Going Straight to the Source – Parent Questionnaires
I like to send home a family questionnaire, either during the first week of school or even better, over the summer. This questionnaire is useful, both for learning about my students through their parents’ eyes, and in beginning to unravel the intricacies of their home lives. To be honest, I learn at least as much about my students’ parents as I do about my students from these questionnaires – and this information provides important insights about how to build strong parent partnerships.From the Horse’s Mouth – Student Letters of Introduction
For their first homework assignment, I always ask my students to write me a letter telling me all about themselves. I share a letter that I’ve written to the class about myself to give them some ideas and to emphasize that sharing goes in both directions. I make sure to let my students know that I really want to learn about them so that I can best help them learn this school year.Decorate your Door with Personal Pizzazz
My dad always told me that first impressions are important, so I take the time to decorate the door to my classroom with some extra flair. I want the door to be welcoming, to let everyone know that this is the entrance to a serious academic realm, and to deliver the clear message that this is my students’ classroom and their thoughts matter.In keeping with my door-decorating ethos, I try to put another bit of my students’ all-about-me writing on our door. Not only is this yet another chance for me to learn more about my students, it gives them a chance to share more about themselves publicly with the school community.
For my college-themed door, I had each of my students write about their five, ten, and twenty year plans. Their parents particularly enjoyed reading the plans when they visited school.
“Three Points of View on Me” – A Multiple Perspective Essay Project
While I am learning all about my students, I want my students to discover a bit more about themselves too. I guide them through the writing of their very first highly-structured essay. They begin by writing a simple paragraph about themselves, focusing on their personality, talents, and feelings. Then they ask a friend and a family member to each write a profile about the student on a template like this one.any of my beginning third graders are unaccustomed to the idea of multiple perspectives, and they are surprised to learn about how their friends and families see them. I ask them to write paragraphs reflecting on what their friend and family member wrote, sharing what they agree with, what surprised them, and what they feel is plain wrong. With a simple introduction and conclusion, my students have a successful essay writing experience, and they have begun to tackle the challenging concept of point-of-view, a recurring theme throughout our school year.
To “illustrate” their published essay, the students create personality trait word clouds using the free web-based program Tagxedo. They plan their word cloud using this outline (PDF) and follow the directions to build and customize their artwork.
Source: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom-solutions/2012/08/getting-know-my-students-%E2%80%93-my-most-important-research-project
