Chapter 15
(15.1) Turn to p. 559 in Ormrod’s text. Now, imagine that you are meeting with Ingrid’s grandmother today to explain her scores on the recent standardized achievement test pictured at the bottom of p. 559. What will you tell her about Ingrid’s performance? her strengths? her weaknesses? Even though this is not a criterion referenced test, if Ingrid’s grandmother asks you what she could be doing at home to help strengthen Ingrid’s skills, what will you suggest?
Ingrid's grandmother graciously agreed to take time out of her day to meet with me, Ingrid's teacher.
- I would first thank her for caring about her granddaughter's education and taking the time to meet with me. As we have learned in this course and other education classes, it is very important to establish a positive relationship with our students' families so they will not feel intimidated by the education system and continue to stay involved.
- After making sure that Ingrid's grandmother felt comfortable, I would discuss Ingrid's progress in my class (unrelated to test scores). This would prove to Ingrid's grandmother that I genuinely care about her granddaughter and I have gotten to know her on an individual level.
- Then I would explain the recent standardized achievement test that I had administered to Ingrid. I could possibly have a copy of the test to allow her grandmother to get an idea about what types of questions were on the test.
- After I felt confident that Ingrid's grandmother was familiar with WHAT the test was designed to measure and HOW the test measured that material then I would show her the test results. I would explain the layout of the test results so that all the numbers and labels didn't confuse her.
- I would first highlight Ingrids' strengths: "Above Average" and "Well Above Average" in "Reading Comprehension", "Science", and "Social Studies". I would explain to Ingrid's grandmother what these strengths mean and what it proves that Ingrid is capable of. For example, since Ingrid scored "Well Above Average" in "Reading Comprehension" that means that she can understand the content of a piece of literature more so than a certain percentage of students her age.
- After addressing Ingrids' strengths, I would explain to her grandmother the content domains of the test where Ingrid showed weakness.
- If Ingrid's grandmother wanted to work with Ingrid at home on "Spelling" and "Math Computation" (her weakest content areas), I would suggest online resources or offer to send home extra worksheets for Ingrid to focus on. There are TONS of ways for students to receive help outside of the classroom to help themselves improve.
- I would thank Ingrid's grandmother for meeting with me and tell her to contact me with any further questions or concerns via email or on the phone.
I like how you made sure to establish a positive relationship with Ingrid's grandmother. I agree that this is a very important part of interacting with families, especially when discussing things like test scores.
ReplyDeleteIt is very crucial to establish relationships with parents or guardians in the classroom. That is a great way to start and end a conference. Practice worksheets are such a great tool and they seem to be even more beneficial at home. Sometimes in class children who are not as proficient in a certain subject area may get distracted easily when they are doing work that is tough for them. In a quiet environment (hopefully) at home the child might be better able to succeed.
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