Conversation calendars can be incredibly useful for smaller and larger classrooms, and are formatted so each student is communicating something useful to the teacher at least once a day. At the beginning of the year, teachers can utilize the calendars to learn students' interests, struggles, and successes. If the entries are personal, students can circle which ones they would like their teacher to read. Once students are comfortable with this format, however, calendars can be used to assess curricular understanding. By designing questions that give insight into students' comprehension, teachers can monitor classroom growth in a curricular area on the individual and holistic level. Calendars are a fast and easy way to connect to a classroom. Below is an example of a Conversation Calendar entry that might be used for assessment:
As you can see, Conversation Calendars not only create dialogue between teacher and students, they create constant learning opportunities for both parties. Attached is a downloadable calendar to use with your classes!
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