Jen does RTI ALL the time. Intervention is just a given in an elementary room. And, it's part of our teacher evaluation- Kindergarten teachers all the way through Honors High School. This got me thinking.
What would intervention look like in a secondary room? Especially a subject like Social Studies! It's not really a subject that builds from one year to the next. How can I provide intervention for my students and more importantly (at least when it comes to the end of year evaluation....), how can I show that I provided intervention?
What would intervention look like in a secondary room? Especially a subject like Social Studies! It's not really a subject that builds from one year to the next. How can I provide intervention for my students and more importantly (at least when it comes to the end of year evaluation....), how can I show that I provided intervention?
I guess I should back up and talk about the point of intervention. In my opinion, it's taking a student from where they are and getting them to where they need to be. It's easy to see that in reading and math (at least for me). If they need to be able to add 4-digit numbers, but they are struggling with 2-digit numbers, then the obvious step would be to work on 2-digit and then 3-digit adding before moving onto the 4-digit adding they need to be doing.
But, I teach social studies in a middle school classroom. My subject is not really one that adds on to itself, or is it? The 8th grade students I have were supposed to learn about early American Explorers and the American Revolution in 5th grade. During the first week of school I gave them a quick assessment to see how much they remembered from 5th grade. Well, unfortunately it was not much. So, I put together a review unit to start off our first few weeks of the school year. Which worked out great because we were also learning a lot of routines and things, so the academics didn't have to be as heavy.
That is one way that I do intervention with my curriculum. But, I also conduct individual intervention for each of my students (yes, I have 120 students and I do intervention for every single one!). The great thing about intervention is that it looks different for each student.
For some it might be an extra question or chance to summarize reading. For another it's a phone call home with some extra encouragement on their participation in class (or sometimes the opposite; a phone call for their lack of participation). I'm also really lucky in that the teachers eat lunch with the students, then they get break time (recess, but for big kids) for 30 minutes. This is technically my duty free lunch time, but I usually eat with my students. So, I use my lunch time to reteach concepts, have students make-up work, and even have them re-take tests that they were not proficient in. No, I don't do this every day or I would burn out, but I do have certain days set aside for this.
I know that I'm doing all of this intervention. But, I decided I needed a way to keep track of it for the end of the year (it's also great to have the documentation for student meetings, parent meetings, etc.). So, I created this binder to store all of my interventions.
But, I teach social studies in a middle school classroom. My subject is not really one that adds on to itself, or is it? The 8th grade students I have were supposed to learn about early American Explorers and the American Revolution in 5th grade. During the first week of school I gave them a quick assessment to see how much they remembered from 5th grade. Well, unfortunately it was not much. So, I put together a review unit to start off our first few weeks of the school year. Which worked out great because we were also learning a lot of routines and things, so the academics didn't have to be as heavy.
That is one way that I do intervention with my curriculum. But, I also conduct individual intervention for each of my students (yes, I have 120 students and I do intervention for every single one!). The great thing about intervention is that it looks different for each student.
For some it might be an extra question or chance to summarize reading. For another it's a phone call home with some extra encouragement on their participation in class (or sometimes the opposite; a phone call for their lack of participation). I'm also really lucky in that the teachers eat lunch with the students, then they get break time (recess, but for big kids) for 30 minutes. This is technically my duty free lunch time, but I usually eat with my students. So, I use my lunch time to reteach concepts, have students make-up work, and even have them re-take tests that they were not proficient in. No, I don't do this every day or I would burn out, but I do have certain days set aside for this.
I know that I'm doing all of this intervention. But, I decided I needed a way to keep track of it for the end of the year (it's also great to have the documentation for student meetings, parent meetings, etc.). So, I created this binder to store all of my interventions.
I don't have time during the school day to keep track of things. So, I jot down the student's name and the intervention that occurred. Then, every few days (or when I remember) I take those post-its and transfer them into the binder.
Click HERE to go to our Teachers Pay Teachers page to get this freebie to use in your classroom.
Click HERE to go to our Teachers Pay Teachers page to get this freebie to use in your classroom.