Building Student Independence Tip

Real-Life….

One thing that drives me crazy is when a student comes up to me after they turn an assignment in and they say “I’m done – what do I do now?” We want kids to know what do and be independent enough to do it without needing to check in with the teacher.

Teacher Goal – Building Students Independence

One of our goals no matter which grade you teach is to help students become more independent throughout the school year. Obviously this will look differently in each grade level, but our goal is for students to be more independent leaving the grade than they were when they started.  

One tip I have for this is To Do Lists.  Part of students being more independent is being able to complete multiple tasks/multi-step directions.  The way I do this is through checklists/to do lists.  On the board or using the projector, I will put a to do list up of what the kids are supposed to do. Here are a few examples:

Example #1

1. Turn in telling time page.
2. Reflex math on Chrome Books. 

Example #2

1. Turn in cause and effect page.
2. Read at your seat

Example #3

1. Finish your small moments story.
2. Re-read it to check for capitals and end marks.
3. Sketch your pictures for your story.
4. Get a new booklet to start a new story.

These lists help keep kids on track and gain independence. I go over this to do list prior to sending kids to their seats so they know what the tasks are. By having it up and visible students can refer back to it as needed. For younger students who are learning to read you could still put the words, but also add picture clues to help them with the tasks.

Have you used to do lists with your class before? Let me know below…