Growing seeds of learning in every child one child at a time
For Learning Coaches
For all up-to-date school wide academic information and teachers' links go to UTVA Middle School Website
From "Strategic scheduling":
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FYI - Things to do in Utah
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Excellent class series for Parents and Learning Coaches, whether you are new or experienced.
These classes are available live (see your announcements in OLS for links). The recordings will be available until November 30. Links to recordings are here: |
The presenters are homeschoolers themselves. They have been schooling their kids with K12 for many years and are professional educators as well, from being a teacher to a principal. They talk about control issues, power struggles and many more issues we face every day as we bring up our kids and do school with them at home. Excellent series for any parent and learning coach. There were over 300 hundred people in attendance when I logged in. So please take advantage of it, it will be well worth your time. They give great tips.
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KEYS TO YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING
To get the most out of your student’s K12 education, it is essential that you think about how to adapt the materials and lessons to your student’s own character, skills, and schedule.
Understand Behavior Patterns
Students of all ages develop their own rhythms for sleeping, eating, and learning. Once you see the patterns in your student, use those patterns to improve the learning experience. If your student is an early riser, use that time to work on lessons that require your assistance. This is especially valuable if you have multiple children and the others sleep a little later. Some students like long uninterrupted learning stretches; others benefit from a timer, short breaks, or maybe an occasional exercise break. A break or a light snack can help refocus attention. Be flexible and find what works best.
Identify Learning Styles
As you work with your students, think about how they seem to learn best. Do they respond best to things presented visually? Do they need to hear information to retain it? Or do they learn best by manipulating objects? Use what you learn about your child to modify the presentation of lessons. Don’t be afraid to leave certain activities out, or add new activities, if they help your students master the objectives.
Recognize Student Abilities
Each student has areas of academic strength and challenge. You may know already where you will need to spend more time, and where you should skip ahead to the assessment. You will also find you can ”read” your student’s level of comfort with the day’s material to adjust your pace. Don’t be afraid to spend extra hours (or days) on important things that are hard for your student - mastery is the goal, and the bell doesn’t ring in 50 minutes! On the other hand, there is no need to spend valuable learning time if you feel your student understands or has already mastered the lesson objectives. The LMS, through its advanced features, provides the flexibility for your student to prove mastery by taking assessments prior to taking the actual lessons.
Build on Prior Knowledge and Interests
All students come to K12 with unique prior knowledge and interests that are the scaffold for new learning. Capitalizing on the interests and skills of your students increases learning. When working on a lesson that presents new ideas, think about making connections with ideas your student already knows and loves by asking connected questions or talking about related experiences.
To get the most out of your student’s K12 education, it is essential that you think about how to adapt the materials and lessons to your student’s own character, skills, and schedule.
Understand Behavior Patterns
Students of all ages develop their own rhythms for sleeping, eating, and learning. Once you see the patterns in your student, use those patterns to improve the learning experience. If your student is an early riser, use that time to work on lessons that require your assistance. This is especially valuable if you have multiple children and the others sleep a little later. Some students like long uninterrupted learning stretches; others benefit from a timer, short breaks, or maybe an occasional exercise break. A break or a light snack can help refocus attention. Be flexible and find what works best.
Identify Learning Styles
As you work with your students, think about how they seem to learn best. Do they respond best to things presented visually? Do they need to hear information to retain it? Or do they learn best by manipulating objects? Use what you learn about your child to modify the presentation of lessons. Don’t be afraid to leave certain activities out, or add new activities, if they help your students master the objectives.
Recognize Student Abilities
Each student has areas of academic strength and challenge. You may know already where you will need to spend more time, and where you should skip ahead to the assessment. You will also find you can ”read” your student’s level of comfort with the day’s material to adjust your pace. Don’t be afraid to spend extra hours (or days) on important things that are hard for your student - mastery is the goal, and the bell doesn’t ring in 50 minutes! On the other hand, there is no need to spend valuable learning time if you feel your student understands or has already mastered the lesson objectives. The LMS, through its advanced features, provides the flexibility for your student to prove mastery by taking assessments prior to taking the actual lessons.
Build on Prior Knowledge and Interests
All students come to K12 with unique prior knowledge and interests that are the scaffold for new learning. Capitalizing on the interests and skills of your students increases learning. When working on a lesson that presents new ideas, think about making connections with ideas your student already knows and loves by asking connected questions or talking about related experiences.
www.schooleffectivelyathome.com is an excellent blog created by the presenters of the above series. I would definitely bookmark it.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT YOU
The stress associated with teaching children at home can lead to burnout. Typical signs of burnout include physical or emotional exhaustion, depression, a change in sleeping habits, loss or gain of weight, lingering or frequent colds, the loss of patience, and increased irritability. Here are some steps you can take to avoid burnout:
The stress associated with teaching children at home can lead to burnout. Typical signs of burnout include physical or emotional exhaustion, depression, a change in sleeping habits, loss or gain of weight, lingering or frequent colds, the loss of patience, and increased irritability. Here are some steps you can take to avoid burnout:
- Schedule time for yourself for hobbies, exercise, or simple solitude while your children are having quiet time or working independently.
- Start a co-op with other parents in your area so that you can share teaching.
- Delegate some of your chores. The gifts you are giving your child - a first-class education and a love of learning - are far more important than any cooking and cleaning you may feel you’re neglecting.
Scheduling
- Make study charts for the children that list the schoolwork they need to complete each week. Set the study charts up like a calendar and let the children put stickers over subjects as they’re completed. You'll be able to see how much work they've finished as well as the areas where they still may need help. For younger children, the chart may simply list the subject (for example, "Math”). For older children, the chart may include page numbers and detailed assignments.
- If all students are involved in an activity meant for one student, then they can all count that activity. (for example, reading stories, doing art projects, or trying science experiments).
- Plan your day according to your child’s strengths. Consider teaching core subjects (Math and Language Arts/English, for instance) when your child is at his or her best - or doing your student’s least favorite subjects first, with the favorite subjects saved for later in the day.
- Once you find the schedule that works for you, be consistent. Inconsistent schedules suggest that school is optional or unimportant. Even if school happens on Wednesday through Sunday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., it’s okay just as long as it happens consistently.
- Build the school schedule around your family life. As long as the total number of lessons per week is correct, it doesn't matter when you do them. Some families, for example, find that weekends work best for Art and Music lessons.
TEACHING TIPS
Set Expectations
At the start of each day, set realistic expectations for your student. Students relate well to routines, so many families (not all) find that a regular schedule works best. If you have multiple children, a regular schedule can help you organize their activities to give you time with the children who need it most, when they need it most.
Be Flexible in Your Use of Lessons
Always remember that the K12 curriculum is a mastery-based program. Young minds master different objectives at different rates - sometimes differently from week to week. Each lesson is designed with many activities to ensure that most students will master the objectives. Choose activities that will best help your students reach mastery. You may not need to do every single activity or every single exercise within a given lesson to reach mastery. But they are there if your students need the extra work to master a concept or are so interested that they don’t want to stop.
Many families find that moving on quickly when their student masters an objective frees up time to focus on skills that may come more slowly, or on areas where the student wants to spend more time. Use the assessments as tools (along with your own judgment) to check if your student has reached mastery. If he or she has, you can move on.
Benefit from Independent Work
Assess the ability of each student to work independently on the day’s lessons. Families find it wonderful when they can take advantage of a student’s independence to look ahead or work with other students. As your students mature and become more familiar with the program, you may choose to allow them to work more independently. Middle school courses in particular are designed to be done quite independently, but always use your judgment to decide how much independence each student can handle.
Set Expectations
At the start of each day, set realistic expectations for your student. Students relate well to routines, so many families (not all) find that a regular schedule works best. If you have multiple children, a regular schedule can help you organize their activities to give you time with the children who need it most, when they need it most.
Be Flexible in Your Use of Lessons
Always remember that the K12 curriculum is a mastery-based program. Young minds master different objectives at different rates - sometimes differently from week to week. Each lesson is designed with many activities to ensure that most students will master the objectives. Choose activities that will best help your students reach mastery. You may not need to do every single activity or every single exercise within a given lesson to reach mastery. But they are there if your students need the extra work to master a concept or are so interested that they don’t want to stop.
Many families find that moving on quickly when their student masters an objective frees up time to focus on skills that may come more slowly, or on areas where the student wants to spend more time. Use the assessments as tools (along with your own judgment) to check if your student has reached mastery. If he or she has, you can move on.
Benefit from Independent Work
Assess the ability of each student to work independently on the day’s lessons. Families find it wonderful when they can take advantage of a student’s independence to look ahead or work with other students. As your students mature and become more familiar with the program, you may choose to allow them to work more independently. Middle school courses in particular are designed to be done quite independently, but always use your judgment to decide how much independence each student can handle.
Join Parent2Parent Lifeline
Sometimes you just have a question that you'd like to ask another parent. If you have a question about working with your student, using the curriculum, setting up your school space, time management, using the Online School or OLS, student motivation, or just getting through your day, log in to ask your question of a real parent who is there just for you! You're not alone! If we don't have the answer, we can help you find out where to look!
Sometimes you just have a question that you'd like to ask another parent. If you have a question about working with your student, using the curriculum, setting up your school space, time management, using the Online School or OLS, student motivation, or just getting through your day, log in to ask your question of a real parent who is there just for you! You're not alone! If we don't have the answer, we can help you find out where to look!
Parent Workshops and Series
Here are just a few titles of classes available for parents and learning coaches in September, October and November 2013. Check them out at the link below. See the times and put them on your schedule if you are interested. There are links there to join them virtually at the times indicated through BlackBoard Collaborate.
Here are just a few titles of classes available for parents and learning coaches in September, October and November 2013. Check them out at the link below. See the times and put them on your schedule if you are interested. There are links there to join them virtually at the times indicated through BlackBoard Collaborate.
- Using Our Online Classroom Tool: Learning About Blackboard Collaborate
Join us for this session so that we can help you learn the basics of how these rooms work and how you can help your student get the most out of that experience and have a leg up on how it all works. - Managing Your Time More Effectively and Have Fun Learning
Would you like a different way to look at your student's week that might help you maximize your day? Is jumping from subject to subject over and over a hard thing for your student? - From Classroom to Living Room
What are some of the classroom strategies that teachers use to create a successful learning environment? Come and learn what secrets the teachers know, and how you can apply them to your home learning environment. - School Effectively at Home 2013
So you’re schooling at home! Congratulations!
This experience is very exciting, but we know that change of this magnitude can be challenging and difficult as well. Now, instead of just being supportive adults, you have to begin to think about questions like, “How do I motivate my student to do their best work?” and “How do I get them to take ownership of their learning?” We all would love for there to be some simple method or technique that would help mold our students into responsible, academic achievers. But we know that working with students is more complex. If you’d like to gain practical ideas and skills to improve how you work with your students, we have a great opportunity for you!
For new Learning Coached (LCs)
http://utva.k12start.com/for-parents/
http://utva.k12start.com/for-parents/
Tips and ideas
HOME CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION
Ideas from K12 learning coach and booster club president: #1 - We use a white board to write down classes, class connect days and times and a list of the teachers. This is helpful to have each child's schedule up and easy to change. We can update it with holidays, field trip info, work schedules, etc... every Monday morning as we get ready for the assemblies. #2 - Each child picked a colored crate. They store their books, notebooks, etc... in their own crate. My kids call them their "lockers" LOL! Last year they were stacked one on top of the other in a corner. This year when we deep cleaned the classroom they decided to place they on the desk and placed a piece of art they worked on top. |
Time Management
Time Management Tip
The key to time management is knowing ourselves. We really don’t manage time. All we can manage is our own behavior. Listed are some time management personality "types" to describe patterns of behavior that may sabotage our attempts at time management. Which of the following time management "type" are you? The Fireman - You rush from fire to fire all day. The Over-Committer - Your problem is you can't say 'No'. The Slacker - There is such as thing as being too "laid-back". The Chatty Kathy - Born to socialize. The Perfectionist - Exactitude is your watchword. If you identified yourself as a fireman (firewoman) and every event is a crisis for you – read on my friend! Every task can turn into a fire if we leave it long enough. Sometimes we put things off purposely because we “work better under stress”. This may be true, but who wants added stress? Every night before bed, make a list of “potential fires” for the next day, week and month. Make a game of tasking yourself to complete as many of these tasks as soon as possible BEFORE they become issues. Give yourself points for each completed task and reward yourself with ice cream or new shoes! |