expectations

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Home : 2004 : September : 11

expectations
By 4th grade teacher

Hi,
This is my third year teaching 4th grade and I can totally understand the frustration that comes when kids don't "get it" and you feel like your expectations are too high.

Here are a few things I do that I have
found helped:
If students don't finish an assignment before we go to recess, then they take a clipboard outside with them and finish it. If they don't finish an assignment after recess, then they have to take it home, as you said you do. As a general rule, if a student can't get his homework done in an hour at home, I tell his parent to have the child stop the assignment and let me

know.

Is it only a few students that don't finish their assignments in class? Is there a certain subject that kids consistently don't finish? How many paper assignments do they have to typically do?

I try to do a variety of activities when I first introduce a concept, some hands-on stuff, some games, others with worksheets. A lot of times I partner students up and have them complete practice assignments in class. Some concepts just lend themselves to worksheets and lots of repetition! There are also some days where you just need to be the worksheet queen :-)

I always have at least one student who does not finish much in class; it used to worry me, but now I just modify the student's assignment and accept the fact that he/she will rarely finish as much as the rest of the class.

Some teachers make a poster of lots of options for things kids can do when they're done with an assignment, then put a star next to the options of the week. Perhaps kids could choose to read, do a word search of their spelling words, or put together a puzzle.

For my students that finish early, I try to mix it up. A lot of times the students have an artsy social studies or reading project to work on, so they can do that when they finish an assignment early. Like you, I also have them do the reading thing, sometimes in the "library" in the back of the room. A few months into the year, I check out inexpensive walkmans and audiobooks to the kids. They like an alternative to reading the book silently to themselves. I also have a "coloring contest" once a month, where students color an intricate drawing (I try to have it coincide with an upcoming holiday) and I have a third party (usually another teacher) choose the best three. Students can color their pictures when they finish an assignment. I also do the spelling practice, and we also have math vocab flash cards that the kids can do. Occasionally, when I'm feeling extra-generous, I tell the kids they can just draw.

Hope this helps!