During my internship period, I have participated in many things that have improved my school and my school district. I have created a scheduled intervention time for all students. The first thirty minutes of the school day is devoted to silent, sustained reading time. Teachers are designated specific days where their classroom is covered so they can pull a small group to another area and provide intervention to students who are struggling with specific skills. This intervention time has given teachers the opportunity to pull small group interventions within the school day to reteach specific skills that students have not mastered. These groups will vary depending on the objective that needs to be targeted. We also have incorporated common assessments every six weeks so we can look at the data and use it to drive our instruction to a higher level and we can reteach skills that have not been mastered.
In planning this intervention pull-out, I was able to plan it so Monday and Wednesday are devoted to Reading and Writing Intervention for fourth and fifth grade. Tuesday and Thursday is devoted to Math Intervention. Friday is devoted to Science, Writing and Math. These designated days help teachers be able to have priority with specific students. Also, our science lab teacher teaches two classes per day and instructs a mini-science lesson that incorporates an experiment or activity with the students. Many students seem excited about learning and ready to work since it is the very beginning of the day.
Another project that I implemented during the school year was a Parent Orientation Night for our ESL students. We had a translator present to translate information from our teachers to improve communication with our ESL parents. These parents were able to find out information regarding classroom procedures and campus policies that were pertinent to their child’s success. This orientation night was a huge success and will be continued each school year due to the positive influence on our campus.
Our campus had two family nights this school year where we taught parents how to work with their students. Parents were able to experience science experiments and we were able to send home with different make-and-take items with parents in order to give them tools to work with their child. We asked for input from parents on ways to improve the event and many were excited about learning ways to help their child.
I would recommend that we continue with our family nights so we can improve the academic performance of our students as well as communicate with parents and build a partnership with them. This type of night allows parents to learn how to work with their child and improve their understanding of material being taught in our classrooms. This would improve parent-student relationships and get our parents involved in the learning process of our children.
I would also continue to implement the silent reading time where we are scheduled to pull small group interventions across the campus. These interventions are immediate, intensive and very direct in order to give every student the opportunity to get extra help and support. I would also recommend that the district set up some professional development programs where teachers are taught specifically how to implement small group interventions within the classroom. This type of professional development needs to include modeling how to pull intervention groups within the classroom as well as provide a follow-up later to explore issues that any teachers are seeing.
Another recommendation would be to continue with the campus walk-throughs to provide data for improving instruction as well as continue the campus assessments each six weeks. This data gives targeted information regarding specific skills that need to be retaught. It also helps teachers see weak areas in their instruction and help build Professional Learning Communities within their teams when they discuss different ways to teach specific lessons and objectives. That dialogue between teachers and administrators needs to be evident in order to improve the rigor and the level of learning within the classroom. Also, I have designed a poster of higher order thinking skills that I want to be posted in every classroom across the district. Having teachers see the question stems during instruction will help them to remember to raise the level of questioning during instruction.
All in all, my recommendations for my district are set to improve the quality of education that our students are receiving. Each student is different and needs something to improve their academic achievement. Implementing these things into our schools can improve the quality of education that our students are receiving as well as allow for immediate help as the student needs it. Sean Cain and Mike Laird’s book, The Fundamental 5, has helped me understand that implementing these things can improve the instructional capacity of our school district.
