Firecrackinmama's Thoughts on Teaching Kid's To Learn
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Assessment
The Path to Lesson Plans
I remember my first days of each year I taught. I had butterflies in my stomach hoping that what I had planned usually
lasted two days because they consisted of assessments.

The first assessment concerned the students' individual concepts of how, when and where they learned best. I have no
idea where I found
"My Ideal Learning Environment" but it provided some great insight to each student. Once completed
we would go over it. I generally read the statements and asked for a show of hands to the various responses. This
worked well as the students could see that not everyone had the same feelings about their best learning environment
and gave me an "in" on explaining how I was going to use diversified instruction during the year.

Upon completion of this ice breaker we moved on to discussing the rules of the classroom. I did design the
Behavior
process of developing the poster to sell in my Firecrackinmama's Zazzle Store.

After the almighty classroom rules directive I returned to seeking more information about each student. I passed out a
revised version of
Careers to meet the needs of different grades I might have been addressing.

The final issue I covered before moving on to discussing what their classroom was going to be like during the year was
the dreaded homework. After a full day at work I was tired and to do more work in preparation for the next day was
something I didn't want to do but had to as part of my job.

As a student I often found myself listening in class, taking notes, and practicing a skill at the end of the class, only to
find that when I attempted the work at home, I had forgotten how to do it. Due to those memories I didn't overload my
students with homework. I tried to use that time at home as a way to enhance learning how to learn. Now that wasn't
always the case as I did have to know what was retained from the day and where I might have to remediate.

During our initial class discussion about homework, I shared with the students that their parents had a responsibility
towards helping them but not doing their homework. I passed out the
Parent's Guideline to Homework. The kids always
seemed to like taking this document home.

Generally the day ended happily and all the kids came back the next day for academic pre-testing. They didn't like that
too much but...

I always liked the classroom, kids and parents. Now I don't have the energy to work in that strenuous environment so I
try to help as a learning consultant.

Have a Firecrackin Great Day!
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