Example survey to address wellness, living situation, support system.

OTL565.CT1.kingsland.survey-and-reflection.rev1.pdf

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Survey Using LEAP Frameworks

Parent centered

1. How important is communication between you and your child’s teacher?

1. Very important

2. Somewhat important

3. Rarely important

4. Not Important

2. How much responsibility do you take with teaching your child independence?

1. It is my responsibility

2. Occasionally responsible

3. Rarely responsible

4. It is not my responsibility

3. How involved are you within the school’s parent community?

1. Very involved

2. Generally involved

3. Rarely involved

4. Not involved

4. How often do you help your child with their school work?

1. Always

2. As often as needed

3. Rarely

4. Never

5. How likely are you to volunteer at your child’s school?

1. Very likely

2. Likely

3. Unlikely

4. Will never volunteer

6. How important are extracurricular activities?

1. Very Important

2. Mostly important

3. Rarely important

4. Not important

7. Do you believe you and your child have an “open line of communication” with regards to their social life and/or conflict with peers?

1. Yes, absolutely

2. I think so

3. I’m not sure/possibly not

4. Definitely not

Student centered

1. Is your child able to work in a self-directed manner?

1. Yes

2. Sometimes

3. No

2. Does your child feel that they receive adequate educational support?

1. Yes

2. Sometimes

3. No

3. How does your child handle discipline?

1. Very well

2. Sometimes well

3. Not very well

4. Does not handle discipline

4. Does your child give maximum effort towards their school work?

1. Absolutely

2. Usually

3. Rarely

4. Never

5. How social is your child?

1. Very social

2. Mostly social

3. Rarely social

4. Never social

6. How well does your child receive constructive feedback?

1. Handles constructive feedback well, always

2. Handles constructive feedback generally well

3. Sometimes does not receive constructive criticism well

4. Student cannot handle constructive criticism

School centered

1. Do you believe the school department values diversity in the student body?

1. Yes

2. No

3. I’m not sure

2. Does the school provide activities that hold your child’s interest?

1. Yes, many

2. Yes a few

3. Activities rarely hold interest

4. Activities are uninteresting to my child

3. Do the teachers maintain respectful relationships with the students?

1. Yes

2. Some teachers do

3. No

4. I don’t know

Parent facts

1. What is the relationship between you and your child?

1. Mother/Father

2. Grandparent

3. Aunt/Uncle

4. Sibling

5. Other____________________

2. Parent gender

1. Female

2. Male

3. Prefer not to say

3. Student gender

1. Female

2. Male

3. Prefer not to say

4. Race/Ethnicity

1. White

2. Black or African American

3. Hispanic

4. American Indian or Alaskan Native

5. Asian

6. Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

7. Other: _____________

8. Multiracial

9. Prefer not to say

5 Primary language spoken at home

1. English

2. Spanish

3. Portuguese

4. French

5. Mandarin

6. Other ______________________

6 Level of education

1. High school Graduate

2. Some college

3. Associate’s Degree

4. Bachelor’s Degree

5. Master’s Degree

6. PHD

7 Income

1. Prefer not to say

2. ______________________(fill in)

1. Reflection

Parents and teachers alike have feelings/opinions about what is or is not their responsibility regarding their child’s/student’s development and education. Some parents are able and willing to really take charge of their child’s education. They will take time daily to understand what goes on in their child’s classroom so they can be there to help if there is difficulty with homework or if the student struggles with some aspect of a class. Some parents want nothing to do with this and feel as though it is not their responsibility to educate their child scholastically. That is the job of the teacher. I see this in math, sciences, and the arts most often. In some aspects, these subjects are taught differently in 2022 than they were in the 1980’s or 90’s (common core, pluto). Some parents, respectfully, do not have the time.

Socially, there is a lot that goes into a student’s development long before they get into school. Social development is happening at all times, even for adults (although adults have a more fully formed social identity, change still happens over time, albeit at a slower rate). Parents have a responsibility with this, regardless of their feelings on what is or is not their responsibility. The same goes for teachers. In fact, not taking responsibility is also going to affect the social development of the student in the way that not taking action when action should be taken could lead a child to feel a certain way in a given situation going forward. Obviously the environment in which the student exists has a great impact on the student; possibly the greatest impact.

There are ways for parents to be involved with their child’s education and social development without feeling like they have to be the educator. Simply checking in with a teacher from time to time, even monthly, seems to be a minimally invasive exercise in 2022 when nearly all parents are actively using technology like email. Knowing what is going on at school can be as effective as trying to take on the responsibility of educating. For example, I have given out about 20-30 “N.I.” (Needs Improvement) grades over the grading periods in my 7 years of teaching in my district. Three times, a parent has then been upset/concerned over their child’s grade.

Zero times has a parent ever checked in to ask “How is my child doing in band?” I am confident that if a parent of a student receiving an “N.I.” had checked in during the grading period, there would have been simple solutions to improve the situation. I have very simple grading policies. Students must come to class prepared with music and instrument, maintain an organized music binder, and attend all required performances. It is my understanding that with a little support, every student can do this. I don’t require parents to monitor practice. I don’t require practice, however contact from a parent saying that their living situation does not dictate a time or place for their child to practice is helpful too.

Checking in can help with a student’s social existence too. More often than not, students don’t want to talk about when they are having difficulty socially. Parents and teachers often do not see the same sides of their students. A student who is very quiet and reserved at home can often find a lot of freedom at school and have different behaviors. The opposite can be true as well. The teacher is culpable in this case as well. If a teacher notices behaviors like anti-social tendencies or bullying, it is important to contact home as well. If this doesn’t happen, the behaviors could continue and become something more/worse.

In conclusion, having a better understanding of what is going on is important for both teachers and parents. Using surveys like this can help both sides understand expectations. In this way, a lot of negative outcomes can be avoided.

1. Leap frameworks in my classroom

2. Learner Focused-

Each of my students is encouraged to pursue their own musical preferences and seek out materials to perform on their own. Ample opportunities are provided for creative composition exercises as well. Through these avenues, students are empowered to develop their creative skills, as well as their performance skills. In a band class, it is important to note that with over 100 total students, it would be quite unreasonable to expect that we could perform a piece of music to satisfy the tastes of every student simultaneously, but we choose from our library pieces which reach a broad range of interests, featuring each section to a generally satisfactory level.

1. Learner Led

Every class we begin by having a different student choose what part of our warm up materials the group will start class with. This choice has a ripple effect, as each item in the warm-ups presents different challenges for every instrument group. If the particular example reveals some deficiencies or struggles by individuals or entire sections, it can lead to using other examples from the warm-ups. Depending on which key the student chosen example is in, that usually dictates which concert piece we work on as well.

1. Learner Demonstrated

Obviously, in a performance ensemble, the goal for the teacher is to teach the skills necessary to get the students to perform the concert music. However, for my grading, I consider consistency and/or adjustment/change/improvement. In my class, there are students who, after the first few classes, I don’t have to teach them very much to get them to play the music for the concert. Then, on the other hand, you have students who try very hard in class and struggle to perform at a much lower level and will need to be shown with painstaking detail how to work through everything. One really cannot grade both types of students with the same criteria.

A student who consistently performs very well might be asked to work on their “phrasing” or be asked to “interpret the appropriate emotion of the music”. A student who struggles to get through the music very simply might be asked to perform the notated articulation. Essentially this boils down to subjective vs. objective. Stronger players work to develop musicality while struggling players work to master physical skills before being expected to take further steps.

1. Learner Connected

The ways in which my students connect with their communities are mostly in performance opportunities. At this point, social media is not something that we are able to call upon in the classroom. I would like to see students sharing more of their own personal practicing or compositions, however, this may be the weakest of the LEAP categories for me. We do get to live stream many of our performances on Youtube and our marching band performs at national competitions which can be viewed if someone pays a fee to the circuit in which we compete.