TITLE: HOME VISITATI0NS
AUTHOR: Katie Tener Gordy, Rosary School
(Junior High), Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: Appropriate for any grade but I
use it for incoming 7th graders
OVERVIEW: I teach in a parochial school with 270
students from 3 year old preschool through 8th grade.
My dilemma was how to make the last two junior high
years special for many of these students who had come
to the same building for a long time.
OBJECTIVE(s): Teachers will:
1. Meet new students and get to know the
surroundings in which they live.
2. Visit with students about their strengths and
weaknesses.
3. Meet students who have never been to the school
so they will feel more comfortable in their
first days.
4. Observe how the students relate to their
parents.
5. Have a fun, fascinating bulletin board entitled,
"What We Did Last Summer," for the first of
school.
RESOURCES:
Teacher Materials: a camera, film, a car, bulletin
board letters and time.
Student Materials: whatever they will need for their
photo shots.
ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1. Towards the end of June, I obtain an incoming 7th
graders list which also contains their parents'
names, their phone numbers and their addresses
with zip codes.
2. I cut the list up, putting all the zip codes
together and putting them in some type of order by
streets.
3. I call each student (it took me two evenings to
set up 30 appointments) asking them if I can come
see them to take their picture doing 4 or 5 things
they enjoy in the summer (I like to capture them
with pets, siblings, in their rooms, riding bikes,
doing tricks - on skateboards, in pools, on
trampolines - or with collections or hobbies they
have.) and to visit with them about the upcoming
year.
I have them check with their parents about a day
and time I give them, telling them I'll be at
their home for 20 to 30 minutes and I'd like to
come while their parents are home. I also ask the
student to be thinking about 4 or 5 shots I can do
while I'm there.I've done this visitation in
several ways but my favorite was doing two
marathon days on a Saturday and Sunday then
filling in the rest on a few evenings.
4. Some of the things I do while visiting are to
a.) let the students and parents know how
junior high will be different from 6th
grade;
b.) tell the students about any new
classmates;
c.) ask the students what their best and worst
subjects are;
d.) let them know that the next two years will
go by in a snap ( I snap my fingers!) and
in two short years it will be graduation
day and I will remind them about how
quickly I said it would go. I tell them
the reason junior high will pass so fast
is because as one gets older, time goes
faster, but also they will be busier and
they will be having fun learning and time
passes quickly when one is having fun. I
believe it is important to put this
positive seed in the students psyches;
e.) ask them if they have any questions about
what's ahead.
5. Be open for some fascinating visits! I have cried
with a student and his parents as they described
their escape from Guatemala. I had a terrifying
experience of having a student step inside a fence
where his dog was with a neighbor's mutt and a
violent dog fight ensued in which my student was
bitten ( I now always ask if dogs are safe for me
to go around.) I visited one student whom I didn't
care for based on seeing him for discipline
problems in my position as assistant principal.
He was absolutely amazing with his baby brother
and I completely changed my attitude about him and
he was great in class the next year.
6. If students have their own pictures of vacations,
etc. I use them with my own shots.
7. I have a great opening school bulletin board
titled "What We Did Last Summer." I include pictures of
what I did too. Sometimes I get those balloon funny
sayings in photo developing places to put a humorous
bent on the project. Kids LOVE to come in and find
themselves. Because I'm not good at bulletin boards, I
usually leave this up till October. Then I give the
photos to the kids except for one which I let the
students choose to put in our time capsule which we
will open when they are seniors in high school.
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