Kids work...revisited
I got a bit of a tongue lashing today from my ex-kindergarten teacher mom. Apparently, throwing away her granddaughter's hard work hit a nerve with the teacher in her so she called me to tell me just how to handle this situation.
I'll share it with all of you because in this case, like so many others, mom knows best.
She recalled working with kids throughout the years and her encouraging them to do their best so they could show their moms when they got home..."No, my mom just throws my papers away." they said.
Ouch. That hurts.
She went on to reiterate that at this age, they aren't trying to better themselves or advance their education. They are simply looking for praise from the teacher and their parents and seeing me throw her hard work away only gives her a reason not to work hard. If I don't value the effort she put into it, then why should she bother staying inside the lines the next time?
Can you feel the guilt?
Okay, but she did give me a great suggestion. Here it is...
Get an expandable file for each child. When paperwork comes home, go through it with them, praise them for their efforts and congratulate them on a job well done. Put all of it away in the folder. When summer roles around tell them how proud you are for all they learned the year before and how excited you are for all of the new and more challenging things they will learn next year and go through all of the papers and tell them that you would LOVE to keep the 5 papers of their choosing. She pointed out to me that they know what they put the most effort into or are most proud of. 5 papers a year isn't bad.
Thanks, Mom for the wonderful advice!
She did say that there was a time or two where she would hang her students artwork and the next day they would ask what had happened to it. "I took it home to share it with my family!" when actually, she made sure that she took it into another teacher's classroom. The moral being, throw it where they won't see it. Got it. :o)
I'll share it with all of you because in this case, like so many others, mom knows best.
She recalled working with kids throughout the years and her encouraging them to do their best so they could show their moms when they got home..."No, my mom just throws my papers away." they said.
Ouch. That hurts.
She went on to reiterate that at this age, they aren't trying to better themselves or advance their education. They are simply looking for praise from the teacher and their parents and seeing me throw her hard work away only gives her a reason not to work hard. If I don't value the effort she put into it, then why should she bother staying inside the lines the next time?
Can you feel the guilt?
Okay, but she did give me a great suggestion. Here it is...
Get an expandable file for each child. When paperwork comes home, go through it with them, praise them for their efforts and congratulate them on a job well done. Put all of it away in the folder. When summer roles around tell them how proud you are for all they learned the year before and how excited you are for all of the new and more challenging things they will learn next year and go through all of the papers and tell them that you would LOVE to keep the 5 papers of their choosing. She pointed out to me that they know what they put the most effort into or are most proud of. 5 papers a year isn't bad.
Thanks, Mom for the wonderful advice!
She did say that there was a time or two where she would hang her students artwork and the next day they would ask what had happened to it. "I took it home to share it with my family!" when actually, she made sure that she took it into another teacher's classroom. The moral being, throw it where they won't see it. Got it. :o)
posted by Carly O'Quinn at
4:59 PM
2 Comments:
ooh great idea... i'll have to "file that one away" ha. Couldn't resist. But really, I'm going to remember that!
I wish I had done that each year. No, I have containers and file folders of almost each year of school starting with preschool.
I got better at throwing things out their last year in public school (third and fourth grade). But I do feel guilty now...thanks... ;) for not getting their input. Now that I'm homeschooling I'm keeping more than I probably should because I don't know what to keep. Argh!!
I would add you could ask them each week to pick one favorite, then store that and then have them pick 5 things from that at the end of the year. They have SO much paperwork in kindergarten you might have a lot of full file folders. This would be good for those of us who can't stand piles (my husband, not me). :)
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