Greetings Families,
First, let me say thank you to the families who attended Curriculum Night. I believe it was a beneficial time for me to express to you what my goals are for this year and how I hope to help students learn.
Second, I want to encourage you to attend Math and Phonics Night on September 20th. That will be a night where we really focus on math and Spalding. The goal is to give you some tools for helping your child this year as they adapt to fourth grade.
Lastly, I want to take some time to address a couple of questions that were left on Wednesday night.
First, let me say thank you to the families who attended Curriculum Night. I believe it was a beneficial time for me to express to you what my goals are for this year and how I hope to help students learn.
Second, I want to encourage you to attend Math and Phonics Night on September 20th. That will be a night where we really focus on math and Spalding. The goal is to give you some tools for helping your child this year as they adapt to fourth grade.
Lastly, I want to take some time to address a couple of questions that were left on Wednesday night.
- When will the library be available to students? I've emailed the headmasters and the Dean of Academics to ask about this. From the look of it, it looks ready. I think the issue is managing how students will check books out of the library. As soon as I get the information, I'll pass that information along.
- How do we report grades? It seems like every year we change the software we use to manage our grades. Last year, a little after the end of the quarter, an email was sent out by the software we used that gave parents the grades. I expect that something similar will be the case this year. However, if you have any concerns or just want to know, I am happy to pass that information along any time if you email me. I also like to print out grades for the students from time to time. I will let you know when I do that so you can ask them to see the paper.
- How much time do you recommend students using Khan Academy at home? The best answer to that question is, "Whatever the parent feels is best." 4B's use of Khan Academy is meant to serve as an individualized remediation and extension tool for students to use every Thursday in class. Beyond that, I leave that to parental discretion. I think students who you it at home will be benefited by it, but I don't think students have to use it to be successful. Last year, I didn't use Khan Academy and the majority of my students did well on class assessments and AzMERIT. This is just an additional tool I'm adding to the toolbox to help students excel. So, if you want your child to use Khan Academy regularly because you find it beneficial for them and your family, please do so as much as you like. If you want your child to spend their evenings doing the assigned homework and the rest of the time enjoying family and play time, please don't have them use Khan Academy at home. You know your family situation and child better than I do and you are the best person to make that decision.
- How can I help my child perform better on the history and science quizzes? At this point, the class average for our quizzes in history and science are a C to a D. This is not good, but this is expected. Last year, my students faced similar challenges. Your child is not alone if the grades they are bringing home are not what you would like to see.
Over the summer of 2016, Mr. Gillingham had the staff read a book titled Make It Stick. In that book, the authors discussed how educators and students should discipline their students and themselves to be better learners. There were a number of strategies given and some were better suited for children. The quizzing that we do in history and science, and to some degree math and ELA, serve to improve student learning. The very act of taking a quiz causes the brain to search for the information necessary to answer a question. This is important for a few reasons. First, it helps students store information in their long-term memory and not just their short-term memory.
Let me explain the difference between short-term and long-term memory for a second. Last year, for students to do well on assessments, they needed to really strengthen and grow their short-term memories. They did this when they would review a whole unit's worth of material in the couple days leading up to an assessment. Then, when the test came, they were able to get passing grades. Short-term memory is very important. There are many times when someone may need to learn a skill very quickly.
At the same time, there is a downfall to relying exclusively on short-term memory. The down fall is that many of my students, both this year and last, remember very little about the history and science they learned last year. The reason being, they didn't store that information in their long-term memory or they can't retrieve the information they did store. Quizzing is one way to improve that skill. For one, he helps identify information that isn't stored so effort can be given to storing it. It also helps the brain create pathways to retrieving that information.
Here is an example the book gave. Imagine there is a tree in the middle of the forest. If you try to find that tree every once in a while, you likely won't be able to do it or it will take you a long time. Now, imagine the student sitting at his or her desk thinking and thinking about a question trying to remember but really struggling. Now imagine the same tree in the middle of the forest, but you visit it regularly. Every day you want to the tree. It is easier to find because you know the way to get there and you also start to notice that there is a clear path on the ground where you have walked every day. This is what quizzing does. It forces the child to walk the path to the information so they can easily find it. Now imagine after a while you decide not to visit the tree because maybe you have found a different tree you prefer. Over time, the grass will start to grow where you path once way and your memory will start to fade as to how to get to the tree. This is where quizzing helps.
In science, the students are not finished with chemistry because the chemistry unit is finished. We are still referencing the material in class and they will still have chemistry quizzes in the future. These return trips to chemistry (the tree) will help the child remember how to find the information and will reestablish the path.
So how can you help your child prepare? Have them review their science and history notes for about 5-8 minutes. If your schedule allows for it, quiz them from their notes. These informal parent-quizzes will do wonders for their learning. If they think you are going to ask them about what they are learning and you have all of the information because you can read their notes, they will be more driven to pay attention in class and to review their notes on their own. At some point in the future, we want this to be solely an internal desire. But for now, as we help them become more disciplined, if they think we care enough to ask them questions about their learning, they might work a little harder to know what they are learning.
I apologize if the last answer was a little more than you had hoped for. I simply want you, as the parent who loves your child more than anyone, to know why I'm doing what I'm doing. It isn't that I take pleasure in seeing your child stressed and saddened by poor performances, but it is because I want them to learn how to be excellent learners. Though it is anecdotal evidence because I'm basing it on my own experience from last year, I still think there is some validity to it. Last year, so many of my students struggled on these quizzes early on and excelled at the end of the year. They had learned how to be good learners. My expectation for my students this year is the same. I have great confidence in them.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I hope to see you on September 20th!
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren