Every Wednesday morning, without fail, my phone dings with a message from an icloud account:
“Friendship Club today? I’m ready.”
I’m not going to say it’s the most important part of my job at St. Andrew’s, but sponsoring Elizabeth Bensler’s fifth grade Friendship Club every Wednesday at 12:10 in Josh Brister’s room definitely ranks up there. What is middle school about if not friendship? And really how many times do we actually let the children lead a thing? (It is my greatest test of will not to help lesson plan these sessions.) 🙂
Unfortunately, our fearless leader got ill last Wednesday, so we were left afloat, without a clear plan or agenda. What else could I do but use the time to get good material for our blog blast this week? Why not ask the source? What stories might they have about teachers that have successfully made space for checking their understanding?
Well I asked, and they delivered and they MOSTLY stayed on topic. They did have one demand though. They wanted to be referred to with the title of their choice. So, without further ado, I present a collection of stories from Friendship Club about the teachers they most admire for checking their understanding.
Mrs. Howard! Whenever she asked a question, she will wait like a minute and say “are you sure we have no questions?” and then in the last ten seconds someone raises their hand and says “actually I do have questions!”
It was the day after Halloween and we had DEAR time but I didn’t read but I tried to read and I couldn’t and fell asleep. Mrs. Howard woke me up and was like, “Edie are you okay?” and my stomach kinda hurt, and I went to the nurse and threw up.
-Dr. Girl Phillips (otherwise known as Edie)
Ms. Dennis last year taught me violin. If I say some of the notes wrong she will say NICELY “let’s do it again until you get it right.”
Mrs. McArthur at the playground, when I opened up a scrape there was blood everywhere and she helped me.
Ms. Newburger! I was reading Magic Treehouse books, and I spilled a lot of water on the page. Instead of getting mad at me, she was calm and had me put it by the window to dry.
-Miss Dr. Sterling, Esq. (otherwise known as Evelyn)
Senora Buford! One time I was really not okay; I was really dehydrated and she was the one who really noticed me and she pulled me up and asked me if I was okay and sent me to the nurse. Without that I would have had to go to the hospital . . . or at least I had to come home!
-Dr. Kristina, Esq.
Mrs. McArthur! I loved her! She always was so enthusiastic when she taught and everytime we played a game she would make sure everyone was included. I got out so many times and she was like, “Mary Oliver, hop back in and I felt like I was included. I don’t like losing games!
-Miss Nurse Wadlington 2 (Also known as Mary Oliver)
Mrs. Menist would go over all the details. Like when we were making things with paper, she would do a demonstration and that would help you do it yourself!
-Miss Sarah Selby (Also known as Sarah Jane)
Ms. Weatherspoon, because she makes it like a safe environment to ask questions so you will ask them. She doesn’t ask anything in a scary way, so it feels safe. Some students need to be told the answer first, and then we can help explain it.
Mrs. McArthur never raised her voice until she needed to. If a teacher raises their voice at someone else it makes me feel like they are screaming at everyone including me. That makes me scared and not able to focus on learning.
-Lil’ Dr. Rust (Also known as Alianna)
[The thing about Ms. Weatherspoon is] she actually answers the question and doesn’t simply ask the question back to you like some teachers do. Or sometimes they do answer but don’t explain it which doesn’t help you learn.
Mrs. McKey helped me write a good kind of 8. One day we were drawing numbers when I was in PK4 and she saw me do it the wrong way. She taught me how to do it this way and she told my mom and she was really proud of me.
-Esq. Bedi (Otherwise known as Ruhaani)
Mrs. Weatherspoon, because some teachers don’t answer questions or they just do it for me. I didn’t understand how to make the atomic numbers and she helped with JUST the right amount of help.
-Dr. Papadimitrou 2 (Otherwise known as Emma)
This was a long time ago, but Ms. Smith . . . I could never take naps in PK4 she knew that and she would always take me to other rooms and teach me and do extra class and let me play with toys when I couldn’t nap. She helped me learn the alphabet!
Last year in Mrs. Black’s class I wasn’t very good at the worksheets because I wasn’t good at reading comprehension and that kind of stuff. She would always help me whenever I had trouble, and she would never get mad at me. She’d always walk me through it.
-Annie Mae Harkins
Mrs. Edwards, because she always makes sure you understand. Even if you get behind on notes, she gives you the packet with the answer key!
-Miss Dr. Penton (Otherwise known as Cilia)
Did you notice the number of stories that sharply veered from “they checked to see what I learned” into territory of care and tone? On the day of the interview, I thought this was a function of last week’s school wide epidemic; vomit was kind of on everyone’s minds. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided they were right on target after all. Checking for understanding begins with a responsiveness to where the kids are. You have TO CARE1, and you have to be willing to SEE them. Then you’ve got to do something about it, and that something should show sensitivity to the fact that the youth we teach have minds, yes, but also bodies and hearts. Sometimes that means reteaching a lesson, or asking them to reassess, or giving them extra practice problems. And sometimes that means tapping them on the shoulder and saying, “You don’t look like you feel well. Are you okay?”
Thank you, fifth graders, for reminding me that checking for understanding is most effective when it is encased in a cloak of love.
- Noddings, N. (2015). The challenge to care in schools, 2nd Editon. Teachers College Press. ↩︎