These tools are all currently lost due to
the Elementary school work-to-rule action, which according to CBC includes:
"teachers will not provide comments on
report cards, update classroom websites or blogs, complete or distribute class
newsletters, participate in in-school meetings or professional learning
activities on the next PA day, fill in for an absent teacher, or take on other
duties during prep time."
While I do not place any blame for the loss
of these non-essential teaching tools on either party they can be useful tools.
I’m exploring these topics because the work-to-rule action has brought them
into the educational spotlight. I wish only to show that these teaching tools
can be extremely valuable to parents, teachers and students.
Report Card Comments
Report card comments are meant to
supplement a student’s grade and explain, to both parent and student, which
areas the student is excelling in and which areas need improvement. These
comments should be personalized for each student and based on their experiences
with the content. Report card comments should also include ‘next steps’ for
students, which can help high achieving student’s excel and prevent lower
achieving students from being overwhelmed by too many ‘next steps’. Though
brief, report card comments can provide a succinct summary of the student’s
achievement to the student and their parents; a vital step in the group effort
of ensuring maximal student achievement.
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| Example Ontario 9-12 Report Card http://quickschools.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/provincialrc.png |
Classroom Websites
Classroom websites, blogs, wikis, twitter
accounts, etc. can be useful tools for communicating with teachers and
students. These tools can be used for a variety of purposes; both
organizational and educational. For both students and parents, these sites can
serve as 21st century agendas, listing homework, trips, PA days and
events. This information is easily accessible for parents and students and
can’t get lost on the way home. Classroom websites and other online tools can
also serve educational purposes. Teachers can post review questions, additional
practice sheets, study guides, experiments to try at home, teaching videos,
real life applications and extending activities. All of these resources can be
shared in the classroom but class time is limited. Having these resources
posted online means that teachers can share a wider variety of information that
students can access in privacy and based on their own needs. It also gives both
parents and students access to resources that fit their needs, instead of
taking class time to introduce an extending activity that is only relevant to a
couple of students. Classroom websites are limited only by the time a teacher
can invest; they’re valuable tools for communication and self-directed
learning.
 | ||||
| Sample Newsletter |
Here are some of the more popular classroom websites:
Class Newsletters
Class newsletters can serve similar
purposes to class websites, they help communicate with parents and students.
Class newsletters are more limited than websites because they can’t be updated
daily. Despite this, newsletters can still inform parents of large assignments,
class trips, school events, fundraisers, PA days and breaks. They are perhaps a
more traditional way of communicating with a student’s household and therefore
may be seen by more parents.
Professional Development
Professional development may seem
unnecessary because teachers are well educated before stepping into the
classroom for their first day. Although it is true that teachers should be well
prepared for their first day the classroom is a fluid and dynamic place.
Professional development can include updates to teaching practices that have
been discovered by academia since the teacher graduated. It can also include
workshops on how to adapt to new curricula or teaching goals. Further,
professional development days can be used to learn new teaching or
extracurricular programs that teachers may be interested in applying. In the 21st
century, many workshops are devoted to technology in the classroom, both how to
use it for student learning and for communication. Without these experiences
teachers won’t be constantly learning, adapting and expanding their teaching
toolkits unless they do so on their own time.
For teachers looking to continue improving
their practice edutopia has a variety of professional development tools.
References
Tri-County Regional School Board. Report Card Comments. A Handbook for Elementary Teachers. Retrieved from: http://www.tcrsb.ca/sis/staff/Report%20Card/Creating%20Strong%20Report%20Card%20Comments%20-%20A%20
Handbook%20for%20Elementary%20Teachers.pdf
Handbook%20for%20Elementary%20Teachers.pdf
Haines, Rebeccah, Keep parents in the loop with classroom websites. Learn NC. Retrieved from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/6639
Teacher development resources. Edutopia. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/teacher-development
Sam,
ReplyDeleteWhat a relevant topic you chose to discuss – the work to rule strike is certainly affecting the various classroom topics you highlighted.
While a method of feedback like report card comments are often overlooked, they can be extremely important to the development of a student. As you mentioned, without these “next steps” it can be hard for students to know what to do to improve their levels of achievement. The picture of that report card brings back terrible memories of having to show my parents what I ‘accomplished’. However, it wasn’t until we sat down and discussed the comments at parent-teacher interview night (which is also affected by the strike? Not sure) that I knew how to improve my learning. Is there any other way teachers can get this message across under the work to rule strike?
Another big topic you mentioned is professional development. I agree, that we as teachers need to except that even the best possible training doesn’t ensure that we know everything. These classes would surely assist us in improving our teaching abilities, which will ultimately benefit
Once again you did a great job incorporating useful pictures and links into your blog. However, the use of a video (maybe about the work to rule strike?) might have better captured fellow readers attention.
Thank you for sharing this relevant information.
Hi Sam! Thank you for a very relevant and informative post on what the work-to-rule action truly is. Again, I really enjoyed the quote you provided at the very beginning of your post! It grabbed my attention and appropriately supplemented your topic and connected outside media/current news to course content. The way your post was organized with separate underlined headings for each paragraph made it really easy to follow and understand. The topic of report cards is something that I strongly feel can really help students if meaningful individual feedback is provided. However, I remember in high school receiving my report card and in some of the comments sections teachers accidentally used someone else’s name. This to me meant they didn't really care about the comments they gave me, as they weren’t individualized to me and the teacher probably just copied and pasted onto each report card and forget to change the name for me. My friends and I even compared comments and realized they were almost all the same.
ReplyDeleteAnother big topic you mentioned is professional development. I agree that as a future teacher, we need to be well prepared because not all our training will ensure that we know everything. These classes would surely assist us in improving our teaching abilities and help us to grow and expand our knowledge, as we move up in our career and years of experience.
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteVery effective quote at the beginning of your post! The did a great job of highlighting everything that is effected by the work to rule strike and set the tone for the rest of the blog. With technology being as big as it is in today's society class blogs, twitters and websites are very important to keep a classroom running. These are great for students to catch up on work they've missed if they have missed class or keep updated with upcoming assignments and work, without these websites it makes it a lot harder for the teachers and students to stay in communication with one another.
As well, report card comments are a major part of student growth when used appropriately. As a student I used to exclusively look at my grades and did not bother with my comments as I did not see a need. This was part of the fixed mindset that I was stuck in and merely saw a number in front of me to judge my success on. As I became more and more open to a growth mindset I stopped defining my success with the grades and based it more on the comments. These allowed me to see where I was and how i could improve myself to become more successful in the future. Becuase of this I believe that the comment sections should be more emphasized on the report card and all students should learn from them. Do you have any ideas on how future teachers can make their students realize that the comments are just as important as the grades on their report cards Sam?
Throughout your post I found the headings very useful and helped to separate section from section making your post easier to read. I also found the photos that you incorporated into this post, especially the report card photo helped the readers to greater understand what the comments on report cards are and where they can be found. One suggestion for the future is to maybe implement a video in the post to help the readers greater understand what the work to rule action is or possibly a video pertaining to one of the areas effected by it.
Great post Sam!