I cringe when my student or a parent tells me there was an issue in a class about which I was not aware.
This year I created a document I call “How we doin’, (insert name)?” for each student, with their schedule, and teacher’s names, with lots of writing space in the doc for each subject. Each week I staple a new, blank document into the student’s folder (one exclusively for this material) to remind myself of things I need to follow up on. It informs my teaching, but it also helps me keep track of contact time. Staples are an itinerant teacher’s best friend….they are cheap and papers do not fly out of folders into which they are stapled!
My students have come to expect me to ask them about each class, and they are getting better about remembering to tell me things. It has also an encouragement to them at times to see how many things are going well!!
I have the luxury of being able to keep this folder in the actual room in which I work with each student, but if I did not, I would definitely make this one folder that traveled into the school with me each day I met with the student.
Not every day is filled in…I am working on that discipline!
By Maureen M. Lewicki
