With two weeks left in the school year, we know many students and families are wanting to finish the year strong and are looking for ways to reinforce those last days of learning before summer break!
We turned to Laura Haller, a teacher at RMP Southwest, to get the tricks of the trade for helping your student’s success with remote learning as we wrap up this school year.
1. Set Clear Expectations
As teachers, one of the most important lessons you can learn is that if something’s not going well in the classroom, you’ve been unclear and you need to set better expectations. The quicker you learn that you’re responsible for every small part of your classroom environment, the stronger a teacher you become!
Setting clear expectations has a couple of important components:
- Setting/Structure: How or where do you want students to complete their work? What materials do they need to complete the activity?
- Participation: Do they need to be turning pages on their book, clicking the correct answer, or writing their response to reading? Is it independent or are they working with a sibling or parent to complete?
As parents, you already do this all the time! But here are a few examples of ways you can embody this as your student’s teacher at home:
| Example | Clear Expectations |
| It’s almost lunchtime and your student is losing steam. Their attention is scattered and they’re starting to whine about finishing their math pages. |
Show Empathy & Praise: “I’m sorry you’re feeling tired and hungry. I am too! But you’ve already worked so hard and are halfway through the page! You’ve got this!” Set Expectations: “Focus your attention to finish the last three problems, then we can eat lunch together and take an hour recess outside.” Why is it powerful?
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| After lunch, your student sits down to watch some Netflix. You’ve already warned them that they need to start their independent reading but they’re not listening… and you’ve got to clean up lunch and put a load of laundry in! | Set a timer for 5 minutes.
Set Expectations: “[Scholar Name], you have 5 minutes to finish watching your show. When the timer goes off, turn the TV off, find a book, and start reading by yourself. When I’m done putting the laundry in I’ll join you and we can read together.” Hold them to the Expectations: If they follow your directions → “[Scholar Name], nice job! I’m so proud of how independent you are. Great job listening the first time!” If they continue to watch TV → “[Scholar Name], the direction was to turn off the TV and begin independent reading. You did not follow the direction and now [consequence*].” *Provide a natural consequence for not following instructions right away — a student needs to read 5 more minutes independently before they can read with you, a student needs to complete a chore before they can take a break, etc. Give a consequence that fits for your family and your parenting style. Why is it powerful?
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