Don’t just issue orders; define your expectations

Teacher: The thing that really amazes me is how engaged they are now. They used to look lost, now there’s this light in their eyes.

Principal: I think I’ll have Sara present this information to the other second-grade teachers before the next school year.

Parent: I bought a beautiful gift for Mrs. Markowitz for the end of the year. I was so skeptical, but she worked hard for my child and she really made a difference.

Sara looks a little less stressed when she comes in for her consult six weeks in.

“How’s it going?”

“I think things are good,” she says shyly. “Teaching the struggling students the vocabulary they need to function in the classroom was a game changer. I didn’t realize how much of my instructions about pesukim, perakim, or even math terminology was incomprehensible to them. They were going through their day guessing.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. And slowing down the instructions to one step at a time also helped a lot. I started doing that at home with my kids, too. I stopped saying, ‘Get dressed, eat breakfast, lunch is on the counter, shoes at the door.’ I do one- or two-step directions only. And in class, I taught my students some routines. We have a new cute Chumash chant for the transition between tefillah and Chumash; it helps a lot.”

“What about the comprehension work we discussed?”

Sara laughs and sighs. “Good news and bad news. I spent a full week teaching them how to find the “WH” elements in any story or pasuk. It definitely helped — I can ask them any WH question and they can identify the answer.”

“But…” I can tell there’s a “but.”

“Buuuut,” Sara says, drawing out the word, “I feel like they can identify the pieces, but they can’t put it together. I tell them a story and they can say who the gadol was, where he lived, and when the story happened, but it’s just a collection of unrelated information to them. They still don’t grasp the narrative.”

I introduce Sara to a fabulous tool called Story Grammar Marker, developed by Mindwing Concepts. It’s a fun little character and each of his elements relates to one of the main elements of any story: Character, Setting, Kickoff, Feelings, Plan, Action, Consequence, Resolution [The process of the Story Grammar Marker gives a cohesiveness to the narrative that helps students understand the story as a whole, understanding the context of each part of the story].

“The basic elements are always the character, setting, kickoff, action, and resolution,” I explain. “So start with those. After telling a story, discuss each of the basic elements. Who is the character? Where is the setting? What happened that kicked off the story?

What action was taken next? What was the resolution?” [Elements like feelings, internal plan, and moral of the story are more complex and nuanced. Progress to those once the basics are mastered]

Sara plays around with Braidy, the Story Grammar Marker character toy, and smiles [Don’t underestimate the use of a visual kinesthetic tool. Rather than just another list of new terms to memorize, the character toy helps kids focus, process, and remember the new skill].

“It’s perfect,” she says. “I can’t wait to introduce this to my class. You know,” she reflects, “teaching and parenting have a lot of overlap. I incorporated many of your strategies into my interactions with my own kids, and I see what a difference it makes. “You taught me the foundational vocabulary and skills for both teaching and parenting.”

Take It Home

If your child is struggling to follow directions or doesn’t understand what he reads or hears, here are some strategies to help him (or her) learn how to learn:

Never assume that your child understands the words you’re using. Take the time to explain the terms. Those can be terms in another language, like “pasuk” or “perek,” but even terms like “clean up” and “get ready.” Take the time to teach your child exactly what your expectation is when you state those words.

Create a cue that indicates to your child that a direction is coming. You can say, “Please listen now, I’m going to give you something to do,” or you can clap or raise a hand to get their attention. The cue should be consistent so the child automatically focuses on receiving the direction.

Slow down. Issue one direction at a time, and wait until your child completes the task before issuing the next direction. When the child is ready, move on to two-step directions, but let them know beforehand: “I’m going to give you two things to do, so listen carefully.”

When teaching a concept, avoid repeating the same explanation over and over. Instead, try explaining it in a different way.

Utilize activities like baking, grocery shopping, or doing craft projects to practice following directions.

When schmoozing with your child or reading stories to them, practice focusing on the WH elements: who, what, when, where, how, and why. This will help them listen for the important parts of the story so they can understand it.

The first barrier to comprehension is reading fluency. Utilize leveled books like Step Into Reading to help the child achieve fluency. Choose books that are easy (not challenging) for your child to read and understand, and as your child progresses, you can slowly move up levels.

Practice answering the WH questions on the stories you read to your child or your child reads on their own. Offer an incentive for each book they complete and answer.

Play games like I Spy or 20 Questions where the players have to ask WH questions to find the answer.

After trips and vacations, create scrapbooks that include summaries and a page for each of the WH questions.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 660)