Community Day School's often
build their student tracking on a level system. You will see an example of a
level system in this website. In order for students to figure themselves out
and learn to become successful students they must be told directly what they
are doing wrong. We feel it is also important to tell students the things
that they are doing right.
Parents sometimes
feel that this is a negative approach to helping their students. We
challenge parents and students to see that in the past, most mainstream
teachers have difficulty (and don't have time) to identify exactly the
behavior that is unacceptable in school. The mainstream teacher may tell
parents that the student is not completing their work, or is off task. When
a student's behavior has led to their placement in a Community Day School
the student and parent need a much more direct approach.
A few examples:
Your child is not prepared for class to begin. Your child is not looking at
the teacher while lessons are taught on the whiteboard. Your child is
twirlling a pencil up and down in their left hand while tipping their chair
during work time.
In order to praise
a student it is important not to praise him/her for doing exactly what every
other student is expected to do. Instead, we try to praise them for facing
difficult situations and making growth on their specific areas of weakness.
An example: Your
child was honest in the face of consequences. Your child was more
cooperative during P.E. today. Your child worked independently today during
math.
Please see the attached copy of a Daily Progress Report that is a working
model. This document is free for you to download and change as needed. It is
available as Microsoft Word.
