There are three things that I want to work with everyone to implement next year.
Idea #1
The first is a spiral review, a school-wide 10-15-minute period during each school day during which kids do some in-class intervention. It's a spiral review because it spirals down to previously taught skills and then spirals up to grade-level skills. It's about 5-10 questions daily in a pre-made workbook aligned to standards. Every classroom would get to pick an area of focus, which can help identify specific skill gaps. I want to explore using Simple Solutions. Here is a sample of their work: https://simplesolutions.org/samples/ code to access: Simple24-25
What it would require: teachers committing to 10-15 minutes daily to give students time to do the review.
Cost: It's approximately $ 3,000 for every student to get their workbook, and I can use Title Funds, so there is nothing from our local budget.
Idea #2
They are having students create virtual binders for their learning. We would start small, setting a monthly goal, collecting one piece of evidence, and reflecting on learning and doing this as a school, where every student from K-6 is celebrating their learning. Time would be set aside one Friday a month for September, October, and November (approximately 45 minutes) for the work to happen. Staff meeting time to prepare for this and pre-made templates should ease the process. Technology class next year, which everyone will have, can help build a foundation of skills to support kids in finding success.
Idea #3
Student-led conferences. Here's a great article With embedded video examples for kindergarten, middle, and high school to demonstrate that it's possible! Setting a goal of having at least five student conferences per grade in November and ten student-led conferences for the spring. Again, you would not go at this alone. We would co-prep and use the student learning binders to guide the process.
We have seen so much growth this year in students, and looking for ways to champion that is very important. I look forward to your ideas on making these dreams a reality.
