Trying something new- individualized learning

Last year my teammate and I combined our classes together to get ready for writing STAAR. Our librarian, ESL support teacher, and reading interventionist, we pulled small groups based on our student data. Students rotated in groups to different stations when they weren't meeting with us. It worked out great. Students were meeting in small groups 3 times in 1 day...way more than I could ever do on my own. There were some issues--students weren't all that engaged in the activities we planned when they weren't with us. If I wanted them to play a grammar game, they ended up clicking onto something else & didn't get the extra practice like I hoped. The time was well-spent and I think students definitely benefitted from it.

Fast forward to this year. Last week we decided to try this again, but we made it more individualized. After our PSTAAR Writing, my teammate and I gave them goal setting sheet so they would know what types of questions they missed. The results of the PSTAAR weren't stellar, so many students were upset. I explained they needed to know what they knew and didn't know. This wasn't information for just me. I felt like they needed to take ownership of their own learning.

 We once again combined our classes into our "Pathways Room"...which was just a larger learning space with some flexible seating options. Students would be given an "Independent Choice Board" that had a variety of activities for them to complete.  They would be tracking their mastery of each writing TEK. They would take mastery connect checkpoints so they would know what they mastered. I used itslearning to create a review/refresher for them. The planning on the back end is and thinking through the logistics of how the students would keep track of the Mastery Connect codes was tedious and at times overwhelming. Our thought process was when they didn't reach mastery the first time, they would practice the skill again then take check point #2. 

My reflections after our first session:

• Students were definitely much more engaged than last year.
• We met with every single 4th grader twice during our LA block. 
• Students loved working with others outside our class.
• I need to go back and tweak my Independent Choice Board 
• I need to make using the Mastery Connect easier for students. They were confused over when they should take check point 2.
• Creating direct links in itslearning to the Mastery Connect didn't work. Fortunately, I discovered this the night before. I quickly made my Mastery Connect code sheet.
• Some students were asked by my principal.Questions students were asked by my principal: What are you working on? Why are you working on it? How you know to work on this? How you know you understand it? What do you do next? Do you go to all the stations or some? 8 out of 10 students were able to answer all these questions. I'll take that as progress!

Grammar TEKS tracking sheet

Students working in a small group

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