Home Grown Encouragement- Boosting Student Confidence Through Parent Involvement

Notes From Parents to Their Children

The Confidence Gap

We've all been there- it's test day (with ample advanced notice!) and several students seem to go into panic mode, or just before their group presentation, a student seems to lose all faith in their material. 

It's disheartening to see how quickly our students lose their confidence, so I became determined to find a quick way to bolster their emotions in these times of trouble! As I saw my desk littered with pictures of my husband and doggo, it dawned on me that we all need a little bit of “home” throughout our day, so I whipped up these "home grown encouragement" notes for parents to write to their kids! The social-emotional component is so important, especially these days! Kids need these reminders about confidence and motivation, particularly from the people who care most about them! 

Home Grown Encouragement Notes

Keep Them Connected to Home

I teach 7th graders, and even though they're teens(-ish), they still enjoy some positive-parent-love! With these personalized notes, parents write words of encouragement to their child in the way they see fit, then I privately slip the notes to students when they appear to need an emotional boost. It was awesome to watch as they peaked at their messages, smiled, and then slipped them into their binder pocket and got back to work. Sometimes, a bit of home is all we need!

So now that I know these notes of encouragement work in middle school, at the beginning of the year, I offer parents several copies to fill out during “Back To School Night”. The parents really appreciate this effort and love getting to write positive notes to their kids! I explain the goal and before they leave, I collect and keep the notes secretly stashed for the right moments! Parents often complete more than 5 notes apiece… and so many ask for more copies to take home and stash around their house! What a win! Then as the year carried on, when I saw a student was having a bad day or just needing a quick pick-me-up, I would slide one of their personal notes onto their desk and let them find it! For the kiddos whose parents do not fill out any notes, I always make extras for me to complete instead! 

Do your students ever need a moment to calm their nerves before a test, presentation, or try-out? Or even an extra push to keep going when taking a difficult test or learning a new unit?  These parent-notes are a quick way to make students smile and bolster their confidence when they need some extra emotional support! 

Check out the resource in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

Making Middle School Work: The Essentials

Memories of Middle School

Can we talk about middle school for a minute? I know, painfully awkward visions are flooding your memory, but it wasn't all bad, was it? Of course not!

 

Nowadays, when someone learns that I'm a 7th grade teacher, their immediate response is a deep sigh followed by apologies and sympathies. But I have the same response each time: I love teaching middle school because this age group is the perfect blend of maturity and innocence. They old enough to (sometimes) understand sarcasm while still being young enough to be truly excitable. Don't get me wrong, their emotions are out of whack (see my above comment regarding middle school crushes) and there are times when they can be downright mean, but those negative encounters are far outweighed by the hysterical nature of this age group. Thus, teaching middle school really is a Love Story, a Tragedy, and a Comedy in one.

Making Middle School Work: The Essentials

So let's talk logistics, the essentials for any middle school class. You'll need a steady set of routines,  a healthy dose of collaboration, and a consistent infusion of "student choice". Although there are a myriad of resources that have made my life in middle school ELA a successful one, here are my TOP 5 Tools for Teaching in Middle School:

#1: Class Syllabus

Heading back to school- let's set the right tone from day one! You'll need a simple and fair list of classroom rules, an engaging activity to review your expectations, and a visually appealing resource to provide to students and parents! With this infographic syllabus, students can be clearly informed of what is expected of them and what is not acceptable! Structure and boundaries are crucial in any middle school classroom.

#2: Technology Rules

Although technology is an incredible resource to have in the classroom, it is only beneficial with the proper guidelines in place for students! With this resource, you can present 5 fair rules to students in the first week of school, send them home to parents, and post a copy in your room as a reference!

#3: Signout Procedures

Promote positive student choices with ticket-passes that serve as student currency! Each month, students receive a set of tickets that they turn in when choosing to leave class for the bathroom, drinks, locker, etc. If they use all of their tickets, they do not receive a new set until the next month. For students who have remaining tickets from staying in class, hold a raffle drawing at the end of the month! Check out my post on Breaking The Bathroom Train for more details on how to implement this system in your class!

#4: Classroom Jobs

Build a classroom community and bolster student buy-in with classroom jobs! Using career-oriented job titles, students can connect with you and practice accountability, all while helping the class run like a well-oiled machine! In this resource, I offer over 10 jobs, each with varying levels of responsibility. Based on the number of students in each class, you can even assign more than one student to a task- like the supplies supervisor- I assign at least 2 students to get the materials organized once a week! These are so helpful and can be easily applied in any subject area!

#5: Group Role Cards

Collaboration is key! Provide these printable task cards to support student collaboration by outlining leveled responsibilities within each group! Students can select their desired collaborative role then self and peer evaluate based on the group's work that day.

What to Do on the First Day of School!

It's the end of July, about a month away from the start of my 7th year of teaching, and honestly, I do not feel refreshed at all. I know, this happens every summer, my big travel plans submit to more practical endeavors, but this year I really dove into making my "back to school" materials bigger and better- I know I'll thank myself later. 

I have vivid memories of way back in July 2011, just before I started my first year of teaching, where I literally scoured the internet looking for the answer to "What do I do on the first days of school?" I bought books and guides and resource packs, all to no avail. I survived, like most first-year teachers do, by reviewing my syllabus and having an independent summer reflection activity. None of this served any purpose. The following days were still hectic, overwhelming, and frankly, not as productive as they should have been. But I lived to see another day, and in fact, another six years of teaching thereafter. 

There are conflicting messages about how to conquer day one. Traditionalists promote that structure is of paramount importance on the first day of school, ensuring the need for a thorough review of rules, rubrics, and grade percentages. I've tried this, for several years in fact. While I can say that my students were certainly aware that I meant business, I can also say that they probably didn't go home that night and rave about me or my class during dinner with their parents.  

Here's what I wish I knew about starting the year in a middle school classroom. Kids this age are still (generally) nervous on the first day and are still (generally!) interested in pleasing their teacher. What's more, they are definitely not interested in my rambling about how much they need to do to earn an A in my class. Ineffective, plain and simple. 

Somewhere along the line, I remember feeling bored with my introduction to my students; a change was certainly needed. Uncomfortable as it was, I scrapped the first-day-rules-review routine and went rogue. *gasps* In a previous post, I wrote about this "buy-in" concept where students are more inclined to believe in what you're "selling" them if you frame your lessons like Ms. Frizzle. Yes, from "The Magic School Bus". This especially applies on the first day of school. My new-and-improved first day of school routine involves their name! And oh, what a difference this has made! 

The activity, aptly called "What's in a Name?", not only helps me learn their names faster but also lets me learn about each student in one shot, while also serving as a cute decoration for Back to School Night with parents. Using their name as the backdrop, students develop a collage of words and/or images that describe them. Each letter of the name is assigned a specific topic, such as their personality, goals, hobbies, strengths, etc. 

A great conversation tool, this activity allows me to have authentic, positive, and purposeful dialogue with each student on the first day. Rather than spending that time talking at students about what they cannot do in my class, it has been much more enjoyable talking with them about what they are good at. 

Having applied both the old and new schools of thought, it's fair to say that a blending of the two is both important and necessary to have an effective day one. I haven't completely scrapped the rules and routines- they do hold value, but my approach is totally different than it was several years ago. More on that to follow :)