Dear Imlay Families:
We are finishing up our first six weeks of CDL and academics are ramping up in every classroom. The data we gathered over the last few weeks has been used to properly extend, enrich and differentiate lessons for our students. Each student is now receiving instruction within their "learning zone." A learning zone (or zone of proximal development in educator jargon) is the sweet spot between something being too hard and too easy. As teachers, Imlay staff work hard to create assignments that are "just right" for all students.
The most important part of the learning zone is that students need to engage in productive struggle in order to master a concept. Remember learning to ride a bike? The first few times you got on, you were shaky. Some of us had someone else there to catch us if we were going to fall and it helped give us confidence. But at some point, the helper had to let go and we had to pedal like crazy to stay balanced and upright. There had to be some risk in order to ride the bike by ourselves.
The same is true for learning. Our teachers are providing guiding instruction and are starting to "let go" in some situations to have students engage in productive struggle. Don't worry if your child is making mistakes in school work; the teacher will catch it and then know what your child needs in future instruction.
Productive struggle also shows up in "wait time" with questions. Imlay teachers are trained to ask a question and then provide wait time while the student thinks through the answer, formulates the answer verbally and then answers aloud. As an adult, sometimes this "wait time" is excruciating! But, it's part of the productive struggle where students must put their thoughts and newly learned concepts in order before answering the question. If we provide the answer for the child (even if it's as simple as telling them the answer to the addition problem), we are slowing down their productive struggle. Productive struggle is needed to advance learning! Teachers also will assist a student after an appropriate amount of "wait time" if the student becomes frustrated.
Please know you may help your student with technology issues and challenges at any time. If you hear or see your child engage in productive struggle, please be sure to tell them what an amazing job they are doing in learning new things! If you hear the teacher ask your student a question and there seems to be an exorbitant amount of wait time, hang in there and let your child have an extended time to formulate an answer.
Please reach out if you have any questions! 503-844-1090.
Together we soar!
Thank you,
Principal McCalley
