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race with advantages/disadvantages

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Post by JungleVT.

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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

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TED Members help billions of people worldwide access inspiring ideas. Plus, they get exclusive benefits like invite-only events with speakers. Join today for a brighter future - and a better you.

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How can you help kids get a good start? In this heartfelt and personal talk, Colin Powell, the former U.S. Secretary of State, asks parents, friends and relatives to support children, starting before they even get to primary school, through community and a strong sense of responsibility.

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Anindya Kundu: The boost students need to overcome obstacles

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How can disadvantaged students succeed in school? For sociologist Anindya Kundu, grit and stick-to-itiveness aren't enough; students also need to develop their agency, or their capacity to overcome obstacles and navigate the system. He shares hopeful stories of students who have defied expectations in the face of personal, social and institutional challenges.

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Ways to Use different learning strategies

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Ways to Use different learning strategies

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LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES

Richard M. Felder
Hoechst Celanese Professor of Chemical Engineering
North Carolina State University

Barbara A. Soloman
Coordinator of Advising, First Year College
North Carolina State University

ACTIVE AND REFLECTIVE LEARNERS

Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it--discussing or applying it or explaining it to others. Reflective learners prefer to think about it quietly first.

"Let's try it out and see how it works" is an active learner's phrase; "Let's think it through first" is the reflective learner's response.

Active learners tend to like group work more than reflective learners, who prefer working alone.

Sitting through lectures without getting to do anything physical but take notes is hard for both learning types, but particularly hard for active learners.

Everybody is active sometimes and reflective sometimes. Your preference for one category or the other may be strong, moderate, or mild. A balance of the two is desirable. If you always act before reflecting you can jump into things prematurely and get into trouble, while if you spend too much time reflecting you may never get anything done.

How can active learners help themselves?

If you are an active learner in a class that allows little or no class time for discussion or problem-solving activities, you should try to compensate for these lacks when you study. Study in a group in which the members take turns explaining different topics to each other. Work with others to guess what you will be asked on the next test and figure out how you will answer. You will always retain information better if you find ways to do something with it.

How can reflective learners help themselves?

If you are a reflective learner in a class that allows little or no class time for thinking about new information, you should try to compensate for this lack when you study. Don't simply read or memorize the material; stop periodically to review what you have read and to think of possible questions or applications. You might find it helpful to write short summaries of readings or class notes in your own words. Doing so may take extra time but will enable you to retain the material more effectively.

SENSING AND INTUITIVE LEARNERS

Sensing learners tend to like learning facts, intuitive learners often prefer discovering possibilities and relationships.

Sensors often like solving problems by well-established methods and dislike complications and surprises; intuitors like innovation and dislike repetition. Sensors are more likely than intuitors to resent being tested on material that has not been explicitly covered in class.

Sensors tend to be patient with details and good at memorizing facts and doing hands-on (laboratory) work; intuitors may be better at grasping new concepts and are often more comfortable than sensors with abstractions and mathematical formulations.

Sensors tend to be more practical and careful than intuitors; intuitors tend to work faster and to be more innovative than sensors.

Sensors don't like courses that have no apparent connection to the real world; intuitors don't like "plug-and-chug" courses that involve a lot of memorization and routine calculations.

Everybody is sensing sometimes and intuitive sometimes. Your preference for one or the other may be strong, moderate, or mild. To be effective as a learner and problem solver, you need to be able to function both ways. If you overemphasize intuition, you may miss important details or make careless mistakes in calculations or hands-on work; if you overemphasize sensing, you may rely too much on memorization and familiar methods and not concentrate enough on understanding and innovative thinking.

How can sensing learners help themselves?

Sensors remember and understand information best if they can see how it connects to the real world. If you are in a class where most of the material is abstract and theoretical, you may have difficulty. Ask your instructor for specific examples of concepts and procedures, and find out how the concepts apply in practice. If the teacher does not provide enough specifics, try to find some in your course text or other references or by brainstorming with friends or classmates.

How can intuitive learners help themselves?

Many college lecture classes are aimed at intuitors. However, if you are an intuitor and you happen to be in a class that deals primarily with memorization and rote substitution in formulas, you may have trouble with boredom. Ask your instructor for interpretations or theories that link the facts, or try to find the connections yourself. You may also be prone to careless mistakes on test because you are impatient with details and don't like repetition (as in checking your completed solutions). Take time to read the entire question before you start answering and be sure to check your results

VISUAL AND VERBAL LEARNERS

Visual learners remember best what they see--pictures, diagrams, flow charts, time lines, films, and demonstrations. Verbal learners get more out of words--written and spoken explanations. Everyone learns more when information is presented both visually and verbally.

In most college classes very little visual information is presented: students mainly listen to lectures and read material written on chalkboards and in textbooks and handouts. Unfortunately, most people are visual learners, which means that most students do not get nearly as much as they would if more visual presentation were used in class. Good learners are capable of processing information presented either visually or verbally.

How can visual learners help themselves?

If you are a visual learner, try to find diagrams, sketches, schematics, photographs, flow charts, or any other visual representation of course material that is predominantly verbal. Ask your instructor, consult reference books, and see if any videotapes or CD-ROM displays of the course material are available. Prepare a concept map by listing key points, enclosing them in boxes or circles, and drawing lines with arrows between concepts to show connections. Color-code your notes with a highlighter so that everything relating to one topic is the same color.

How can verbal learners help themselves?

Write summaries or outlines of course material in your own words. Working in groups can be particularly effective: you gain understanding of material by hearing classmates' explanations and you learn even more when you do the explaining.

SEQUENTIAL AND GLOBAL LEARNERS

Sequential learners tend to gain understanding in linear steps, with each step following logically from the previous one. Global learners tend to learn in large jumps, absorbing material almost randomly without seeing connections, and then suddenly "getting it."

Sequential learners tend to follow logical stepwise paths in finding solutions; global learners may be able to solve complex problems quickly or put things together in novel ways once they have grasped the big picture, but they may have difficulty explaining how they did it.

Many people who read this description may conclude incorrectly that they are global, since everyone has experienced bewilderment followed by a sudden flash of understanding. What makes you global or not is what happens before the light bulb goes on. Sequential learners may not fully understand the material but they can nevertheless do something with it (like solve the homework problems or pass the test) since the pieces they have absorbed are logically connected. Strongly global learners who lack good sequential thinking abilities, on the other hand, may have serious difficulties until they have the big picture. Even after they have it, they may be fuzzy about the details of the subject, while sequential learners may know a lot about specific aspects of a subject but may have trouble relating them to different aspects of the same subject or to different subjects.

How can sequential learners help themselves?

Most college courses are taught in a sequential manner. However, if you are a sequential learner and you have an instructor who jumps around from topic to topic or skips steps, you may have difficulty following and remembering. Ask the instructor to fill in the skipped steps, or fill them in yourself by consulting references. When you are studying, take the time to outline the lecture material for yourself in logical order. In the long run doing so will save you time. You might also try to strengthen your global thinking skills by relating each new topic you study to things you already know. The more you can do so, the deeper your understanding of the topic is likely to be.

How can global learners help themselves?

If you are a global learner, it can be helpful for you to realize that you need the big picture of a subject before you can master details. If your instructor plunges directly into new topics without bothering to explain how they relate to what you already know, it can cause problems for you. Fortunately, there are steps you can take that may help you get the big picture more rapidly. Before you begin to study the first section of a chapter in a text, skim through the entire chapter to get an overview. Doing so may be time-consuming initially but it may save you from going over and over individual parts later. Instead of spending a short time on every subject every night, you might find it more productive to immerse yourself in individual subjects for large blocks. Try to relate the subject to things you already know, either by asking the instructor to help you see connections or by consulting references. Above all, don't lose faith in yourself; you will eventually understand the new material, and once you do your understanding of how it connects to other topics and disciplines may enable you to apply it in ways that most sequential thinkers would never dream of.

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Felder & Soloman: Learning Styles and Strategies

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LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES Richard M. Felder Hoechst Celanese Professor of Chemical Engineering North Carolina State University Barbara A. Soloman Coordinator of Advising, First Year College North Carolina State University ACTIVE AND REFLECTIVE LEARNERS Active learners tend to retain and understand information best by doing something active with it--discussing or applying it or explaining it to others.

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Ways to Teach to different learning styles 

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Ways to Teach to different learning styles 

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Auditory

If you are an auditory learner, you learn by hearing and listening. You understand and remember things you have heard. You store information by the way it sounds, and you have an easier time understanding spoken instructions than written ones. You often learn by reading out loud because you have to hear it or speak it in order to know it.

As an auditory learner, you probably hum or talk to yourself or others if you become bored. People may think you are not paying attention, even though you may be hearing and understanding everything being said.

Here are some things that auditory learners like you can do to learn better.

Sit where you can hear.

Have your hearing checked on a regular basis.

Use flashcards to learn new words; read them out loud.

Read stories, assignments, or directions out loud.

Record yourself spelling words and then listen to the recording.

Have test questions read to you out loud.

Study new material by reading it out loud.

Remember that you need to hear things, not just see things, in order to learn well.

Visual

If you are a visual learner, you learn by reading or seeing pictures. You understand and remember things by sight. You can picture what you are learning in your head, and you learn best by using methods that are primarily visual. You like to see what you are learning.

As a visual learner, you are usually neat and clean. You often close your eyes to visualize or remember something, and you will find something to watch if you become bored. You may have difficulty with spoken directions and may be easily distracted by sounds. You are attracted to color and to spoken language (like stories) that is rich in imagery.

Here are some things that visual learners like you can do to learn better:

Sit near the front of the classroom. (It won't mean you're the teacher's pet!)

Have your eyesight checked on a regular basis.

Use flashcards to learn new words.

Try to visualize things that you hear or things that are read to you.

Write down key words, ideas, or instructions.

Draw pictures to help explain new concepts and then explain the pictures.

Color code things.

Avoid distractions during study times.

Remember that you need to see things, not just hear things, to learn well.

Tactile

If you are a tactile learner, you learn by touching and doing. You understand and remember things through physical movement. You are a "hands-on" learner who prefers to touch, move, build, or draw what you learn, and you tend to learn better when some type of physical activity is involved. You need to be active and take frequent breaks, you often speak with your hands and with gestures, and you may have difficulty sitting still.

As a tactile learner, you like to take things apart and put things together, and you tend to find reasons to tinker or move around when you become bored. You may be very well coordinated and have good athletic ability. You can easily remember things that were done but may have difficulty remembering what you saw or heard in the process. You often communicate by touching, and you appreciate physically expressed forms of encouragement, such as a pat on the back.

Here are some things that tactile learners like you can do to learn better:

Participate in activities that involve touching, building, moving, or drawing.

Do lots of hands-on activities like completing art projects, taking walks, or acting out stories.

It's OK to chew gum, walk around, or rock in a chair while reading or studying.

Use flashcards and arrange them in groups to show relationships between ideas.

Trace words with your finger to learn spelling (finger spelling).

Take frequent breaks during reading or studying periods (frequent, but not long).

It's OK to tap a pencil, shake your foot, or hold on to something while learning.

Use a computer to reinforce learning through the sense of touch.

Remember that you learn best by doing, not just by reading, seeing, or hearing.

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What's Your Learning Style? 20 Questions

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Auditory If you are an auditory learner, you learn by hearing and listening. You understand and remember things you have heard. You store information by the way it sounds, and you have an easier time understanding spoken instructions than written ones.

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Teaching To Kids' Learning Styles
There are currently seven "Learning Styles":
Your student will most likely not possess one style exclusively but you may be able to see patterns in their learning preferences. For example, a student who is visual may also be a very social and verbal learner and prefers to learn especially difficult topics using their primary skills.

Understanding how your student learns is perhaps one of the most important tasks a parent can undergo while homeschooling. Another is learning how to provide opportunities for learning through the use of these identified learning preferences.

Teachers often use their preferred learning style as their main mode of teaching and if students do not share those same preferences then learning can be very difficult and frustrating.

As a Special Education teacher it was important for me to understand those differences in order to maximize my students' learning potential. It is just as important for all parents and teachers to do the same. Watch your children and students. Listen to what they want and their interests. Compare the differences between how they learn Aurally and Visually as well as the other styles outlined above. Compare how they interact with others while learning in a group or by themselves. Each observation will bring you closer to understanding their special gifts and will reveal to you more effective ways to teach them using their preferred learning styles.

No student is exclusively one style or another and most utilize a variety of modalities when learning. It is important to expand their abilities to use as many learning styles as possible, helping them to succeed in a world where how one learns often means nothing and only the ability to learn has value.

Time4Learning has developed a comprehensive, multi-modality learning curriculum that allows all students to reach successful levels of understanding by using their preferred learning styles. Time4Learning's lessons are scientifically designed to reach the vast array of learning needs.

Different Learning Styles - Different Ways to Learn

Beyond learning and teaching styles there are other ways to assist students toward educational success.
Each of us processes and distinguishes information differently based on our personality patterns, how we interact socially and a general like or dislike for the subject matter or interest. We all like to learn about subjects we are interested in and often struggle in areas that hold no interest.

How a child thinks and the way they sense and perceive their surroundings often affects the way they learn. The connections to memory are also associated with our senses and perceptions creating a complex and often individualized process of learning and memory.

Personality patterns focus on attention, emotion, and values. Understanding these differences allows you to predict the way your child might react and feel about different situations.

Social interactions look at likely attitudes, habits, and strategies learners might take toward their work and how they engage with others when they learn. Learners can be independent, dependent, collaborative, competitive, participant or avoidant.

Interest plays a critical role in learning. When a student is interested in the topics or subjects they naturally learn and retain information at a higher rate. Helping your child develop a variety of interests will naturally increase their level of learning overall.

You may want to start with understanding your individual patterns of learning and how those mentioned above affect how you learn. From your perspective you can then try to understand the patterns of your child. The differences between you and your child or student are not necessarily wrong or right and you will most likely find their patterns are different, sometimes very different than your own. It's important, however, to capitalize on what works for your child and to help them to utilize those patterns and learning styles toward a greater capacity to learn and remember.
Knowing how your child learns is one way to help them succeed. You should try to:

Teach the most difficult lessons using your child's preferred learning style.

Reinforce lessons using multiple learning styles.

Help your child improve learning skills in the learning styles he or she is less comfortable with.

In some cases, this requires helping your children understand their own abilities. This may include teaching some compensation and coping techniques.

Your Learning Styles & Needs - Time4Learning Might be the Solution

Children like using the computer to learn.
Time4Learning's online interactive curriculum engages and challenges children while letting them work at their own pace.

Time4Learning tracks students' progress and helps children advance through individualized learning paths. This insures complete coverage of the needed skills and concepts to assure success. Parents can use Time4Learning for all their children from preschool through high school. Parents like Time4Learning because it provides a comprehensive educational solution that includes language arts and math, complete lesson plans and activities with assessments and online materials and printable worksheets, making learning fun and homeschooling an effective and successful educational alternative.

Time4Learning has been proven effective, is very affordable, and provides a money-back guarantee so you can make sure that it works for your child.

Sign up for Time4Learning and gain access to an educational system that will engage and challenge your child to succeed. Make Time4Learning an important part of your child's education today!

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There are currently seven "Learning Styles": Your student will most likely not possess one style exclusively but you may be able to see patterns in their learning preferences. For example, a student who is visual may also be a very social and verbal learner and prefers to learn especially difficult topics using their primary skills.

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4 step plan

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A 4-Part System for Getting to Know Your Students | Cult of Pedagogy

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Relationship building is key to good teaching. This system will help you quickly get to know students and benefit from those connections all year long.

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Article on ways to get to know students 

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Article on ways to get to know students 

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different styles explained

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The First 6 Weeks: Strategies For Getting To Know Your Students

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The better we know our students, and the more they know and trust that we know them, the more invested they become in their learning.

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More "whole class" activities to get to know students

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Here are several great ways to build connections with and among your new students! These icebreakers and community-building activities double as assessment opportunities, skill-building lessons, or projects that result in a unique, inspiring classroom decoration.

Getting Acquainted: Create a Class Slideshow

On the first day of school, I begin by reading Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10. We discuss the fact that teachers are "real people" and have normal lives. Next, I share a PowerPoint slideshow with my students. I include pictures of my family, my home (and all of the rooms in it), pets, what I did over the summer, things I do for fun, etc. After I share, the students are to write an introduction of themselves. When they finish writing their draft and editing, they type what they have written. I make a slideshow of their introductions and include their picture on the slide. On parent orientation night, I have their PowerPoint showing on my television. The images of each student and their writing rotate automatically as I am giving my orientation "speech." It's a relief to look at 22 sets of parents and not have their eyes fixed on me. Instead, they are reading what my students have written. I also leave the slideshow opened on all of my computers for the first couple of weeks of school so that students can read what their peers have written. - Angie Kelly, Grade 3 teacher, Main Street Elementary, Shelbyville, IL

Everyone Is Unique: Spin a Classroom Web

At the beginning of the year, I focus on the idea of everyone being unique. On the first day of school, we get in a circle on the reading carpet. I begin by saying that I am going to say something about myself that is unique or something that is special and no one else in the room shares that quality with me (I tell them that it is ok if some people have the same ideas, but that we want to try to find ideas that make us different). I tell them that unique is another word for different. I ask them, what do you think about when you hear the word different? Often, they name things with a negative connotation. I tell them that I like the word unique, because it means the same thing, but that negative connotation hasn't ruined the word.

I grab a ball of yarn and I tell them one thing I think is unique about me. I will say, "I competed in a tennis tournament this summer and won the whole tournament!" I will then hold my end of the ball and throw the ball to someone else in the circle. That person will say something unique, hold a part of the string and throw the ball to another person. By the time the ball of yarn has made its way around the circle, everyone will be holding a part and it will look like a web. When we finish, I will ask the kids, "What did we make?" They will of course say that we made a web. I will then ask them to tell me about the web. Through discussion, I will eventually have them discover that, even though we are all unique and special, we are all connected to each other like a web, because we are a class.

The kids end up loving the activity once they see the connection and ask me several times throughout the year if we can do it again to see how they have changed. Throughout the year, I will reference that activity when I feel like they aren't valuing each other's unique qualities. I will tell them that being unique connects us as a family just like the web did and that each of them bring something special to our classroom web to make it connect. It ends up being a powerful first-day getting-to-know-you activity! -Melissa Walker, grade 5, Wilson Elementary, Graham, NC

Bookmark Greeting: Get to Know Your Readers

I teach 3rd grade and before the students come the first day of school, I send a letter to their home with a special bookmark enclosed. I introduce myself and put some of the things I like to do outside of school. One thing, of course is reading! I invite my students (and I do the same) to bring in a book the first week of school; I ask them to mark their favorite part. It can be any book - one they are reading now or one that has always been a favorite. They mark the part they enjoy with their bookmark and we take turns telling about the book and why we like it.

The students LOVE this. We even make a list on chart paper of books we recommend to refer back to throughout the year. I get to know my new students as readers, they get excited about reading first thing, and they find out that their new classmates enjoy the same kinds of books they do! -Susan Heath, Grade 3, Shepard Elementary, Columbia, MO

Human Analogy Game: Build a Community With Older Students

I have several activities I use to help my students get to know me and my expectations and many that allow the students to work well together and appreciate one another's unique personalities and skills, and I use these activities, games, and lessons throughout the year (not just at the beginning).

In the picture, students are playing a learning game: the human analogy game. I use this to teach analogies to prepare them for college testing such as the SAT), I will say the hand is to arm as the foot is to ________. Then they have to match their bodies to the correct part. (This was a very mature class; it wouldn't work with all classes or grades, but they loved it and always wanted to play it.) -Sherry Roland, grades 11-12, Valley View Senior High, Jonesboro, AR

"What's In a Name?": Get to Know Students and Parents

This get-to-know-you activity is called "What's In a Name?" It is a fun and easy way for kids to learn each other's names and a little bit about each other. Just give each student a "What's In a Name?" form at the beginning of the year. The form is simple - just a few questions for them to answer OR ask their parents/guardians to help them answer. Without fail, parents enjoy this beginning-of-the-year task. They often write lengthy responses about how special their child's name is to them. I've found it is a great way to get to know the parents as well!

Here are the questions for "What's In a Name?":

What's your full name?

Were you named after someone?

What does your name mean?

What names did your parents consider before deciding on the one you have?

Why did they choose your name?

What is your name's country of origin? (ex. "Ivan" has Russian origins)

What is your nickname? How did you get that nickname?

If you could change your name, what would you name yourself?

Now.... on the bottom of this paper, please write your name in a creative way. Can you use color? Fancy writing? Swirls? Block letters? A pattern? Design something as special as YOU are!

If possible, please attach a small picture of yourself to this form. (photo will be returned.)

The kids bring back their forms, and everyone gets to share about their name in a Community Circle. I usually have kids tell us their name and then they can choose up to two other pieces of information from their form to share with the class. If a child is shy or nervous, I always allow them to simply share their name without the pressure of sharing the additional information. For some kids, it is stressful enough just to speak their name in front of a new class.

It's fun to post their "What's In a Name?" papers on a bulletin board in the classroom or hall. That way, lots of people in the school can get to know them, too! I'm sure you'll find - there's a lot in a name! Enjoy this AWESOME activity! - Tressa Decker, grades 1-6, Concord West Elementary, Elkhart, IN

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Top 5 Ways to Get to Know Your Students | Scholastic

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Here are several great ways to build connections with and among your new students! These icebreakers and community-building activities double as assessment opportunities, skill-building lessons, or projects that result in a unique, inspiring classroom decoration. On the first day of school, I begin by reading Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10.

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If you know your students well, then your classroom will run much smoother, and helping students understand will be easier. When we take the time to get to know our students, it really pays off in the end. It's very much like classroom management: If you take the time in the beginning - really take the time - it's all worth it and actually saves you time in the long run.

Yes, we cannot get to know everything about our students in one day or even in a week, but we can learn a large bulk of it with these 10 ideas below to help you get started. As the school year progresses, you'll continue to learn more about your sweetums. (And, of course, they are in no particular order.)

Get To Know Your Students with These 10 Ideas

1.) One-to-one conferring. I like to sit down with my students one-to-one at least once a week and just talk. We set goals for the week and discuss anything the student feels they need to work on. It's our chance to discuss things they felt they did well and things they really want to work on. Then, throughout the week I can help him or her with those goals and check in. It's a great way for me to show my students that I'm definitely here to encourage and cheer them on! (Plus, they are getting that individual attention they need!) I just list out my students and divide them up by the day. Then, I try to make sure throughout that day that I get to them at some point.

2.) POW/WOW Meetings. Once a week we have a pow and a wow meeting. Students sit in a circle and take turns (just move around the circle) telling their pow (something that makes them sad) and their wow (something that was wow - awesome). Everyone just listens. Sometimes I allow the students to ask for advice, but if we are short on time, then we just listen and go on to the next student. Students are allowed to say pass if they don't want to share. In the beginning you get a lot of "passes" and even "I have a wow but no pow." That's fine. (This is NOT related to the American Indian dance. I learned it from a veteran teacher in my first year of teaching. I'm not sure why it is called that, but it's not meant to offend anyone and would gladly call it another name.)

3.) Observation. You can learn a lot about students through simple observation. On the first day of school, I take note of who they talk to most so I know who they are friends with, I take note if they read often, I take note of how they spend their time, etc. Observation is an amazing way to learn about people - all people.

4.) An Inventory or a Survey. At the beginning of the year, I always provide my students with an inventory on the first day to find out more about their likes and dislikes, thoughts and viewpoints. It's a great way to get to know your students - straight from the horse's mouth! I have attached my inventory for you below - FREE to download to get you started. There is also a learning inventory attached based on Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

5.) The Parents. You can learn a lot about your students from the parents. Just like number four above, I always ask the parents for their input. I provide them also with a survey to fill out. I provide that on the night of the open house. It's included in the download above. You don't have to do these forms at the beginning of the school year - you can do them at any time.

6.) Writing Activities. I like to include a lot of writing activities that involve personal responses or personal narratives. These can be in the form of written papers, personal reflections, quick writes, or even just written responses. I have had students write to me in their journal, and I have responded. Sometimes that is the best way to get a student who is feeling very shy to feel most comfortable with sharing.

7.) Have Lunch Together. One way that you could easily to get know your students is by having lunch together. This could be in the form of once in a while heading to the cafeteria and eating at the lunch table with your entire class or just inviting a few students to eat in the classroom with you. Either way, you can get to know your students, and they will get a huge kick out of it!

8.) Actively Listen. I like to ask a lot of questions - but then you have to make sure you are listening carefully, not only to the message they are saying but also to the message they are not saying. Sometimes kids are speaking with hidden messages. You have to read the body language and really listen. I also listen to conversations between them and their friends. Sometimes that is how you can find out things that are bothering them, but they don't tell you. It's not eavesdropping - it's caring.

9.) Community Building Activities. These are often done at the beginning of the year and then no more. They can be done throughout the year. Little games, ice breakers, and community building activities are great ways to see your students interact in ways they are more comfortable with and in problem solving mode.

10.) Outside of School. I do dare say it. I know you are already committed to so much, and if your district is like mine, then you already have to commit to a certain number of activities outside of school hours, such as math night or whatever, but really, you'll be amazed how simple and impactful that is on a child. It's also a way to see a child in their own environment. I used to always say, "My child is a totally different person at home than at school." Just consider it... There's no law that says you have to...

I hope at least some of these ideas (and freebies!) help you get to know your students better and make your school year a bit smoother!

Happy Teaching!

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10 Ideas to Get to Know Your Students - The Owl Teacher

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If you know your students well, then your classroom will run much smoother, and helping students understand will be easier. When we take the time to get to know our students, it really pays off in the end.