What would you want your own child to experience in school? I ask myself this question regularly, because I am working with other people’s children and know parents are rightfully concerned about their kids’ educational experience.
My kids are lucky (or cursed…) to have two trained teachers for parents. My wife and I are consistently exposed to the cross currents of educational practice. Most of the time when I stumble on a great idea, I find a way to implement it in the school. But there are many ideas that make me think “I should be doing this as a parent, too!”
To me, those are the ideas that don’t just inspire me as a parent, but reinforce just how essential they are for my students. If I think it’s a necessary practice in my household, then it should be something I conscientiously integrate for my students as well.
There are plenty of elements – from instructional practices to school culture to character education to well-rounded involvement – that are great experiences for students to have at home or at school. Here are five classroom practices I’ve been conscientiously incorporating at home. And the more I apply them as a parent, the more important I realize they can be for all students to benefit from.
Growth Mindset
Growth mindset is the belief an individual has about their own ability to learn. When a student has a growth mindset, they understand that effort and intentionality result in their own personal development. By contrast, a fixed mindset means that an individual believes their own intelligence and abilities are static, unable to be improved upon.
When teachers facilitate a growth mindset attitude, they teach students about the power of “yet” (adding a yet to the end of their ability statements, as in, “I don’t understand this concept…yet”). Students have a chance to reflect on and improve from their prior attempts. The curriculum focuses on progression and mastery.
Studies have also noted “different kinds of praise have shown that telling children they are smart encourages a fixed mindset, whereas praising hard work and effort cultivates a growth mindset.” The way we talk to students and the way we facilitate going about education feeds the beliefs students have about themselves and their ability to grow.
I have found this useful at home as well. When my kids show me their school work we try to talk about it from a growth and improvement kind of perspective. When I praise my kids on anything they achieve, I try to emphasize their efforts and tactics rather than their raw abilities.
Goal Setting and Reflection
Setting reasonable and worthwhile goals is an important habit for anyone to develop. In the classroom, students can set their own goals for their learning outcomes. I’ve had students write goals for what grade they want to achieve, what areas in speaking or writing they’d like to improve in, or how they’re interested in applying on their own the concepts learned in class.
Students are also guided on writing down what steps are necessary to achieve their goals. And as we progress through the year, students revisit their goals and reflect on to what extent they are achieving them.
Goal-setting is a simple but powerful habit that gives individuals a sense of meaning and ownership over their work. Students have a greater opportunity to target their learning and increased likelihood of achievement.
If goal setting can be such a successful strategy for students and professionals, we figure it’s worthwhile to bring into our home as well. We’ve encouraged our kids to set their own goals, and then tried to facilitate ways they can achieve them. For example, one child might want to learn to ride their bike while another wants to learn how to cook a specific dish. We help them write down the goal and then work alongside them to achieve it. We’ve even made “Family Goals” we work on together.
As this to say that we’ve recognized as parents the importance of setting, reflecting on, and working towards goals. I seek to bring this habit to my students in the classroom as it helps them achieve much more than just the established curriculum standards.
Genius Hour
Genius hour is a facilitated opportunity for individuals to explore a topic they are uniquely interested in. the idea is that students are afforded choice and time to devote to an item that personally inspires them. Their learning and application are guided by the teacher, but students have far more interest and ownership over something they have personally selected rather than being told by the teacher what to learn.
The point of genius hour is learning. The “what” students learn takes a backseat to the “why and how.” Students are encouraged to build upon their own passions and strengths.
As parents we don’t facilitate an exact genius hour format per se, but we do look for what our kids are naturally interested in and encourage them to explore and apply those topics in ways that are meaningful to them. The point we encourage from home is that learning, growing, creativity, and passion are powerful elements to devote time towards. We don’t want them – or our students – to just learn something because the teacher told them to. We want them to learn because they want to, and to develop the habits and skills of learning to apply throughout their lives long after school ends.
Reading
Reading IS learning. The ability to comprehend complex texts with independence and comfort will have a direct impact on students’ opportunities for lifelong learning and success. While there are plenty of ways to consume information – from videos to social media to podcast recordings to conversation – one’s literacy is critical for their learning, thinking, and contribution to society.
In school we focus on literacy skills, looking to enhance students’ reading abilities in all areas. We might also look to facilitate independent reading time, where students self-select texts that interest them. Literacy is like a muscle and the more we help students exercise it, the stronger their reading gets.
Reading is too important to pass up, and we conscientiously build in reading expectations and incentives at home. Our kids are encouraged to read for a set amount of time each day, but we generally let them choose what it is they want to read. We’ll guide them toward interesting or appropriate texts, but for the most part we just want them to read consistently. As parents we’re grateful for the combination that school and home have when it comes to reading. At school there will be times their instructors lead them to specific texts they would never have chosen on their own and work on reading skills and exercises; at home we facilitate reading for reading’s sake, emphasizing learning and recreation.
Wellness
Wellness means that an entire person – their mind, body, and spirit – are healthy. Schools have traditionally been places that have emphasized academics, with a required physical education and health class here and there. Schools have begun shifting away from looking at academic and physical activities as two separate things. A student’s mind, body, and emotions are interconnected, and the healthier they are in each area, then the healthier they are overall.
It is hard to imagine an education experience that doesn’t emphasize the importance of physical and mental wellbeing in addition to raw academics. At home, too, we look to raise our kids with a similar understanding. While we separately emphasize to our kids the importance of completing their homework, eating their veggies, and enjoying hobbies, we also point out the core practices and reasons behind these habits.
Teachers may have varying opportunity to focus on one or all of these elements of wellness within their classrooms. It is important to consider, just like parent do, how a student’s school experience helps them gain understanding of well-rounded health in each aspect of their life.
If They’re Important Enough for My Kids…
If these practices important enough for my own children, they’re important enough for someone else’s too. If I have learned about how effective these practices are in the classroom and have decided I want my own kids to be exposed to them at home, then why wouldn’t I take the next natural step and make sure to incorporate them in my practices with students?
While many of these ideas inspire me as a parent, I recognize that many educational practices I try to employ at home are just as good being employed at school. As I wrote this, I actually had a hard time limiting this list…what isn’t important for my kids? What isn’t important for my students? There is much, much more to add here.
Partnering with Parents
A school and a home share similar goals, but they are not the same kind of place. The way teachers work with students in a school is inherently different from how parents raise their children in their homes. There are also plenty of elements that come up in a household that have little bearing or implication for school.
I feel fortunate that I can focus my time and energy on learning about educational practices and then bring my favorite ones back home with me. I think, though, that there is much more opportunity for partnership between schools and home. I’m definitely not saying that schools should tell parents what to do at home, but I am saying that it is important for schools to share with parents the focuses, practices, and objectives they are implementing. When schools communicate with parents what their students are learning and how they’re learning it, parents have the opportunity to reinforce those practices at home.
The more parents and teachers communicate, the more opportunity there is to make the most out of each students’ learning experience. As a parent and as a teacher, I have learned there is plenty of crossover between how students learn at school and what approaches can be beneficial for kids to have beyond the classroom as well. And it’s when we entertain an open dialogue about learning and growth that we all can make the best decisions possible for our kids.