Effective Teaching Solutions - ETS Nevada

Recently I made a trip alone for the first time in months. As always, the drive was punctuated with stops to stretch my legs, get refreshments and to listen to my favorite CD’s in the car. I spent time having lunch with a family member in the city and did some visiting of others before heading out for the last leg of the trip. Now this is a city that I grew up in and I learned to drive there. You would think that I knew my way around, especially the freeway system. There is only one interchange and it certainly is not complicated. However, a major renovation was completed on it a couple of years ago – adding lanes to make life easier for drivers – or so it would seem. As I came to the interchange I was sure I was in the right lane when off the path I veered. I exited when I should have just made a gentle turn. I felt so silly. I could hear my 23 year old daughter telling me as she has the last five times I drove on this exchange, “No, Mom, stay in this lane!” But I didn’t so I had to find my way around several blocks to get back on the freeway to head out of town. Why couldn’t I remember which lane to stay in? I decided it boiled down to the fact that I hadn’t done it enough. Remember the saying “practice makes perfect”? This holds true for more than music lessons and sports. It is true for all the learning we do in our lives regardless if we are children or “mature” adults.

When I talked about RTI in the last article, I explained that it was a systematic approach to resolving student learning issues before they become a problem. In the first level of RTI, after identifying students who are not performing as their peers, the teacher implements strategies to try and close the gap so that students can move forward. But the question begs to be asked, how do students get behind their peers in academic subjects?

Just like my solo driving experience and getting lost, some students just haven’t done the practice enough to be able to negotiate the freeway of learning. Learning takes so many twists and turns but we know that in order to get to the end destination, we have to master the basic information. If, for some reason, the student hasn’t mastered the information then it is hard to take the interchange to move to the next level.

The next question to ask is why does this happen? There are many reasons- absences, changes in schools or others but for the most part there is really so much for students to learn in one year, they often don’t have time to practice enough during school. They must do that at home. While it is hard for parents to implement the strategies at home there are things they can do. However, with students involved in so many activities and families just trying to keep their heads above the water with all the demands placed on their time, it is hard to accomplish this.

That’s why it’s important for parents and teachers to take advantage of teachable moments. What is a teachable moment? It’s taking advantage of those times when you are with your child to reinforce the learning taking place at school. Watch any parent of a toddler in the grocery store and you will learn what this is. I observed one the other day asking her toddler if they should get the cookies in the red box or the green box. What a way to practice colors! Another example, after picking up your child from school you need to go to the bank. This time would be great to have your kids identify words in signs they see on the road or at the bank. If they are very young, just have them pick out letters they know. Stopping by the local fast food restaurant on the way home would be a great time to practice reading money amounts or doing addition or subtraction in their head. By capitalizing on this time, parents become partners with teachers in making sure that students have done enough practice. Teachers are naturals at capitalizing on time when students are in line or on the playground to give additional practice. I have seen many teachers infuse learning into everything that happens in a child’s day at school. Parents can do the same thing. It doesn’t have to be just about books and papers, learning takes place everywhere. At least for some of us! I am bound and determined to conquer that interchange yet!