How do you get your students excited and hopeful for the New Year? By giving them something to look forward to. And there's nothing better than being able to picture a better version of yourself in the future!
It seems to be a natural rhythm of life that when we begin a new year, we want to grow, become better, or improve from previous years. And we pass this onto our children. So how do we deconstruct the New Year's Resolution for our students?
As I map out the procedures in my small groups this year, one of the first things I will teach my students is how to check in with me. Pre-COVID, I would always do an informal, "how are you?" or "tell me about your weekend." However, during and after the pandemic, doing a social-emotional check-in became imperative. It was important for me to know my students' mindset when coming to my small group, as well as connect with them positively at the beginning of our lesson. But I only have a short time frame for my intervention lesson, so I needed something quick and efficient, yet meaningful.
Boom -- the daily check-in sheet was born. And not only did it make my day easier, more importantly, the students couldn't wait to check in with me. 💝
Some more thoughts on doing a daily SEL check-in with your students:
Are some of your students plateauing in the area of reading comprehension? They can give you a basic re-tell, but when it comes to developing ideas about the character or determining the author's lesson, they're struggling. How can we best support students in making good inferences?
Just like any phonics structured literacy lesson, we’re not leaving it up to chance: direct, explicit teacher modeling. Show students exactly how you figured out your new idea. And then provide students with many, many opportunities to practice with constructive feedback.
Let’s break down the process of making an inference:
Growth mindset is one of my favorite things that has come out in recent years, along with the science of reading. I have a firm belief that if we use best teaching practices and support our students' development of grit and fortitude, they will become very resilient readers.
As teachers, we traditionally talk about it in the beginning of the school year or in January for New Year's Resolutions. We create goals, we post them, and maybe at the end of the year, we'll evaluate our progression towards achieving them. That's a good start . . . but our students need more.
In order to really develop a growth mindset, it needs to be ingrained in all our directions, instruction, conversations, and activities. And it can be done without heaping more work our over-burdened selves.