents encourage their children to make their thinking visible?

2) How do you bring children who are two grade levels below into an area of reading in which they are interested (age appropriate)? Talk to the parents about the benefits of read-alouds. What are some adaptations you made?

3) What is the best way to give students small-group instruction on a regular basis?

4) How do you provide individual feedback?

5) How do you know how much support to give students when writing?

6) How do you teach to students’ needs when you must prepare them for on-level testing?

Reading and writing skills are not easy to teach or learn, but we all know it’s possible with even our most difficult students. Believing that you can make an impact in your scholars’ lives academically and socially is one of the first steps. Practicing habits of growth mindsets can help keep our minds focused on helping our scholars instead of worrying and complaining about their flaws.

Building relationships is a pretty important in helping challenging students as well. When children know you care, they care. The late Rita Pearson once said, “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.” Sometimes they like, and still don’t learn, but at least they are not disrupting the learning of those that are making gains. We all need to start with building strong relationships. To see Five Tips that I Use to Build strong relationships, please click this link: 5 Tips to Build Strong and Real Relationships with Your Students and Their Families.

Additionally, we need to know what the students know and don’t know, where they are, and what they need to do to get them where we need to be. Starting with your state’s standards and eligible content, or the Common Core Standards are great places to start. Starting with the program that your school or district has provided is not what we should be doing. It’s a resource that provides with some strategies, problems, and activities we can use to meet and/or exceed the standards. The programs are resources that make it a little easier for us as educators so that we do not have to spend 1,000 hours on Pinterest, surfing the web, surfing your state’s Department of Education’s website, or creating your own resources 100% of the time. Someone said to me, “Your standards and eligible content are your education bibles.”

Knowledge Defines the Future

Keena Flournoy White, is an Education Administrator as well as an Instructional Specialist of literacy and has over 21 years of experience in education, supporting schools throughout the tristate area. She also has three years making an impact in Middle Schools through The Middle School Quality Initiative. She has extensive experience in supporting grades Pre K through 8 in literacy instruction. Mrs. Flournoy White played a vital role in the Reading First initiative from 2004 to 2010, which she supported over 17 schools in grades K through 3. With her support and guidance in best literacy practices and using early grade indicators, schools were able to increase student achievement by an average of 38 percent, as measured by standardized assessments.

Mrs. Flournoy White provides targeted professional development for various audiences including school leaders, coaches, and teachers in researched based literacy practices, establishing effective teacher teams, and analyzing and interpreting data that leads to creating and executing meaningful action plans.

Mrs. Flournoy White obtained her Master degrees in Teaching Reading from Long Island University,  a second masters in Educational Administration, and a third masters in Human Services Administration from Metropolitan College of New York. She is currently pursuing her doctorate degree in Literacy.

To learn more about Mrs. Keena Flournoy White, please visit her website at Knowledge Defines the Future, and follow her Facebook page also titled, Knowledge Defines the Future. 

As we continue to learn and grow together, what are some strategies that you use to motivate your students to write? Let’s keep this conversation going. Please share in the comments.

Until then, Happy Teaching!

Krystal L. Smith, The RenewED Teacher