1. Student-centered learning: A teaching approach that focuses on the individual needs and preferences of students, allowing them to take an active role in their education.
2. Side hustle: An additional job or source of income that someone pursues alongside their primary occupation.
3. Streamlining: Making a process or system more efficient by simplifying or eliminating unnecessary steps or elements.
4. Invoicing: The process of sending and managing invoices, which are bills or payment requests for goods or services provided.
5. Record-keeping: The practice of maintaining accurate and organized records or documentation of information, transactions, or activities.
6. Professional-looking: Appearing polished, well-presented, and suitable for a business or professional context.
7. Curriculum line: A set of educational materials, plans, and resources designed to guide the learning and teaching process.
8. Growing bundle: A collection of educational resources or materials that continues to expand and evolve over time.
9. Beta tester: A person or group that tests a product or service in its early stages to provide feedback and identify issues before it is released to a wider audience.
10. Ownership: The state of having control or responsibility over something, such as a task, project, or decision.
11. Neurodevelopment: The process of the development and growth of the nervous system, including the brain and its functions.
12. Sensory stimulation: The input and activation of the senses, such as sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, which can affect one’s perception and experience.
13. Metacognition: The awareness and understanding of one’s thought processes and the ability to regulate and control one’s own thinking.
14. Compliance: The act of adhering to rules, regulations, or instructions.
15. Empathic: Demonstrating empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
16. Micromanage: To oversee or control every small detail or aspect of a situation, often in a way that is excessive or unnecessary.
17. Standardized: Conforming to a specific set of standards or criteria, often implying uniformity or consistency.
18. Humanizing: Making something more humane, compassionate, or personalized by taking into account the needs and feelings of individuals.
19. Vulnerability: The state of being open to emotional or physical harm, risk, or criticism, often associated with honesty and openness.
20. Accountability: The responsibility or obligation to answer for one’s actions or decisions.
21. Temperature check: A quick assessment or evaluation of a situation to determine its current status or condition.
22. Self-managing: The ability to independently and responsibly control one’s actions, tasks, or behaviors.
23. Aesthetic: Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty, often related to visual or artistic aspects.
24. Feedback: Information or comments provided to individuals to help them understand and improve their performance or behavior.
25. Rotating schedule: A system in which tasks or activities are assigned to individuals on a rotating or alternating basis.
26. Bimonthly: Occurring every two months or twice a month, depending on the context.
27. Motivated: Inspired to take action or achieve a goal.
28. Conferencing: A one-on-one meeting or discussion, usually for the purpose of providing support, feedback, or information.
29. Equitable: Fair and just, ensuring everyone is treated fairly.
30. Empowered: To give someone the authority or power to do something; to make someone feel confident and in control.
31. Socratic Seminars: A form of discussion, named after the philosopher Socrates, where participants engage in thoughtful dialogue to stimulate critical thinking.
32. Constructive Feedback: Feedback that provides specific suggestions for improvement in a positive and encouraging manner.
33. Role Play: Acting out a situation or scenario, often for the purpose of practicing or demonstrating certain skills.
34. Redirection: Guiding behavior or conversation in a different direction, often in a positive and constructive way.
35. Assumption: A belief or conclusion made without direct evidence.
36. Ill Intent: Harmful or malicious purpose.

Welcome to episode 286 ofAngela Watson’s Truth for Teachers.I’m your host, Angela Watson, and I’m here tospeak encouragement into the hearts of educators and getyou informed and energized for the week ahead.Today, I’m talking with Erica Walther about howstudentcentered learning works in the real world.Visit Truthforteachers.com for an easy, easy to read,easy to share version of this podcast episode.If you have a side hustle as a tutor, coach,or any other business that requires clients who need tobook appointments and pay for services, check out Practice Do.Practice do is the simplest platform I’vefound for streamlining everything from scheduling, reminder,messages, invoicing, and record keeping.It’s perfect for teachers who tutor and wantto keep all communication and payments in oneeasy professionallooking tool for themselves and their clients.Truth for teachers.Listeners can try practice free for sevendays and get 50% off their firstthree months using the code teachers.Learn more at practice.Do if you teach middle or high school,I have a special opportunity for you.I’m releasing a brand new curriculum line designedto help students find flow in the classroomand manage their time, energy, and focused attention.I’m offering it as a growing bundle right nowfor high school and as a beta tester versionfor middle school, both at a deeply discounted priceonly for my email subscribers and podcast listeners.You’ll receive these resources before they’re availableto anyone else, and you’ll have theopportunity to offer your suggestions that shapethe development of future units so they’llbetter meet the needs of your students.Learn more about finding flow solutions at the linkin the show notes, or go to findingflowsolutions.com andget the curriculum that’s designed to help students managetheir time, energy, and focused attention.So I’ve got Erica Walther on the podcast today.She has been working in BaltimoreCity public schools since 2012.She has been a multiclassroom lead supporting K Fivestudents and language arts teachers in her building forthe last few years and is now a schoolbased literacy coach in Baltimore City Public Schools.Erica is part of our Truth for Teachers WritersCollective, and she’s written a number of fantastic articlesfor us, including the one about today’s topic ofthe reality of student directed learning.You can check out the link in theshow notes for more tips and practical suggestionsfrom Erica, including how to give kids moreownership of transition times and organizing materials.What would you say to a teacher whois listening to this and thinking, what ifmy students can’t handle more student centered practices?I feel like that’s a really common objection, andthere’s a lot of underlying assumptions there when wefeel like our students can’t handle it.What would you say to that? Oh, yeah.So the first thing I like to do here isI like to actually break down these assumptions, right?And I start with teachers askingthemselves a couple of questions.And these questions are designed to really seeif you, as the teacher, are ready totake on some release of responsibility.And the first question is, are you happy withthe energy in your classroom on any given day?Second question is, are you feeling overwhelmedwith how much you have to manageyour students during their learning experience?And the third question is, are you leaving theschool day more tired than your students are?And for me, if you answer yesto at least two of those questions,you’re probably ready to try something different.And that’s a really good indicator that you’reready to try some of these strategies.But my encouragement to teachers who are nervousabout losing control or things erupting into chaosand you can’t bring them back is, remember,we project a lot onto our students withouteven realizing it, positive or negative, right?And there’s a lot of overlaps here with parenting.Just like with raising children, you have to show them,you have to teach them, and then you have togive them space to try to do difficult things carefully.And that’s the key here, right?We don’t want to keep our students from tryingnew things because honestly, it stunts their development, noteven just with trying new things socially, but alsotheir neurodevelopment with trying new things and developing newconnections in their brain between tasks.And in order to do that, we have to be really patient.The teacher who’s sitting here thinking, my studentscan’t handle this, that’s not going to work.We can’t expect our students to get it all right,the first day, the first week, first month even sometimes.But if you decide intentionally you’re going to adopt a morestudent centered classroom practice this year, if you stick with itand really put in the work to think through, how canI give my students more ownership in this part of theday or that part of the day?By the end of the first quarter, you’regoing to start to see a difference.But also, you have to also remember thisis going to look different across grade levels.You’re not going to necessarily walk into a kindergartenclassroom and see the same level of student ownershipand accountability happening as you would in a fifthor 6th or a high school classroom.Now, for the teacher who’s sitting therewith a group of students who arepresenting some serious challenges either in behavioror emotional self regulation, I’ve been there. Right?And sometimes your student centered accountabilityhas to look a little different.In these cases, student leadership sometimes canbe that magic sauce that perks themup and gives them that motivation.But in some cases, depending on what yourstudents have going on, you might need tostart with behavior and emotional regulation goals.Focus on that first, rather than student run routines orturn and talks or academic based conferences that can allcome later, maybe by quarter two or by quarter three,that there’s no need to rush because your goal astheir teacher, they have you, right.They got you this year.So you really should internalize the idea.You have a chance to really show themwhat being in a classroom, that feels supportive,that feels attentive to my needs, that feelscentered around me and my experience, my learning.We’re showing them what that feels like so that whenthey go up to the next grade, the next school,the next teacher, they take that motivation with them.I read years ago when I was in teacherschool, there was an article, and I’ll have tolook and find it, but it said, the impactof one caring teacher lasts for years.So don’t think that, oh, well, when theyleave me, they’re just going to go backto what they were doing before.That’s not necessarily true.We really do plant seeds, and sometimes we see thoseseeds grow and flourish right in front of us, andsometimes we watch them grow and flourish over time.Yeah, that’s true.And just because you don’t see all of the resultsright away doesn’t mean that it wasn’t worth doing.And I think also, even if students needreminders and practice and reinforcement all the wayto the end of the school year, thatdoesn’t mean that they weren’t still taking ownership.And I think that’s a common misconception that theyshould know this by now, or they should understandthis by now, or we’ve been doing this forweeks, they should have gotten it.But every student is different.Every classroom dynamic is different.And I feel like this is something thatis worthwhile to keep pursuing, that all studentscan take some increased ownership over time oftheir learning, and it will grow, as you’resaying, like, these are seeds that we’re planting.It will grow over time.But it’s more of a matter of whatkind of support do they need and howmuch support, and that real gradual release whereyou’re gradually giving them more responsibility.Rather than saying this group of kids can’t handleit or this particular child can’t handle it.I think a better question would be whatkind of support would this student need?Or what would it look like to offer thekind of support to the student that they wouldneed in order for them to handle it?Or what could they handle right now?What do you think about that? Absolutely.I love the idea of, well, what can they handle? Right?Okay.Maybe they can’t handle carrying the water jugto the hallway, filling it up, and bringingit back to the classroom without spilling it.Maybe that’s not a reasonableexpectation for that child. Right.But maybe what they can do is they cango and check the hallway to let you knowif there’s another class out there getting water.Maybe they are able to check the light switchesat the end of the day as the lineis moving to make sure the lights are off.Maybe they are able to run oneerrand per day to build some accountability. “ WWW.ARMINIC.COM “ Ability, build some responsibility, build some trust.If that’s an issue for them, maybe they practicerunning one errand a day where they go andcome back in less than three minutes.So it really does depend on the student.And that’s really the goal here, for teachers,to really get you thinking through creatively.Well, if my students can’t help me withthis, what could they help me with?That would take some of my load off.One less thing for me to think about allthe time in my little running list of tabsthat are constantly open in our brains, right?Yes, exactly.There’s benefits for the student and the teacher.So I feel like that’s one common objectionis that my students can’t handle it.And I feel like the other one is I wantto release more control to my students, but I’m scared.I don’t know how.I may have administrators coming into my room orpeople from the district all the time observing me,and if they walk in and there’s a momentof chaos or something not going well, then therecould be repercussions for me.I’m just sort of stuck in this fear cycle whereI don’t want to let go of control and Idon’t know how to not micromanage my students.Where do I start?Absolutely.So you’re going to start with one thing thatyou want to see change in your room.And before you start, you need todo a little bit of reflecting.So I want you to think through what’s that one thingthat you would like to see change in your classroom.Just one thing.And why do you want to see that change? Right.I don’t want teachers to think that they needto change to a student centered classroom because itlooks good, quote unquote, when people walk in.You need to think through how doesit affect student learning and student experiences.So, for example, if you want your students to keepone another on task for you so that you canpull more groups or Circulate during group work more easily,the benefit to that procedure being implemented is it freesyou up to do more instruction. Right?So if you’re spending a lot of timemonitoring compliance and following directions and task completion,you’re not able to deliver effective instruction tostudents because you’re too busy running around theclassroom making sure everybody has what they need,doing what they’re supposed to do.So if that’s your goal, you need to reflect,make sure you understand the benefit of that routine.Write it down if you have to.I’ve seen some teachers that have to writedown, one of my teachers was struggling withusing table gems as a motivator.Every time she walks by a table andthey’re doing something really awesome, they get alittle gem in their cup, and that’s somethingthat builds up towards a reward later.And she was having trouble keeping the routine one thingI suggested to her was, write down why that routineis important to you and put it on your desk.And every time you get frustrated or youthink, oh, I don’t want to do thattoday, it’s too much, I can’t manage it.I don’t want to.You look at that paper, you remindyourself, why, why the table gems, right?And in this case, the table gems wasto increase motivation and decrease off task behavior.And just reading that reminds me, yes, it’s work today.Yeah.I might not be really feeling it today, butif I keep doing it by, let’s say, December,January, February, this is going to be seamless.This is going to be much, much easierand keep that end goal in mind.But you also have to think through, especiallyif this is brand new for you, whatare you comfortable with your students doing?Are you comfortable with one studentleader, one team captain, table captain?And then think through what language do youneed them to use to redirect one another?If accountability is something that you’re working on,and keeping it simple is always the goal.Here, we’re supposed to be doing X,do you need help doing X?And that’s just a simple correction without itfeeling like an attack on that student.And even for me, I like a calm,quiet classroom with a really low buzz.But I also understand I have to make timeto let my students experiment with different energy levels.And this helps them with their regulation when theyhave to calm down for the next activity.So I use a lot of signals, color codes, and Ieven use those little noise meter apps on your phone justto teach my students the difference between the noise levels andthe time that each noise level is appropriate.And again, for me, I’m very honest about it mostof the time, I like my room calm, quiet, collected.But I also have to think through, isthis for me or is this for students?And at the end of the day, if I neededit quiet because it was for me, but I didn’tneed it quiet for them to complete the activity, that’sa part for me to reflect on.That’s a part for me to let goof the need for silence all day long.And I understand the fear of oh.If an administrator walks in and chaos is all overthe place, that’s where your structures come into play.If your structures are clear, they’re posted, they’reon the board, they’re in your hand.Whoever is walking in your room can see you havea noise meter up, they’re going to say, oh, theymust be practicing different levels of noise, appropriate noise.If they can see that you have your routinesposted for how to do a classroom discussion orhow to do cleanup time, and you’re going througheach item with your students, they’re going to see,oh, we’re working through this process.And yes, I understand not every administrator is goingto kind of do that amount of metacognition andreflection when they walk in your room.But that’s really the intention there is just to make sureyou have your structure so that if you are getting feedbackabout your routines, if you are getting feedback around the noisein your classroom, you have a leg to stand on andsay, yes, when you came in, it was loud.However, we were working on the difference between whenit’s appropriate to be loud and when it’s appropriateto be a little bit more quiet.And I can’t imagine an administrator who isgoing to tell you, you cannot let yourstudents practice those things, because I think weall understand they need to practice those skills.Yes.And making fear based decisions usually doesn’t end well whenwe decide what we’re going to do or not do,based on what someone else may think or what couldgo wrong or what students may not be able tohandle, that’s not really coming from our highest self.Our highest self is doing what you’re saying here, which isgoing back to the why, what is the purpose here?What is it that I’m trying to accomplish?What is my end goal?And when you can really articulate that, not onlycan you justify the way that your classroom isrun if it is questioned, but also you knowthat you’re doing what is best for your students,and you’re able to keep yourself motivated through thosetough times when students are still learning how tobe successful in these kinds of frameworks.Because, you know, okay, this is my goal.This is what I can envision happening inmy classroom, and we’re working toward that together.And that’s really exciting and energizing and kind ofhelps you get through those tough moments where it’slike, this is just not coming together.And I also really like your point about thinking aboutwhat you’re comfortable with as a teacher, because there’s atime to push yourself out of your comfort zone, andthere’s also a time to recognize your own needs, like,you have needs just like your students do.Your needs are no more or no lessimportant than anyone else in the room.And if you had a student in the room whowas very overwhelmed by the amount of sensory stimulation andnoise and everything, you would want to adjust things forthat student, give that student a break.And I think it’s fair to think about thesame things for yourself as a teacher and talkwith your students about what your needs are.I think that’s a great model for kids tosay, hey, it’s important to me that things aredone this way, or I get anxious when Ifeel like these kinds of things are happening.And that gives kids them the vocabularyto share those same kinds of things.Like when I’m working with a group of students, I feeloverwhelmed, and I need to have a break from it.We’re sort of modeling the fact that people dohave different needs, different preferences, and being able tounderstand your own needs, articulate them to other people,and make sure those needs are met is suchan important skill not only for success in school,but success in life.Absolutely.That reminds me of one group of fourth gradersthat I had one year, and we were struggling. Okay?We were all struggling for a little while that year.I think that’s a fair assessment.And during one of ourrestorative circles, I asked them.I said, Friends, I get overwhelmed sometimes when I’m tryingto get you all to come back and calm downand get back to what we’re supposed to be doing.And I asked them for suggestions, and one of thesuggestions from one of my little girls was, well, Ms.Walther, could you give us a signal ortell us a word when you’re overwhelmed?And then we know we needto stop because were overwhelming you.And I was like, okay, let’s try it.So we came up with a word.I think it was banana or orange or some kind of fruit.And so we tried it where Iwould actually voice to my students when. “ WWW.ARMINIC.COM “  Was overwhelmed with whatever was happening.And I felt like we were kind of going alittle bit too over into the realm of chaos.I would just say the words banana, and it worked.They respected it because we talked about it.They respected it because I made sure they knew,friends, I as your teacher, I am overwhelmed.I need us all to reset.Stop everybody talk about what are wesupposed to be doing right now?And then we reset and we go on about our business.And it took some time.It wasn’t perfect at first.I won’t say the first time Iyelled banana, everybody got back on task.But we practiced it a few times, and Iexplained to them why I used the word.I can’t just yell it because you’retoo loud and I don’t like it. Right?I’m going to use it because, hey, friends, Ijust used our code word because I’m feeling overwhelmed.There’s a lot of folks out of their seats.There’s a lot of folks that are moving,and I’m not really sure what you areall doing because there’s too much movement.So then they know, okay,she’s overwhelmed by the movement.So everybody would sit down, we would reset.We would check in, whatis everybody actually working on?And sometimes they would have areason for why they’re moving.I know this has happened to teacherswho are listening to this, right?You go to redirect a student, and it turns outwhen you finally hear what they’re saying, they had aperfectly legitimate reason for why they were up.You just didn’t see it in the momentbecause they were one of six students whowere up when they weren’t supposed to be.Yeah.And what I’m hearing here is when we talkabout a student centered classroom, what we’re really talkingabout is humanizing our students and humanizing ourselves aswell, so that we’re not just fitting into thispre planned idea of the teacher is in chargeand the students are just following the rules.But we’re really making space for everyone to be themselvesand to have their needs met and to feel seen.And I think that when you are vulnerable with yourstudents in that way, when you talk about the thingsthat overwhelm you or the things you don’t like, that’sa very different framing from saying, like, you’re too loud,you’re out of your seat, you’re doing things wrong.You’re helping students understand the impact of theirbehavior on other people, which is something thatis difficult developmentally for kids to understand.They’re very centered on themselves, and it’s hard forthem to see things from other people’s viewpoints.But I’ve found that even the youngest students, therewill always be some in the classroom who areextremely sensitive or empathic to other people’s feelings.They will tap into that and they will take charge.They will say, look at this student’s face.They’re unhappy. Right?Now, we should stop doing that or I can hearin my friend’s voice that they’re about to cry.We should ask them what’s wrong?There are kids who will notice thatand take the lead on that.And I think what you’re talking about here isthe juxtaposition of student centered learning and humanizing theclassroom is just really interesting to me, and that’swhat I hear kind of as one of thedrivers of student centered classroom.It’s not just because this is sometrendy thing that now everything is supposedto be personalized and individualized for kids.There’s actually a deeper benefit there, and thatis not making everything so standardized and allowingstudents and teachers to be more of themselvesin the classroom and to really build thoserelationships in an authentic way.Like the classroom community is built around knowing thelikes and dislikes of other people in the room.What makes them happy, what brings themjoy, what do they care about?These are the kinds of things that really buildthose relationships so that the classroom runs more smoothly.It’s absolutely 1000% not about complianceor quote unquote, well trained student.It really is about creating positive and empowering experiences foryour students and giving them chances to learn in away that’s going to prepare them to be independent, confident,and proficient in whatever it is that they decide todo after they leave your classroom.We are setting our students up for aworld where the values in the workplace, thevalues in academia, those are all shifting.And our students have to be prepared tointeract with one another in these positive waysthat take other people’s needs into account.And it really does start even thoughwe call it student centered learning, itreally does start with the teacher.You have to be ready to be patient, youhave to be ready to problem solve, and youhave to be ready to try to teach adifferent set of skills than what you’re used to.And you also have to recognize it’sgoing to look different from school toschool, from classroom to classroom.And each purpose for student centered learning is goingto be different depending on what the needs are.Some of them are going to be more social andemotional, some of them are going to be more academicallyfocused, and some of them are going to flip aroundthroughout the year to address where you are.Erica, let’s wrap up with a Takeaway Truth.What is something that you wish everyteacher understood about student centered learning?The most important thing is that it’snot about everyone in your classroom doingthe same thing at the same time.The minute you say go, it’s about studentsfeeling confident and empowered in your classroom.It’s about students feeling like their voice matters and feelingthat there is a sense of care in your room.So when you’re thinking through, doI have a student centered classroom?One thing I’m hoping everyone listening takes away fromthis is, what does my classroom feel like whenyou walk in and maybe you ask a colleagueto come and sit for maybe five minutes?Just give you a quick once over.When you come into my classroom, what’sthe immediate vibe that you get?What’s the energy that you feel when you come in?And that can be a quick, low stakes way for youto just do a temperature check for yourself if you thinkyou’re doing things in a student centered way, but you’re notsure if you want to, but you’re not sure if it’snecessary or if it’s a good idea.Sometimes just that quick little, hey, can you just pop inand let me know what you feel when you come inhere and what you see first when you come in here?Just a quick five minutes of their day can justhelp you feel whether or not the student centered learningis either moving the direction you want it to orwhether you need to make some adjustments and make.So for me, when I first walk into aclassroom and I want to look for some studentcentered learning going on, first things first, the teachersshould be hard to find at first.I should have to look around your room fora second to actually see where you are.That’s the first and foremost thing.The other thing is materialsare accessible to students.They’re at eye level.Not everything is up and away onhigh shelves or away in closets.Students are self managing in an age appropriate way.And of course, this looks different whether I’mwalking into a kindergarten classroom and they’re knowpencils and glue, versus the fourth grade classroomwhere maybe they’re managing an entire project orthey’re all on PowerPoint or collaborating on GoogleDocs or something to that effect.So I’m really just lookingfor mainly those three things.Is the teacher the first thing I see inhere when I walk in the room, or arethe students the first thing I see in here?Is everything accessible for students?Is the room set up for students rather thanfor the teacher’s aesthetic or the teacher’s comfort level?And are students self managingin an age appropriate way?In your article, you shared that the simplest wayyou found to begin increasing accountability among students isto start a regular one on one conferencing schedule.And you say these conferences should be no longerthan ten minutes per student on a rotating scheduleon either a monthly or a bimonthly basis.So break this down for us.How do you manage it?How do you keep trackof everything with these conferences?What are you aiming to do in each conference?And so on? Absolutely.So the purpose of the conference right, let’sstart with the purpose is to give studentsmotivating feedback on their learning, right?And this can serve a purpose of anacademic goal that, you know, that they’ve setor that you’ve set together or something, youknow, they’re working on academically or it canbe behavior or even related to their friendships. Right.So you want to kind of payattention to where your students are.Not every student in your room is going tobe motivated in September by jumping three reading levels.By January, that might might not bewhere they are with what motivates them.So the goal here is really toshow your students you’re here again.That word support is going to keep coming up.You’re here to support them with reaching their goal.You’re not here to make them jump three reading levels.You’re here to support. “ WWW.ARMINIC.COM “ Them to improve their reading and feel likea better reader, feel like a stronger writerif their goal is to have better friendrelationships, because that’s a struggle with some ofour students, especially coming out of the pandemic.We’re seeing a lot of issues with friendships, right?And how to have those friendships.What’s a healthy friendship?What does healthy language sound likewhen you’re talking with your friends?When your friends are talking to you?You can absolutely set a conferencinggoal around their friendships as well.So the goal here is something that you can sustain.I say the max is ten minutes, butusually they are much, much quicker than that.And I’m thinking one, maybe two minutes.Because in reality, the goal here, again, making sureyour students know you’re there to support them.That’s the goal.It’s not necessarily a full datadriven instruction analysis that you’re processingthrough with your students.It could be, but that’s not necessary forall grade levels and for all classrooms.So I keep a simple monthlycalendar printed out on my clipboard.And then behind my monthly calendar, Ijust have a blank legal pad.Over the years, I’ve just learned what I’m doingevery week changes so much that having more ofa structured checklist or a list to choose from,that tends not to work so much as I’veswitched roles in my building around.But for me, just having a simple calendar for themonth and then a simple legal pad behind it fortaking notes, that seems to work really well for me.And the purpose of the calendar is Ijust write the students names as I conference.And you can do this one of two ways.You can either do it as you go, or you canrecord who you’re going to conference with week by week.That way you can make sure by the endof the month or by the end of atwo month cycle, depending on your class sizes, you’veat least had a conversation with each student aroundsomething, you know, that they’re working on.In terms of documentation, that calendar, thatis my first level of documentation. Right.I’m just checking off.Did I talk to Sarah? Yes, I did.Did I talk to Billy?Yes, I did.And then on the legal pad, it’s where I note anynew goals or anything that came up during the conversation.But if it was a simple feedback, I let you know that.Hey, I see you’ve been working reallyhard on your fluency, and I noticedyou were practicing during recess yesterday.I’m really proud of you for that.Let’s keep that up.And then you immediately givethem one quick suggestion.When you’re practicing your fluency, make sure youhave a timer set just so you cansee how far you got in 1 minute.And then see if you can get a littlefarther the next day without making any mistakes.Just something really quick one little thing they canwork on, and then the next time you loopback around to them, maybe the suggestion you gave,maybe that’s what you wrote down, and you askthem, hey, did you try it with the timer?How did that work?And that’s going to take you maybe 30, 45seconds to have that conversation with that student.And you can move on that way.If you have a student who maybe is struggling alittle bit more, maybe they need a more structured, maybea more five to seven minute conference where you sitdown with them and talk them through what their notebooklooks like, what their folders look like.You have that time because not everystudent needs the full ten minutes.And what is the rest of theclass doing while you’re pulling your conferences?Absolutely.So that depends on when I’m choosing to do it.For me, it ended up being easier to do it duringsmall group, but not every day, because if I did itevery day, I would never be able to pull my group.So I would pick a day usually either Mondayor Friday, and that would be the day thatI would take one small group rotation.So for us, it’s 15 minutes.Depends on what your district choosesto do with that time.But for us, we have 15minutes rotations for our small group.So I’ll take 115 minutes rotation out of three,and that 15 minutes is dedicated toward conferencing.And so if I am able to pull five students forthree minute conferences, if I’m able to pull three students forfive minute conferences, I just notate however far I got, andI keep rolling as far as the other students.I do a reading cafe routine in my room for small group.So they have a menu that they follow.They have menu based learning, somechoice time that they can choose.And so they’re usually doing those activities eithercenters, silent reading, partner reading, or fluency flashcardswhile I am pulling my conferencing groups.How do you explain the conferences to students?I’m guessing especially with the youngest students,they feel very special getting this oneon one time with you.How do you frame it in terms of what you’recalling it and what the purpose is for them?So I’ll be honest withyounger students, I usually don’t.I usually just make it part of my routine thatI’m going to come around the room periodically, and I’mgoing to talk with you about how you’re doing.That way, it’s not something that they’re like,who, why is Miss Walther over there?Why is Miss Walther coming and sitting down next to me?I just make it something that I do, andthat way they come to expect when I’m circulating,when I come to sit down at your table,I’m here to have a conversation with you.I’m not here to say, oh, you’re notdoing what you’re supposed to, or I’m notnecessarily here to grade your paper.Sometimes I’m just here to talk to you abouthey, did you try that strategy I told youabout getting to bed on time last night? How’d that go?Did you eat breakfast this morning?Did you remember to ask your momfor a juice box for later? Whatever it is?That way they know not only am I keepingtrack of who I talk to, but I’m keepingtrack of what’s going on with them as well.And that makes little ones especially feel, asyou said, very special, but also really empowered. Wow.My teacher really cares.She really wants to make sure I havewhat I need to be successful today.She wants to make sure I got enough sleep.That means she cares about me, and little onespick up on those things, and that’s important. I see.I was envisioning.It like when you pull a small group, you takethem to a specific area in the classroom, so I’mthinking that you’re calling them over to you, but no,you’re going over to wherever they are, whatever they’re workingon, and just quietly talking to them.So it feels much more seamlessly integrated.It doesn’t call attention and feellike this big formal thing. Absolutely.I usually save the formal conversations for eitherolder students or more serious conversations that needto have a little bit more structure.Tell me again, explain a little bit more about howyou know who you’re meeting with when you said ona weekly basis is when you’re making these decisions, isthere a way that you keep track to make surethat you’ve spoken to every student?And are you trying to do that ina way that is equal or equitable? Right.So I make sure that it’s equitable firstand foremost, and that comes around to theway that I implement the routine. Right.So because not every student needs ten minutes,I’m making sure that whatever their conference timelooks like, I’m getting what they need.So if I know that I have one studentwho really needs a more structured sit down onmy calendar, maybe they’re the only name that day.So if I know I need to talk to Edward for, that’sgoing to be at least an eight to ten minute conversation.I’m going to just put Edward down for my Friday group rotationto make sure I have enough time to talk to him.I keep my calendars.They go in one of my binders, and I check themusually every month I look just to make sure, is theresomeone I missed this month that I haven’t talked to?Or if I have a larger groupof students, I’ll check every two months.So if it’s September, October, I’ve been gettingas many conferences, as many one on oneconversations in as I can in November.That’s when I look and say, who haven’t I met with yet.And I’ll look at and that’s why it’sreally important to jot down either their nameor their initials or their student.If you give your students desk numbers,just make sure you are keeping track.That way, when you do go to look every monthor every two months, you can see, oh, my goodness.And I’ve had this happen where I say, oh, mygoodness, I have not met with Dora in two months.I need to make sure I meet with her this week.I’m putting her on for know, fiveminute check in, see how she’s doing.And see, I’ll look at my goal.Oh, I remember in September, I asked her ifshe was going to set a timer to remindher when to go to bed at night.And I’ll ask her about the timer.That’ll take less than five minutes.But I’ll still make sure Dora gets talked toat some point in the first week of November.So it’s a process of making sure you arejust jotting down for yourself somewhere, some way, youcould even put it in your phone.I think Class Dojo probably has a featurefor it now with all the little featuresthat they’ve added that you could check off.But there’s all sorts of ways that you canjust document, keep track for yourself so you knowwho you talk to each week, each month, andyou’re really looking for who haven’t you talked to,what students that, you know, they’re doing really well.They still need that check in time with you.Even if you don’t have any quoteunquote constructive feedback to give them.You can give them something to make them feelspecial, make them feel seen, and make them feellike you see the effort that you’re putting in.Because one thing I do see in some classrooms is ourstudents who tend to not ask for help, as often, theyare a little bit more independent, more self driven.Sometimes they fall to the wayside in termsof us maintaining and building relationships with them.So the conferencing can be a really powerful toolfor equity, for not just our students who reallyneed a lot of support, but our students whodon’t present as needing a lot of academic support. “ WWW.ARMINIC.COM “ But still want to feel supportedby us as their teacher. Yes.And the tie in to the increasing studentownership is that they know that you aregiving them constructive feedback, that you’re noticing what’sworking, what’s not, and you’re providing that support,which I would imagine feels very empowering to.Them and makes them feel like more in controlof what they’re doing, feeling like they are noticed,like they’re seen and therefore able to move moreconfidently through the routines and in their academic progress.Absolutely.In my classroom culture, when we’re having classroomconversations, socratic seminars, group discussions, I make sureI infuse that language into how students aretalking to one another as well.So that when I come up and I askyou a question, it’s not an isolated incident.So, for example, we’re always giving eachother feedback after somebody speaks for theclass or gives a presentation.And it’s very simple, hey, class, what didso and so do well in their presentation?And then the follow up question is, whatis one idea you have for that student?I don’t say, what could they do better?I don’t say, what’s a piece of feedback.I don’t say, what’s one constructive criticism.I just say, what is one idea that you wouldlike to share with this student about their project?And that gives them that language to say, well,one idea I had was maybe you could have.And that way the suggestion doesn’t comeacross as a jab or an attack.It comes across as, oh, that made me think of this.Have you tried that?And now we’re having a collaborative conversation.And again, that’s where themagic really starts to happen.Students really start to see, oh my goodness, everybodyin this room cares about me doing well. Right.They’re even willing to give meideas to make my stuff better. That’s awesome.And they feel incredibly empowered.And then that just keeps them focused on the learning.Right.So if you notice, your students are really strugglingwith they don’t understand why we’re working on decodingevery day, why we’re doing these sight words everyday that starts to ingrain in them.Oh, right.I’m here to improve my skills in blank.And that’s really where you startto see that shift happen. Yeah.And your article talks about this talks about theimportance of ensuring that students have opportunities to interactwith one another in an academic way.With the idea being that as students practice speakingto one another respectfully about their tasks, the betterthey become at keeping one another on task.And then that frees the teacher to circulate aroundthe room and do these mini conferences with studentsand to provide that kind of individual feedback.Can you say more about how you teach andreinforce this kind of respectful academic talk among students?Absolutely.So you have to be very specific.Role play is really crucial here to teach studentsthat how they say something is what really matters.So I’m very careful and veryintentional around giving students specific languageto use for specific situations.For example, if my team captain is practicingmaking sure everyone at her table is ontask, here’s what it might sound like.Team, we’re supposed to be writingour names on our paper.Does everyone have their name written on their paper?I always teach them to lead withquestions instead of accusations or assumptions.And I model this for them with how I talk to them.Which way do you prefer to be spoken to?You don’t have your name written on your paper.Versus does everyone have theirname written on their paper?Sounds very different, right?Comes across very different.It’s a redirection without a correction.So when students are getting ready to start a taskand the team captain or even myself wants to makesure they’re clear, I say, do you understand the directions?I don’t say, you don’tunderstand the directions, do you?Because you’re not doing anything.That’s never going to come out of my mouth.It’s always going to be aquestion, did you understand the directions?Do you understand the directions?Do you need help with the directions?Or do you need help with whatever the task is?And that lets students know, if I notice you’re notdoing something, I’m not going to assume ill intent.I’m going to ask you what’s going on?That way you can tell me I need help oroh, I lost my pencil, or oh, I actually wantedto go get a drink of water first.That gives them that opportunity to communicate to meopenly, respectfully, and in an empowering way that ifthey have a need, they have that needs tobe met before they can focus on the work.We have 2 seconds to talk about itbefore it turns into a behavioral issue.