Guidelines for Assuring Student Success
- Establish daily routines and expectations.
- Know your audience. (Elementary, Middle, High-each are uniquely different and require varied approaches)
- Don’t waste instructional time checking and collecting homework unless it is part of your intended instructional goal. Too much time is wasted brow-beating kids for being non-compliant. Checking for student understanding through purposeful and respectful feedback should be the outcome for any student task - especially homework.
- Be enthusiastic in everything you do. Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
- Provide "Intentional Instruction" from beginning to end - assess students for understanding based upon your prescribed goal(s) for the day.
- Adjust and tweak your instruction based upon the student’s readiness and understanding through the use of ongoing formative assessments.
- Remember, when a student asks this question: "When will I ever have to do/use this in life?" - Tell them and be specific!!
- Never hesitate to say you’re sorry.
- Never be punitive when assigning grades.
- Teach what you know and know what you teach. Be well prepared each day to assure success for all your students.