The MTSS Progress Monitoring Tracker for Google Sheets is an essential digital tool designed to streamline and enhance the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) process for grade-level teams of teachers. This user-friendly template empowers educators to identify students of concern, track their progress in academics, behavior, and attendance, and collaborate effectively to provide the support needed for student success. **Features:** 1. **Student Information Section:** - Easily input student details, including name and room number. - Categorize students by concern areas: Academics, Behavior, and Attendance. 2. **Goal Setting:** - Define specific, measurable goals for each student. - Establish target achievement dates to track progress. 3. **Intervention Tracking:** - Record classroom interventions already implemented for each student. - Input the dates when these interventions were initiated. 4. **MTSS Team Meetings:** - Log the dates of MTSS-themed team meetings for each student. - Collaboratively document insights and decisions made during meetings. 5. **Tier 2 and Tier 3 Interventions:** - Specify any additional Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions provided to the student. 6. **Grade-Level Team Collaboration:** - Provide a dedicated section for grade-level team intervention ideas and suggestions. - Include links to external resources for inspiration and guidance. 7. **Progress Monitoring:** - Set identified future check-in dates to assess student progress. - Easily track whether or not progress was made and make notes on the status. 8. **Problem-Solving Team Referral:** - If necessary, indicate whether reaching out to the problem-solving team is the next step. - Document the reasons for the referral and the date of contact. 9. **Collaboration and Sharing:** - Share the Google Sheets document with your team, support services staff, and relevant stakeholders for real-time collaboration. - Collaboratively analyze data and strategize for each student's success during team meetings. **Benefits:** - Streamlines the MTSS process, making it more efficient and effective. - Organizes student data and information in a clear and accessible manner. - Facilitates collaboration among grade-level teams, teachers, and support services staff. - Promotes evidence-based decision-making by tracking intervention outcomes. - Provides a holistic view of each student's progress, including academics, behavior, and attendance. - Saves time and resources through a standardized, digital tracking system. **How to Access:** The MTSS Progress Monitoring Tracker for Google Sheets is available as a downloadable template. Simply make a copy of the template to your Google Drive, customize it with your student data, and start using it to enhance your MTSS process. This invaluable resource is your partner in ensuring that every student receives the support they need to excel academically and thrive in their school environment. Pairs PERFECTLY with my MTSS agenda template: Check it out here! MTSS Progress Monitoring Tracker © 2023 by Felicity Liversidge is licensed underCC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The 5 Best Methods & Specific Tips on HOW to Incorporate Each in Your Own Classroom Being a teacher is a tough business. It can be hard to navigate the classroom and know if your teaching methods are
Designing a responsible Italy family travel itinerary contributes to cultivating a growth mindset in curious teens and children.
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Being the crazy person that I am, I've been at school the last week and a half setting up my classroom even though I won't be returning until November because of my maternity leave. In between the hot gluing and book labeling, I met the person who will be filling in for me while I am out. She's fresh out of college, completed her student teaching, and came to meet me with a list of questions and color-coded notes. She was prepared ... and I was impressed!We got talking about the big picture: curriculum, routines to establish, units to cover. Before leaving, she asked me several questions, but one in particular made me pause...What is your behavior plan? I literally stared at her for a few awkward beats and started flipping through my mental rolodex (youngins, look it up lol). Then it hit me. I don't have one! I don't have one because I don't need one, and why don't I need one???I'm sure most veteran teachers feel this way! Most of us don't have explicit behavior plans, so what do we know, what do we do, that new teachers don't?Tip One: It starts with the first interaction. The first day of school and every day after, I am at the door greeting the kids when they enter my room. I make eye contact, say hello, once I learn it, I say their name, and smile! The first day of school I shake their hands and welcome them into the classroom. THIS IS KEY. If a student tries to enter the room in a way that I do not approve of, I do not let them enter. I literally say these words: That's not how we come into this classroom. Let's try that again. There is no yelling. I keep a pleasant smile, but my tone is strict. They try again, and you bet they enter in a more appropriate way and the correct tone is set. She means business!Tip Two: Loud vs. Quiet My first year teaching I had all these cute call and responses to get the class's attention, but they never worked and I couldn't figure out why. But after observing master teachers I figured it out. When students get loud, new teachers get louder. Master teachers get quieter.I don't know about your house, but in my house if we told our parents something and they were silent, it was WAY worse than if they yelled. Same thing in the classroom. Never, NEVER talk over the students. There are 20+ of them and one of you; they will win every time. The louder they get, the quieter you get. Stand completely still and wait. Wait. Wait. Until every student's attention is on you. It may take a bit, but do it. I normally watch the clock. Standing there waiting can feel like a while, but watch the clock - count in your head 30 seconds, 45 seconds, 1 minute if it takes that long. As soon as you have everyone's attention, glance around the room and move on. They get it. EVERYONE'S attention matters. It's important that they ALL hear what is about to be said. Once they learn this, they get each other quiet when you call for attention.What to do with the one student who still talks? Use the power of a dramatic entrance!I wear heels every day (another story lol), so if a student continues to talk while I'm waiting, I walk... slowly... click... click... arms crossed... making my way over... until I'm standing next to them. I glance down and wait. No yelling. No scolding. No lecturing. Just waiting. Once they finish, pause a beat, then move on. Continue teaching.This quiet waiting game prevents chaos from ensuing! There is no yelling, no lecturing needed!Tip Three: Know their priorities... Most likely, it's not you. Having taught for almost ten years in a middle school, I can tell you there is no greater influence on tweens than their peers. They are so hyper-conscious of how they appear in front of their friends or classmates - keep this in mind! It can be to your advantage, or if used the wrong way, can be a nightmare.Because of this social awareness, confronting a student's behavior in front of the class is not going to work. Most of the time, they get embarrassed and act out because everyone is watching. Corrections need to be discreet. Walk over to a student's desk. Tap on the desk and in a low voice tell them in a few words what needs to be done. Student playing with something they shouldn't have? Walk over, tap the desk, make eye contact: We're doing xyz now. Wait until you see action, and then keep walking. If they behavior doesn't improve, I normally give the kids one more chance. If after I address them twice there is no change, I ask them to step into the hallway. That is where I will have the conversation about appropriate behavior. But NEVER in front of their peers! That is a sure-fire way to start a hostile relationship with a student.Let's Wrap Up... 1. Set the tone at the start of class2. Keep your voice calm and strong3. Redirect students in a discreet manner I hope these tips help all new teachers or even veteran teachers! They have worked for me with my 7th graders! If you have any tips you'd like to add, please comment below! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Want more iMrs Hughes? Keep the conversation going on Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram! Be sure to check out my TeachersPayTeachers store for additional resources!
Student teaching advice written by mentor teachers.
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Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has been found to promote academic success and increase students' commitment to school. Generally, there are five key components that make up social emotional learning. These competencies include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and decision making. Today, I'd like to focus on ways to help students develop self-awareness. Self-awareness includes one's ability to recognize emotions, have an accurate self-perception, identify strengths, develop confidence, and show self-efficacy. Researchers have found that a student's ability to control his or her feelings, thoughts, and behaviors can be linked to academic success. So, let's take a look at some easy ways to help students develop an awareness of their individual characteristics and personal emotions. All About Me - A - Z This activity helps students to define and identify a variety of aspects about themselves. They'll create a list about themselves with a characteristic, quality, or emotion for each letter of the alphabet. Materials: Piece of paper, pen or pencil Directions: - On a piece of paper, have students create two columns. (Or grab a ready-made poster here.) - Have them write all the letters of the alphabet in each column. - Then, challenge them to write something about themselves for each letter. For instance, they might write "gregarious" for G or "curious" for C. Ideas: - Share your own A to Z list with students first. - Create a class list of emotions and descriptive words to get students started. - Assemble students' finished lists in a class book. Moment of Mindfulness Mindfulness is a great way to build self-awareness. Since mindfulness is all about paying attention to the present moment, it's a great way for students to pause and reflect on how they are feeling, what they are thinking, and what they need in the present. It's simple to do too! Ways to take a moment of mindfulness: - At the beginning of class, have students close their eyes and take several deep breaths. Ask students to pay attention to their breathing. - Share a mindfulness quote with students to help focus students' thoughts during a moment of mindfulness. - Pause during instruction and have students do a self-awareness check. Encourage them to be mindful of their thoughts and feelings. Reflective Journaling Reflective journaling is a powerful way to help students become self-aware. With targeted writing prompts, students can develop insight into their feelings, make sense of their experiences, and build clarity on their thoughts. When students write about their own experiences and feelings, they become more self-aware. Materials: - A notebook and/or computer, pen or pencil, writing prompts - A list of writing prompts that spark self-reflection, these might include: --- Write about a time when you were proud of yourself. --- List ten things that make you feel excited. --- Reflect on how you have changed this year. --- What is something that you find challenging? (Check out a set of 10 engaging prompts here.) Ideas: - Have students respond to their prompts as if they are writing a letter to themselves..."Dear me..." - Read students' responses and respond to their writing in the margins. Add questions and positive notes at the end of their writing to build connections and spark further reflections. - Schedule a time each day or week for journaling to make it an intentional part of your classroom community. Growth Mindset There are many ways to help students develop a growth mindset. When students develop an understanding that all forms of intelligence are malleable, they are inspired to work toward success. That's why it is so powerful to infuse lessons about growth mindset into instruction. Giving students a moment to reflect on their own mindsets builds self-awareness. Materials: - Short lessons or articles about Growth Mindset to help students understand the differences between a fixed and growth mindset. - Series of questions about students' own mindsets. Directions: - After teaching students about Growth Mindset, have students respond to questions about their own mindsets. - Give students a chance to share their responses with a partner, small group, or the entire class. Ideas: - Share and display inspirational quotes about growth mindset. (I particularly love paper desk tents. They are an easy way to display quotes right on students' desks.) - Highlight important people who demonstrate a growth mindset. Emotions Skits Researchers have noted that there are at least six universal emotions. These include happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust. Help students investigate and demonstrate these universal emotions by challenging them to write a short play or skit that involves a character or many characters experiencing one of the universal emotions. Materials: - List of the universal emotions, paper, pen - Skit planning pages (optional) Ideas: - Review the six universal emotions with students. As a class have students brainstorm what each emotion looks like (how people look when they are experiencing that emotion) and sounds like (what people might say when experiencing that emotion). - Brainstorm situations where people might feel each emotion. Encourage students to share personal situations when they felt a certain way. - Divide students into small groups. Secretly assign each group an emotion. - Challenge students to write a script that their small group could act out for the class that demonstrates that emotion. - Have small groups perform for the class. Have the audience identify the emotion prevalent in the skit. Self Check-In Daily feelings check-ins are a great way to build self-awareness. When students are given the opportunity to assess how they are feeling and share their emotions with others, they begin to know themselves more fully. Self check-ins also help normalize feelings. Materials: - Paper with an open grid shape - List of feelings Directions: - Pass out the gridded paper to students. - Have them fill the grid with different emotions. - Then, have students display the grid on their desks. - Have them place a token or shape on the emotion that shows how they are feeling at a particular moment. Ideas: - Once students can recognize their feelings, help them to develop strategies for regulating their emotions. - Encourage students to track their feelings over an entire school day. Then, discuss how feelings change in different situations. -------------------------------------------------- I hope you've found a few ways to help students develop self-awareness. Incorporating lessons that target social emotional learning is essential in today's classrooms. If you're looking for ready-made resources, check out this set of 10 SEL reading passages and this set of 6 Self-Awareness Activities. Thanks for stopping by! Mary Beth
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This making inference activity and lesson plan will help all of your readers succeed at making inferences and inferring as they independently read in your upper elementary and middle school classrooms. Making inference mentor text included.
This post will be great for anyone looking for ideas for including students with autism in their classroom. Students with autism and other disabilities need support to be successful in general education classrooms. Lot of visual supports and ideas with some freebies as well.
If you've been in a primary classroom recently, chances are you've seen a word wall. While I believe they are an essential part of an early primary classroom,
Kids and young adults need extensive practice in strengthening their executive functioning skills. Executive functions are the processes in our brains that help us accomplish all tasks from beginning to end. We use them when we plan our day, organize our materials, begin a chore, focus on important
These visual tools allow students to synthesize learning, but some kids don't think they're talented enough to make them. A bit of creative constraint helps.
Do you ever feel like this? New and old teachers alike sometimes struggle to get their students to follow directions. It happens to the best of us! Sometimes they really aren't paying attention. But more often than not, the problem lies with YOU. Gasp! Did I just blame the teacher? Umm, yeah. But hey, I'm guilty of these mistakes too! You start talking before they are listening. - It's REALLY hard to not do this. Maybe they aren't all talking. Maybe they just aren't listening yet. Are some of the kids still moving around? Is Johnny still writing? Is Sally looking for a pencil? It's really important (like super duper important) to have everyone's attention before you utter even one word of the directions. Starting on the very first day of school, train your students to make eye contact with you to show they are listening. When all eyes are on you, then you at least know they aren't distracted doing something else. You give them too much at once. - The younger your students are, the more important this one is. But even older kids can get overwhelmed (or tune out) when you give them a bunch of things to do at once. Try giving them instructions about materials or procedures before telling them what to do to complete an assignment. For example, don't say, "Take out your pencil, highlighter, and post its. As you read the passage, highlight important vocabulary and use the post-its to do your text marking and ask questions." Whoa! That's just too much. Instead, give them the directions about materials first: "Take out your pencil, highlighter, and post-its." Then wait. Let them dig through their desks and get them out because the second you say, "Take out...", they'll stop listening and start digging around anyway. Once everyone has their materials and is settled, move on to what you want them to do. That's leads me to mistake #3... You only give directions verbally. - Using the same example, I wouldn't just tell my students to highlight important vocabulary, I would have them write this on the top of their papers: important words. It's pretty clear that I want them to highlight important words, right? Now they SEE the directions in addition to hearing them. What about the post-its? I would have them take one and do this: They can stick it right on their desk in case they forget what text marking to do. When students hear AND see the directions, they are much more likely to follow them! I hope you've enjoyed these little tips. If you have one that works for your class, leave me a comment below. I love hearing new ideas! Do you teach younger students? Check out this set of Following Directions Cue Cards:
We had another class Monday night with our new dual/ELL staff members, and this time we focused on differentiation and what that may look like across the subject areas. As we have done in the past, we had the teachers participate in a gallery walk and thus rotate around with their groups to add to a series of posters focused on this topic of differentiation. Yet again, our wonderful staff did not disappoint and came up with a wide assortment of ideas as to how instruction can be differentiated for our students! I typed up their ideas on a nice one page spread for them, and thought you all may find it useful as well! Click on it to grab a copy for yourself or a friend. Graphics/Fonts: Scrappin' Doodles, Rowdy Fonts, My Cute Graphics Also, (as if you haven't already heard ;)), I wanted to let you all in on the big secret. TpT will be hosting a "3 Million Teachers Strong" sale February 27-28th. In using promo code TPT3, you can get up to 28% off at my store along with so many more! How exciting is it to see this community of teachers growing and working together :)!
How does slow processing speed affect students? Slow processing speed can create anxiety as the struggle with processing verbal or visual information.
Hey friends! I am so excited to share this new book with you! The Little Linebacker by Steven Tulloch and Maria Dismondy is such an adorable book of determination! It has a great message of never giving up on your dreams and goals, even when things set you back or you fail! This is […]
Throughout my years teaching middle school, I have had the experience of seeing many "work refusals". These are the situations when kids, for a variety of reasons, just refuse to start the work you give them. They might shut down and rest their head on their desk or lash out in anger, shouting about
Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. But a lot of those tips won’t work if you fail to follow this one essential rule.
