Intervention Plans

When I first became a teacher, I thought it was stressful, but now when I look back, it's a piece of cake compared to what's going on now.  The stress of "testing season" is now upon us.  All of a sudden I am hearing constant talk about intervention plans and looking at data from standardized tests to find students in which we need to target.  Today was an in-service day at my school and I literally spent the entire day helping come up with a department and individualized plan on what intervention plan I was going to put in place and how.  I did not realize how much work needed to be put into an intervention plan, but now I am fully aware and will be more prepared before "testing season" next year.  Side note:  When I don't succeed at something or I see something is not running smoothly, I always tell myself, "Now I know what NOT to do next year".

When I arrived this morning, the first hour was spent in discussion on how our department plans would be similar.  We decided that we would pull out and work with students at least twice a week for 30 to 45 minutes during their elective classes.

This is what I had to come up with on my own:

Who?- Who are the students I plan to provide tutoring to before the STAAR is upon us.
When?- When will I be pulling these students and how often will I be pulling them for tutoring.  Keep in mind, I have to consider that math, science, and social studies might need to tutor the same kids.
What?- What are the specific SE's that I need to focus on with each student and what resources will I use to target these SE's.  How will I assess the students to know if they are improving and if they are better understanding the skills I have taught them through tutoring?

We also had to focus on student accountability.  What would we do in order to ensure that the students would be at tutoring each day when they were supposed to be.  All of this was to be done in a day!  Luckily, my mentor and LCT (Lead Content Teacher) prepared the English Department ahead of time and when I arrived at school today, I already knew which kids I would be targeting.  Deciding on the kids was another day worth of work.  Even though I was stressed and worried I wouldn't have my plan before the end of the day, I was able to finish with the help of the other teachers on my team and with an hour to spare!  Wow, that's a great weight off my chest; now to implement the interventions! :)