Unwritten Etiquette of the Governess World: Chatter 29 August 2012: Assiting the child

Unleash Two...

How much assistance is too much when completing send in tasks?
With the new curriculum (QLD) there is a higher standard expected in quality of work and ICT skills, if we don't model and assist How do we expect them to know and be familiar with the standards required?

I guess it comes down to allowing the kids to stand on their own two feet and use you for support. Not to lean on you and you having to constantly stand them up if you get what I mean. Kids are very good at relying on us, and very bad at being independent. They are very capable, just be very supportive, help but don't do it for them. It is better in the long run

I would ask the teacher and the parent just to make sure i was doing the right thing by them. I'm with QLD curriculum. For me in my school room i think when a kid needs help- give it to them unless its clearly stated that they have to work independantly. I then go through and astrix where i helped and explain at the bottom of the sheet how i helped. I also get my kids to mark a lot of their own work because i believe immediate feedback is the only kind of feedback a kid can learn from. Its all clearly marked though in red and wrong asnwers are left for the teacher to see.

ICT skills are difficult. If they are under year 3 then a lot of typing maybe needed but as they get older they should be more independant in reading and typing.

I have found gauging from the teachers the most effective and it really does depend on the child. I have one child who needs help with reading and writing and I work with his teachers to work out what level of assistance i am giving and together with the teachers and school have actually worked out a clear definition of our assistance scale for this student. The other student I just chatted to the teacher but generally work on no assistance (help reading the question but not re-explaining concept in send in sheets) some assistance (clarifying concept and more discussion), a lot of assistance (having to clarifying and explain lots).

Just to clarify with my above comment- With a send in sheet i let them start independantly and only intervene when they are getting something wrong or when they ask for assistnace and i believe it is not within their capabilities to figure it out by themsevle. Emma is right- kids are good at relying on us and we need to know how to step back.

Sometimes getting the work wrong is better than getting it right, we need to remember that!!!

I'm having that battle with my year one Bianca, she's hellbent on spelling every word right so we spend a lot of time encouraging her to say the word and write what she hears. A LOT of wee tantrums over that one

Persistance Bex Mclaughlin remember you are looking for her to get over that long term. It will require difficulties short term for you. Been in that situation and it is frustrating and tough

I went through that with my year 1 last year Bex and she grew out of it... She is mostly independent now and my current year 1 is keen to do his own thing but I still help if they struggle.

Make a dictionary with her, for future reference

I had a year one student perfectionist which for a while I would one reward her writing of words if they had mistakes in them because I would say that that means they are learning. Only did it long enough to settle the tears and tantrums. Eventually she wasn't so devistated by incorrect words. I also never marked writing with crosses. I put stars for correct words and ticks for correct sounds. The more ticks the more she was learning

send in tasks are what the kids are assessed on so giving the answer straight out is a not a good thing but helping them along the way if needed is okay. Let the teacher know how much help was needed. Whether they needed walked through or breezed through themselves. If they needed walked through add it to revision tasks because it has been covered before but maybe they just haven't grasped it yet and that is okay. If they really have problems I will either work through it with them verbally or with props so that they get there or we go through it after the sheet is done and correct it together before sending to school. If I do that we always leave the original worki there so the teacher can see what was going on. Re spelling I refuse to tell any of the kids in my schoolroom how to spell a word until they have tried it themselves. This is something I have done since I started so the kids are used to it now but when I started there were many complaints.When it comes to Mr yr1 I always praise him for getting the right sounds andpoint out the ones he got right then we write it with the right letters above the word he wrote. One trick I have used which was passed on from another was to (in spelling) tick each letter rather than the whole word so they can see what they got right and that you are happy with their try.

Oh I wish I had thought of ticking the correct letter/sound for my daughter. The teacher she had wanted her just to write and write and go back and do the punctuation later... that was year 2, by year 7 she still had that thought!! I have found it really very hard to teach her good punctuation and read her work while she is writing. I would do it differently if I could do it over.

old teaching styles effect our learning for life and make it hold for supervisors. I had a block on homework even now after being made by my governess to do it in Year 6 in prep for highschool. I was an early finisher and at the time probably felt it was a punishment.