It seems that at around this time every year I post something regarding student anecdotes and documentation thereof on this blog. For the past three years I have been lucky enough to work with staff interested in utilizing technology to effectively help and change behavior that could potentially cause extremely negative outcomes for students. Even the School District of Philadelphia is attempting to rework their system, but I would argue the new Response to Intervention (RtII) system is too slow and too bulky that teachers won't use it.
Instead, they should reach out to me and my colleagues who have experience using a (now) tried and true system called the Learner Log, a system in which all teachers can create and track student anecdotes for the purpose of positive interventions.
I first crafted a student anecdote system on Google Docs a few years ago when I was at West Philadelphia HS, only to realize the power of Microsoft SharePoint to make a database when I was transferred to School of the Future. Since then I brought the system to the Academy at Palumbo and have received only positive responses.
The basic idea is this: teacher's time is precious and student's time even more so. Whenever a teacher has a negative or positive interaction with a student, they can take 20 seconds of their day and input information onto the Learner Log. Other teachers can do the same so after a certain amount of time you have a record of various interactions with a student. If there is a pattern of disruption noticed or many teachers have tried to call home but to no avail, this system collates that information and allows you to learn more it.
When I first heard of RtII I was concerned that it would be too bulky and not user friendly - after three months of attempted uses, I think I am correct. I really wish the School District would pay more attention to what teachers are doing on the classroom-level and discuss with us how these systems work (or don't). If they did, maybe we would offer more streamlined approaches to these issues.
I first crafted a student anecdote system on Google Docs a few years ago when I was at West Philadelphia HS, only to realize the power of Microsoft SharePoint to make a database when I was transferred to School of the Future. Since then I brought the system to the Academy at Palumbo and have received only positive responses.
The basic idea is this: teacher's time is precious and student's time even more so. Whenever a teacher has a negative or positive interaction with a student, they can take 20 seconds of their day and input information onto the Learner Log. Other teachers can do the same so after a certain amount of time you have a record of various interactions with a student. If there is a pattern of disruption noticed or many teachers have tried to call home but to no avail, this system collates that information and allows you to learn more it.
When I first heard of RtII I was concerned that it would be too bulky and not user friendly - after three months of attempted uses, I think I am correct. I really wish the School District would pay more attention to what teachers are doing on the classroom-level and discuss with us how these systems work (or don't). If they did, maybe we would offer more streamlined approaches to these issues.
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