Date: January 11, 2015
After the first week of student
teaching I felt as though I had a lot to blog about. One thing though truly
stood out to me. On Tuesday, my classroom received three new students. In a
class of 20, we now have 23 students. Each student came in as a surprise to Ms.
Holbrook. In the middle of the day she got three phone calls that she will be
receiving new students. This began to get me thinking.
Ms.
Holbrook spent all day introducing the new students, finding them desks,
reviewing procedures, etc. A whole entire instructional day was wasted due to
the constant distraction of the new students entrance. Although Ms. Holbrook
handled this situation very gracefully and made sure these students felt
welcomed and comfortable I was left wondering what do you do when new students
join the classroom in the middle of the year.
I
was wondering if there are any ideas for going over rules and procedures again
without making it a waste of time for all the other students. I was also
wondering how you introduce a new student with out making them feel awkward and
uncomfortable. How do you make sure a student has a good first day of school?
In addition with rules and procedures, how do you inform the parents of
classroom norms? These students aren’t doing homework or handing in papers that
are suppose to be handed in. It is clear their parents aren’t even looking in
their folders. The folder procedures are major in this classroom. How do you
welcome new parents along with new students into the classroom?
From
a teacher perspective I was also wondering what you do when you don’t have a
file from those students old school and you have no information on a specific
student. Ms. Holbrook has spent all this week trying to assess them since RTI
groups are due on Monday, but this
made it so other students to lose a lot of instructional time. One of these students is extremely low
functioning and is immature. He distracts the class and isn’t able to read
grade level texts. Ms. Holbrook believes he could be special education but
doesn’t have any information from his old school to support that. She is unsure
how to deal with this situation and I was wondering the same thing.
Many situations a rise when you
have a new student. They need to become part of your classroom seamlessly in just one day. You need to get your
students, the parents, and the student all up to date. Keeping everyone
informed and on the same page can be a struggle. Is there a protocol or a ideal
way to handle new students?
I felt the same kind of pressure at one of my practicum placements about a year ago. A new student came in the middle of the year, and my mentor teacher deduced very quickly that she was homeless. The stress of being a new student in addition to the stress of her living situation made her quiet, passive, scared and distracted in the classroom setting. The constant movement from school to school had clearly held her back academically and conceptually. It was really frustrating and sad to see.
ReplyDeleteHowever! I think this is also one of the most beautiful things about being a teacher. We get to be a source of stability and comfort for kids that don't get a lot of that otherwise. I think there are a lot of different ways to overcome the problems you outlined, albeit a lot of effort and time put into each (although that's nothing new to us!). As far as teaching procedures to new students without boring the 'vets' to the classroom.....unless you have a perfect classroom, I don't think it ever hurts to go over the rules and procedures of the classroom - especially if it's after winter break. Maybe designate a 'welcome buddy'. This buddy could walk through the day with the new student, introducing and teaching rules and procedures as the normal class day proceeds. This takes the pressure off of the teacher as well as takes less class time away. This would also help the 'friend' aspect of the new student issue too - having a buddy that's on your side to help you out would help ease the social acclimation as well. In regard to parents, I think just making the lines of communication as open as possible is the best way to do things. Being available, welcoming and understanding would make a parent more likely to feel comfortable getting involved in their child's education. If they are not responding, ask the administration for ways to reach out to them.
In my practicum last semester in first grade we had a new student show up as a surprise one day as well. I thought that my teacher handled it very well, though. The rest of her class was in related arts when the little girl arrived, so she went ahead and brought her to her classroom and set up her desk, showed her around, etc. Then, when the rest of the students came back to class, my teacher introduced the new student briefly. She then gave one of the more responsible students the job of being her "buddy" for the rest of the week--especially during lunch, transitions and recess. That "buddy" showed her how to do the lunch line, and told her where they were going, etc. Also, the next day their morning meeting was centered around re-introductions of all of the students to the new student. This was done extremely well because it certainly welcomed the new little girl to the classroom, but also not too much time was wasted in the process.
ReplyDeleteWe have had one new student added to our class since I've been in this placement. Now, it's different because I'm in 5th grade, but my teacher said something like welcome and then continued with the day as normal. The kid seemed totally non-fluxxed by any of it. And he just followed what the other kids were doing for procedures. Occasionally, my teacher would need to tell him something like "turn in your test here," or "we do such and such now," but in general he just followed the flow of the class. Virtually nothing was changed or delayed for him (my teacher did send home some homework to assess what he knew about fractions). I assume she also sent home some sort of letter of introduction. But the whole process seemed pretty chill.
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