Maintains a climate of openness, inquiry, fairness and support
1. This particular FEAP subsection is difficult to show with tangible evidence, so I would like to share anecdotes. During a lesson one day, while students were broken apart into partners completing work, I noticed one of my students was crying. I asked her if she wanted to step outside and talk to me. She reluctantly agreed, then walked out. I asked her what was the matter, and she explained that she felt like the other members at her table thought she was “stupid” because she was slower than them. This ended up leading to an apology from the tablemates and a seating arrangement adjustment so that she could be partnered with others who were more on her pace and would not feel lag because of her. The point being that I want all my students to feel safe talking to me about anything and everything, especially instances of bullying.
2. Another important conversation I have had to have with the class is the idea that, just because one student’s assignment may look a little bit different, differentiation is important to making sure work is fair to all of our friends who may learn differently than we do or may need a little less or extra work, etc. At the beginning of the semester, my CT assigned a reading small group to me, but gave me the six highest readers in the class. One day, one of the other students who is not in my reading group asked why he could not be a part of it and why he could not read that book. I had to explain to him that the book level was a little bit too high for him and he would not be able to really enjoy the book because it would be difficult for him to understand. We have been reading a chapter book and this particular student is on a much lower reading level than my group, so he would not have been able to keep up. He understood after explanation that fairness does not always mean that everyone is doing the exact same thing at the exact same time.