One thing teachers know is that learning takes time. Teachers often look at learning differently than parents because we know that learning isn’t a race or a competition. The pace of acquiring knowledge and skills is unique for each student.
It is common and natural for parents to reach out to friends and family for support during the school year. That support can sometimes be demoralizing when you discover that a same aged child is at a place of greater progress than your own child and that feeling of ‘I’m not good enough’ will be picked-up by your child.
Conversely, if your child is more advanced than others, it can give an inflated sense of confidence and allow a student to lose motivation because they feel like they ‘already know it all’. In this instance they put up a wall to future learning because they received too much positive feedback.
Every student has progress to make and that progress takes time. When you keep the progress student-centered and not comparative it stays positive and productive! This self-centered approach helps to build self-esteem and positive self-worth in the process.
Understanding Your Learner
Elementary teachers invest a lot of time getting to know their students and how much understanding they already have in their knowledge of each subject.
I had a new student-teacher once who kept trying to talk to me during a lesson. The eight year old students were working in small groups responding to a math problem solving prompt and I was apparently doing nothing. I explained to her later that I couldn’t respond to her because I was teaching. Though I wasn’t talking at all, I was listening and watching to develop a greater understanding of who knew what, who could explain it to others, and who was still lost on how to get started.
In addition to studying written work, this observational information is critical to knowing how to work with students.
Your child’s school teacher will also provide you with beginning of the year testing data. If you are in the room while your child is testing on the computer watch how they work. Do they struggle and look at you for help? Do they finish tasks easily? Do they shut-down or experience big emotions? Whatever their response to testing think of it as data, don’t think of it as a problem to be solved at that moment.
When you see their scores, don’t be upset if they are not what you hoped for. This is their starting place! Be happy; now you know where they are and you can begin to better help them move forward. If their scores are what you hoped for or better, you too can feel happy, but don’t think you’re off the hook! This is their starting place, and progress is the goal. This is the place where their learning begins.
UTMOEE 