See full version: A 4-Part System for Getting to Know Your Students
Building solid relationships with your students is arguably the most important thing you can do to be an effective teacher. It helps you build trust so students take academic risks, allows you to better differentiate for individual needs, and prevents the kinds of power struggles often found in poorly managed classrooms.
The biggest advantage of having all the information in one place is that it makes it easy to occasionally refresh your memory. If I’m planning a lesson that has something to do with cooking, I can quickly glance down the “skills” column to see which of my students likes to cook. Imagine Jaylen’s surprise when I casually mention something about omelets and say, “like Jaylen makes.” Or how Toby would feel if I asked him how his cat Mooshoo was doing. The beauty of this kind of system is that it can, and should, be updated throughout the year. As I learn new things about my students, I can keep adding to the chart. Finally, it allows me to see which students I still don’t know very well: Notice how many cells in Tim’s row are empty. That’s a signal that I need to spend more time with him. [links]
On my forms, I have also asked about whether my students have any health or allergy issues, what kind of technology they have at home, and whether their time is split between more than one household. For older students, I would also ask about outside responsibilities like jobs or extracurricular activities, so I know what else is competing for students’ time. If you don’t already have a form you like to use, I have created a nice set of editable Student Inventories for six separate age groups that will get the job done. here
Students of all ages like to learn about their classmates during this activity because even when they know the other students in the class, they usually learn something new. It is also very non-threatening because the student gets to choose their own items to share and talk about. here
Have students interview each other with a video recording and then create a short introduction video that is shared with the class. more
Write a letter to your class telling them about yourself and a little about your class. Be sure to ask some questions throughout the letter about them. After you have shared the letter with the class, give them some paper so they can write a letter back to you. This activity allows you to learn a lot of information about your students as well as things like how well they write, organize their thoughts, follow instructions, etc. [links]
Print a handout that has a list of topics and ask students to write their favorite things. (movie, animal, sport, song, color, food, pet, TV show, book, etc.) For a nice touch take their photo, print it out, and add to the handout. These can be posted around the room as well as shared verbally. [links]
This activity can be adapted in many different ways. The general idea is to pair students and have them interview each other and then share the information with the class. Depending on the age level and how much time you want to spend there are several adaptations
Class rank is a way to compare a student's grades to those of her classmates. Students are given a number ranking based on their GPA. [links]
In order to find your class rank, first check your most recent report card or high school transcript. Your class rank should be there, usually near the bottom of the page. You should be able to see what your class rank is and how many people are in your class. Your school may also provide your percentile, as well as indicate whether your ranking is weighted or unweighted (or it may provide both). more
There are also schools that no longer assign a rank to each student, but only provide broad percentiles. These percentiles may divide the class into quarters and show if a particular student is in the top 25, 50, or 75% of her class. This lets you know roughly how well you are doing compared to your classmates, but you won't know your exact class rank. Some schools also only use percentiles to designate which students are in the top 10% or 15% of their class and don't provide percentiles for students below that cutoff. more
Although class rank has long been used by colleges to help judge students' academic skills, only about half of US high schools currently provide class rank. more
Class rank offers a way for colleges to see how your academic achievements compare to those of your classmates. For example, if you attend a high school that gives very few A's and you have a transcript with mostly B's and C's, this may make your GPA lower than the average applicant's GPA. However, admissions officers will see by your high class rank that you were one of the best students in your grade, and this will strengthen your application.
If you’re going to engage in the big ohhh, be sure to do it (again, pun intended) before the next stage sets in. There’s nothing worse than being paranoid during intercourse. here
Doing the deed is already outstanding all by itself, but just imagine what you’ll feel with a healthy dose of THC in your system. Mind blown! That’s right, we said blown.
For an even more euphoric experience, we suggest incorporating a bit of cannabis lube into the proceedings to heighten her pleasure (remember boys, what’s good for her is good for you). It takes a while to really get going (20-40 minutes), but you can use the time to try other things. more
When you finally arrive at the store (after returning the car you evidently stole), you’re like a kid in a candy store (which, I guess, at this point, you literally would be). [links]
But high expectations don’t just benefit behaviour…
But it’s important to remember: [links]
While high expectations can help people to reach their full potential…