Monday Madness - Top Ten Questions/Thoughts for Intervention

Our first week is under our belt!  Whew!  I feel like I can take a sigh of relief!  I am excited for this new year and the challenges I will be facing!  I have some low kiddos and I am eager to get them to grade level!  I have been thinking about how I am going to set up my guided reading and math to best support the learners in my classroom.  Here are the top 10 things that I think are important when doing intervention:

1.  What is the problem you are facing??

        a. fluency?
        b. comprehension?
        c. phonics?
        d.  phonemic awareness?
        e. vocabulary?
        f.  math facts?
        g. number sense?
        h. specific math concepts?

2. How will you assess the problem?

        a. pre-/post-test?
        b. a specific assessment?

3.  What intervention are you going to give?
         a. Is it specific?
         b.  Is it measurable?

4.  Who will implement the intervention?

Will it be you, another teacher, a para, a parent??  If it is someone other than you, make sure they are well trained on all the procedures.

5.  When will the intervention take place?

A good intervention happens every day for about 10-15 min. (or more depending on time and need).  Be creative...Before school, after school, lunch, recess...when can you grab them for those quick minutes?

6.  How will you track the intervention?

Will you have a graph?  Will you have weekly check ins?  How will you know whether or not the student is making gains or not?

7.  At the end of SIX weeks re-evaluate - Are there any improvements?

Keep at it for SIX weeks!  Consistency is the key.  They may take a few weeks to warm up and understand what it is you want them to do. Be consistent with the intervention and the time you give to the intervention.

8.  Do you need to continue the same intervention or try another?

If you are seeing no growth or improvement....move on.  Find a different intervention that targets the deficit in another way.

9.  Where do you find your resources?  Below are some great sites to visit for GREAT intervention ideas:

- The Savvy Teachers Guide - http://www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/brouge/rdngManual.PDF
- RTI Toolkit - http://www.fehb.org/CSE/CCSEConference2012/wright_CCSE_Pre_Conference_Tchr_First_Responder_14_Mar_2012.pdf
- Math Interventions - http://www.centeroninstruction.org/mathematics-instruction-for-students-with-learning-disabilities-or-difficulty-learning-mathematics-a-guide-for-teachers
- Intervention Central - http://www.interventioncentral.org/

10.  When do you contact Special Education ?

After you have done 3- six week interventions, then it is time to contact special education teachers and have them take a look at your data, give feedback, suggestions, or bring your data to the child study team in your school.




I hope that gave you some new things to think about and consider as you look at the kiddos coming in and what you will need to do to help them find new levels of success!

Make it a Great Day!!

Rachel Johnson

Thrilled in Third

W.I.N. Time (Intervention) Lesson Plans

Yesterday I blogged about a concept called W.I.N. time.  Basically it is a time built into the schedule for interventions and challenging your higher students.  I do a new concepts for students every two weeks.  I try to have groups no larger than 6.  I get people into my classroom to help lead groups and I have some students working independently.  I always try to follow this model as I am planning the intervention lessons:

Day 1 - Teach or Reteach a concept already taught
Day 2 - Model for students how to do it
Day 3 - Practice Together
Day 4 - Practice Together
Day 5 - Independent Practice
Day 6 - Independent Practice
Day 7 - Review and Assess

I have given a very detailed description of what W.I.N. Time is and how to do it in a pamphlet I posted on TPT.  You can access that here.

In my TPT store I also have several W.I.N. Time (intervention) lesson plans already laid out, with many more to come.

 

You can find my Intervention lesson plans here.  For this week only, I will be giving  my W.I.N. Time/Assessment Binder away for free!  Tell your friends!

I feel like we can't just continue to teach to the whole.  It is difficult to differentiate for every student, but this is one way to be collecting data and responding to that data with purposeful intervention.  This is something that had been lacking in my classroom and I am seeing some great results because of the intentional effort being put into seeing where every student is at and trying to help them move forward from there.

Make it a great day!

Rachel 

How to...Intervention - The W.I.N. Time concept

A few years ago, my school started getting into PLC's and looking at data pretty heavily.  The goal was to use the data to help improve the data.  How do you do that?  I know Johnny is low and Jenny is high, but what do I do with that?  I came across a concept that can be very powerful in getting the results we want.  One thing that we all have to remember is that styles and preferences as teachers come into play.  You have to do what comes naturally to you.  I will briefly outline what I do and if you want more information, check out my free download on teachers pay teachers that goes more in depth.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Collect Data (I usually look at spelling, reading, and math)

2.  Establish an Intervention team (could be partner teachers, special ed teachers, paras, parents, etc. - 3 or 4 is ideal)

3.  Plan a common intervention time where all of the team can be available to work with students.

4.  Look at the data as a team.

5.  Find common areas of need among students, placing students in intervention groups.  Some of your higher level students can be working independently in their area of need or on something more challenging.

6.  Decide who is going to plan, prepare and teach which interventions and preparing for your independent students.

7.  Plan for 7-8 days of intervention on that topic.  Every two weeks, re-evaluate where the students are at.  You may teach the same concept the following 2 weeks, but to some different students and some of the same students.

8.  Throughout the year, plan common assessments.  As you look at the data from those assessments, you can see common areas where students struggled or maybe one class did better than another.  Don't be offended, find out how they taught that concept.  This is one way where you can hone your skills as a teacher as well.  I am all about becoming better at what I do.  I try not to let my pride get in the way.  I always try to remember why I do this, for the students.

Here is what I call it - W.I.N. time.  It stands for What I Need.  That covers everyone.  Even if they are not identified in your assessments as needing an intervention in anything, you can still give them things that will challenge their thinking.  Projects or taking a concept to the next level.  Think outside the box.  :)

To learn more about W.I.N. time, check out my TPT store for the free download with information on what, how, who, etc.  There is also a download for organizing all your information - your data, assessments, etc.