Creating+a+Focus+4

Through our reading block we provide time in our schedule to provide intervention to students not mastering reading skills. How might we adjust our schedule to provide time to students needing intervention in math or language?

Provide more time?? What's that??? We don't have enough hours in the day...We can cut down on these crazy assemblies and throw some intervention in at those times. I really don't know.. I hope someone has a solution here.?? (H. Witt)  Hopefully everyone acknowledges curriculum expansion cannot happen overnight. As we work through programs we become more comfortable with the materials, and our plans become more automatic. This teacher "automaticity" will gradually open new opportunities for intervention. (S.Rahm) Accelerated Math (mentioned on Creating a Focus 3) may be one answer to help with math intervention. Most students like scanning their answer cards and going to the laser printer for the next set of problems (also gives them a chance to move around). Many enjoy the challenge of the work, especially since it’s tailored to their ability and performance. Reports quickly identify problem areas, whether individual, small group, or whole class. I would love to know more about accelerated math. (H. Witt) One challenge of the program is cost. The math libraries (Renaissance Learning) are expensive. It works best to have scanners in each class (where math is taught) and a fast laser printer (can be shared among grades). There is also a learning curve with the program and, sometimes, challenges getting all the equipment setup and working properly. At BB, our 3rd grade teachers are the experienced users and they have given great support (workshops and individually) helping the other grades get started. (Ed Land) While this may be a good idea in theory, all this remediation takes teacher time away from high and on level students. While learning centers can support and enrich learning they do not take the place of teacher instruction. Groups are meant to be flexible and have kids moving in and out as needed, but the the facts are that most kids need remediation regularly and in many areas while the majority get it and move on. We need to seriously consider how much time is devoted to low achievers in the regular classroom. Could this time be extended to after school programs? Could we move these kids int leveled groups with different teachers to provide other with teacher time also? I think sharing the responsibility of these struggling students within grade levels is one important way they can receive more small group instruction. I know at Crestline this has already tried to a small extent. (A. Land) Should we restructure the traditional grades and move to skill mastery to progress? As we change more and more to data based and remediation activities we have to ask ourselves how this works in the present classroom set up. This may be where the next change needs to occur to support our new programs.(E Lee I don't know if Lee's answers are the "right" answers, but I do think the questions are the "right" questions. A PLC is operating optimally when we are thinking about the most effective and efficient ways to serve all of our children. (Susan Hayes) Our reading program has accomplished much with trying to hold the interruptions to a minimal. To give math more attention, again consider the interruptions, every minutes counts. (C Riddlehoover) A systemic math program needs to be established with common assessments. Since there are many different math programs being used, there are gaps in learning basic skills. I agree with A. Land in sharing the responsibility of struggling students within grade levels.(B.Wallace) I do think a unified math program needs to be adopted for each grade level in our school system. I worked on the pacing guide this year and it was extremely hard to work on math with 3 different programs or textbooks being used in my grade level. I am anxious for our next math series adoption so that hopefully we will all decide on one program to use. At that point I think more assessments can be put into place for math in each grade level. I also feel that a lot of time, effort, and training has gone in to the AMSTI Math program, so I would personally like the time to study and become more efficient with this program that I have already been trained on, instead of creating something totally new, to yet again, start over learning. As I have said before, I would like to pick one or two things and do them well for more than just a year or two so we can see the progress it will make with our students. (K.Powell) Maybe it’s time to take another look at grouping students according to skills mastered and those skills needing additional instruction. (Julie Hall) Math and reading instruction should be our primary focus every day of the school year. Science and history could be taught through the reading block by using the reading textbook and science and history trade books. (S. Hogan) I LOVE teaching math and I need additional time to teach intervention lessons to my weak math students, but there simply is not enough time with the type of school day we have. I think 7-8 hours a day is plenty for kids, and I'm not saying we should go longer, but with that amount of time and the traditional way of teaching and grouping students into classes, I don't know how to make it work. With the new reading demands, we have already given up time that was spent elsewhere prior to the reading demands. This is tough! There are many kids who struggle in one or more subject areas, and they need intervention where they are weak, but how do we squeeze that in? I know several suggestions have been given above, and who knows--we may be headed toward some changes in the coming years. (J.Layman) I have thoroughly enjoyed working with my students in small groups for reading instruction. It has really opened my eyes to what they truly understand and what I previously assumed they could do. I look back on those first years of teaching and wish I could have those kids back because I am sure there are many things I missed with them by teaching in mainly a whole group setting. I know that many of my students need additional help in math and language and I struggle with how to meet their needs while maintaining the rigorous expectations of the pacing guide. I don't have any answers to the situation, but it is something that weighs heavily on my mind. (JPenrod) I can see the possibility in the future of a Math "BLOCK" being scheduled and protected during our school days as well as the Reading. In elementary school especially, those are the two most important things. In a year or two when we adopt a new Math series and we all get on the same program that will support children all the way from kindergarten until they reach junior high (like we have done in Reading), we will probably begin seeing more progress. However, right now, with different grade levels teaching from different programs there are bound to be some gaps. To teach Math to the degree that we teach reading, a protected block of time and small groups may be the next thing coming. It is hard for us to imagine spending that much time on Math just as we do Reading and creating more time in our day but I have a feeling that is probably coming. We live in a time when it is very important to individualize instruction and differentiate for each student. (J. Wimberley) As far as making more time in our schedule for more intervention, I don't believe it is possible! I totally agree with A. Land. the majority of the students do get it and move on. I think we really need to consider how much time we spend on remediation. I like the idea of maybe trying to move kids into leveled groups with different teachers to provide others with teacher time. I can't tell you how often I see the same children sitting in our commons area reading a book or working at a center because the teacher is made to spend so much time in remediation with our low achievers. I know remediation is needed but our high achievers and on level students want and deserve as much time with their teacher as the others.(T.Bates) Find the strugglers and level the classroom based on ability. I cannot imagine knocking out anymore teacher directed and teacher modeling time in order to do small group in other subjects because small groups take TIME. Not only do they take classroom time but planning time and assessment analyses time which, since we have such limited planning time now, is done during the teacher's private family time. (proy) I think that we may need to revisit what intervention looks like. There is not one more minute in the day that we can plan yet another intervention lesson, but I think we could take five minutes to clear misconceptions or address simple misunderstanding. Accelerated Math is an excellent way to handle this type of intervention in math. Pull the five kids that are having trouble with an objective and do a quick lesson with them. The AM program does all the legwork....all we have to do is address the remediation. (AHarris)